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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/18856-h.zip b/18856-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..095751b --- /dev/null +++ b/18856-h.zip diff --git a/18856-h/18856-h.htm b/18856-h/18856-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b9df868 --- /dev/null +++ b/18856-h/18856-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,11433 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<HTML> +<HEAD> + +<META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> + +<TITLE> +The Settling of the Sage +</TITLE> + +<STYLE TYPE="text/css"> +BODY { color: Black; + background: White; + margin-right: 10%; + margin-left: 10%; + font-size: medium; + font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; + text-align: justify } + +P {text-indent: 4% } + +P.noindent {text-indent: 0% } + +P.poem {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10%; + font-size: small } + +P.letter {font-size: small } + +p.dedication {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 15%; + text-align: justify } + + + +</STYLE> + +</HEAD> + +<BODY> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Settling of the Sage, by Hal G. Evarts + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Settling of the Sage + +Author: Hal G. Evarts + +Release Date: July 18, 2006 [EBook #18856] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SETTLING OF THE SAGE *** + + + + +Produced by Al Haines + + + + + +</pre> + + +<A NAME="img-front"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG SRC="images/img-front.jpg" ALT="His knees sagged under him as a forty-five slug struck him an inch above the buckle of his belt." BORDER="2" WIDTH="412" HEIGHT="624"> +<H3> +[Frontispiece: His knees sagged under him as a forty-five slug <BR> +struck him an inch above the buckle of his belt.] +</H3> +</CENTER> + +<BR><BR> + +<H1 ALIGN="center"> +THE SETTLING OF THE SAGE +</H1> + +<BR> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +BY HAL G. EVARTS +</H2> + +<BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +AUTHOR OF +<BR> +"The Cross Pull," "The Yellow Horde," etc. +</H3> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +A. L. BURT COMPANY +<BR> +Publishers ———— New York +<BR><BR> +Published by arrangement with Little, Brown and Company +<BR> +Printed in U. S. A. +</H4> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H5 ALIGN="center"> +Copyright, 1922, +<BR> +BY HAL G. EVARTS. +<BR><BR> +All rights reserved +<BR><BR> +Published January, 1922 +<BR> +Reprinted February, 1922 +<BR> +Reprinted March, 1922 +</H5> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +TABLE OF CONTENTS +</H2> + +<BR> + +<CENTER> + +<TABLE WIDTH="80%"> + +<TR ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<TD WIDTH="25%"><A HREF="#chap01"> Chapter I </A></TD> +<TD WIDTH="25%"><A HREF="#chap02"> Chapter II </A></TD> +<TD WIDTH="25%"><A HREF="#chap03"> Chapter III </A></TD> +<TD WIDTH="25%"><A HREF="#chap04"> Chapter IV </A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<TD><A HREF="#chap05"> Chapter V </A></TD> +<TD><A HREF="#chap06"> Chapter VI </A></TD> +<TD><A HREF="#chap07"> Chapter VII </A></TD> +<TD><A HREF="#chap08"> Chapter VIII </A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<TD><A HREF="#chap09"> Chapter IX </A></TD> +<TD><A HREF="#chap10"> Chapter X </A></TD> +<TD><A HREF="#chap11"> Chapter XI </A></TD> +<TD><A HREF="#chap12"> Chapter XII </A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<TD><A HREF="#chap13"> Chapter XIII </A></TD> +<TD><A HREF="#chap14"> Chapter XIV </A></TD> +<TD><A HREF="#chap15"> Chapter XV </A></TD> +<TD><A HREF="#chap16"> Chapter XVI </A></TD> +</TR> + +</TABLE> + +</CENTER> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap01"></A> +<H1 ALIGN="center"> +The Settling of the Sage +</H1> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +I +</H3> + +<P> +A rider jogged northward along the road on a big pinto horse, a led +buckskin, packed, trailing a half-length behind. The horseman traveled +with the regulation outfit of the roaming range dweller—saddle, bed +roll and canvas war bag containing personal treasures and extra +articles of attire—but this was supplemented by two panniers of food +and cooking equipment and a one-man teepee that was lashed on top in +lieu of canvas pack cover. A ranch road branched off to the left and +the man pulled up his horse to view a sign that stood at the forks. +</P> + +<P> +"Squatter, don't let the sun go down on you," he read. "That's the +third one of those reminders, Calico," he told the horse. "The wording +a little different but the sentiment all the same." +</P> + +<P> +Fifty yards off the trail the charred and blackened fragments of a +wagon showed in sharp contrast to the bleached white bones of two +horses. +</P> + +<P> +"They downed his team and torched his worldly goods," the rider said. +"All his hopes gone up in smoke." +</P> + +<P> +He turned in his saddle and looked off across the unending expanse of +sage. Coldriver—probably so named from the fact that the three wells +in the town constituted the only source of water within an hour's +ride—lay thirty miles to the south, a cluster of some forty buildings +nestling on a wind-swept flat. Seventy miles beyond it, and with but +two more such centers of civilization between, the railroad stretched +across the rolling desolation. North of him the hills lifted above the +sage, angling with the directions so that four miles along the Three +Bar road that branched off to the left would bring him to their foot +and a like distance along the main fork saw its termination at Brill's +store, situated in a dent in the base of the hills, the end of the +Coldriver Trail. +</P> + +<P> +The man took one more look at the evidence left behind to prove that +the sign was no empty threat before heading the paint-horse along the +left-hand fork. The crisp cool of early spring was blown down from the +slope of the hills. Old drifts, their tops gray-streaked with dust, +lay banked in the gulches and on sheltered east slopes, but the new +grass had claimed the range to the very foot of the drifts, the green +of it intensified in patches watered by the trickle that seeped from +the downhill extremities of the snow banks. He noted that the range +cows along his route were poor and lean, their hip bones showing +lumpily through sagging skin, giving them the appearance of milkers +rather than of beef stock. The preceding summer had been hot and dry, +browning the range six weeks before its time, and the stock had gone +into the winter in poor shape. Heavy snowfalls had completed the havoc +and ten per cent. of the range stock had been winter-killed. Those +that had pulled through were slow in putting on weight and recovering +their strength. +</P> + +<P> +A big red steer stood broadside to him, the Three Bar brand looming on +its side, and the man once more pulled up his horse and lost himself in +retrospection as he gazed at the brand. +</P> + +<P> +"The old Three Bar, Calico," he remarked to the horse. "The old home +brand. It's been many a moon since last I laid an eye on a Three Bar +cow." +</P> + +<P> +The man was gazing directly at the steer but he no longer saw it. +Instead he was picturing the old-time scenes that the sight of the +brand recalled. Step by step he visioned the long trail of the Three +Bar cows from Dodge City to the Platte, from the Platte to the rolling +sage-clad hills round old Fort Laramie and from Laramie to the present +range. Many times he had heard the tale, and though most of the scenes +had been enacted before his birth, they were impressed so firmly upon +his mind by repetition that it seemed as if he himself had been a part +of them. +</P> + +<P> +His mind pictured two boys of somewhere round eighteen years of age +setting forth from the little home town of Kansas City, nestling at the +confluence of the Missouri and the Kaw. A year later Cal Warren was +whacking bulls on the Santa Fe Trail while the other, William Harris, +was holding the reins over four plunging horses as he tooled a +lumbering Concord stage over the trail from Omaha to the little camp +called Denver. +</P> + +<P> +It was five years before their trails crossed again. Cal Warren was +the first of the two to wed, and he had established a post along the +trail, a rambling structure of 'dobe, poles and sod, and there +conducted the business of "Two for One," a calling impossible and +unknown in any other than that day and place. +</P> + +<P> +The long bull trains were in sight from horizon to horizon every hour +of the day. The grind of the gravel wore down the hoofs of the unshod +oxen, and when footsore they could not go on. One sound bull for two +with tender feet was Warren's rule of trade. These crippled ones were +soon made sound in the puddle pen, a sod corral flooded with sufficient +water to puddle the yellow clay into a six-inch layer of stiff, healing +mud, then thrown out on the open range to fatten and grow strong. But +transitions were swift and sweeping. Steel rails were crowding close +behind the prairie schooners and the ox-bows. Bull trains grew fewer +every year and eventually Cal Warren made his last trade of two for one. +</P> + +<P> +Bill Harris had come back to view the railroad of which he had heard so +much and he remained to witness and to be a part of the wild days of +Abilene, Hays and Dodge, as each attained the apex of its glory as the +railroad's end and the consequent destination of the Texas trail herds. +The sight of these droves of thousands implanted a desire to run cows +himself and when he was wed in Dodge he broached this project to his +boyhood pal. +</P> + +<P> +It was the sincere wish of each to gain the other as a partner in all +future enterprise, but this was not to be. Warren had seen the bottom +drop out of the bull trade and he would not relinquish the suspicion +that any business dealing in four-footed stock was hazardous in the +extreme and he insisted that the solution of all their financial +problems rested upon owning land, not cows. Harris could not be +induced to farm the soil while steers were selling round eight dollars +a head. +</P> + +<P> +Warren squatted on a quarter of land. Harris bought a few head of +she-stock and grazed his cows north and west across the Kansas line +into the edge of the great unknown that was styled Nebraska and +Northwest District. At first his range was limitless, but in a few +short years he could stand on the roof of his sod hut and see the white +points of light which were squatters' wagons dotting the range to the +far horizon in any direction he chose to look. The first of these to +invade his range had been Cal Warren, moving on before the swarm of +settlers flocking into the locality of his first choice in such +alarming numbers that he feared an unhealthy congestion of humanity in +the near future. The debate of farming versus cows was resumed between +the two, but each held doggedly to his own particular views and the +longed-for partnership was again postponed. +</P> + +<P> +Harris moved once more—and then again—and it was something over two +decades after his departure from Dodge with the Three Bar cows that he +made one final shift, faring on in search of that land where nesters +were unknown. He made a dry march that cost him a fourth of his cows, +skirted the Colorado Desert and made his stand under the first rim of +the hills. Those others who came to share this range were men whose +views were identical with his own, whose watchword was: "Our cows shall +run free on a thousand hills." They sought for a spot where the range +was untouched by the plow and the water holes unfenced. They had +moved, then moved again, driven on before the invasion of the settlers. +These men banded together and swore that here conditions should be +reversed, that it was the squatter who should move, and on this +principle they grimly rested. +</P> + +<P> +Cal Warren had been the vanguard of each new rush of settlers that had +pushed Bill Harris on to another range, and the cowman had come to see +the hand of fate in this persistence. The nesters streamed westward on +all the trails, filing their rights on the fertile valleys and pushing +those who would be cattle barons undisputed back into the more arid +regions. When the Warren family found him out again and halted their +white-topped wagon before his door, Bill Harris gave it up. +</P> + +<P> +"I've come up to see about getting that partnership fixed up, Bill," +Warren greeted. "You know—the one we talked over in Dodge a while +ago, about our going in together when either of us changed his mind. +Well, I've changed mine. I've come to see that running cows is a good +game, Bill, so let's fix it up. I've changed my mind." +</P> + +<P> +"That was twenty years ago, Cal," Harris said. "But it still holds +good—only I've changed my mind too. You was dead right from the +first. Squatters will come to roost on every foot of ground and +there'll come a day when I'll have to turn squatter myself—so I might +as well start now. The way to get used to crowds, Cal, is to go where +the crowds are at. I'm headed back for Kansas and you better come +along. We'll get that partnership fixed up." +</P> + +<P> +A single child had come to bless each union in the parents' late middle +age. The Harris heir, a boy of eight, had been named Calvin in honor +of his father's friend. Cal Warren had as nearly returned the +compliment as circumstances would permit, and his three-year-old +daughter bore the name of Williamette Ann for both father and mother of +the boy who was his namesake, and Warren styled her Billie for short. +</P> + +<P> +Each man was as stubbornly set in his new views as he had been in the +old. The Harrises came into possession of the Warrens' prairie +schooner and drove off to the east. The Warrens took over the Three +Bar brand and the little Williamette Ann slept in the tiny bunk built +for the son of the Harris household. +</P> + +<P> +For a space of minutes these old pictures occupied the mind of the man +on the pinto horse. The led buckskin moved fretfully and tugged on the +lead rope, rousing the man from his abstraction. Distant strings of +prairie schooners and ox-bows faded from his mind's eye and he way once +more conscious of the red steer with the Three Bar brand that had +stirred up the train of reflections. He turned for another glimpse of +the distant sign as he headed the paint-horse along the road. +</P> + +<P> +"All that was quite a spell back, Calico," he said. "Old Bill Harris +planted the first one of those signs, and it served a good purpose +then. It's a sign that stands for lack of progress to-day. Times +change, and it's been eighteen years or so since old Bill Harris left." +</P> + +<P> +The road traversed the bench, angled down a side hill to a valley +somewhat more than a mile across. Calico pricked his ears sharply +toward the Three Bar buildings that stood at the upper end of it. +</P> + +<P> +Curious eyes peered from the bunk house as he neared it, for the +paint-horse and the buckskin were not without fame even if the man +himself were a stranger to them all. For the better part of a year the +two high-colored horses had been seen on the range,—south to the +railroad, west to the Idaho line. The man had kept to himself and when +seen by approaching riders he had always been angling on a course that +would miss their own. Those who had, out of curiosity, deliberately +ridden out to intercept him reported that he seemed a decent sort of +citizen, willing to converse on any known topics except those which +concerned himself. +</P> + +<P> +He dropped from the saddle before the bunk house and as he stood in the +door he noted half a dozen men lounging on the bunks. This indolence +apprised him of the fact that they were extra men signed on for the +summer season and that their pay had not yet started, for the cowhand, +when on the pay roll, works sixteen hours daily and when he rests or +frolics it is, except in rare instances, on his own time and at his own +expense. +</P> + +<P> +A tall, lean individual, who sat cross-legged on a bunk, engaged in +mending a spur strap, was the first to answer his inquiry for the +foreman. +</P> + +<P> +"Billie Warren is the big he-coon of the Three Bar," he informed. +"You'll likely find the boss at the blacksmith shop." The lanky one +grinned as the stranger turned back through the litter of log +outbuildings, guided by the hissing squeak of bellows and the clang of +a sledge on hot iron. Several men pressed close to the windows in +anticipation of viewing the newcomer's surprise at greeting the Three +Bar boss. But the man did not seem surprised when a young girl emerged +from the open door of the shop as he neared it. +</P> + +<P> +She was clad in a gray flannel skirt and black Angora chaps. The heavy +brown hair was concealed beneath the broad hat that was pulled low over +her eyes after the fashion of those who live much in the open. The man +removed his hat and stood before her. +</P> + +<P> +"Miss Warren?" he inquired. The girl nodded and waited for him to +state his purpose. +</P> + +<P> +"What are the chances of my riding for the Three Bar?" he asked. +</P> + +<P> +"We're full-handed," said the girl. "I'm sorry." +</P> + +<P> +"You'll be breaking out the remuda right soon now," he suggested. "I'm +real handy round a breaking corral." +</P> + +<P> +"They're all handy at that," she said. Then she noted the two horses +before the bunk house and frowned. Her eyes searched the stranger's +face and found no fault with it; she liked his level gaze. But she +wondered what manner of man this was who had so aimlessly wandered +alone for a year and avoided all other men. +</P> + +<P> +"Since you've finally decided to work, how does it happen that you +choose the Three Bar?" she asked, then flushed under his eyes as she +remembered that so many men had wished to ride for her brand more than +for another, their reasons in each case the same. +</P> + +<P> +"Because the Three Bar needs a man that has prowled this country and +gathered a few points about what's going on," he returned. +</P> + +<P> +"And that information is for sale to any brand that hires you!" said +the girl. "Is that what you mean?" +</P> + +<P> +"If it was, there would be nothing wrong with a man's schooling himself +to know all points of his job before he asked for it," he said. "But +it happens that wasn't exactly my reason." +</P> + +<P> +A shade of weariness passed over her face. During the two years that +her father had been confined to the house after being caved in by a +horse and in the one year that had elapsed since his death the six +thousand cows that had worn the Three Bar brand on the range had +decreased by almost half under her management. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll put you on," she said. "But you'll probably be insulted at what +I have to offer. The men start out after the horses to-morrow. I want +a man to stay here and do tinkering jobs round the place till they get +back." +</P> + +<P> +"That'll suit me as well as any," he accepted promptly. "I'm a great +little hand at tinkering round." +</P> + +<P> +The clang of the sledge had ceased and a huge, fat man loomed in the +door of the shop and mopped his dripping face with a bandanna. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm glad you've come," he assured the new-comer. "A man that's not +above doing a little fixing up! A cowhand is the most overworked and +underpaid saphead that ever lost three nights' sleep hand running and +worked seventy-two hours on end; sleep in the rain or not at all—to +hold a job at forty per for six months in the year. The other six he's +throwed loose like a range horse to rustle or starve. Hardest work in +the world—but he don't know it, or money wouldn't hire him to lift his +hand. He thinks it's play. Not one out of ten but what prides himself +that he can't be browbeat into doing a tap of work. Ask him to cut a +stick of firewood and he'll arch his back and laugh at you scornful +like. Don't that beat hell?" +</P> + +<P> +"It do," said the stranger. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm the best wagon cook that ever sloshed dishwater over the +tail-gate, and even better than that in a ranch-house kitchen," the +loquacious one modestly assured him. "But I can't do justice to the +meals when I lay out to do all the chores within four miles and run +myself thin collecting scraps and squaw wood to keep the stove het up. +Now since Billie has hired you, I trust you'll work up a pile of wood +that will keep me going—and folks call me Waddles," he added as an +afterthought. +</P> + +<P> +"Very good, Mr. Waddles," the newcomer smiled. "You shall have your +fuel." +</P> + +<P> +The big man grinned. +</P> + +<P> +"That title is derived from my shape and gait," he informed. "My +regular name is Smith—if you're set on tacking a Mister on behind it." +</P> + +<P> +The girl waved the talkative cook aside and turned to the new hand. +</P> + +<P> +"You'll take it then." +</P> + +<P> +He nodded. +</P> + +<P> +"Could you spare me about ten minutes some time to-day?" he asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," she said. "I'll send for you when I have time." +</P> + +<P> +The man headed back for his horses and unlashed the buckskin's +top-pack, dropping it to the ground, then led the two of them back +toward the corral, stripped the saddle from the pinto, the side +panniers and packsaddle from the buckskin and turned them into the +corral. He rambled among the outbuildings on a tour of inspection and +the girl saw him stand long in one spot before the solid log cabin, now +used as a storeroom for odds and ends, that had been the first one +erected on the Three Bar and had sheltered the Harrises before her +father took over their brand. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap02"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +II +</H3> + + +<P> +The Three Bar girl sat looking from the window of her own room, the +living room of the ranch house, one end of which was curtained off to +serve as sleeping quarters. The rattle of pots and pans came from the +big room in the rear which was used by Waddles as a kitchen and dining +hall for the hands. The new man was still prowling about the place, +inspecting every detail, and she wondered if he could tell her anything +which would prove of benefit in her fight to stop the shrinkage of the +Three Bar herds and help her to face the drastic changes that were +reshaping the policies of the range country. +</P> + +<P> +The Three Bar home range was one of many similar isolated spots where +the inhabitants held out for a continuance of the old order of things. +All through the West, from the Mexican border to the Canadian line, a +score of bitter feuds were in progress, the principles involved +differing widely according to conditions and locality. There were +existing laws,—and certain clans that denied the justice of each one, +holding out against its enforcement and making laws of their own. In +some spots the paramount issue was over the relative grazing rights of +cows and sheep, fanning a flame of hatred between those whose +occupations were in any way concerned with these rival interests. In +others the stockmen ignored the homestead laws which proclaimed that +settlers could file their rights on land. As always before, wherever +men resorted to lawlessness to protect their fancied rights, the +established order of things had broken down, all laws disregarded +instead of the single one originally involved. +</P> + +<P> +In many communities these clashes between rival interests had furnished +opportunity for rustlers to build up in power and practically take the +range. Each clan was outside the law in some one particular and so +could not have recourse to it against those who violated it in some +other respect; could not appear against neighbors in one matter lest +their friends do likewise against themselves in another. +</P> + +<P> +This attitude had enabled the wild bunch to saddle themselves on +certain communities and ply their trade without restraint. Rustling +had come to be a recognized occupation to be reckoned with; the +identity of the thieves was often known, and they visited from ranch to +ranch, whose owners possibly were honest themselves but had friends +among the outlaws for whom the latch-string was always out. The +rustlers' toll was in the nature of a tribute levied against every +brand and the various outfits expected certain losses from this source. +It was good business to recoup these losses at another's expense and +thus neighbor preyed on neighbor. Big outfits fought to crush others +who would start up in a small way, and between periods of defending +their own interests against the rustlers they hired them to harry their +smaller competitors from the range; clover for outlaws where all +factions, by mutual assent, played their own hands without recourse to +the law. It was a case of dog eat dog and the slogan ran: "Catch your +calves in a basket or some other thief will put his iron on them first." +</P> + +<P> +It was to this pass that the Three Bar home range had come in the last +five years. As Billie Warren watched the new hand moving slowly toward +the bunk house she pondered over what manner of man this could be who +had played a single-handed game in the hills for almost a year. Was he +leagued with the wild bunch, with the law, or was he merely an +eccentric who might have some special knowledge that would help her +save the Three Bar from extinction? +</P> + +<P> +The stranger picked up his bed roll and disappeared through the +bunk-house door as she watched him. +</P> + +<P> +The lean man who had first greeted him jerked a thumb toward an +unoccupied bunk. +</P> + +<P> +"Pay roll?" he inquired; then, as the new man nodded, "I'm most +generally referred to as Lanky," he offered tentatively. "Evans is the +rest of it." +</P> + +<P> +The stranger hesitated appreciably; then: +</P> + +<P> +"Harris will do all right for me—Cal for every day," he returned and +introductions had been effected. It was up to each man to use his own +individual method of making his name known to the newcomer as occasion +arose. +</P> + +<P> +There had been much speculation about the brand worn by the two horses. +The hands were a drifting lot, gathered from almost as many points as +there were men present, but none of them knew the brand. +</P> + +<P> +A dark, thin-faced man with a slender black mustache was the first to +voice a query, not from the fact that his curiosity was large—it was +perhaps less than that of any other man in the room—but for the reason +that he chose to satisfy it at once. Morrow's personality was cold and +bleak, inviting no close friendships or intimacies; uncommunicative to +a degree that had impressed itself on his companions of the last few +days and they looked up, mildly surprised at his abrupt interrogation. +</P> + +<P> +"Box L," he commented. "Where does that brand run?" +</P> + +<P> +"Southwest Kansas and Oklahoma," the stranger answered. +</P> + +<P> +"Squatter country," Morrow said. "Every third section under fence." +</P> + +<P> +Harris sat looking through the door at the valley spread out below and +after a moment he answered the thrust as if he had been long prepared +for it. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," he said. "And that's what all range country will come to in a +few more years; farm what they can and graze what they can't—and the +sooner the better for all concerned." He waved an arm down the valley. +"Good alfalfa dirt going to waste down there—overrun with sage and +only growing enough grass to keep ten cows to the quarter. If that was +ripped up and seeded to hay it would grow enough to winter five +thousand head." +</P> + +<P> +This remark led to the old debate that was never-ending in the cow +country, breaking out afresh in every bunk house and exhaustively +rediscussed. There were men there who had viewed both ends of the +game,—had seen the foremost outfits in other parts tearing up the sage +and putting in hay for winter feed and had seen that this way was good. +</P> + +<P> +Evans regarded Harris curiously as he deliberately provoked the +argument, then sat back and listened to the various ideas of the others +as the discussion became heated and general. It occurred to Evans that +Harris was classifying the men by their views, and when the argument +lagged the lean man grinned and gave it fresh impetus. +</P> + +<P> +"It's a settled fact that the outfits that have put in hay are better +off," he said. "But there's a dozen localities like this, a dozen +little civil wars going on right now where the inhabitants are so +mulish that they lay their ears and fight their own interests by +upholding a flea-bit prejudice that was good for twenty years ago but +is a dead issue to-day." +</P> + +<P> +"And why is it dead to-day?" Morrow demanded. "And not as good as it +always was?" +</P> + +<P> +"Only a hundred or so different reasons," Evans returned indifferently. +"Then beef-tops brought ten dollars a head and they're worth three +times that now; then you bought a brand on the hoof, come as they run, +for round five dollars straight through, exclusive of calves; now it's +based at ten on the round-up tally. In those days a man could better +afford to let part of his cows winter-kill than to raise feed to winter +the whole of them through—among other things. These days he can't." +</P> + +<P> +"And have your water holes fenced," Morrow said. "As soon as you let +the first squatter light." +</P> + +<P> +"The government has prohibited fencing water holes necessary to the +adjacent range," Harris cut in. "If that valley was mine I'd have put +it in hay this long time back." +</P> + +<P> +"But it wasn't yours," Morrow pointed out. +</P> + +<P> +"No; but it is now, or at least a part of it is," Harris said. "I +picked up that school section that lays across the valley and filed on +a home quarter that butts up against the rims." He sat gazing +indifferently out the door as if unconscious of the dead silence that +followed his remark. More men had drifted in till nearly a dozen were +gathered in the room. +</P> + +<P> +"That's never been done out here—buying school sections and filing +squatter's rights," Morrow said at last. "This is cow country and will +never be anything else." +</P> + +<P> +"Good cow country," Harris agreed. "And it stands to reason it could +be made better with a little help." +</P> + +<P> +"Whenever you start helping a country with fence and plow you ruin it +for cows," Morrow stated. "I know!" +</P> + +<P> +"It always loomed up in the light of a good move to me," the newcomer +returned. "One of us has likely read his signs wrong." +</P> + +<P> +"There's some signs round here you better read," Morrow said. "They +were posted for such as you." +</P> + +<P> +"It appears like I'd maybe made a bad selection then. I'm sorry about +that," Harris deprecated in a negligent tone that belied his words. +"It's hard to tell just how it will pan out." +</P> + +<P> +"Not so very hard—if you can read," the dark man contradicted. +</P> + +<P> +The newcomer's gaze returned from down the valley and settled on +Morrow's face. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you run a brand of your own—so's you'd stand to lose a dollar if +every foot of range was fenced?" he inquired. +</P> + +<P> +"What are you trying to get at now?" Morrow demanded. +</P> + +<P> +"Nothing much—now; I've already got," Harris said. "A man's interest +lays on the side where his finances are most concerned." +</P> + +<P> +"What do you mean by that?" Morrow insisted. +</P> + +<P> +"You're good at predicting—maybe you're an expert at guessing too," +Harris returned. And suddenly Evans laughed as if something had just +occurred to him. +</P> + +<P> +Morrow glanced at him without turning his head, then fell silent, his +expression unchanged. +</P> + +<P> +A chunky youngster stood in the door and bent an approving gaze on the +big pinto as he swung out across the pasture lot. The boy's face was +small and quizzical, a shaggy mop of tawny hair hanging so low upon his +forehead that his mild blue eyes peered forth from under the fringe of +it and gave him the air of a surprised terrier, which effect had gained +him the title of Bangs. +</P> + +<P> +"I bet the little paint-horse could make a man swing and rattle to set +up in his middle, once he started to act up," he said. +</P> + +<P> +"Calico wouldn't know how to start," Harris said. "A horse, inside his +limitations, is what his breaker makes him. I never favored the idea +of breaking a horse to fight you every time you climb him. My horses +are gentle-broke." +</P> + +<P> +"But you have to be able to top off just any kind of a horse," Bangs +objected. +</P> + +<P> +"That don't hinder a man from gentling his own string," Harris returned. +</P> + +<P> +Bangs turned his surprised eyes on Harris and regarded him intently as +if striving to fathom a viewpoint that was entirely new to him. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, it don't, for a fact," he said at last. "Only I just never +happened to think of it like that before." +</P> + +<P> +Morrow laughed and the boy flushed at the disagreeable ring of it. The +sound was not loud but flat and mirthless, the syllables distinct and +evenly spaced. His white even teeth remained tight-closed and showed +in flashing contrast to his swarthy face and black mustache. Morrow's +face wore none of the active malignancy that stamps the features of +those uncontrolled desperadoes who kill in a flare of passion; rather +it seemed that the urge to kill was always with him, had been born with +him, his face drawn and over-lengthened from the inner effort to render +his homicidal tendencies submissive to his brain, not through desire +for regeneration, for he had none, but as a mere matter of expediency. +The set, bleak expression of countenance was but a reflection of his +personality and his companions had sensed this strained quality without +being able to define it in words. +</P> + +<P> +"You listen to what the squatter man tells you," Morrow said to Bangs. +"He'll put you right—give you a course in how everything ought to be +done." He rose and went outside. +</P> + +<P> +"That was a real unhumorous laugh," Evans said. "Right from the bottom +of his heart." +</P> + +<P> +A raucous bellow sounded from the cookhouse and every man within +earshot rose and moved toward the summons to feed. +</P> + +<P> +"Let's go eat it up," Evans said and left the bunk house with Harris. +</P> + +<P> +"Did you gather all the information you was prospecting for?" he asked. +</P> + +<P> +Harris nodded. "I sorted out one man's number," he said. +</P> + +<P> +"Now if you'd only whispered to me I'd have told you right off," Evans +said. "It's astonishing how easy it is to pick them if you try." +</P> + +<P> +"Waddles is a right unpresuming sort of a man in most respects," Evans +volunteered as they entered the cookhouse. "But he's downright +egotistical about his culinary accomplishments." +</P> + +<P> +All through the meal the gigantic cook hovered near Billie Warren as +she sat near one end of the long table. It was evident to Harris that +the big man was self-appointed guardian and counsellor of the Three Bar +boss. He showed the same fussy solicitude for her welfare that a hen +would show for her helpless chicks. +</P> + +<P> +"Praise the grub and have a friend at court," Harris murmured in Evans' +ear. +</P> + +<P> +Billie Warren had nearly completed her meal before the men came in. +She left the table and went to her own room. When Harris rose to go he +slapped the big man on the back. +</P> + +<P> +"I'd work for half pay where you get grub like this," he said. "That's +what I'd call a real feed." +</P> + +<P> +Waddles beamed and followed him to the door. +</P> + +<P> +"It's a fact that I can set out the best bait you ever throwed a lip +over," he confessed. "You're a man of excellent tastes and it's a real +pleasure to have you about." +</P> + +<P> +Billie Warren opened the door and motioned to Harris. He went into the +big front room that answered for both living room and sleeping +quarters. A fire burned in the rough stone fireplace; tanned pelts, +Indian curios and Navajo rugs covered the walls; more rugs and pelts +lay on the floor. Indian blankets partitioned off one end for her +sleeping room. +</P> + +<P> +"You had something to tell me," she observed, after he had remained +silent for the space of a minute, sitting in the chair she had +indicated and gazing into the fire. +</P> + +<P> +"And I'll have to start it a little different from the way I first +counted on," he said. "Have any of the boys mentioned my name to you?" +</P> + +<P> +She shook her head and waited for him to go on. +</P> + +<P> +"You won't care much to hear it," he announced. "I'd thought some of +spending two years here under some other name—but perhaps it's better +to come out in the open—don't you think?" +</P> + +<P> +The girl had straightened in her chair and was leaning toward him, her +face white and her gray eyes boring straight into the man's. She knew +now who he was,—the man she had more reason to despise than all others +on earth combined. Of the Harris family she knew nothing at all except +that her father's lifelong regret had been the fact that the +partnership between himself and his oldest friend, William Harris, had +never been brought to pass. And this regret had, in the end, led him +to try and cement that arrangement in the second generation. Five +years before his trail had crossed that of the elder Harris for the +first time since he had taken over the Three Bar brand; and when his +will had been read she had known that on the occasion of that visit his +old friend had played upon this sentiment to trick him into making it. +On all sides of her she had evidence that men were wolves who preyed +upon the interests of others, and there was not a doubt that the father +of the man before her had preyed upon her interests through the +sentiment of her parent; no other possible theory could account for the +strange disposal of his property, the will dated and signed at the +exact time of his visit to the Harrises. +</P> + +<P> +The tenseness of her pose was replaced by lethargic indifference and +she relaxed into her chair. +</P> + +<P> +"I've known all the time you would come," she said. +</P> + +<P> +"It's too bad, Billie," he said. "It's tough having me wished on to +you this way." +</P> + +<P> +"Don't play that game with me!" she flared. "Of course you've +disproved every drop of human decency in advance." +</P> + +<P> +"It sure looms up like that on the surface," he admitted ruefully. +"But I didn't have a hand in cinching you this way." +</P> + +<P> +"You could have proved that by staying away. I wrote you a year ago +that I'd donate you a half-interest in the Three Bar at the expiration +of the time if you'd only keep off the place. But at the last moment +you couldn't resist having it all. Ten more days and you'd have been +too late." +</P> + +<P> +The man nodded slowly. +</P> + +<P> +"Too late," he agreed and sat looking into the fire. +</P> + +<P> +She had been almost a son to her father, had ridden the range with him, +managed the Three Bar during his sickness; and such was her loyalty to +his memory that not a trace of her bitterness had been directed toward +her parent. He had loved the Three Bar and had always believed that +old Bill Harris, its founder, had loved it too. His will had +stipulated that half of his property should go to the younger Harris +under the condition that the man should make his home on the Three Bar +for two out of the first three years after her father's decease. The +whole of it was to go to him in case she failed to make her own home at +the Three Bar during her co-heir's stay, or in the event of her +marriage to another before the expiration of three years. +</P> + +<P> +"Of course I'm tied here for two years," she said. "Or left penniless. +If you can make it unpleasant enough to drive me away—which won't be +difficult—you win." +</P> + +<P> +"I wouldn't count too strong on that," he counseled mildly. +</P> + +<P> +"Then why did you come?" she insisted. "Half of it was yours by merely +keeping away." +</P> + +<P> +"Maybe I'm sort of tied up myself—in ways you don't suspect," he +offered. +</P> + +<P> +"Very likely!" she returned; "sounds plausible. You might offer to +marry me," she suggested when he failed to answer. "You could gain +full possession at once that way." +</P> + +<P> +He removed his gaze from the fire and looked long at her. +</P> + +<P> +"It will likely come to that," he said. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll put a weapon in your hands," she retorted. "Whenever it does +come to that I'll leave the ranch—so now you know the one sure way to +win." +</P> + +<P> +"I hope it won't pan out like that," he said. "I'll be +disappointed—more than I can say." +</P> + +<P> +She rose and stood waiting for him to go. +</P> + +<P> +"Good night, Billie," he said. "I expect maybe things will break all +right for us." +</P> + +<P> +She did not answer and he went out. Waddles hailed him in friendly +fashion as he passed through the cookhouse, then wiped his hands and +stepped into Billie's quarters. Waddles was a fixture at the Three +Bar; he had ridden for her father until he had his legs smashed up by a +horse and had thereafter reigned as cook. He was confidential adviser +and self-appointed guardian of the girl. His mind was still pleasantly +concerned with the stranger's warm praise of his culinary efforts. +</P> + +<P> +"That new man now, Billie," he remarked. "He's away off ahead of the +average run. You mark me—he'll be top hand with this outfit in no +time at all." Then he observed the girl's expression. "What is it, +Pet?" he inquired. "What's a-fretting you?" +</P> + +<P> +"Do you know who he is?" she asked. +</P> + +<P> +Waddles wagged a negative head. +</P> + +<P> +"He's Calvin Harris," she stated. +</P> + +<P> +Instead of the blank dismay which she had expected to see depicted on +Waddles's face at this announcement, it seemed to her that the big man +was pleased. +</P> + +<P> +"The hell!" he said. "'Scuse me, Billie. So this here is Cal! Well, +well—now what do you think of that?" +</P> + +<P> +"I think that I don't want to stay here alone with him while you're out +after the horses," she returned. +</P> + +<P> +"Wrong idea!" the big man promptly contradicted. "You've got to stick +it out for two years, girl. The best thing you can do is to get +acquainted; and figure out how to get along the best you can—the pair +of you." +</P> + +<P> +"That's probably true," she assented indifferently. "I'll have to face +a number of things that are equally unpleasant in the next two +years—so I might as well start now. He must have praised the food in +order to win you to his side in two minutes flat." +</P> + +<P> +Waddles's face expressed pained reproach. +</P> + +<P> +"Now there it is again!" he said. "You know I'm only on one +side—yours. Old Cal Warren had some definite notion when he framed +this play; so it's likely this young Cal is on your side, too." +</P> + +<P> +"But even more likely not," she stated. +</P> + +<P> +"Then what?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why, then I'll have to kill him and put a stop to it," the big man +announced. "But it's noways probable that it will come to that. Let's +use logic. He spoke well of my cooking—like you said—which proves +him a man of some discernment. No way to get around that. Now a man +with his judgment wouldn't suspect for one living second that he could +play it low-down on you with me roosting close at hand. Putting two +plain facts together it works out right natural and simple that he's on +the square. As easy as that," he finished triumphantly. "So don't you +fret. And in case he acts up I'll clamp down on him real sudden," he +added by way of further reassurance. +</P> + +<P> +His great paw opened and shut to illustrate his point as he moved +toward the door and the Three Bar girl knew that when Waddles spoke of +clamping down it was no mere figure of speech. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap03"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +III +</H3> + + +<P> +Billie Warren heard the steady buzz of a saw and later the ringing +strokes of an axe. The men had departed three hours before to be gone +for a week on the horse round-up but she had not yet issued from her +own quarters. The music of axe and saw was ample evidence that her new +and undesired partner was making valuable use of his time. She went +outside and he struck the axe in a cross section of pine log as she +moved toward him. +</P> + +<P> +"We'll have to get along the best we can," she announced abruptly. "Of +course you will have a say in the management of the Three Bar and draw +the same amount for yourself that I do." +</P> + +<P> +He sat on a log and twisted a cigarette as he reflected upon this +statement. +</P> + +<P> +"I'd rather not do that," he decided. "I don't want to be a drain on +the brand—but to help build it up. Suppose I just serve as an extra +hand and do whatever necessary turns up—in return for your letting me +advise with you on a few points that I happen to have worked out while +I was prowling through the country." +</P> + +<P> +"Any way you like," she returned. "It's for you to decide. Any money +which you fail to draw now will revert to you in the end so it won't +matter in the least." +</P> + +<P> +His reply was irrelevant, a deliberate refusal to notice her ungenerous +misinterpretation of his offer. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you mind if I gather a few Three Bar colts round here close and +break out my own string before they get back?" he asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Anything you like," she repeated. "I'm not going to quarrel. I've +made up my mind to that. I'll be gone the rest of the day." +</P> + +<P> +Five minutes later he saw her riding down the lane. She was not +seeking companionship but rather solitude and for hours she drifted +aimlessly across the range, sometimes dismounting on some point that +afforded a good view and reclining in the warm spring sun. Dusk was +falling when she rode back to the Three Bar. As she turned her sorrel, +Papoose, into the corral she noticed several four-year-old colts in the +pasture lot. As she returned to the house Harris appeared in the door. +</P> + +<P> +"Grub-pile," he announced. +</P> + +<P> +They sat down to a meal of broiled steak, mashed potatoes, hot +biscuits, coffee and raspberry jam. She had deliberately absented +herself through the noon hour and well past the time for evening meal, +confidently expecting to find him impatiently waiting for her to return +and prepare food for him. +</P> + +<P> +"You make good biscuits—better than those Waddles stirs up," she said. +"Though I'd never dare tell him so." It was the first time she had +conceded that there might be even a taint of good in him. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, yes—they're some better than those I usually turn out," he +confessed. "Having a lady to feed I flaked the lard in cold instead of +just melting it and stirring her in like I most generally do. I'm +right glad that you consider them a success." +</P> + +<P> +When the meal was finished she rose without a word and went into her +own quarters, convinced that this desertion would certainly call forth +a protest; but the man calmly went about the business of washing the +dishes as if he had expected nothing else, and presently she heard the +door close behind him and immediately afterwards a light appeared in +the bunk-house window. +</P> + +<P> +The rattle of pots and pans roused her before daylight. Some thirty +minutes later he called to her. +</P> + +<P> +"I've finished," he said. "You'd better eat yours before it gets +cold," and the closing of the door announced that he had gone without +waiting for an answer. She heard again the sound of saw and axe as he +worked up the dry logs into stove lengths. At least he was making good +his word to the cook. The sounds ceased when the sun was an hour high +and when she looked out to determine the reason she saw him working +with four colts in one of the smaller corrals. +</P> + +<P> +He had fashioned a hackamore for each and they stood tied to the corral +bars. He left them there and repaired to the big gates of the main +corral. The two swinging halves sagged until their ends dragged on the +ground when opened or closed, necessitating the expenditure of +considerable energy in performing either operation. She watched him +tear down the old support wires and replace them with new ones, +stretching a double strand from the top of the tall pivot posts to the +free ends of the gates. Placing a short stick between the two strands +of heavy wire he twisted until the shortening process had cleared the +gate ends and they swung suspended, moving so freely that a rider could +lean from his saddle and throw them open with ease. +</P> + +<P> +This completed to his satisfaction he fashioned heavy slabs of wood to +serve as extra brake-blocks for the chuck wagon. Between the +performance of each two self-appointed duties he spent some little time +with the colts, handling them and teaching them not to fear his +approach, cinching his saddle on first one and then the next, talking +to them and handling their heads. +</P> + +<P> +For three days there was little communication between the two. It was +evident that he had no intention of forcing his society upon her, and +her failure to prepare his meals failed to elicit a single sign to show +that he had expected otherwise; the contrary was true, in fact, for he +invariably prepared enough for two. It was clear that he exercised the +same patience toward her that he showed in handling the green +four-year-olds; and she was inclined to be a little scornful of his +method of gentle-breaking them. She felt her own ability to handle any +horse on the range although old Cal Warren had gentled every animal she +had wanted for her own and flatly refused to let her mount any others. +Waddles was as insistent upon this point as her parent had been, but +never had she known a cowhand who took time and pains to gentle his own +string. +</P> + +<P> +In the afternoon of the third day she saw him swing to the back of a +big bay, easing into the saddle without a jar, and the colt ambled +round the corral, rolling his eyes back toward the thing clamped upon +him but making no effort to pitch. He dismounted and stripped off the +saddle, cinched it on a second horse and let him stand, leading a third +out to a snubbing post near the door of the blacksmith shop where he +proceeded to put on his first set of shoes. +</P> + +<P> +The girl went out and sat on the sill of the shop door and watched him. +The colt pulled back in an effort to release the forefoot that the man +held clamped between his leather-clad knees, then changed his tactics +and sagged his weight against Harris. +</P> + +<P> +"You Babe!" the man ordered. "Don't you go leaning on me." He pared +down the hoof and fitted the shoe but before nailing it on he released +the colt's foot and addressed the girl. "If I'd fight him now while +he's spooky and half-scared it would spoil him maybe," he explained. +</P> + +<P> +"I gentle-break mine, too," she said, and the man overlooked the +inflection which, as plainly as words, was intended to convey the +impression that his ways were effeminate. "If every man used up his +time gentling his string he'd never have a day off to work at anything +else." +</P> + +<P> +"Why, it don't use up much time," he objected. "They halfway break +themselves, standing round with a saddle on and having a man handle +them a little between spells of regular work—like cutting firewood and +such. And it's a saving of time in the end. There's three hundred odd +days every year when a man consumes considerable time fighting every +horse he steps up on—if they're broke that way to start." +</P> + +<P> +"So your only reason for not riding them out is to save time," she said. +</P> + +<P> +"If you mean that I'm timid," he observed, "why, I don't know as I'd +bother to dispute it." He moved over and sat on his heels facing her, +twisting the ever handy cigarette. "Listen," he urged. "Let's you and +I try to get along. Now if you'll only make up your mind that I'm not +out to grab the Three Bar, not even the half of it that's supposed to +be mine—unless you get paid for it—why, we're liable to get to liking +each other real well in the end. I'll give you a contract to that +effect." +</P> + +<P> +"Which you know would be worthless!" she returned. "The will +specifically states that any agreements between us prior to the time of +division are to be disregarded. A written contract would have no more +value than your unsupported promise and in view of what's happened you +don't expect me to place a value on that." +</P> + +<P> +He pulled reflectively at his cigarette and she rather expected another +of the irrelevant remarks with which he so often replied to her pointed +thrusts. +</P> + +<P> +"No," he said at last. "But it's a fact that I don't want the Three +Bar—or rather I do if you should ever decide to sell." +</P> + +<P> +"I never will," she stated positively. "It's always been my home. +I've been away and had a good time; three winters in school and +enjoying every second; but there always comes a time when I'm sick to +get back, when I know I can't stay away from the Three Bar, when I want +to smell the sage and throw my leg across a horse—and ride!" +</P> + +<P> +"I know, Billie," he said softly. "I was raised here, up until I was +eight. My feeling is likely less acute than yours but I've always +hankered to get back to where the sage and pine trees run together. I +mentioned a while back that I was tied up peculiar and stood to lose +considerable if I failed to put in two years out here—which wouldn't +have been of any particular consequence only that I found out that the +Three Bar was going under unless some one put a stop to what's going +on. I'll pull it out of the hole, maybe, and hand it back to you." +</P> + +<P> +She was swayed into a momentary belief in his sincerity but steeled +herself against it, and in the effort to strengthen the crumbling walls +of her dislike she fell back on open ridicule. +</P> + +<P> +"You!" she flared. "And what can you do against it—a man that was +raised in squatter country behind a barb-wire fence, who has to gentle +his horses before he can sit up on one, who has hitched a gun on his +belt because he thinks it's the thing to do, and has stowed it in a +place where he'd have to tie himself in a knot—or undress—to reach +it. And then you talk of pulling the Three Bar out of a hole! Why, +there are twenty men within fifty miles of here that would kill you the +first move you made." +</P> + +<P> +"There's considerable sound truth in that," he said. He looked down at +his gun; it swung on his left side, in front, the butt pointing toward +the right. "It's easier to work with it sort of out of the way of my +hands," he explained and smiled. +</P> + +<P> +She found herself liking him, even in the face of the treachery he had +practiced against her father and was correspondingly angry, both with +herself and at him. She left him without a word and returned to the +house. +</P> + +<P> +He finished putting the shoes on the colt and as he turned him back +into the corral he observed a horseman jogging up the lane at a trail +trot. He knew the man for Slade, whose home ranch lay forty miles to +the south and a little west, the owner of the largest outfit in that +end of the State; a man feared by his competitors, quick to resent an +insinuation against his business methods and capable of backing his +resentment. +</P> + +<P> +Slade dropped from his horse and accorded Harris only a casual nod as +he headed for the house. Slade's face was of a peculiar cast. The +black eyes were set very close together in a wide face; his cheek bones +were low and oddly protruding, sloping far out to a point below each +eye. His small ears were set so close to his skull that the +outcropping cheek bones extended almost an inch beyond them to either +side. Yet there was a certain fascination about his face and bearing +that appealed to the spark of the primitive in women; that last +lingering cell that harks fondly back to men in the raw. His age might +have been anywhere above twenty-six and under fifty-six. +</P> + +<P> +He walked through the cookhouse and opened the door of the girl's +quarters without the formality of a knock, as if a frequent visitor and +sure of his privileges. +</P> + +<P> +"How many times have I told you to knock?" she demanded. "The next +time you forget it I'll go out as you come in." +</P> + +<P> +Slade dropped into a chair. +</P> + +<P> +"I never have knocked—not in twelve years," he said. +</P> + +<P> +"It was somewhat different when I was a small girl and you were only a +friend of my father," she pointed out. "But now——" +</P> + +<P> +"But now that I've come to see you as a woman it's different?" he +inquired. "No reason for that." +</P> + +<P> +She switched the channel of conversation and spoke of the coming +round-up, of the poor condition of range stock owing to the severity of +the winter; but it was a monologue. For a time the man sat and +listened, as if he enjoyed the sound of her voice, contributing nothing +to the conversation himself, then suddenly he stirred in his chair and +waved a hand to indicate the unimportance of the topics. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, yes; true enough," he interrupted. "But I didn't come to talk +about that. When are you coming home with me, Billie?" +</P> + +<P> +"And you can't come if you insist on talking about that," she countered. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll come," he stated. "Tell me when you're going to move over to the +Circle P." +</P> + +<P> +"Not ever," she said. "I'd rather be a man's horse than his wife. Men +treat women like little tinsel queens before, and afterwards they +answer to save a cook's wages and drudge their lives out feeding a +hunch of half-starved hands—or else go to the other extreme. Wives +are either work horses or pets. I was raised like a boy and I want to +have a say in running things myself." +</P> + +<P> +"You can go your own gait," he pledged. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm doing that now," she returned. "And prefer going on as I am." +</P> + +<P> +Slade rose and moved over to her, taking her hands and lifting her from +her chair. +</P> + +<P> +The girl pushed him back with a hand braced against his chest. +</P> + +<P> +"Stop it!" she said. "You're getting wilder every time you come, but +you've never pawed at me before. I won't have people's hands on me," +and she made a grimace of distaste. +</P> + +<P> +The man reached out again and drew her to him. She wrenched away and +faced Slade. +</P> + +<P> +"That will be the last time you'll do that until I give the word," she +said. "I don't want the Circle P—or you. When I do I'll let you +know!" +</P> + +<P> +He moved toward her again and she refused to back away from him but +stood with her hands at her sides. +</P> + +<P> +"If you put a finger on me it's the last lime you'll visit the Three +Bar," she calmly announced. +</P> + +<P> +He stood so close as almost to touch her but she failed to lift a hand +or move back an inch, and Slade knew that he faced one whose spirit +matched his own, perhaps the one person within a hundred miles who did +not fear him. He had tamed men and horses—and women; he raised his +arms slowly, deliberately, to see if she would flinch away or stand +fast and outgame him. She knew that he was harmless to her—and he +knew it. He might perpetrate almost any crime on the calendar and come +clear; but in this land where women were few they were honored. One +whisper from the Three Bar girl that Slade had raised his hand against +her and, powerful as he was, the hunt for him would be on, with every +man's hand against him. +</P> + +<P> +His arms had half circled her when he whirled, catlike, every faculty +cool and alert, as a voice sounded from the door. Both had been too +engrossed to notice its noiseless opening. +</P> + +<P> +"I've finished cleaning up round the shop and corrals," Harris said. +"Is there any rubbish round the house you'd like to have throwed out +and piled in a dry gulch somewheres out of sight?" +</P> + +<P> +He stood in the door, half facing them, his left side quartering toward +Slade. To the girl it appeared that the strange pose was for the +purpose of enabling him to take a quick step to the right and spring +outside if Slade should make a move and she felt a tinge of scorn at +his precaution even though she knew that it would avail him nothing if +Slade's deadly temper were roused by the insult. Slade, who had killed +many, would add Harris to his list before he could move. +</P> + +<P> +Slade's understanding of the quartering position and the odd sling of +Harris's gun was entirely different and as he shifted his feet until he +faced the man in the door, his movements were slow and deliberate, +nothing that could be misconstrued. +</P> + +<P> +"Who summoned you in here?" he demanded. +</P> + +<P> +Harris did not reply but stood waiting for some word from the girl. +She had a sudden sick dread that Slade would kill him and was surprised +at the sentiment, for no longer than an hour before she had wished him +dead. She made belated answer to his original question. +</P> + +<P> +"No," she said. "Go on out, please." +</P> + +<P> +He turned his back on Slade and went out. +</P> + +<P> +"And you," she said to Slade, "you'd best be going too. We've been too +good neighbors to quarrel—unless you come over again with the same +idea you did to-day." +</P> + +<P> +At sunset the girl called to Harris and he repaired to the house and +found her putting a hot meal for two on the end of the long pine table, +the first time she had deigned to eat with him since that first meal. +</P> + +<P> +"There's no use of our going on like this," she said. "We've two years +of it to face; so it's best to get on some kind of a neutral footing." +</P> + +<P> +For her own peace of mind she had tried to smother her dislike of him +and he was very careful to avoid any topic that would rekindle it. +They washed the dishes together, and from that hour their relations, to +all outward appearance, were friendly or at least devoid of open +hostility. They no longer ate separately; she did not avoid him during +the day, and the second evening she prepared two places at her own +table in the big living room before the fireplace. +</P> + +<P> +"It's so empty out there," she explained. +</P> + +<P> +"With only the two of us at a table built for twenty." +</P> + +<P> +He lingered for an hour's chat before her fire and each evening +thereafter was the same. But he knew that she was merely struggling to +make the best of a matter that was distasteful, that her opinion of him +was unaltered. Her bitterness could not be entirely concealed, and she +frequently touched on some fresh point that added to her distrust of +his present motives and confirmed her belief in his double-dealing in +the past. There were so many of these points; his refusal to accept +her offer to give him his half-interest if he would stay off the place; +his weak insinuations that there was some reason why he must spend two +years on the Three Bar; his prowling the country for a year spying on +the methods she followed in running the outfit, half of which would +soon be his; his buying the school section and filing on a quarter of +land, the location blocking the lower end of the Three Bar valley. +Whenever she mentioned one of these he refused to take issue with her. +And one night she touched on still another point. +</P> + +<P> +"What was the reason for your first idea—of coming here under another +name?" she demanded. +</P> + +<P> +"I thought maybe others knew I'd been left a part interest," he said, +"and it might be embarrassing. The way it is, with only the two of us +knowing the inside, I can stay on as a regular hand until the time is +up." +</P> + +<P> +"You're so plausible," she said. "You put it as a favor to me. Did it +ever strike you that if the truth were known it might also be +uncomfortable for you?" +</P> + +<P> +He smiled across at her and once more she frowned as she discovered +that he was likeable for all his underhandedness. +</P> + +<P> +"Worse than that—suicidal," he admitted. +</P> + +<P> +"If you mentioned what you think of me, that I've framed to rob you by +law, you wouldn't be bothered with me for long." He laughed softly and +stretched his feet toward the fire. "Look at it any way you like and +I'm in bad shape to deal you any misery," he pointed out. "If you'd +drop a hint that I'm an unwelcome addition it would only be a matter of +days until I'd fail to show up for meals. If you view it from that +angle you can see I'm setting on the powder can." +</P> + +<P> +She did see it, but had not so clearly realized it till he pointed it +out, and for the first time she wavered in her conviction that he had +come simply to deprive her of her rights. But the thought that her +father would not easily have willed away the home place to another +without being unduly influenced served to reinstate her distrust along +with a vague resentment for his having shaken it by throwing himself so +openly on her mercy. +</P> + +<P> +"You probably thought to overcome that by reaching the point the whole +thing so patently aims for," she said. "And you calculated +well—arriving at a time when we'd be alone for a week. The whole +scheme was based on that idea and I've been patiently wondering why you +don't rush matters and invite me to marry you." +</P> + +<P> +He rose and flicked the ash from his cigarette into the fireplace. +</P> + +<P> +"I do invite you—right now," he said, and in her surprise she left her +chair and stood facing him. "I'd like real well to have you, Billie." +</P> + +<P> +"That's the final proof," she said. "I'm surprised that you didn't +tell me the first day." +</P> + +<P> +"So am I," he said. +</P> + +<P> +She found no answer for this but stood silent, knowing that she had +suddenly become afraid of him. +</P> + +<P> +"And that's the living truth," he affirmed. "Other men have loved you +the first day. You know men well enough to be certain that I wouldn't +be tied to one woman for the sake of owning a few head of cows—not if +I didn't want her for herself." He waved an arm toward the door. +"There's millions of miles of sage just outside," he said. "And +millions of cows—and girls." +</P> + +<P> +He moved across to her and stood almost touching her, looking down into +her face. When Slade had stood so a few days past she had been coldly +indifferent except for a shiver of distaste at the thought of his +touching her. Before Harris she felt a weakening, a need of support, +and she leaned back from him and placed one hand behind her on the +table. +</P> + +<P> +"You judge for yourself whether a man wouldn't be right foolish—with +all those things I mentioned being right outside to call him—to marry +a woman he didn't want for herself, because she had a few hundred head +of cows." He smiled down at her. "Don't pull back from me, Billie; I +won't lay a finger on you. But now do you think it's you I want—or +the little old Three Bar?" +</P> + +<P> +"You can prove it," she said at last. "Prove it by going away for six +months—or three." +</P> + +<P> +He shook his head. +</P> + +<P> +"Not that," he said. "I've told you I was sewed up in a right peculiar +way myself—which wouldn't matter a damn if it wasn't for this. I'd +have tossed it off in a second if the girl on the Three Bar had turned +out to be any other than you. Now I'm going to see it through. The +Three Bar is going under—the brand both our folks helped to +found—unless some one pulls it out of the hole. Believe me if you can +and if you can't—why, you know that one remark about my being +unwelcome here will clear the road for you, like I mentioned a few +minutes back." +</P> + +<P> +He turned away without touching her and she had not moved when the door +closed behind him. +</P> + +<P> +An hour past noon on the following day a drove of horses appeared at +the lower extremity of the valley and swept on toward the ranch. As +Harris threw open the gates of the big corral he saw her standing in +the door of the cookhouse watching the oncoming drove. Riders flanked +the bunch well out to each side to steady it. There was a roar of +hoofs and a stifling cloud of dust as three hundred half-wild horses +clattered past and crowded through the gates, scattering swiftly across +the pasture lot back of the corral. A dozen sweat-streaked riders +swung from their saddles. There was no chance to distinguish color or +kind among them through the dust caked in the week-old growth of beard +that covered every face. +</P> + +<P> +One man remained on his mount and followed the horses into the pasture +lot, cutting out fifty or more and heading them back into the corral; +for Waddles had decreed that they could have the rest of the afternoon +off for a jaunt to Brill's Store and they waited only to change mounts +before the start. +</P> + +<P> +Calico stood drooping sleepily in one of the smaller corrals and Harris +moved toward him, intending to ride over with the rest of the men. +</P> + +<P> +"The boss said for you to ride Blue," Morrow stated as Harris passed +the group at the gates of the corral. "He's clear gentle-broke, Blue +is." +</P> + +<P> +The men looked up in surprise. Morrow had not been near the house to +receive instructions from the girl. The lie had been so apparent as to +constitute a direct challenge to the other man. +</P> + +<P> +Harris stood looking at him, then shrugged his shoulders. +</P> + +<P> +"Whatever the boss says goes with me," he returned evenly. +</P> + +<P> +A rangy blue roan swept past with the fifty or so others. At least +once every round of the corral he laid back his ears and squealed as he +scored some other horse with his teeth, then lashed out with wicked +heels. +</P> + +<P> +"I reckon that'll be Blue?" Harris asked of Evans and the lanky one +nodded. The men scattered round the corral and each watched his chance +to put his rope on some chosen horse. The roan kept others always +between himself and any man with a rope but at last he passed Harris +with but one horse between. Harris nipped his noose across the back of +the intervening horse and over the blue roan's head. +</P> + +<P> +Blue stopped the instant the rope tightened on his neck. +</P> + +<P> +"You've been busted and rope-burnt a time or two," Harris remarked, and +he led the horse out to saddle him. The big blue leaned back, +crouching on his haunches as the man put on the hackamore. His eyes +rolled wickedly as Harris smoothed the saddle blanket and he flinched +away with a whistling snort of fear, his nostrils flaring, as the heavy +saddle was thrown on his back. +</P> + +<P> +Harris tightened the front cinch and the blue horse braced himself and +drew in a long, deep breath. +</P> + +<P> +"That's right, Blue, you swell up and inflate yourself," Harris said. +"I'll have to squeeze it out of you." He fastened the hind cinch +loosely, then returned to the front and hauled on the latigo until the +pressure forced the horse to release the indrawn breath and it leaked +out of him with a groaning sigh. +</P> + +<P> +"I wonder now why Morrow is whetting his tommyhawk for me," Harris +remarked as he inspected the big roan. "You're a hard one, Blue. I'll +let that saddle warm up on you before I top you off." +</P> + +<P> +Every horse pitched a few jumps from force of habit when first mounted, +some of them indifferently, others viciously, then moved restlessly +around, anxious for the start. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, step up on him and let's be going," Morrow ordered surlily. +</P> + +<P> +Harris took a short hold on the rope reins of the hackamore with his +left hand, cramped the horse's head toward him and gripped the mane, +his right hand on the horn, and swung gently to the saddle, easing into +it without a jar. +</P> + +<P> +"Easy, Blue!" he said, holding up the big roan's head. "Don't you hang +your head with me." He eased the horse to a jerky start and they were +off for Brill's at a shuffling trot. Three times in the first mile +Blue bunched himself nervously and made a few stiff jumps but each time +Harris held him steady. The pace was increased to a long, swinging +trot and he felt the play of powerful muscles under him as the blue +horse seemed to reach out for distance at every stride. +</P> + +<P> +"You'd have made one good little horse, Blue," he said, "if some sport +hadn't spoiled you on the start." +</P> + +<P> +"Don't speak loud or the blue horse might shy and spill his pack," +Morrow remarked in a tone loud enough for Harris to overhear. Evans +turned in his saddle and eyed the dark man curiously. +</P> + +<P> +"He won't upset his load to-day," he prophesied. "Harris is just past +the colt stage, round twenty-seven or eight somewheres, and has +out-growed his longing to show off. But he'll be able to sit up in the +middle of anything that starts to move out from under him." +</P> + +<P> +They left the horses drooping at the several hitch rails before the +post and crowded in. A few paused along the counters of merchandise +that flanked the left side of the big room while the rest headed +straight for the long bar that extended the full length of the opposite +side. The Three Bar men had scarcely tossed off their first drink +before there sounded a clatter of hoofs outside and twelve men from the +Halfmoon D trooped in. +</P> + +<P> +"Out of the way!" the foremost youth shouted. "Back off from the pine +slab, you Three Bar soaks, and give parched folks a chance. Two hours' +play and six months' work—so don't delay me." +</P> + +<P> +The throng before the bar was a riot of color; Angora chaps ranging +from orange and lavender to black and silky white; smooth leather +chaps, and stamped, silver-ornamented and plain, with here and there an +individual design, showing that the owner had selected some queerly +spotted steer and tanned the pelt with the hair on to be fashioned into +gaudy vest and pants. 'Twas an improvident, carefree lot who lived +to-day with scarce a thought for to-morrow. The clatter of sardine and +salmon cans mingled with the clink of glassware at the bar as the men +who had missed the noon meal lunched out of cans between drinks. +</P> + +<P> +Some few detached themselves from the group and occupied themselves +with writing. Several started a game of stud poker at one of the many +tables. Harris wrote a few letters before joining in the play, and as +he looked up from time to time he caught many curious glances leveled +upon him. Morrow had been busily spreading the tidings that a would-be +squatter was among them and they were curious to see the man who had +deliberately defied the unwritten law of the Coldriver Range. When he +had finished his writing he crossed over to the group, tossed a bill on +the bar and waved all hands to a drink. +</P> + +<P> +Waddles had instructed Evans to start the men back before the spree had +progressed to a point where they would refuse to leave Brill's and so +leave the Three Bar short-handed. At the end of two hours he looked at +his watch and snapped it shut. +</P> + +<P> +"Turn out!" he shouted. "On your horses!" +</P> + +<P> +"That goes for my men, too," the Halfmoon D foreman seconded. +"Outside!" +</P> + +<P> +Morrow had not neglected to inform the men from the Halfmoon D that +Harris gentled his horses. +</P> + +<P> +"Handle the little roan horse gentle," he advised as they moved toward +the door. "Better hobble your stirrups before you crawl him." Several +men turned and grinned. In riding contests women were allowed to +hobble their stirrups while the same precaution disqualified a man. +</P> + +<P> +Most of the men were young, scarcely more than boys, full of rough play +and youthful pride of accomplishment along with a desire to make a +presumably careless display of it. A Halfmoon D youth mounted a blocky +bay and as he threw his leg across it he loosed a shrill yip and +reached forward to rake the horse's shoulder. The bay dropped his head +and performed. A half-dozen others followed his example and their +horses pitched off in as many directions. All eyes were turned on +Harris as he neared the big roan. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I might as well act up a little," he said to Evans. "They seem to +be looking for it." +</P> + +<P> +"He's a hard citizen, that roan," Evans remarked. "I'll wrangle for +you, Cal." +</P> + +<P> +Harris stepped over to the horse. +</P> + +<P> +"I wonder what old Blue can do," he said. He hooked the roan in the +shoulder as he mounted and the horse plunged his head between his knees +and rose in the air. The big roan bawled and expelled a long-drawn +"wa-a-augh" each time he struck the ground, then savagely shook his +whole frame as he rose again. The first four jumps Harris swung both +feet forward and hooked his shoulders and the next two bounds reached +back and raked his flanks, in accordance with the regulation rules +prescribed for contest riding. +</P> + +<P> +"He's riding for the judges," a megaphone voice announced. "Boy, +you've rode your horse!" +</P> + +<P> +Blue varied his leaps, draping himself in fantastic curves, lighting on +a slant with his side arched out, sunfishing and swapping ends, then +threw himself over and smashed down on his back. Harris slipped +sidewise and cleared himself. +</P> + +<P> +"Fourteen long jumps," one man testified. "One hell of a long time on +an eel like that!" +</P> + +<P> +As Blue regained his feet Harris stepped into the saddle and rose with +him, the hackamore rope trailing loose under the horse's feet. A +chorus of approving yelps broke out. +</P> + +<P> +"Rake him from ears to tail roots!" "Ri-ide 'im, rider!" "Hang 'em up +into that horse!" "Claw him!" "Scra-a-atch him!" +</P> + +<P> +This wave of questionable advice ceased as Blue, after three short +jumps, somersaulted forward and his rider made a headlong side-dive for +safety. +</P> + +<P> +Evans had flanked the roan's course and he now leaned from the saddle +and seized the hackamore rope; as Blue scrambled to his feet he took +two quick turns of the rope and snubbed his head short to the saddle +horn. The roan struggled and threw himself, his head still suspended +by the rope, rose and reared to strike savagely at the man who held +him, but Evans left his saddle and leaned far out, his right foot on +the ground, left still in the stirrup, and eased himself back into the +saddle as the fighting horse slid down. He had never once lost his +hold which snubbed Blue to the horn, a pretty bit of wrangling. +</P> + +<P> +"He's on the fight now," Evans said. "I'll hold him solid till he +cools down—which won't be long, for Cal didn't cut him any; he was +swinging his feet free and never hooked him once." He jerked his thumb +at the roan's shoulder and flanks where not a drop of blood appeared; +his hide would have been tattered indeed if Harris had driven home his +rowels each time he swung his feet. "Nice ride." +</P> + +<P> +Harris walked back to a small group that had not yet mounted, Morrow +among them. His left side was quartering toward Morrow and apparently +he was addressing the group as a whole instead of any one man. +</P> + +<P> +"The next time some one frames me to put on a show like that," he said, +"why, he'd better make certain beforehand about what part he's willing +to play in the performance himself—for next time I won't take it out +of the horse." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap04"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +IV +</H3> + + +<P> +It is said that there comes a day in the life of every handler of bad +horses when he will mount one and ride him out, master him and +dismount,—and forever after decline to ride another. Riley Foster was +evidence of this. For three years Rile and Bangs had been inseparable, +riding together on every job, and the shaggy youth topped off the +animals in Foster's string before the older man would mount them. As +Bangs went about his work his faded blue eyes were ever turned toward +the Three Bar boss who stood in the door of the blacksmith shop. +</P> + +<P> +The girl was vaguely troubled as she noted this. Bangs and Foster had +returned for their second season at the Three Bar. All through the +previous summer the boy had evidenced his silent adoration, his eyes +following her every move. +</P> + +<P> +The scene round Billie was one of strenuous activity, every effort bent +toward whipping the remuda into shape for the calf round-up in the +least possible space of time. +</P> + +<P> +Every rider must have nine horses in his string. His five circle +horses needed but little training, the only necessary qualifications +being endurance and a sufficient amount of breaking to make it possible +to saddle them; the two night mounts must be partially broken to work +the herd, then switched to night guarding and thereafter used +exclusively for that. But the two cow horses required long and skilful +training. Every man gave one of his circle string the preliminary +training of the cow horse each season, the work resumed by the man to +whose string the horse was allotted the following year; thus new ones +were coming on to replace the older horses as fast as they were +condemned. +</P> + +<P> +Four pairs of men worked within a hundred yards of the girl, taking +equal turns at riding and wrangling. The one who wrangled put his rope +on a horse and led him out, snubbed him to the saddle horn and +frequently eared him as well, while the one who was to ride him out +cinched on his saddle and mounted. +</P> + +<P> +Green horses were led out, one after another, to be saddled for the +first time, and those previously broken required a few work-outs to +knock the wire edge off their unwillingness to carry a rider after a +winter of freedom on the range. +</P> + +<P> +Three men were shoeing horses tied to snubbing posts at ten-yard +intervals before the shop. One animal that had fought viciously +against this treatment had been thrown and stretched, his four feet +roped to convenient posts, and while he struggled and heaved on the +ground Rile Foster calmly fitted and nailed the shoes on him. Cal +Harris finished shoeing the colt he was working. +</P> + +<P> +"That's the last touch," he said. "My string is all set to go." +</P> + +<P> +"You have five colts gentled for your circle bunch," she said. "But +you didn't pick a single cow horse. The boys have sorted out the best +ones and the few that are left won't answer for a man that insists on a +gentled string." +</P> + +<P> +"Creamer and Calico will do for me," he said. "I broke them myself and +maybe I can worry along." +</P> + +<P> +"Did you break them like that?" she asked. Bangs was topping a horse +that strenuously refused to be conquered and as they looked on the +animal threw himself. +</P> + +<P> +"Like that? Well, no—not precisely," Harris said. "They're not +breaking horses. They're proving that they're bronc-peelers that can +ride 'em before they're broke. A horse started out that way will be a +bronc till the day he dies. The first thing he knows some straddler +swarms him and hangs the spurs in him. He bogs his head and starts out +to slip his pack—and from right then on he thinks the first thing to +do whenever a man steps up on him is to try his best to shake him off." +</P> + +<P> +Three men were lashing their bed rolls and war bags on three pack +horses and when this task was completed they rode down the lane, each +one leading his pack animal. Harris knew this as evidence that they +would start after the calves on the following day. The custom was to +exchange representatives to ride with each wagon within a reasonable +distance, the reps to look after the interest of the brand for which +they rode. +</P> + +<P> +"How many reps do you trade?" he asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Three," she said. "Halfmoon D, V L and with Slade." +</P> + +<P> +The Halfmoon D lay some fifteen miles eastward along the foot of the +hills; the V L the same distance to the west, but cached away in a +pocket that led well back into the base of the range, a comparatively +small outfit owned by the Brandons, father and four sons, who made +every effort to keep the bulk of their cows ranging in their own home +basin and exchanged reps only with the Three Bar. +</P> + +<P> +Slade's home place lay forty miles south and a little west and his cows +grazed for over a hundred miles, requiring three wagons to cover his +range. +</P> + +<P> +During the afternoon the three reps came in to replace the men who had +left. The surplus horses had been cut out and thrown back on the +range, only those required for the remuda remaining in the pasture lot. +The chuck wagon was wheeled before the cookhouse door and packed for an +early start. Before the first streaks of dawn the men had saddled and +breakfasted. It was turning gray in the east when four horses, +necessitating the attentions of four men, were hooked to the wagon. A +man hung on the bit of each wheel horse while another grasped the bits +of the lead team as Waddles made one last hasty trip inside. +</P> + +<P> +"This will be a rocky ride for a mile or two," he prophesied, as he +mounted the seat and braced himself. "These willow-tails haven't had +on a strap of harness for many a month. All set. Turn loose!" +</P> + +<P> +The men stepped back and the four horses hit the collars raggedly. One +wheel horse reared and jumped forward. The off leader dropped his head +and pitched, shaking himself as if struggling to unseat a rider, then +the four settled into a jerky run and the heavy wagon clattered and +lurched down the lane. +</P> + +<P> +"Fine way to break work stock," Harris remarked to Evans. "That layout +would bring maybe a dollar a head." +</P> + +<P> +The men swung to their saddles and followed the wagon at a shuffling +trot. From where she rode between Evans and Harris, the girl turned in +her saddle and watched two men throw open the gates of the big corral +where the remuda was held. The wrangler, whose duty it was to tend the +horse herd by day, and the nighthawk who would guard it at night sat on +their horses at the far end of the corral and urged the herd out as the +gates swung back. The remuda streamed down the valley, the two first +riders swinging wide to either flank while the nighthawk and wrangler +brought up the rear. +</P> + +<P> +The four that pulled the wagon had settled to a steady gait and when +some three miles below the Three Bar Waddles wheeled to the right and +angled up the bench that flanked the bottoms, the wagon tilting +perilously in the ascent, then struck out westward across a rolling +country that showed not even a wagon track. The big cook unerringly +picked the route of least resistance to the point from which the first +circle would be launched, striking every wash and coulee at a place +where a crossing was possible. +</P> + +<P> +Shortly before noon the wagon was halted in a broad bottom threaded by +a tiny spring-fed stream. The teams were unhitched; mounts were +unsaddled and thrown into the horse herd, which was then headed into +the mouth of a branching draw and allowed to graze. Waddles dumped off +the bed rolls that were piled from the broad lowered tail-gate to the +wagon top and each man sorted out his own and spread it upon some spot +which struck him as a likely bed ground. +</P> + +<P> +One man carried water from the stream. Two others snaked in wood for +the chuck-wagon fire. Still another drove long stakes in the shape of +a hollow square, stretching a single rope from one to the next and +fashioning a frail rope corral. +</P> + +<P> +Harris and Evans took three poles that were slung under the wagon, +looped the top-rope of a little teepee round the small ends of them and +erected the three, tripod fashion, after having first pegged down the +teepee sides. Harris brought the girl's bed roll and war bag from the +wagon and placed them inside. +</P> + +<P> +"There's your house," he said. "All ready to move in." +</P> + +<P> +The men repaired to the creek bank and splashed faces and hands. The +big voice of the cook bellowed angrily from the wagon. +</P> + +<P> +"Downstream! Downstream!" he boomed. "Get below that water hole!" +</P> + +<P> +Two men who had elected to perform their ablutions above the point from +which the culinary water supply was drawn moved hastily downstream. +</P> + +<P> +It was not long before Waddles was dispensing nourishment from the +lowered tail-gate, ladling food and hot coffee into the plates and cups +which the men held out to him. They drew away and sat cross-legged on +the ground. The meal was almost finished when six horsemen rode down +the valley and pulled up before the wagon. +</P> + +<P> +"What's the chance for scraps?" the leader asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Step down," Waddles invited. "And throw a feed in you. She's still +a-steaming." +</P> + +<P> +Four of the men differed in no material way from the Three Bar men in +appearance. The fifth was a ruffian with little forehead, a face of +gorilla cast, stamped with brute ferocity and small intelligence. The +last of the six was a striking figure, a big man with pure white hair +and brows, his pale eyes peering from a red face. +</P> + +<P> +"The roasted albino is Harper, our leading bad man in these parts," +Evans remarked to Harris. "And the human ape is Lang; Fisher, Coleman, +Barton and Canfield are the rest. Nice layout of murderers and such." +</P> + +<P> +Harper's men ate unconcernedly, conscious that they were marked as men +who had violated every law on the calendar, but knowing also that no +man would take exceptions to their presence on that general ground +alone, and as they had neared the wagon each man had scanned the faces +of the round-up crew to make certain that there were none among them +who might bear some more specific and personal dislike. +</P> + +<P> +The Three Bar men chatted and fraternized with them as they would have +done with the riders of any legitimate outfit. Harper praised the food +that Waddles tendered them. +</P> + +<P> +Billie Warren forced a smile as she nodded to them, then moved off and +sat upon a rock some fifty yards from the wagon, despising the six men +who ate her fare and inwardly raging at the conditions which forced her +to extend the hospitality of the Three Bar to men of their breed +whenever they chanced by. +</P> + +<P> +Harris strolled over and sat down facing her, sifting tobacco into a +brown paper and deftly rolling his smoke. +</P> + +<P> +"Has it been on your mind—what I was telling you a few nights back, +about how much I was loving you?" he asked. +</P> + +<P> +"You had your chance to prove it by going away," she said, "and +refused; so why bring it up again? The next two years will be hard +enough without my having to listen to that." +</P> + +<P> +"Our families must have been real set on throwing us together," he +observed. "I was cut off without a dime myself—unless I spent two +full years on the Three Bar." +</P> + +<P> +She was angry with herself for believing him sincere, for being +convinced that he too, as he had several times intimated, was tied in +much the same fashion as herself. The explanation came to her in an +illuminating flash. The elder Harris must have nursed a lifelong +enmity against her father, who had believed him the most devoted friend +on earth. +</P> + +<P> +She had often heard the tale of how her parent had, in all +friendliness, followed old Bill Harris step by step from Dodge City to +the Platte, to old Fort Laramie and finally to the present Three Bar +range. Perhaps the one so followed had felt that Cal Warren was but +the hated symbol of the whole clan of squatters who had driven him from +place to place and eventually forced him to relinquish his hope of +seeing the Three Bar brand on a hundred thousand cows; that his +friendliness had been simulated, his vindictiveness nursed and finally +consummated by leaving his affairs in such fashion that his son must +carry on the work his trickery had begun. +</P> + +<P> +The voice of Waddles reached them. He was announcing a half-day of +rest, according to her orders. +</P> + +<P> +"It's kill-time for the rest of the day," he stated. "Make the most of +it." +</P> + +<P> +For three weeks past, excepting for the trip to Brill's, the men had +toiled incessantly, breakfasting before sunup and seeking their bunks +long after dark. Some immediately turned to their bed rolls to make up +lost sleep. Others repaired to the stream to wash out extra articles +of soiled clothing before taking their rest. +</P> + +<P> +Harris resumed where he had broken off some five minutes before. +</P> + +<P> +"And I'd have tossed it off, as I told you once, if the Three Bar girl +had turned out to be any except you. You've had a tough problem to +work out, girl," he said. "I sold out my little Box L outfit for more +than it was worth—and figured to stop the leak at the Three Bar and +put the old brand on its feet." +</P> + +<P> +His calm assurance on this point exasperated the girl. +</P> + +<P> +"How?" she demanded. "What can you do?" She pointed toward the six +men near the wagon. "During the time you spent prowling the hills did +you ever come across those men?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not to pal round with them," he confessed. "But I did cut their trail +now and then." +</P> + +<P> +"Then don't you know what every other man in this country knows—that +those six and a lot more of their breed are responsible for every loss +within a hundred miles? They can operate against a brand one week and +stop at the home ranch and get fed the next. That's where the Three +Bar loss comes in. And I have to feed them when they come along." +</P> + +<P> +"Some day we'll feed them and hang them right after the meal," he said. +"They're not the outfit that's going to be hardest to handle when the +time arrives." +</P> + +<P> +"What do you mean?" she asked. "No one has ever been able to handle +them up to date." +</P> + +<P> +"Did it ever strike you as queer that Slade could come into this +country twelve years back, with nothing but a long rope and a running +iron, and be owning thirty thousand head to-day?" +</P> + +<P> +"He has the knack to protect his own and increase," she said. "They're +afraid of Slade." +</P> + +<P> +Harris absently traced the Three Bar in the dust with a stick, then +fashioned the V L and the Halfmoon D, the three brands that ranged +along the foot of the hills. With a few deft strokes he transformed +the Three Bar into the Three Cross T, reworked the V L into a Diamond +Box and the Halfmoon D into Circle P, each one of the worked-overs +representing one of the dozen or so brands registered by Slade. He +blotted out his handiwork with the flat of his hand. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't you suppose that the owner of every one of those brands knows +that?" she scoffed. "A clumsy rebrand would loom up for a mile. +Slade's no fool." +</P> + +<P> +"Not in a thousand years," Harris agreed. "I was just commenting on +how peculiar it was that the three brands he runs farthest north should +be so easy worked over into any one of the three that his range +overlaps up this way. And I happen to know his farthest south brands +would work out the same way with the outfits at the other end of his +range. But he earmarks all of his brands the same—with jinglebobs; +and jinglebobs most generally drop off and leave nothing but a good big +piece absent out of the ear." +</P> + +<P> +"So you think a man as big as Slade is stupid enough to try his hand at +brand-blotting on all sides at once?" she asked. +</P> + +<P> +"No; nor even once on one side," he returned. "Not him. The one fact +that the similarity of brands would make it easy to fall into the habit +is enough to keep every outfit watching him. He couldn't start—and +knows it." +</P> + +<P> +"Then what does it all amount to?" she asked. +</P> + +<P> +"While folks watch him on that score he could work in a dozen ways that +don't concern those brands at all," he said. +</P> + +<P> +The girl shook her head impatiently and looked across at the six men +who ate her fare. +</P> + +<P> +"Look at them," she flared. "Eating my food; and in a few nights +they'll be hazing a bunch of Three Bar steers toward the Idaho line. +Why doesn't some man that is a man kill that albino fiend and all his +whelps and rid the country of his breed? Even Slade lets them put up +at his place." +</P> + +<P> +"If they're pestering you I'll order them off," he said. +</P> + +<P> +"And what effect would that have?" she inquired scornfully. +</P> + +<P> +"The effect of causing them to climb their horses and amble off down +the country," he returned. He sprawled on the grass, his head propped +on one hand as he regarded them. +</P> + +<P> +"Then probably you'd better order them off," she suggested. "You have +my permission. Now's your chance to make good the lordly brag of +helping the Three Bar out of the hole." She instantly regretted having +said it. A dozen times of late she had wondered if she were turning +bitter and waspish, if she would ever again be the even-tempered Billie +Warren with a good word and a smile for every one. +</P> + +<P> +Harris was, as always, apparently undisturbed by her words. Far down +the bottoms she could see a point of light which she knew for a white +sign that read: "Squatter, don't let sundown find you here." The man +before her had defied these sinister warnings scattered about the range +and publicly announced that he would put in hay on his filing, knowing +that he was a marked man from the hour he turned the first furrow. +Whatever his shortcomings, lack of courage was not one of them. +</P> + +<P> +"I take that back," she said, referring to her words of a few moments +before. Harris straightened to a sitting position in his surprise at +this impulsive retraction, and as he smiled across at her she divined +that this man, seemingly so impervious to her sarcasm, could be easily +moved by a single kind word. +</P> + +<P> +"Thanks, Billie," he said. "That was real white of you." +</P> + +<P> +He rose and sauntered toward the wagon and Billie Warren felt a sudden +clutch of fear as he halted before Harper and she realized that he had +taken her words literally and intended ordering them off. +</P> + +<P> +"I've been made temporary foreman of the Three Bar—just so the boss +could try me out on that job for an hour or two," he remarked +conversationally. "So I'm putting in a new rule that goes into effect +right off. When you boys ride away, in a few minutes from now, you can +tell folks that the grub line is closed as far as the Three Bar is +concerned." +</P> + +<P> +Lang took a half-step toward him, his face reflecting his gathering +rage as his slow brain comprehended the fact that this speech was but +another way of announcing that he and his men would find no welcome at +the Three Bar from that moment on. Harper caught his arm and jerked +him back. The albino was an old hand and could rightly read the signs. +</P> + +<P> +"The gentleman was remarking to me," he said to Lang; "not you." He +turned to Harris, noting as he did so that every Three Bar man, +excepting those asleep, had suddenly evidenced keen interest in what +was transpiring there; several carelessly shifted their positions. +"There's no law to make you feed any man," he said to Harris. "From +now on we'll pay our way—as far as the Three Bar is concerned." +</P> + +<P> +His tones were casual; only his pale eyes, fastened unblinkingly on +Harris's face, betrayed his real feeling toward the man who, +notwithstanding the roundabout nature of his announcement, had +practically ordered him to stay away from the Three Bar for all time. +</P> + +<P> +"But even in the face of that," he resumed, "we'll welcome you any time +you happen to ride down our way." +</P> + +<P> +Every man within earshot understood the threat that lay beneath the +casual words. +</P> + +<P> +"Then I'll likely drop in some time," Harris said. "If you'll send +word where it is. And I'll bring fifty men along." +</P> + +<P> +The albino motioned his men toward their horses and they mounted and +rode off down the bottoms. Harris walked back and resumed his seat +near the girl, who sat looking at him as if she could not believe what +she had just witnessed. +</P> + +<P> +"You see it was just as easy as I'd counted on," he said. "It'll be a +considerable saving on food." +</P> + +<P> +"But how did you know?" she asked. "Why is Harper afraid of you?" +</P> + +<P> +"He's not," Harris said. "Not for a single second. But he's an old +hand and has left a few places on the jump before he came out here." +</P> + +<P> +"And he thinks you know it!" she guessed. +</P> + +<P> +"He don't care what I know; it's what he knows himself—that the wild +bunch is always roosting on the powder can even when it appears like +they're sitting pretty—that counts with him. You thought I was taking +a fool chance of out-gaming him. In reality I was taking almost an +unfair advantage of him, providing he had the brains he must possess to +have lived to his age." +</P> + +<P> +She could find no ready-made answer to this surprising statement. He +sprawled comfortably on the grass, turning over in his mind the +conditions that were but a repetition of the history of so many +frontiers; first the earliest settlers resenting the intrusion of the +later ones and resorting to lawless means of protecting their priority; +then the strengthening of the outlaw element, half the countryside in +league with the wild bunch, the two opposing factions secretly hiring +the predatory class to prey upon rival interests; then, inevitably, the +clean split, usually occasioned by the outlaws having increased in +power until they felt competent to defy both sides, to play both ends +against the middle, to commit atrocities that opened the eyes of those +who, believing they had subsidized the lawless, suddenly woke to the +fact that they had subsidized themselves; then the outlaws, in their +turn, discovering that every man's hand was against them; the ruthless +establishing of a definite line between those inside and those outside +the law, replacing the vague middle ground of semi-lawlessness. Always +their friends fell away from them, those secretly leagued with them +fearing to be seen in their company, and those not too definitely known +to belong to their ranks invariably quitting them cold, often joining +forces against them and developing into more or less substantial +citizens, according to the standards of their day. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't you know that the albino will kill you for that?" the girl asked +at length. +</P> + +<P> +"Not unless he can stage it as a personal quarrel," he said. "He'll +never follow it up as coming out of what happened to-day by taking it +out on me as temporary foreman of the Three Bar—for ordering him off." +</P> + +<P> +"Why?" she puzzled. "What possible difference would that make to a man +like him?" +</P> + +<P> +"Just this," he said: "There's a good majority of folks that don't +relish seeing Harper's bunch ride up—that feed them through policy. +But whenever you make it plain to a man that he's compelled to do a +thing whether he likes it or not it's ten to one he'll balk out of +sheer human pride. If Harper kills the Three Bar foreman on the +grounds that he refused to feed all his men—why then, right off, every +other foreman and owner within a hundred miles starts to resenting the +possibility that maybe the albino feels the same way toward him. +Harper knows that." +</P> + +<P> +"But if your theory had been wrong?" she persisted. "What then?" +</P> + +<P> +"Then," he said, "then there'd have been hell and repeat. I wasn't +just acting as me, a personal affair, but, as I took pains to remark +aloud, as the foreman of the Three Bar. Every Three Bar man would have +gone into action the second Harper made a move at me. You know +that—and Harper knew it." +</P> + +<P> +She realized the soundness of this statement. The one unalterable code +of the country, a code that had been fostered till it eclipsed all +others, decreed that a man should be loyal to the brand for which he +rode. The whole fabric of the cow business was based on that one point. +</P> + +<P> +"And a wrangle of that magnitude was something he couldn't risk," +Harris said. "It would stir folks up, and any time they're stirred a +mite too far Harper has come to the end of his rope. Any other brand +could have done the same—only folks fall into a set habit of mind and +figure they must do what others do just because it's custom." +</P> + +<P> +"But now they'll work their deviltry all the stronger against the Three +Bar," she predicted. "They could wreck us if they tried. You couldn't +get a conviction in five years. Not a man would testify against one of +Harper's outfit." +</P> + +<P> +"Then we'll put on a fighting crew and hold them off," he said. "But +that's not the layout that will be hardest to handle in the long run. +Slade is the one real hard nut for the Three Bar to crack. He can work +it a dozen different ways and you couldn't prove one of them on him to +save your soul. He's one smooth hombre—Slade." +</P> + +<P> +Harris rose and headed for his bed roll and the girl sought the shelter +of her teepee for a rest. All was quiet near the wagon till Waddles +boomed the summons to feed. After the meal a youth named Moore mounted +a saddled horse that was picketed nearby and rode up a branching gulch, +returning with a dry cedar log which he snaked to the wagon at the end +of his rope. After a few hours' rest and the prospects of a full +night's sleep ahead the hands snatched an hour for play. +</P> + +<P> +They sat cross-legged round the fire kindled from the cedar and raised +their voices in song. Waddles drew forth a guitar and picked a few +chords. Bentley, the man who repped for Slade, carried the air and the +rest joined in. The voices were untrained but from long experience in +rendering every song each man carried his part without a discordant +note. Evans sang a perfect bass. Bangs a clear tenor; Moore faked a +baritone that satisfied all hands and Waddles wagged his head in unison +with the picking of his guitar and hummed, occasionally accenting the +air with a musical, drumlike boom. They rambled through all the old +familiar songs of the range. The Texan herded his little dogie from +the Staked Plains to Abilene; the herd was soothed on the old bed +ground—bed down my dogie, bed down—and the poor cowboy was many times +buried far out on the lone prair-ee. +</P> + +<P> +Bangs had stationed himself so that he could see the girl and +throughout the evening his surprised eyes never once strayed from +Billie Warren's face. +</P> + +<P> +She leaned back against the wagon wheel, enjoying it all, but her +complacence was jarred as she half-turned and noted Morrow's face, +drawn and bleak, unsoftened by the music. Again the feeling of dislike +for him rose within her; but he was an efficient hand and she had +nothing definite against him. At the end of an hour Waddles rose and +returned his instrument to the wagon. The group broke up and every man +turned in. +</P> + +<P> +Billie Warren lay in her teepee, her mind busily going over the events +of the day. The night sounds of the range drifted to her. A bull-bat +rasped a note or two from above. A picketed horse stamped restlessly +just outside and a range cow bawled from an adjacent slope. The +night-hawk had relieved the wrangler and she could half-hear, half-feel +the low jar of many hoofs as he grazed the remuda slowly up the valley, +singing to while away the time. +</P> + +<P> +She reflected that Cal Harris was at least possessed of self-confidence +and that procrastination was certainly not to be numbered among his +failings. It came to her that his interests, for the present, were +identical with her own. As half-owner in the Three Bar it would be as +much to his advantage as to her own to build it up. Waddles's warped +legs prevented his acting as foreman on the job and it might be that +the other man would find some way to prevent the leak that was sapping +the life from the Three Bar. His half-ownership entitled him to the +place. Billie Warren loved her brand and her personal distrust of +Harris was submerged in the hope that his sharing the full +responsibility with herself might be a step toward putting it back on +the old-time plane of prosperity. +</P> + +<P> +The jar of hoofs had ceased and she knew that the remuda had bedded +down; and having at last reached a decision she fell asleep with the +crooning voice of the nighthawk drifting to her ears. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap05"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +V +</H3> + + +<P> +It seemed but a few fleeting moments before Waddles's voice roused her. +</P> + +<P> +"Roll out!" he bawled. "Feet in the trough!" +</P> + +<P> +There was instant activity, the jingle of belts and spurs and in five +minutes every man was fully clothed and splashing at the creek. It was +showing rose and gray in the east when the meal was finished and the +cook's voice was once more raised. +</P> + +<P> +"All set! Ru-un-n 'em in!" he called, and there came the rumble of +hoofs as the nighthawk acted on this order and headed the remuda toward +the wagon. Two men mounted the horses that had been picketed close at +hand throughout the night and stationed themselves on either side of +the open end of the rope corral to guide the horse herd into it. +</P> + +<P> +The horses could not be seen until almost upon them, looming suddenly +out of the dim gray of early morning and surging into the corral. The +nighthawk and the two men already mounted rode around it, driving back +any horse that showed a disposition to leave the corral by a downward +slash of a doubled rope across his face and ears. The men went in and +scattered through the milling herd, each one watching his chance to put +his noose on a circle horse of his own string. +</P> + +<P> +When most of the men were mounted Billie urged Papoose over near +Harris's horse. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you know how to throw a circle?" she asked. +</P> + +<P> +"After a fashion," he said. "I've bossed one or two in the past." +</P> + +<P> +"Then we'd better be off," she suggested. "Since you're the Three Bar +foreman it's for you to say when." +</P> + +<P> +"I only preempted that job for ten minutes or so," he explained with +evident embarrassment. "You surely didn't think I was trying to boost +myself into the foreman's job for keeps?" +</P> + +<P> +"No," she said. "But you're half-owner—and you can handle men. I'm +giving you free rein to show what you can do." +</P> + +<P> +Harris straightened in his saddle and motioned to the men. +</P> + +<P> +"Let's go!" he ordered, and headed his horse for the left-hand flank of +the valley. They ascended the first slopes, picked a long ridge and +followed it to the crest of the low divide between that valley and the +next. +</P> + +<P> +Harris increased the pace and they swept up-country along the divide at +a steady lope. When traveling or making a long day's ride on a single +horse the cowhand saves his mount and travels always at a trail-trot, +but with work to be done, three circles to be thrown in a day and with +a string of fresh horses for every hand, the paramount issue of the +circle is the saving of time rather than the saving of mounts. As they +reached the head of the first draw that led back down into the valley +Harris waved an arm. +</P> + +<P> +"Carp," he called, and a middle-aged man named Carpenter, abbreviated +to Carp, wheeled his horse from the group and headed down the draw. +</P> + +<P> +A half-mile farther on they reached the head of another gulch. +</P> + +<P> +"Hanson!" the new foreman called, and the man who repped for the +Halfmoon D dropped out. One man was detailed to work each draw and +when some five miles up the divide there were but half the crew left. +Harris dropped down a long ridge and crossed the bottoms. Far down the +valley the wagon showed through the thin, clear air. The foreman led +the way to the opposite divide and doubled back, sending a man down +every gulch. +</P> + +<P> +The girl rode with him. Down in the bottoms they could see the riders +detailed on the opposite side hazing the cows out of their respective +draws and heading them toward the wagon. The first few men left their +cows in the flat and veered past them to station themselves near the +wagon and block the valley, sitting their horses at hundred-yard +intervals across it. +</P> + +<P> +Harris and the girl worked the last draw themselves and when they drove +their cows out of the mouth of it they found a herd already milled, two +hundred yards above the wagon. Harris left her and circled the bunch, +estimating it. +</P> + +<P> +A few belated riders were bringing their quotas to swell the herds. +Frequently a bunch of cows made a break to leave and many were allowed +to make good their escape to the safety of the broken slopes. But +these were only marked stuff previously branded and any attempt +including a cow with an unbranded calf was instantly blocked. Each +rider noted the brands of any cows which he let escape and more +particularly still he scanned them with an eye for the presence of a +"slick," an animal missed in previous round-ups and wearing no brand. +Slick cows were fair prey for any man who first put his rope on them +and he was entitled to run his own brand on a slick or to mark it with +the brand for which he rode and draw down a certain scale of premiums +at the end of the round-up season. +</P> + +<P> +Harris changed mounts, throwing his saddle on the paint-horse. When +the last rider appeared with his bunch and threw it into the herd +Harris signaled all hands to change mounts. Half the men repaired to +the rope corral and caught up cow horses while the balance of the crew +held the herd, each one relieving some other as soon as he had saddled +a fresh horse. +</P> + +<P> +When the hands commenced working the herd the Three Bar girl watched +the trained cow horses with an interest that was always fresh, for from +long experience they thoroughly understood every move of the game. +</P> + +<P> +A sagebrush fire was burning fifty yards above the wagon and each man +rode past it, leaned from his saddle and dropped his running iron in +the flame. +</P> + +<P> +The men worked round the edge of the bunch and slipped a noose on every +calf that was thrown to the edge of the constantly shifting mass. +Morrow roped the first calf and dragged it to the fire. A cow darted +away with her calf and Bangs's horse whirled to head her back. As +Bangs shook out his rope the horse changed tactics and abandoned the +course that would have carried him past to turn them, following in +close behind them instead. After two preliminary swings Bangs made his +throw and missed. The horse did not miss a step but kept on close +behind the calf while his rider coiled the rope. The second throw fell +fair and the horse set his feet and braced himself as the calf hit the +end of the rope. +</P> + +<P> +As much as she loved the round-up, many times as she had seen it, +Billie Warren had never become calloused to the brutalities perpetrated +on the calves. She withdrew and sat in the shade of the wagon. She +was downwind and the dust raised by the trampling hoofs floated down to +her, mingled with the odor of steaming cows, the acrid smoke of the +sage fire and the taint of scorched hair and flesh. +</P> + +<P> +Some of the men handled their hot irons with makeshift tongs of split +sage, which were soon burnt through and replaced. Others used slender, +long-handled pliers for the work. +</P> + +<P> +The horses held the calves helpless, moving just enough to keep the +ropes taut. Evans loosed a fresh-branded calf and rode over to the +wagon for a drink. Several cows raced wildly round at a distance from +the fire. +</P> + +<P> +"One of those old sisters will go on the prod and make a break for some +one right soon," he predicted to the girl. +</P> + +<P> +A calf bawled in pain and a cow, maddened by the appeal of her +offspring, charged the group around the fire. The horses that stood +there, holding calves, pricked their ears and watched her rush alertly +but before it was necessary for any one of them to dodge, Slade's rep +slipped his rope on her, jumped his horse off at an angle and brought +her down. +</P> + +<P> +Evans pointed to where Harris, seated on the big pinto, was working +slowly through the center of the herd. +</P> + +<P> +"He's gone in after another slick," Evans said. "Watch the paint-horse +work." +</P> + +<P> +Calico was moving after the animal Harris wanted, working easily and +without a single sharp rush that would cause undue disturbance among +the cows. +</P> + +<P> +"A good cow horse is like a hound," Lanky observed. "Let him spot the +critter you're wanting and nothing can shake him off." +</P> + +<P> +Calico followed a serpentine course through the mass, crowded a +three-year-old to the edge and cut him out. The animal attempted to +dodge back among his fellows but the paint-horse turned as on a pivot +and blocked him, then started him off in a straightaway run. +</P> + +<P> +"There's a real rope-horse," Lanky said. "I've been noticing him work. +Look!" +</P> + +<P> +Calico had braced himself as the slick was roped, shoving his hind feet +out ahead, squatting on his haunches and raising his forefeet almost +clear of the ground. +</P> + +<P> +"Cal broke him without shoes in front," Evans explained. "His feet got +tender after he'd jerked a steer or two and he learned to sock his hind +feet ahead and take the jar on them. He'll last two years longer that +way. A horse that takes all the weight on his front feet in jerking +heavy stuff soon gets stove up in the shoulders and has to be +condemned. This Cal Harris has one whole bagful of knowing tricks." +</P> + +<P> +He rode back to the work after this endorsement of her choice of a +foreman. +</P> + +<P> +Through all the turmoil the nighthawk slept peacefully in the shade of +a sage-clump. Waddles dozed in the wagon but suddenly came to life +with a start and signaled to the wrangler who, in his turn, waved an +arm to the man nearest him. The four wagon horses were roped and +harnessed while Waddles loaded the bed rolls on the tailgate and lashed +them fast. The rope corral was dismantled and loaded. The chuck wagon +veered past the herd and lumbered up the valley and the wrangler and +one other followed with the horse herd. +</P> + +<P> +In a short space of time the herd had been worked, the last calf +branded, and Harris led the men up the bottoms. As they rode each one +reported the brands of all stock which he had let break away from his +bunch before reaching the herd. Each rep entered the number and kind +of his own brand so reported to the former tally taken of the herd. +</P> + +<P> +Five miles up the valley, at the spot where Harris had crossed it a few +hours before, they found the wagon waiting at the new stand, the corral +refashioned and the remuda inside it. It was but ten o'clock but the +first circle had commenced at four. The noon meal on the round-up was +served whenever the first circle was completed. The men fell +ravenously on the hot meal, changed to fresh circle horses and started +again. +</P> + +<P> +It was falling dusk when the herd gathered in the third circle had been +worked and the last calf branded for the day. The men had unsaddled +and spread their bed rolls before Waddles had announced the meal. The +nighthawk came riding up on the horse he had picketed prior to going to +sleep before sunup at the first stand. His bed roll was lashed on a +half-wild range horse he had roped and it sagged to one side, having no +pack saddle to keep it from slipping, and he spoke in no gentle terms +of an outfit that would pull out without troubling to throw his pack +saddle from the wagon or taking pains to picket an extra horse. His +fretfulness passed, however, as he smelled the hot coffee and he +repaired to the wagon, his ill humor dissipated. +</P> + +<P> +There was no music that night, every man retiring to his bed roll the +instant he finished his meal. +</P> + +<P> +At the end of the first week out from the ranch Harris pulled up his +horse beside the girl's and showed her his tally book. +</P> + +<P> +"We've run Slade's mark on more calves than we have our own," he said. +"That's one way he works." +</P> + +<P> +"But that's not his fault and it doesn't mean anything," she said. +"His cows are sure to drift. This first strip we've worked is the +southernmost edge of our range and his north wagon works the strip +right south of us. We're sure to find a number of his cows. As we +double back on our next lap we'll not find the same proportion." +</P> + +<P> +"Not quite—but plenty," he predicted. "We've marked more calves for +Slade in one week than all his three wagon crews will mark for the +Three Bar in a year. The first three weeks of each season your men do +a little more work for Slade than they do for you. It's a safe bet +that the Halfmoon D does the same, and so on through every brand that +joins his range. That puts him way off ahead." +</P> + +<P> +"But that is pure accident," she said. +</P> + +<P> +"It's pure design," he stated. "His boys are busy shoving his cows +from the middle all ways so that when fall comes he has a good inside +block that's only been lightly fed over. They fall back on that for +winter feed. Last winter, when cows were dying like rats, his men were +out drifting Slade's stuff back toward his middle range." +</P> + +<P> +"That's true enough," she admitted. "But——" +</P> + +<P> +"But you thought he was doing it as a favor to you—getting his surplus +off your territory so your own cows would have a better chance. That's +the same kind of talk he floated all round the line; playing the +benevolent neighbor when in reality the old pirate had deliberately +planned, year after year, to overcrowd your range and feed you out." +</P> + +<P> +"But his men would know," she objected. +</P> + +<P> +"Not many of them would grasp the whole scheme of it," he said. "You +hadn't thought of it yourself. He'd detail a pair of boys to shove a +few hundred head way off to the south. A few days later another couple +would be throwing a bunch off northeast. See? And what if a few of +them did surmise? They're riding for his brand." +</P> + +<P> +The girl nodded. That unalterable code again,—the religion of being +loyal to one's brand. Not one of Slade's men would balk at doing it +knowingly; each would do anything to advance his interests as long as +he drew his pay from Slade. +</P> + +<P> +"I doubt if there's a dozen men within two hundred miles that haven't +lifted a few calves now and then for the brand they were riding for. +That's the way it goes. A rule that was fine to start—loyalty to the +hand that paid you; then carried too far until it's degenerated into a +tool that's often abused," he said. +</P> + +<P> +As they talked Harris detailed men for each draw but when they reached +the point where they were due to drop down and cross the valley he +pulled up his horse. +</P> + +<P> +"You take the rest of the circle, Carp," he instructed Carpenter. "I'm +going to ride off up the ridge a piece." The girl regarded him +curiously. No less than three times in the last week he had stopped +midway of the circle and asked her to complete it. Now he had turned +it over to Carp and he signaled her to remain with him. +</P> + +<P> +"Where are we going?" she asked as she watched the men ride down toward +the bottoms. "And why?" +</P> + +<P> +"Back the way we came," he said. "And maybe I can show you why." +</P> + +<P> +He headed back the divide they had just followed until he came to the +saddle at the head of a draw that led down to the valley. Far below +them they could see a rider hazing a bunch of cows out into the +bottoms. High on the right-hand slope of the gulch lay a notch, a +little blind basin watered by the seepage from a sidehill spring, and +there on the green bed of it a dozen cows with their calves grazed +undisturbed. For perhaps five minutes Harris lolled sidewise in the +saddle and watched them. Then a rider appeared on the ridge that +divided that draw from the next, dropped in below the cows and headed +them back over the ridge into the draw from which he had appeared. +Even at that distance she recognized this last man as Lanky Evans. +Harris resumed his way down the divide and she knew that he had +discovered some irregularity for which he had been seeking. +</P> + +<P> +"Who was the man that overlooked those cows?" she asked. "Who worked +that draw?" +</P> + +<P> +"Morrow," he said. "His eyesight is getting bad. That's the second +time this week—and the last. I've detailed Lanky to work the gulch +next to him every circle so that he could drop over the ridge and see +what was going on. That's why he's always late coming in—not because +he's lazy but because he's been working almost a double shift." +</P> + +<P> +"Then Morrow is an inside man for Harper," she said. "Drawing Three +Bar pay and working against us too." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," he said. "Only he's an inside man for Slade." +</P> + +<P> +"But how could his leaving those calves behind benefit Slade?" she +demanded. +</P> + +<P> +"How could it benefit Harper?" he countered. "Can you tell me that?" +</P> + +<P> +She could not and motioned for him to go on. +</P> + +<P> +"None of Harper's men has a brand of his own," he said. "They're +living on the move. They can't wait for calves to grow up. The way +they work is to run a bunch of beef steers across into Idaho. They'll +pick up another bunch there and shove them across the Utah line and +repeat by moving a drove of some Utah brand up in here. Only beef +steers—quick turning stuff. You know about the reputation of the O V +and the Lazy H Four." +</P> + +<P> +She knew all too well. There was a half-feud, a smoldering distrust +displayed between cowmen on each side of the three State lines, a +triangle of ill feeling. It was current rumor that the O V and the +Lazy H Four, ranging far southwest of the Three Bar, would traffic in +any steers that came from across either the Utah or Idaho line. In the +corner of those States were similar outfits that were receiving +stations for rustled stock from the opposite sides. But they were good +neighbors and kept hands off so far as brands on their home range were +concerned. It was part of the game, and as long as their own interests +were not disturbed the adjacent outfits were blind. The triangular +feud had been fostered to a point where the thieves were immune. Even +if a direct complaint should be brought against them they had but to +ride across into another State and a sheriff following them would be +helpless, the inhabitants resenting this intrusion into their affairs +by an officer from another State, truly having no right there, and +refusing to aid him even if they did not actually oppose his passage. +</P> + +<P> +"But how would it benefit Slade?" she repeated. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, suppose that Morrow overlooked a nice bunch of Three Bar calves +all along this first strip next to Slade's range," Harris said. "Then +some Slade rider happens to drop along after our wagon has moved on and +he hazes them off south. Later another picks them up and shoves them +along another half-day's drive—way beyond where our boys ever work, +even beyond the strip covered by Slade's north wagon, the only one that +carries a Three Bar rep; what then?" +</P> + +<P> +"The calves would still be with mothers wearing the Three Bar mark," +she said. "After they leave the cows they're slicks, fair game for the +first man that puts his rope on them—and Slade wouldn't risk running +one of his own brands on them before they left the cows." +</P> + +<P> +"Not one of his own, no," Harris said; "only one that's going to be his +later on. Did it ever strike you as queer that Slade, whose way is to +crush every new outfit, should suffer a soft-hearted streak every year +or so and befriend some party that had elected to start up for himself +right in the middle of Slade's range? And later buy him out? That's +the way he came into nearly every brand he runs." +</P> + +<P> +"He's impulsive in his friendships," she defended. "He has always been +like that." +</P> + +<P> +"And his impulses embrace some right queer folks," Harris remarked. +"Several of those dinky little owners have moved out right sudden with +a dozen riders from some other outfit fanning along close behind; +McArthur didn't even get moved, for the Brandons went on the war trail +before he had time to start. But it transpired that he was all set to +go because Slade showed bill of sale for Mac's holdings, dated only the +day before. That's how he came to own every one of those brands that +match up so close with those of every outfit that overlaps his range." +</P> + +<P> +"But if he actually dealt with so many as you believe, some one of them +would be sure to have trouble later on and tell of it," she argued. +</P> + +<P> +"And it would be the word of a self-confessed thief against that of the +biggest owner within two hundred miles, and Slade would laugh at +him—or kill him, according to whatever mood he happened to be in." +</P> + +<P> +They had turned their horses down a long ridge that led to the wagon in +the bottoms. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll mention to the boys that Morrow sold out the interests of the +Three Bar while he was drawing down your pay. They'll pass sentence on +him right sudden. Four hours from now they'll have dry-gulched him so +far from nowhere that even the coyotes can't find him." +</P> + +<P> +"Not that," she said. "Turn him over to the sheriff. You caught him +in the act." +</P> + +<P> +"In the act of missing a few cows on his detail. The sheriff would +hold him almost an hour before he let him go." +</P> + +<P> +"Then give him his check and send him off the Three Bar range," she +said. +</P> + +<P> +Harris waited till the herd had been worked and the men had gathered +round the wagon. Then he handed Morrow a check. +</P> + +<P> +"Here's your time," he said. "You can be leaving almost any time now." +</P> + +<P> +Every man knew that Morrow had been caught at some piece of work +contrary to the interests of the Three Bar. The discharged hand gave a +short ugly laugh. +</P> + +<P> +"As soon as you pussyfooted into the foreman's job I knew it was only a +question of time," he said. +</P> + +<P> +"Exactly," Harris returned. "Pack your stuff." +</P> + +<P> +"A foreman has a scattering of a dozen or so men to back him up," +Morrow observed with a shrug of one shoulder toward the rest of the men. +</P> + +<P> +Harris turned to the girl. +</P> + +<P> +"I resign for about sixty seconds," he said and swung back toward +Morrow; and again all hands noted his queer quartering stand. "I'm not +foreman right at this minute," he said. "So if you had anything in +particular to address to me in a personal vein you can start now. +Otherwise you'd better be packing your stuff." +</P> + +<P> +Morrow turned his back and headed for the rope corral. When he had +saddled one horse and packed his effects on another he turned to Evans. +</P> + +<P> +"You helped frame this on me," he said. "I thought I saw you messing +over into my detail a few days back." +</P> + +<P> +"Right on the first ballot," Lanky assented. "I'm only riding for one +brand at a time." +</P> + +<P> +"One day right soon I'll run across you again," Morrow prophesied. +</P> + +<P> +"Then I'll take to riding with my head over my shoulder—surveying my +back-track," Lanky promised. "Because we'll most likely meet from +behind." +</P> + +<P> +For the first time Morrow's bleak face changed expression, the lines +deepening from the strain of holding himself steady in the face of the +contemptuous insults with which Lanky casually replied to his threats. +</P> + +<P> +He started to snarl an answer, his usual self-repression deserting him, +but Harris waved an impatient hand. +</P> + +<P> +"Drag it!" he snapped. "Get moving. If I had my own way we'd lead +your horse out from under you—and we will if I ever hear of your +turning up on the Three Bar range again." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap06"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +VI +</H3> + + +<P> +Billie Warren rode with Harris on the last lap of the circle. There +were but two men remaining with them. +</P> + +<P> +"Moore!" Harris called, and the man turned his horse down the head of a +draw that would lead him out into the bottoms a trifle less than a mile +above the wagon. Harris heard a shrill whistle behind him and turned +sidewise in the saddle to look back, saw that Moore had regained the +ridge and was signaling. They turned and rode back to him. +</P> + +<P> +"There's another," Moore said, pointing down the gulch. "It's getting +to be a habit." +</P> + +<P> +A dead cow lay on a little flat a hundred yards below. For three +consecutive days some rider had found a fresh-killed Three Bar cow. +Every animal had been shot. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll look this one over myself," Harris decided. "There's only two +more gulches to work. Each one of you boys take one." +</P> + +<P> +The girl followed him as he turned down the first steep pitch. They +pulled up their horses and sat looking at the cow. A trickle of blood +oozed out of a hole between her eyes. Harris rode in a circle round +the spot. +</P> + +<P> +"He downed her from some point above," he said. "Not a sign anywhere +close at hand." He surveyed the ridges that flanked either side of the +draw and the little saddle-like depression at the head of it from which +they had just descended. From beyond this gap came the shrill nicker +of a horse, the sound chopped short as if a man had clamped his hand on +the animal's nostrils to silence it. Harris turned swiftly to the girl. +</P> + +<P> +"It's a plant," he said. "Ride—hard!" +</P> + +<P> +He suited his action to the words and jumped his horse off down the +bottoms. He waved her over to one side. +</P> + +<P> +"Keep well away from me!" he ordered. "They don't want you." +</P> + +<P> +They hung their spurs into their mounts and the horses plunged down the +steeply-pitching bottoms, vaulting sage clumps and bounding along the +cow trails that threaded the brush. Two hundred yards below the cow +the draw made an elbow bend. The girl rounded it and as Harris +followed a jump behind he felt a jarring tug at the cantle of his +saddle and the thin, sharp crack of a rifle reached him. The gulch +made a reverse bend and as they swept around it Harris swung sidewise +in the saddle and looked back. They were entirely sheltered from any +point on the divide six hundred yards behind them. He pulled his horse +to a swinging trot and they rode down the sloping meadow that led +straight to the main valley. +</P> + +<P> +"It was certainly stupid of me not to know right off that it was a +decoy," he said. "A man just out to act spiteful would have piled up a +dozen cows at one stand and left. He's downed one every day—in plain +sight of the divide we'd follow on the circle, knowing that I'd soon +ride down to look one over myself. All he had to do was to cache +himself on the far side, watch for me to ride down, wait until the rest +had gone on and climb to the divide and pot me. And it would have been +so dead easy to turn the tables and bushwhack him," he added +regretfully. "If only I'd have used my head in time." +</P> + +<P> +A sick chill swept the girl as she thought of an enemy with the +patience to kill a cow every day, use it for a decoy and wait for a +chance at his human prey. +</P> + +<P> +The cows that grazed on the meadow raced off ahead of them. A bunch of +wild range horses swept up the broken slopes and wheeled to watch them +pass. +</P> + +<P> +"We didn't get started any too soon," Harris said. "His horse wasn't +more than a hundred feet beyond the notch when he blew off and warned +us—not time for me to get cached and drop him as he topped the ridge." +</P> + +<P> +The girl's eyes suddenly riveted on a small round hole in the cantle of +his saddle where the ball had entered. On the inside and far to the +left extremity of the cantle a ragged gash showed where if had passed +out. The shot had been fired as he wheeled round the sharp bend, +quartering away from the man above, but even then the ball had not +missed his left hip to exceed an inch. +</P> + +<P> +She started her horse so suddenly that before he realized her purpose +she was well in the lead and going at a dead run toward the mouth of +the gulch where it opened out into the main bottoms two hundred yards +beyond. +</P> + +<P> +From the opposite slope riders were hazing cows out of their respective +draws; some had reached the wagon; others were coming down from above. +The running horse caught every man's eye as the girl careened out into +the center of the valley, rose in her stirrups and waved an arm in a +circle above her head. In five seconds riders were whirling in behind +her from all directions as she headed for the wagon. +</P> + +<P> +She waved those already on the spot toward the rope corral. +</P> + +<P> +"Change horses!" she called, and as each man rode in he caught up a +fresh horse. +</P> + +<P> +"Scatter out; some of you below where we came down, some above," she +said. "Five hundred to the man that brings Morrow in." +</P> + +<P> +"It's no use, Billie," Harris counseled mildly. "He's plum out of the +country by now. It'll be dark in three hours—and it's right choppy +country over there." +</P> + +<P> +Waddles interposed and seconded her move. +</P> + +<P> +"Let 'em rip," he said. "There's just a chance." +</P> + +<P> +Bangs was the first to change mounts. The boy's physical +qualifications were as sound as his mental ability was limited and it +was his pride to have a string of mounts that included the worst horses +in the lot. He rode from the corral on Blue, holding the big roan +steady, and headed up the ridge a mile below where Harris and the girl +had come down. Rile Foster chose the next; five riders were but a few +jumps behind. Harris did not change horses but searched hastily in his +war bag and slipped the strap of a binocular case across his shoulders +and rode off with the girl as she finished cinching her saddle on a +fresh horse. +</P> + +<P> +In less than five minutes from the time she had reached the wagon the +last Three Bar man had mounted and gone. Harris rode with her up a +long ridge that led up to the divide; they followed another into the +next bottoms and ascended the second divide. This was sharp and rocky, +its crest a maze of ragged pinnacles. He chose the highest of these +and dismounted to sweep the range with his glasses. The low country +beyond them was broken and choppy, a succession of tiny box canyons and +rough coulees. Off to the right he made out Rile Foster working +through the tangle. Somewhere beyond him Bangs would be doing the +same. Riders came into view off to the left, crossing some ridge, only +to disappear once more. The high point afforded a view of every ridge +for miles. After perhaps half an hour Harris caught five horsemen in +the field of his glasses. They were riding in a knot. +</P> + +<P> +"They've picked up his trail," he said. "But he'll have too long a +lead. He'll be fanning right along and they'll have to work out a +track. In less than two hours it will be dark—and by morning he'll be +forty miles from here and up on a fresh horse." +</P> + +<P> +He rested his elbows on the ground to steady the glasses as he trained +them off in the direction the five men had gone. Twice he saw them +cross over ridges. Then a tiny, swift-moving speck came into his field +of view, traveling up the slope of a distant divide. The ant-like +rider dipped over the crest of it and was gone. +</P> + +<P> +"He's more than five miles in the lead of them," he said. "Across +rough country too. There was just a chance that he would work back +through these breaks below us instead of making a ride for it, and we +could have spotted him from up here. We might as well be going." +</P> + +<P> +They mounted and headed to the right along the divide. +</P> + +<P> +"If Rile is in sight we can wait for him," he said. "And see if he's +picked up any tracks." +</P> + +<P> +A half-mile along the ridge they saw Foster off through the breaks and +he was working back their way. +</P> + +<P> +"Thanks, Billie," Harris said. "For losing a circle trying to run him +down." +</P> + +<P> +"I'd have done as much for any Three Bar man," she returned. +</P> + +<P> +"Of course," he said. "I'd have expected that. But all the same I'd +hardly looked to see you show much concern over what happened to me." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't want to see even you shot in the back," she said. "Is that +answer enough?" +</P> + +<P> +"It shows that I'm progressing," he smiled. "Maybe my good qualities +will grow on you until you get to thinking right well of me." +</P> + +<P> +They waited till Foster joined them on the ridge. +</P> + +<P> +"Bangs crossed over a mile below," Rile said. "We might pick him up." +</P> + +<P> +"Any sign?" Harris asked as they moved down the divide. +</P> + +<P> +"A bunch of shod horses went down through there a few days back," Rile +said. "Three or four men likely, with a few pack horses along. There +was a fresh track, made this morning, going up-country alone. He +likely stayed at their camp all night, wherever it is. I worked +across, thinking he might go back to it; but there was no down trail. +He's pulled out." +</P> + +<P> +"I saw him," Harris said. "He's gone." +</P> + +<P> +They stopped in the saddle of the ridge where a fresh track showed the +spot Bangs had crossed. +</P> + +<P> +The girl was looking at Harris and saw a sudden pallor travel up under +his tan and as she turned to see what had occasioned it he crowded his +horse against her own. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't look!" he ordered, and forced her horse over the far side of the +ridge. "You'd better ride on back to the wagon," he urged. "There's +been some sort of doings over across. Rile and I will ride down and +look into it." Without a word she turned her horse toward the wagon. +</P> + +<P> +"It's God's mercy she didn't see," Harris said, as the two crossed back +over the ridge. "Isn't that a hell of a way for a man to die?" +</P> + +<P> +But the girl had seen. Her one brief look had revealed a horse coming +round a bend in a little box canyon below. A shapeless thing dragged +from one stirrup and at every third or fourth jump the big blue horse +side-slashed the limp bundle with his heels. +</P> + +<P> +As the two men reached the bottoms the frenzied horse had stopped and +was fighting to free himself of the thing that followed him. He moved +away from it in a circle but it was always with him. He squealed and +kicked it, then dashed off in a fresh panic, side-swiping his pursuer. +</P> + +<P> +Harris's rope tightened on his neck and threw him. As he rolled over +Foster's noose snared both hind feet and he was held stretched and +helpless between two trained cow horses while the men disengaged the +bundle that had once been Bangs. One boot heel was missing and his +foot was jammed through the stirrup, evidence that the horse had +pitched with him and the loosened heel had come off, allowing his foot +to slip through as he was thrown. +</P> + +<P> +Harris pointed to a burnt red streak across the right side of Bangs's +neck. He unbuttoned his shirt and revealed a similar streak under his +left armpit. +</P> + +<P> +Old Rile cursed horribly and his face seemed to have aged ten years. +</P> + +<P> +"They learned that from the albino," he said. "It's an old trick that +always works. They dropped a rope on him and jerked him, pried off his +heel, shoved his boot through and laid the quirt on his horse. Blue +did the rest." +</P> + +<P> +Both men knew well how it had happened. Bangs had run across the camp +of some of the wild bunch, men he had known for long, and the +slow-thinking youth had suspected no more danger from riding on up to +them at this time than at any other. He had told them of the shot +fired at Harris and they had known that some other Three Bar man would +find the trail leading from the direction of their camp. And Bangs +would mention having found them there, linking them with the +bushwhacker. +</P> + +<P> +When Bangs had left a pair of them had ridden a distance with him and +accomplished their aim. +</P> + +<P> +"It's coming dark," Harris said. "And by morning they'll be thirty +miles away. That sort of a killing was never fastened on to any man +yet." +</P> + +<P> +The old man raised a doubled fist and his face was lined with sorrow. +</P> + +<P> +"Bangs was almost a son to me," he said. "I taught him to ride—and +we've rode together on every job since then. You hear me! Some one is +going to die for this!" +</P> + +<P> +It was an hour after sundown when they reached the wagon with all that +was earthly of Bangs lashed across the blue horse and it was midnight +before the five men who had followed the trail returned with the word +that they had been unable to even sight the man they tracked. +</P> + +<P> +During the next week the girl inwardly accused the men of +heartlessness. They jested as carelessly as if nothing unusual had +occurred and she heard no mention of Bangs. It seemed that it took but +a day for them to forget a former comrade who had come to an untimely +end. Rile Foster had disappeared but on the fifth day he turned up at +the Three Bar wagon and resumed his work without the least explanation +of his absence. +</P> + +<P> +The old man was gloomy and silent, his face set in sorrowful lines as +he went about his work, and it was evident that he was continually +brooding over the fate of the youth he had loved. It seemed to the +girl that the men were even more cheerful and thoughtless than usual, +that they concerned their minds with every conceivable topic except +that which was uppermost in her own. The death of Bangs had affected +them not at all. +</P> + +<P> +She could not shake off the remembrance of the boy's adoring gaze as +his eyes had followed every move she made and in some vague way she +felt that she was responsible for the accident. She often rode near +Rile Foster, knowing what was in his mind. He spoke but little and, in +common with the rest, he never once mentioned Bangs. +</P> + +<P> +At the end of a week Slade rode up to the wagon as the men were working +the cows gathered in the second circle of the day. He jerked his head +to draw her aside out of range of Waddles's ears. +</P> + +<P> +"How's the Three Bar showing up this spring?" he asked abruptly. +</P> + +<P> +"Better than ever," she retorted and he caught a note of defiance in +her voice. +</P> + +<P> +"You're lying, Billie," he asserted calmly. "The Three Bar will show +another shrinkage this year." +</P> + +<P> +"How do you know?" she flashed; and the distrust of him that Harris had +roused in her, lately submerged beneath the troubling thoughts of +Bangs, was suddenly quickened and thrown uppermost in her mind. In +gauging him from this new angle she sensed a ruthlessness in him that +was not confined solely to business efficiency; he would crush her +interests without a qualm if it would gain his end. +</P> + +<P> +"I know," he asserted. "It's my business to know everything that goes +on anywhere near my range. There's not another outfit within a hundred +miles that's on the increase. They're just hanging on, some of them +making a little, some of them not. You say you want to run the Three +Bar brand yourself. There's not a man in this country that would touch +a Three Bar cow if you was hooked up with me." +</P> + +<P> +"And then the Three Bar would be only one out of a dozen or more Slade +brands," she said. She pointed to the men that worked with the milling +cows in the flat. "That's what I want," she said. "To run an outfit +of my own—not one of yours." +</P> + +<P> +For no reason at all she was suddenly convinced of the truth of +Harris's suspicions concerning Slade. She noted that his eyes traveled +from one man to the next till he had scrutinized every one that worked +the herd. +</P> + +<P> +"Are you looking for Morrow?" she demanded, and instantly regretted her +remark. Slade's face did not change by so much as the bat of an eye +and he failed to reply for a space—too long a space, she +reflected—then turned to her. +</P> + +<P> +"Morrow—who's he?" he asked. "And why should I look for him?" +</P> + +<P> +"He rode for you last year," she said. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh! That fellow. I recall him now. Bleak-looking citizen," he said. +"And what about him?" +</P> + +<P> +"You tell me," she countered. +</P> + +<P> +"That new foreman of yours—the fellow that was scouting round alone +for a few months—has been talking with his mouth," Slade said. "If he +keeps that up I'll have to ask him to speak right out what's on his +mind." +</P> + +<P> +"He'll tell you," she prophesied. "What then?" +</P> + +<P> +"Then I'll kill him," the man stated. +</P> + +<P> +The girl motioned to Lanky Evans and he rode across to them. +</P> + +<P> +"Lanky, I want you to remember this," she said. "Slade has just +promised to kill Harris. And if he does I'll spend every dollar I own +seeing that he's hung for it," she turned to Slade. "You might repeat +what you just told me," she suggested. +</P> + +<P> +Slade looked at her steadily. +</P> + +<P> +"You misunderstood me," he stated. "I don't recall any remark to that +effect or even to mentioning the name of Harris. Who is he, anyhow?" +</P> + +<P> +Evans slouched easily in the saddle and twisted a smoke. +</P> + +<P> +"Now let's get this straight what I'm to remember," he said. "Mr. +Slade was saying that he planned to down Cal Harris the first time he +caught him out alone. I heard him remark to that effect." He turned +and grinned cheerfully at Slade. "That's his very words—and I'd swear +to it as long as my breath held out. I'll sort of repeat it over to +myself so that I can give it to the judge word for word when the time +comes." +</P> + +<P> +Slade favored him with a long stare which Lanky bore with unconcern, +smiling back at him pleasantly. +</P> + +<P> +"I've got my little piece memorized," Evans said; "and in parting let +me remark that Cal Harris will prove a new sort of a victim for you to +work on. If you tie into him he'll tear down your meat-house." He +turned his horse and rode back to the herd. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll play your own game," the girl told Slade. "If anything happens +to another man who is riding for me and I have any reason to even +suspect you were at the bottom of it I'll swear that I saw you do the +thing yourself. The Three Bar is the only outfit with a clean enough +record to drag anything up for an airing before the courts without +taking a chance. This rule of every man for himself won't hold good +with me." +</P> + +<P> +She moved toward the wagon and Slade kept pace with her, leading his +horse. There was no sign of life around the wagon and the jerky +movement of a hat, barely visible through the tips of the sage, +indicated that Waddles was washing out some clothing at the creek bank +fifty yards away. +</P> + +<P> +Slade leaned against the hind wheel on the far side from the herd and +looked down at her. +</P> + +<P> +"You're a real woman, Billie," he said. "You better throw in with a +real man—me—and we'll own this country. I'll run the Three Bar on +ten thousand head whenever you say the word." +</P> + +<P> +"I'd rather see it on half as many through my own efforts," she said. +"And some day I will." +</P> + +<P> +"Some day you'll see it my way," he prophesied. "I know you better +than any other man. You want an outfit of your own—and if the Three +Bar gets crowded out you'll go to the man that can give you one in its +place. That will be me. Some day we'll trade." +</P> + +<P> +"Some day—right soon—you'll trade your present holdings for a nice +little range in hell," a voice said in Slade's ear and at the same +instant two huge paws were thrust from the little window of the +cook-wagon and clamped on his arms above the crook of his elbows. +Slade was a powerful man but he was an infant in the grip of the two +great hands that raised him clear of the ground and shook him before he +was slammed down on his face ten feet away by a straight-arm thrust. +His deadly temper flared and the swift move for his gun was +simultaneous with the twist which brought him to his feet, but his hand +fell away from the butt of it as he looked into the twin muzzles of a +sawed-off shotgun which menaced him from the window. +</P> + +<P> +It occurred to him that the nighthawk must have been restless and had +elected to wash at the creek bank instead of indulging in sleep, thus +accounting for the bobbing hat he had seen, for assuredly it did not +belong to the cook, as he had surmised. The face behind the gun was +the face of Waddles. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm about to touch off a pound of shot if you go acting up," Waddles +said. "Any more talk like you was just handing out and you'll get +smeared here and there." +</P> + +<P> +"Are you running the Three Bar?" Slade asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Only at times, when the notion strikes me," Waddles said. "And this +is one. Whenever you've got any specific business to transact with us +why come right along over and transact it—and then move on out." +</P> + +<P> +Billie Warren laughed suddenly, a gurgle of sheer amusement at the +sight of the most dreaded man within a hundred miles standing there +under the muzzle of a shotgun, receiving instructions from the mouth of +the Three Bar cook. For Slade was helpless and knew it. Even if he +took a chance with Waddles and won out he would be in worse shape than +before, for if he turned a finger against her old watchdog and friend +he would gain only her deadly enmity. +</P> + +<P> +"Waddles, you win," Slade said. "I'll be going before you change your +mind." +</P> + +<P> +As the man walked toward his horse which had sidled a few steps away +the big cook gazed after him and fingered the riot gun regretfully. +</P> + +<P> +The wagon did not move on when the men had finished working the herd as +the rest of the day had been set aside for kill-time. An hour after +Slade's departure the hands were rolling in for a sleep. The girl saw +Rile Foster draw apart from the rest and sit with his back against a +rock. He was regarding some small object held in his hand. As he +turned it around she recognized it as a boot heel and the reason for +Rile's absence was clear to her. He had back-tracked the blue horse to +the scene of the mishap. +</P> + +<P> +She was half asleep when a voice some distance from the teepee roused +her by speaking the name of Bangs. +</P> + +<P> +"I've a pretty elastic conscience myself," the voice went on. "I'm not +above lifting a few calves for the brand I'm riding for or any little +thing like that, but this deal sort of gorges up in me. They'll never +cinch it on to any man—they never do. Old Rile is brooding over it. +He'll likely run amuck. One way or another he'll try to break even for +Bangs." +</P> + +<P> +Billie recognized the voice as Moore's and knew that one of her men, at +least, had not forgotten Bangs. It was the first time an intimation +that the affair was other than an accident had reached her ears. +</P> + +<P> +In the evening, after resting, the men once more gathered round a fire +for an hour's play. They had evidently blotted out the memory of a +friend who had raised his voice with theirs on the last such event, for +they sang mostly the rollicking airs with even more than the usual +amount of chaff between songs. But there was one old favorite that +they did not sing. At last Waddles swung into the tune of it and as +they buried the poor cowboy far out on the lone prair-ee she noted the +difference at once, and more clearly than ever before she divined the +reason why cowhands were apparently so devoid of sentiment, refusing to +be serious on any topic, passing off those things nearest to their +hearts with a callous jest. It was only that there were so many rough +spots in the hard life they led that they avoided dwelling too +seriously on matters that could not be rectified lest they become +gloomy and morose. There were warm hearts under the indifferent +exteriors. For now the voices were soft and hushed and she knew that +every man was thinking of the lonely mound of rocks that marked the +last resting place of Bangs. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap07"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +VII +</H3> + + +<P> +The calf round-up was nearing the end. Two weeks would see the finish +and supply the final tally. The figures had already progressed to the +point where they gave evidence of another shrinkage from the count of +the previous year; and during one of the weekly half-day periods of +rest three members of the Three Bar personnel found their minds +occupied with a problem which excluded all thoughts of sleep. The +problem in each case was the same but each one viewed it from the +individual standpoint of his own particular knowledge of the subject. +</P> + +<P> +Harris sat on a rock and reviewed the plans he had formulated for the +salvation of the Three Bar brand, realizing the weak spots and mapping +out some special line of defense that might serve to strengthen them. +In the seclusion of the wagon Waddles was carefully rereading a +much-thumbed document for perhaps the hundredth time. A man had come +in at daylight with the mail from Brill's and Billie Warren was within +her teepee poring over her share of it. The men had finished theirs +and were sleeping. +</P> + +<P> +The girl read first the four letters in the same handwriting, one to +mark each week she had been on the round-up. The fifth was from Judge +Colton, her father's old friend, to whose hands all his affairs had +been entrusted. After scanning this she read again the other four. +Ever since her last visit to the Coltons, just prior to her father's +death, the arrival of these letters had been as regular as the +recurrence of Sunday, one for each week, and in moments of despondency +over the affairs of the Three Bar she drew strength from them. Very +soon now, in the course of a few months at the outside, she and the +writer would meet away from his native environment and in the midst of +her own. Always before this had been reversed and her association with +Carlos Deane had held a background of his own setting,—a setting in +startling contrast to her log house, nestling in a desert of sage. The +Deane house was a wonderful old-fashioned mansion set in a grove of +century-old elms and oaks. She knew his life and now he would see her +in her natural surroundings. +</P> + +<P> +Perhaps it was her very difference from other girls that had first +interested Carlos Deane, and the fact that he stood out from others, +even among his own intimates, that had drawn her interest to him. +Deane had been an athlete of renown and a popular idol at school and +his energy had been brought to bear in business as successfully as in +play. In a hazy sort of way she felt that some day she would listen to +the plea that, in some fashion or other, was woven into every letter; +but not till the Three Bar was booming and no longer required her +supervision. Everything else in the world was secondary to her love +for her father's brand and the anxiety of the past two years of its +decline eclipsed all other issues. +</P> + +<P> +Her reflections were interrupted by Harris's voice just outside her +teepee. +</P> + +<P> +"Asleep, Billie?" he asked softly. +</P> + +<P> +"No," she said. "What is it?" +</P> + +<P> +"I've thrown your saddle on Papoose," he said. "Let's have a look +around." +</P> + +<P> +She assented and they rode off up the left-hand slope of the valley. A +mile or so from the wagon Harris dismounted on a high point. +</P> + +<P> +"Let's have a medicine chat," he offered. "I've got considerable on my +mind." +</P> + +<P> +She leaned against a rock and he sat cross-legged on the ground, facing +her and twisting a cigarette as an aid to thought. Her head was tilted +back against the rock, her eyes half-closed. +</P> + +<P> +"They say folks get disappointed in love and go right on living," he +observed. "I wonder now. I've met quite a scattering of girls and +maybe there were a dozen or so out of the lot that sized up a shade +better than the rest. Looking back from where I sit it occurs to me +that it was a right colorless assortment, after all. I've heard that +men run mostly to form and at one time or another let it out to some +little lady that there's no other in the world. That's my own state +right about now. Are you always going to keep on disliking me?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't dislike you," she said. She was still convinced of his +father's trickery toward her own; but Cal Harris's quiet efficiency and +his devotion to Three Bar interests had convinced her, against her +will, that he had taken no part in it. "But if you brought me out here +to go into that I'm going back." +</P> + +<P> +"I didn't," he denied. "But I drifted into it sort of by accident. No +matter what topic I happen to be conversing on I'm always thinking how +much I'd rather be telling you about that. Whenever I make some simple +little assertion about things in general, what I'm really thinking is +something like this, 'Billie, right this minute I'm loving you more +than I did two minutes back.' You might keep that in mind." +</P> + +<P> +The girl did not answer but sat looking off across the jumbled +foothills, rock-studded and gray with sage. Some distance from them a +bare shale-slide extended for half a mile along a sidehill, barren and +devoid of all vegetation. Here and there, far off across the country, +vivid patches on the slopes indicated thickets of willows and birch +growing below spring seeps. A few scattered cedars sprouted from the +rocky ledges of the more broken country and a clump of gnarled, +wind-twisted cottonwoods marked a distant water hole. A whitish glare +was reflected from an alkali flat in the bottom of a shallow basin. +Twenty miles to the north the first rims of the hills rose out of the +low country and through the breaks in them she could see long sloping +valleys of lodgepole, the dark green relieved by the pale silvery sheen +of aspen clumps; dense spruce jungles of the more precipitous slopes +topped by rugged peaks covered with perpetual snow; certainly no soft +or homelike scene. One must be filled with a vast love of it—or die +of it—for without that love of the open life would be a deadly thing +to bear in a desert of sage. +</P> + +<P> +"I've always loved it," she said. "Whenever I've been away there +always came a time when I was restless to get back. I've always felt +that it would kill me to leave with the idea that I'd never see the +Three Bar range again. But now the country has changed. At times it +seems as if it would be a vast relief to me to leave it all behind." +</P> + +<P> +"It's the people that have changed," he said. "It's only the history +of all frontiers. The first settlers win it for themselves. Then +clashing elements creep in; sheep and cattle wars; stockmen and +squatter quarrels; later the weeding out of the wild bunch—parasites +like Harper's crew: still later there'll be squabbles between the +nesters themselves; jumping claims and rowing over water rights. Then +it will all iron out, the country will settle up according to its +topography and give its best to the human race. You may grow to think +you hate the hills for what happens to you individually during the +change—but it's in your blood to love them and that love will always +return." +</P> + +<P> +"It may return if the Three Bar weathers the change," she said. +</P> + +<P> +"We'll weather it," he asserted cheerfully. "Shall I tell you how?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes. Tell me," she said. "I'd like to know. The Three Bar is going +to show another loss this year." +</P> + +<P> +"And likely the next," he assented. "Maybe still another. But that +will be about all." +</P> + +<P> +"That will surely be all," she said. "Two more years of decrease and +there won't be enough left of the Three Bar to divide." +</P> + +<P> +"Listen," he said, tapping his knee with a forefinger to emphasize his +point. "Cal Warren always wanted to put the Three Bar flats under +cultivation. He's probably told you that a hundred times." +</P> + +<P> +"A thousand," she amplified. "But the sentiment of the country was +against it the same as it is to-day." +</P> + +<P> +"But it's not," he contradicted. +</P> + +<P> +"Then why all those signs?" she asked. "They run every squatter out +now just as they always did." +</P> + +<P> +"Who?" he asked. "Do you have a hand in it?" +</P> + +<P> +"No," she said. "The others do." +</P> + +<P> +"Probably they think the same of you," he pointed out. "There's just +one man in this country that profits by keeping that no-squatter +sentiment alive." +</P> + +<P> +"You must hate Slade," she observed. +</P> + +<P> +"I haven't any feeling toward him one way or the other," he asserted. +"He's an obstacle, that's all. That's the way he would feel about me +if I stood in his way. There's at least one Slade in every locality +and in every line of business throughout the world. Ambition for +power. He wants the whole countryside. If he'd win out on that he'd +want the next—and finally he'd want the world." +</P> + +<P> +"He has this particular part of the world under his thumb," she said. +</P> + +<P> +"But he won't have for long," he insisted. "He's topheavy and ripe for +a fall. Those signs are all that saves him from going to pieces like +an over-inflated balloon. He's the only man we'll have to fight." +</P> + +<P> +"What convinces you of that?" she asked. +</P> + +<P> +"See here," he urged, the emphasizing forefinger tapping again. "This +will always be range country. It will only support a certain number of +cows. If the Three Bar had a section in hay to winter-feed your stuff +you could run double what you do now on the same range. It's the same +with every other small concern. There's only a few spots suitable for +home-ranch sites and every one of those has a brand running out of it +now—excepting those sites down in Slade's range. If all those outfits +put in hay it wouldn't cut up the range any more than it is now—except +down Slade's way. Every outfit in the country could run twice as many +head as they do now—except Slade. He couldn't." +</P> + +<P> +"Why?" she asked. "Why wouldn't that apply to him as well?" +</P> + +<P> +"Because he's strung out over a hundred miles. The minute farming +starts there'll be squatters filing on every quarter where they can get +water to put it in crop. There's twenty places Slade would have to +cover by filings to hold his range where the others would only have to +file on one to control the amount of range they're using now." +</P> + +<P> +She nodded as she caught this point. +</P> + +<P> +"Folks have fallen into a set habit of mind," he explained. "You think +because every squatter is burned out that every outfit but the Three +Bar is against sticking a plow in the ground. The rest probably feel +the same way—know they haven't a hand in it but figure that you have. +As a matter of fact, it's Slade alone. That's how I got a line on +Morrow the first night I landed. I said something about putting in hay +and he came right to the front and made a red-hot anti-squatter talk. +I knew right off he was Slade's man." +</P> + +<P> +"How could you be sure of that?" she asked. "I've heard men with every +outfit express the same views." +</P> + +<P> +"Morrow hasn't a brand of his own," Harris said. "He wouldn't lose a +dollar if the whole range was under fence. He's drawing down money to +keep that feeling alive. You'll find one with every outfit in this +country. And the chances are you'll find every one of them overlooking +a few calves on his circle—same as Morrow did. There's a persistent +rumor to the effect that any man who burns out a squatter can drop in +at Slade's and get five hundred dollars in cash. The wild bunch will +handle every case that turns up if that rumor is true." +</P> + +<P> +"The sheriff has never been able to pick up a single one of the men who +have burned those squatters out," she said. +</P> + +<P> +"And he never will without some help," Harris agreed. "Alden's hands +are tied. He's only an ornament right now and folks have come to +believe he's real harmless. But Alden is playing his own game +single-handed the best he can. One day he'll get his hooks into some +of these torch-bearers so deep they'll never shake them out. The +homestead laws can't be defied indefinitely. The government will take +a hand and send marshals in here thicker than flies. Then the outfits +that have hedged themselves in advance are on top. The rest are +through." +</P> + +<P> +"But what can the Three Bar do against Slade until those marshals +come?" she asked. +</P> + +<P> +"There's a difference between sacking an established outfit with a big +force of hands and burning out some isolated squatter roosting in a +wagon," Harris said. "I've filed on water out of the Crazy Loop to +cover the section I bought in the flats. We can pick men and give them +a job with the Three Bar between spells of doing prove-up work. We can +put in a company ditch to cover all the filings, pay them for working +on it and charge their pro-rata share of improvements up against each +man's final settlement. When they've made final proof we can buy out +those who want to sell." +</P> + +<P> +"The cost of a project like that would be too big for the Three Bar to +stand," she objected. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll put it up," he offered. "The money from the sale of the little +old Box L. I want to see this go through. We can square accounts when +the Three Bar makes the top of the hill." +</P> + +<P> +He pointed to a bunch of cows that fed in a bottom below them. +</P> + +<P> +"Look at that. Every color under the sun—and every shape. Let's put +the flats in hay, girl, and start grading the Three Bar up. We'll weed +out the runty humpbacked critters and all off-color she-stuff; keep +only straight red cows. It doesn't take much more feed to turn out a +real beef steer than one of those knife-backed brothers down in the +flat. We'll gather our own cows close to the home ranch and shove +other brands off our range, throw forty white-face bulls out close +round the place and start building up real beef; steers that will bring +fifty a head where those runts bring twenty-five. And big red +she-stock will bring more money too. In five years we'll have a +straight red brand and the Three Bar will be rated at thirty dollars a +head, come as they run on the range, instead of round ten or twelve as +they'd figure us now. We'll have good hay land that will be worth more +by itself than the whole brand is to-day. Say the word, girl, and +we'll build up the old outfit that both of our folks helped to found." +</P> + +<P> +The girl had closed her eyes as he painted this picture of +possibilities and except for the difference of voice it might well have +been old Cal Warren speaking; the views and sentiments were the same +she had so often heard her father express. Next to the longed-for +partnership with old Bill Harris the dream of his life had been to see +the Three Bar flats a smooth meadow of alfalfa. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll put a bunch of terriers in there that will be hard for Slade to +uproot," Harris said. "What do you say, Billie? Let's give it a try." +</P> + +<P> +"I'd like to see it done," she said. "But so much depends on the +outcome. I'll have to write Judge Colton first. He has all my affairs +in charge." +</P> + +<P> +Harris smiled across at her. +</P> + +<P> +"That's right peculiar," he observed. "The Judge is holding the reins +over my little prospects too. They've tangled your interests and mine +up all along the line it seems. You drop a line to Judge Colton and +sort of outline the plan. Maybe he'll see it our way." +</P> + +<P> +They mounted and rode back to the wagon and the girl went straight to +Waddles with the proposition Harris had urged. The big man had fallen +asleep with the paper he had been perusing still clutched in his hand. +</P> + +<P> +"Tell him to go his best," Waddles advised, when she had outlined +Harris's scheme. "He'll put a bunch of terriers on the Three Bar that +will cut Slade's claws. If they burn out the boys Cal Harris puts on +the place then there'll be one real war staged at the old Three Bar." +</P> + +<P> +"He's been telling you," she accused. +</P> + +<P> +"He did sort of mention it," Waddles confessed. +</P> + +<P> +"Then his idea is to import a bunch of gun-fighters," she said. "I +won't have a bunch of hired killers living at the Three Bar." +</P> + +<P> +"These boys will just be the sort that's handy at knowing how to avoid +getting killed themselves," Waddles evaded. "You can't rightly blame +any man for that. And besides, Slade has to be met on his own ground." +</P> + +<P> +"Do you think Slade is at the bottom of the Three Bar losses every +year?" she asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Every hoof," Waddles stated. "Every last head! Maybe the albino's +layout rustles an odd bunch on and off. But Slade is the man that's +out to wreck your brand." The big cook heaved a sigh as he reached a +decision on a matter which had been troubling him for days. "That's +what Cal Warren was afraid of—Slade's branching out our way like he +had already toward the south. And that's one reason he left things +tied up the way he did." +</P> + +<P> +He tapped the much-thumbed document on his knee and handed it to the +girl. +</P> + +<P> +"You and Young Cal have been sort of half-hostile," he said. "Cast an +eye over that and maybe it'll help you two youngsters to get along." +</P> + +<P> +Three times the girl read every word of the paper while Waddles smoked +his pipe in silence. Then she sat on the gate of the wagon and gazed +off across the sage; and she was picturing again the long trail of the +Three Bar cows; but this time she was reconstructing the scene at the +end of it. Instead of one man scheming to trick an old friend at the +last crossing of their trails she now visioned two old men regretting +that the life-long hope of a partnership had never been fulfilled and +planning to cement that arrangement in the next generation. For old +Bill Harris had left her a full half-interest in everything he owned on +earth with the single stipulation that she retain her half of the Three +Bar for five years after her father's death. +</P> + +<P> +"But why?" she asked presently. "Why did he do that for me? He'd +never seen me since I was three years old." +</P> + +<P> +"He did it for the girl of old Cal Warren, the best friend he had +topside of ground," Waddles said. "Your dad and Bill Harris had been +pals since they was hatched." +</P> + +<P> +"But why didn't they let us know?" she insisted. "Instead of tangling +it up in this round-about way?" +</P> + +<P> +"Bill Harris had a soft spot in his heart for the old Three Bar the +same as your daddy had," Waddles said. "They knew there was hard times +and changes ahead and both hated to think of the old brand going under +or changing hands. They was afraid that if both you and the boy knew +your path was going to be carpeted soft in any event that you might +sell out if things got to breaking wrong. This way it looked like +you'd be sure to stick. But they both knew too that when old folks go +mixing into young folks' affairs without consulting them, things are +liable to get all snarled. So they hedged it for both of you." +</P> + +<P> +"How?" she asked. "What if either or both of us should have refused to +abide by the terms?" +</P> + +<P> +"Then both properties would have been split between the two of you, the +same as if you'd carried them out," he said. "You didn't go and think +now, Pet, that them two wise old heads was going to leave the +youngsters in the lurch! They was planning the best they knew. Your +dad told me to keep an eye on the general lay. And Judge Colton sent +me that copy to have on hand to sort of iron things out when I thought +best. I'm telling you because I know you wouldn't quit the Three Bar +as long as there's two cows left." +</P> + +<P> +"Does Cal know?" she asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Not a word," Waddles asserted. "He's likely considerable puzzled +himself. But he's of a optimistic turn of mind, Cal is, and white +folks too. He surmises things will break right some day, knowing his +own dad and havin' visited round a day or two with yours. 'I don't +know what they're at,' he says to me. 'But they was both square +shooters, those old boys, and whatever it was they didn't aim to cook +up any misery for either the little girl or me, so what's the use to +fret?' You drop the Judge a line, girl, and turn Harris loose to rip +up the Three Bar flat and seed it down to hay." +</P> + +<P> +She nodded and slipped from the end-gate of the wagon, taking the paper +with her. Harris was soaking a flannel shirt in the little stream, +flattening it in a riffle and weighting it down with rocks. She went +straight to him and sat on the bank, motioning him to a seat by her +side. He dried his hands and took the paper she held out to him. +</P> + +<P> +"What's in the wind?" he asked. +</P> + +<P> +She nodded to indicate the document and he sat down to look over it. +His quizzical expression was erased as he saw his father's name and the +girl watched his face for some evidence of resentment as he read on. +Their status was now reversed, for Bill Harris's holdings had been +easily double those of her own parent. She saw the sun wrinkles deepen +at the corners of his eyes as he grasped the text of it and he looked +up at her and laughed. +</P> + +<P> +"Now we're resting easy," he said. "An even trade." +</P> + +<P> +"Uneven," she dissented. "Of course you know that I'll not take +advantage of that." +</P> + +<P> +"Accounts are all squared off between us now," he said. "And of course +you'll do just what it says." He held up his hand as she started to +dissent. "Don't you!" he reproved. "Let's let that end of it +slide—rest for a while. Maybe some day we'll lump both into one and +the two of us boss the whole job." +</P> + +<P> +She rested a hand on his arm. +</P> + +<P> +"Of course you know I'm sorry for a number of things I've said to you," +she said. "But I want to thank you for being too decent to return them +in kind. You're real folks, Cal." +</P> + +<P> +"Good girl, Billie," he thanked her. "As to what you said, it's +remarkable that you didn't say more. I knew you weren't crabbing over +what you might lose for yourself but over the thought that your father +had been tricked. I tried to put myself in your place and if I'd been +you I know I'd have kicked me off the place, or told Waddles to turn +loose his wolf." +</P> + +<P> +He switched abruptly away from the topic in hand and reverted to the +subject they had discussed an hour past. +</P> + +<P> +"We've a clear field now with nothing on our minds but the job of +putting the Three Bar on its feet," he said. "The Three Bar is a +pretty small outfit the way things are to-day but in a few more years +the brand that runs three thousand head will be almost in the class of +cattle kings. The range will be settled with an outfit roosting on +every available site. The big fellows will find their range cut up and +then they're through. If the Three Bar files on all the water out of +Crazy Loop and covers the flat with hay we'll control all the range for +a number of miles each way. There's not another site short of +Brandon's place west of us—twelve miles or so; about the same to the +east; still farther off south of us. We'll be riding the crest." +</P> + +<P> +"If we can only hold on against Slade," she agreed. "But can we?" +</P> + +<P> +"Watch us!" he said. "The Brandons would file on their home basin and +put the V L bottoms in hay to-morrow if they could. McVey's been +wanting to do it on the Halfmoon D ever since he bought out the brand +five years back. They're all afraid to start. But they'll be for +us—and follow us as soon as we show them it can be done. Art Brandon +is repping with us and I've been sounding him out. You talk to him. +In the meantime you try and get a letter off to the Judge to-day." +</P> + +<P> +The girl nodded. +</P> + +<P> +"We'll try it," she said. "I know that Cal Warren would rather see the +Three Bar go to pieces from its own pressure, fighting from the inside +to grow, than to see it whittled down from the outside without our +fighting back." +</P> + +<P> +She crossed to her teepee to write the letter asking Judge Colton's +advice on this matter which would mean the turning point in Three Bar +affairs. An hour later a man rode away from the wagon, his bed roll +packed on a led horse, heading for Brill's with the message that meant +so much to the Three Bar. As he left Harris handed him two letters he +had written weeks past, before leaving the ranch. +</P> + +<P> +Presumably only the three of them knew of the intended move but in the +course of the next few days it had become rumored among the men that +the Three Bar was to turn into a farming outfit. The girl learned that +Carpenter was the source of these whispers. Hanson, the rep from the +Halfmoon D, apprised her of this fact. +</P> + +<P> +Ever since the departure of Morrow Carp had been sullen. Twice he had +taken exceptions to some order of Harris's but the new foreman had +patiently overlooked the fact. However on the fifth day after the +departure of Horne with the letter to Judge Colton, Harris whirled on +the man as he made an anti-squatter remark when the hands were gathered +for the noon meal. +</P> + +<P> +"That'll be all," he said. "I'll figure out your time. You took +things up where Morrow left off. Now you can go hunt him up and +compare notes." +</P> + +<P> +"Can't a man speak his mind?" Carp demanded. +</P> + +<P> +"He can talk his head off," Harris said. "But he can't overlook any +Three Bar calves on his circle while I'm running the layout. Morrow +tried that on while he was breaking you in." +</P> + +<P> +Carp surveyed the faces of the men and started to speak but changed his +mind and headed for the rope corral. +</P> + +<P> +"He's a cringing sort of miscreant," Moore said as Carp rode off. "He +was even afraid to speak up for himself—thought maybe the boys would +pass sentence on him before he could get out of sight. I expect Carp +is poor sort of folks." +</P> + +<P> +"That's going to leave us short-handed," Harris said to the girl. +"Morrow, Carp and Bangs—three short. Horne ought to get back from +Brill's to-day. We've only one more week out so I guess we can worry +through." +</P> + +<P> +"How did you know?" she asked. "About Carp, I mean." +</P> + +<P> +"Lanky caught him overlooking a bunch of cows with calves," Harris +explained. "Lanky is worth double pay." +</P> + +<P> +The Three Bar girl had noted that Carpenter had been much with Bentley, +Slade's rep, since Morrow had gone. She had come to be suspicious of +all things connected with Slade. +</P> + +<P> +"Are you watching Bentley?" she asked. +</P> + +<P> +Harris shook his head. +</P> + +<P> +"No use," he said. "Slade wouldn't work that way. Bentley is his +known representative and anything Bent might do would reflect on Slade. +Slade only works through one or two others who arrange for all the +rest. Morrow is likely one of his right-hand men. He'd fix it for +Carp without Slade's name even coming into it at all. Carp might have +a good idea where the money came from but he'd draw it from Morrow and +never get to the man behind. We'll never get anything on Bentley for +that reason—because he's known to draw Slade's pay." +</P> + +<P> +"Then how can we ever prove anything on Slade?" she insisted. +</P> + +<P> +"It's ten to one we can't," he said. "Even if one of his chief fixers +should turn him up it wouldn't work. It would be the same old +story—the word of an owner against that of a self-confessed thief. We +may have to handle Slade without proof." +</P> + +<P> +Horne came back from Brill's in the early evening and another man rode +with him. +</P> + +<P> +"Alden," Billie said. "I wonder what the sheriff is doing out in here." +</P> + +<P> +The sheriff stripped the saddle from his horse and the wrangler swooped +down to haze the animal in with the remuda as Alden joined Harris and +the girl. He was a tall, gaunt man with a slight stoop. His keen gray +eyes peered forth from a maze of sun-wrinkles surmounted by bushy +eyebrows, the drooping gray mustache accentuating rather than +detracting from the hawk-like strength of countenance. He dropped a +hand on the girl's shoulder and looked down at her. +</P> + +<P> +"How are things breaking this season, Billie?" he asked. "Everything +running smooth?" +</P> + +<P> +"About the same," she said. They were old friends and the girl knew +that Alden would help her in any possible way. +</P> + +<P> +The sheriff turned to Harris. +</P> + +<P> +"I see you've settled down to a steady job, Cal, instead of browsing +round the hills alone. I run across Horne at Brill's and he was +telling me about some one gunning for you from the brush. Morrow, he +says. Do you want me to pick Morrow up?" +</P> + +<P> +"It would only waste your time," Harris said. "We couldn't prove it on +him—the way things are." +</P> + +<P> +"Fact," Alden agreed. "But I could hold him till after you're back at +the ranch. Some day folks may wake up and need a sheriff. It's hard +to say." +</P> + +<P> +The men had finished working the herd and were crowding around the +wagon for their meal. +</P> + +<P> +"You go ahead and eat, Billie," Alden said. "Cal and I'll feed a +little later on. I've got a fuss to pick with Cal." +</P> + +<P> +Billie left them together and the sheriff squatted on his heels. +</P> + +<P> +"What's this rumor about your farming the Three Bar?" he asked. "Horne +said all the hands were guessing, but I haven't heard anything about it +outside." +</P> + +<P> +"And I don't want it leaking out before we start," Harris said. "But +we're going to break out the flat. I had the plans all laid and sent +word off. Things are moving toward the start right now." +</P> + +<P> +"It'll stir things up," Alden predicted. With one forefinger he traced +a design in the dust, then blotted it out. "I'll play in with you the +best I can." +</P> + +<P> +"We've got to make a clean split," Harris said. "Get the wild ones +definitely set apart. Then they can be handled." When he spoke again +it was apparently as if to himself. "Al Moody sprung it in the +Gallatin country a few years back," he said reflectively. "And old Con +Ristine worked it on the Nations Cow-trail twenty years ago. It always +brings the split." +</P> + +<P> +"That kind of thing is dead against the law," the sheriff said. "But +it works right well—that backfire stuff. And it's never been proved +on either Al Moody or old Con Ristine, so I hear." +</P> + +<P> +"But of course I wouldn't have a hand in anything like that," Harris +stated. +</P> + +<P> +"No. Neither would I," said the sheriff. "Nothing like that." +</P> + +<P> +Alden was regarding old Rile Foster who had drawn apart from the rest +and was eating his meal in solitude. The old man had taken a boot heel +from his pocket and was studying it as if fascinated by the somber +reflections it roused in him. Alden shook his head as he rose and +moved toward the wagon. +</P> + +<P> +"Horne was telling me about Bangs too," he said. "Pretty tough for +Rile. They was as close as father and son, those two." +</P> + +<P> +Harris and the sheriff joined the rest at the wagon and held out plates +and cups to Waddles. The girl was oddly excited, anxious for the +start, now that the decision had been made. +</P> + +<P> +"How long will it take to get things moving after we get back?" she +asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Not more than a week at the outside," Harris said. "Probably less." +</P> + +<P> +"You don't mean that," she stated. "I want to know the truth." +</P> + +<P> +"You have it," he assured her. "I had the plans all laid. Our crew is +already headed for the Three Bar. Before they get there every man will +have filed on a quarter I designated for him. Inside a week we'll have +covered the flat." +</P> + +<P> +Long after the hands had turned in for the night she heard a faint +murmur of voices and looked from her teepee. The brilliant moonlight +showed Harris and the sheriff sitting off by themselves. For no +apparent reason she thought of Carlos Deane and, point by point, she +contrasted him with the man who sat talking to the sheriff. Each was +almost super-efficient in his own chosen line and she caught herself +wondering what each one would do if suddenly transplanted to the +environment of the other. Then her mind occupied itself with Harris +who would soon break out the first plow furrow that had ever scarred +the range within a radius of fifty miles and she pictured again a sign +she had seen that day: "Squatter let your wagon wheels keep turning." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap08"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +VIII +</H3> + + +<P> +Three heavy wagons, each drawn by four big mules, traveled north along +the Coldriver stage trail. Every wagon was loaded to the brim of the +triple box. Two men were mounted on each wagon seat, the man beside +the driver balancing a rifle across his knees. The butt of another +protruded from a saddle scabbard that was lashed to each wagon within +easy reach of the man who handled the reins. +</P> + +<P> +"Nice place to camp, Tiny," said the guard on the lead wagon. He +pointed off across a flat beside the road toward a sign that loomed in +the center. The black-browed giant designated as Tiny swung the mules +off the road and headed for the sign. The three wagons were drawn up +some fifteen yards apart in the shape of a triangle, the mules +unhitched and given a feed of grain from nose-bags, tied to the wagons +and supplied with baled hay. Tiny walked over and viewed the sign. +</P> + +<P> +"Squatter don't let sunset find you here," he read. +</P> + +<P> +"It's about that time now," he observed, squinting over his shoulder. +"It'd be a mistake to leave evidence like that around." He tore down +the sign and worked it into firewood with an axe. "Now they can't do +nothing to us for drifting in here by error," he remarked to his +companions. "It wouldn't be fair." +</P> + +<P> +While four of them slept the other two remained awake, rousing a second +pair after a three-hour period. In the morning the three wagons +lumbered on. Near sunset they passed another sign where the Three Bar +road branched off to the left. Tiny pulled up the mules. +</P> + +<P> +"Uproot that little beauty, Russet," he advised. "We're getting close +to home." +</P> + +<P> +The carrot-haired guard descended and threw his weight against the +sign, working it from side to side until the posts were loosened in the +ground, pried it up and loaded it on the wagon. +</P> + +<P> +"Quick work, Russ," the big man complimented. "For a little sawed-off +runt, you're real spry and active." He clucked to the mules and they +settled steadily into the collars and moved on to the Three Bar. As +they rolled up the lane the freighters could see the chuck wagon drawn +up before the house, the remuda milling round the big pasture lot and a +number of men moving among the buildings. The calf round-up was over. +</P> + +<P> +The Three Bar men viewed the freighters curiously as they swung the +mule teams in front of the blacksmith shop, noted the rifle in the +hands of each guard and the second one in easy reach of each driver. +They knew what this portended. +</P> + +<P> +The freighters had stripped off the wagon-sheet lashed across the top +of each load and the Three Bar men moved casually toward the wagons, +curious to view the contents. +</P> + +<P> +"You boys get to knowing each other," Harris said. "These +mule-skinners will be hanging out at the Three Bar from now on." +</P> + +<P> +The short man, known as Russet, removed his hat and scratched his head +reflectively as he studied the first move in unloading his wagon. +Moore promptly uncovered his own head and revealed his brilliant red +shock of hair, his freckled face breaking into a genial grin. +</P> + +<P> +"Hello, you red-hot little devil," he greeted. "I'm glad some one has +turned up with redder hair than mine. Brother—shake!" +</P> + +<P> +Russ looked him over carefully. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't you claim no relationship with me, you sorrel hyena," he said. +"I won't stand it for a holy second. Get a move on and help me snatch +off this load." +</P> + +<P> +All down the line the Three Bar men were getting acquainted with the +freighters, introductions effected in much the same manner as that +between Russet and Moore. A thousand pounds of oats were tossed from +the top of the first wagon and when the concealing sacks were cleared +away there were three heavy plows showing underneath, the spaces +between them filled with shining coils of fence wire. The second load +consisted of a dismantled drill, a crate of long-handled shovels, and +more barbed wire; the third held a rake and a mowing machine, more +wire, kegs of fence staples and a dozen forks. +</P> + +<P> +"The Three Bar will be the middle point of a cyclone," Moore prophesied +as he viewed the implements. "Just as soon as this leaks out." +</P> + +<P> +"We fetched our cyclone openers with us," Russ assured him. "Let her +buck." +</P> + +<P> +From the cook-shack door the girl viewed these preparations, then +turned her eyes to the flat and visioned it with a carpet of rippling +hay. +</P> + +<P> +There was a clatter of hoofs and a rattling of gravel as five horsemen +put their sure-footed mounts down the steep slope two hundred yards +back of the house and followed along the fence of the corral. The five +Brandons had cut across the shoulder of the mountain. The girl +wondered at this visit as she heard Lafe Brandon, the father and head +of the tribe, ask Harris to put them up for the night. +</P> + +<P> +An hour later Harris and Lafe came to her door and she let them in. +</P> + +<P> +"The Brandons are riding down to file on a quarter apiece," Harris +said. "Art quit the wagon below their place as we came in and told the +rest that we're going to farm the Three Bar." +</P> + +<P> +"Then you're doing the same?" she asked Lafe with sudden hope that her +brand would have company in the move. +</P> + +<P> +Old man Brandon shook his head. +</P> + +<P> +"Not right off," he said. "Until we see how you folks pan out. We +can't fix to handle it the way you do. We're filing to protect +ourselves before some nester outfit turns up at our front door." +</P> + +<P> +The old man explained his views. There was enough flow in the stream +that cut their home valley to water something over a section of land. +With that filed on they would control their home range. They could +grade up their cows and increase a hundred per cent. with a section +under hay. He hoped the Three Bar would win, but he feared to start in +the face of the wave of opposition he was sure would rise against the +move. +</P> + +<P> +"We're not fixed for it," he explained again. +</P> + +<P> +"But the other small outfits feel the same way," Harris said. "If two +of us start the rest will join in." +</P> + +<P> +"Maybe so," the old man said doubtfully. "But noways likely. They're +too set on the other side." The thought was deep-rooted and he could +not be moved. +</P> + +<P> +"We'll let it out it's only for protection that we all are filing," he +said. "And that we don't aim to prove up. The outfits that don't file +now will lose out. This will always be open range, more than ninety +per cent. of it, and those who file on their water will control the +grass. As soon as the squatters see one outfit starting, they'll take +out papers on every piece of dirt they can get water to. They'll have +six months to move on, then a six months' stay. They'll hang round +waiting for things to open up so they can rush in here. The brand +owners who haven't hedged theirselves beforehand will run down to file +and find that nesters have had papers on all the good pieces right in +their dooryard for months. They'll have only the plots left that their +home ranch sets on, and likely no water even for that." +</P> + +<P> +The Brandons stayed for the night and rode off at daylight the next +morning, while the Three Bar men prepared for a trip to Brill's. As +the rest were saddling for the start Harris saw old Rile Foster seated +by himself, gazing off across the hills. +</P> + +<P> +"Better come and ride over with us, Rile," he urged. "Bangs would want +you to try and forget." +</P> + +<P> +The old man shook his head. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm drifting to-day," he said. "I'll likely be back before long. I +back-tracked Blue to their camp and trailed them twenty miles to where +they joined another bunch. It was some of Harper's devils—I don't +know which four. One way or another, whether I get the right four or +not, I'm going to play even for Bangs." +</P> + +<P> +When the rest of the men rode off the old man was still leaning against +the shop. +</P> + +<P> +There were less than a dozen others in Brill's store when the Three Bar +men crowded through the door. Five men sat at one of the tables in the +big room and indulged in a casual game of stud. Harper and Lang were +among them. Two of them Harris knew as men named Hopkins and Wade. +The fifth was unknown to him. +</P> + +<P> +The albino's eyes met Harris's steadily as he entered at the head of +the Three Bar men. Those among the hands who had formerly fraternized +as freely with Harper's men as with those who rode for legitimate +outfits now held way from them since their foreman had ordered Harper +from the Three Bar wagon. They merely nodded as they filed past to the +bar. +</P> + +<P> +"Who is the man dealing now?" Harris inquired of Moore. +</P> + +<P> +The freckled youth turned to the card players. +</P> + +<P> +"Magill," he said. "Same breed as the rest." +</P> + +<P> +The news that the Three Bar had turned into a squatter outfit had been +widely noised abroad. Carpenter had stopped at Brill's late the night +before and announced the fact. Others had seemed already aware of it. +</P> + +<P> +From behind the bar Brill covertly studied the man who was responsible +for this change. Four men from the Halfmoon D stood grouped at one end +of the room. They split up and mingled among the others. Brill moved +up and down behind the bar, polishing it with a towel. One after +another he drew each of the men from the Halfmoon D into conversation +with the Three Bar foreman to determine whether or not they resented +his move. There was no evidence of it in their speech. They had all +been present when Harris rode the blue horse and had heard his +subsequent remark to Morrow. There was but one reference to the state +of affairs at the Three Bar. +</P> + +<P> +"Now you've gone and raised hell," one boy from the Halfmoon D remarked +to Harris. "You'll have folks out looking for your scalp." He lowered +his voice and Brill moved nearer to wipe away an imaginary spot on the +bar. "It's Slade you'll have to buck," the boy warned. "There's +likely to be some excitement over in your neighborhood. I'd like right +well to ride for the Three Bar next year. Hold a job for me in the +spring." +</P> + +<P> +The men from the two outfits mingled as unrestrainedly as before and at +last Harris smiled across at Brill. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, have you sized it all up?" he asked. +</P> + +<P> +The storekeeper looked up quickly, knowing that Harris had read his +purpose in drawing him into conversation with the four men. He +polished the bar thoughtfully, then nodded. +</P> + +<P> +"A man in my business has to keep posted—both ways," he said. "I just +wanted to make sure. Five years ago every man would have quit the +Three Bar like a snake—feeling was that strong. But the boys drift +from place to place and they've seen both ends of it. They don't give +a damn one way or the other now. Why should they? They've got nothing +at stake. Five years ago you couldn't have hired a man to ride for +you. Now they'll be pouring in asking for jobs—just because they +figure there'll be some excitement on tap." +</P> + +<P> +The men from the Halfmoon D were due back and inside of an hour they +rode off, leaving only Harris's men and the five card-players in the +place. Harris walked over to the table and the Three Bar men shifted +positions, slouching sidewise at the bar or leaning with their backs to +it, alertly watching this unexpected move as the foreman spoke to the +albino. +</P> + +<P> +"Let's you and I draw off and have a little talk," he said. "If you +can spare the time." +</P> + +<P> +Harper looked up at him in silence. He carefully tilted up the corner +of his hole-card and peeked at it, then turned his other cards face +down on the table. +</P> + +<P> +"Pass," he said, and rose to face Harris. "Lead the way." +</P> + +<P> +Harris moved over to another table and the two men sat down, facing +each other across it. He motioned to Evans and Lanky joined them. +Harris plunged abruptly into what he had to say. +</P> + +<P> +"First off, Harper, I want you to get it straight that I'm not fool +enough to threaten you—for I know you're not any more afraid of me +than I am of you. This is just a little explaining, a business talk, +so we'll both know where we stand. It's up to you whether we let each +other alone or fight." +</P> + +<P> +"Good start," the albino commented. "Go right on." +</P> + +<P> +"All right—it's like this," Harris resumed. "I'm going to have my +hands full without you hiring out to pester us. I'm not out to reform +the country. They set the fashion of dog eat dog and every man for +himself; so the Three Bar is all that interests me. You keep out of my +affairs and I'll let you go your own gait. If you mix in I'll have +your men hunted down like rats." +</P> + +<P> +Harper glanced toward the group at the bar. +</P> + +<P> +"You were prudent enough to pick a time when you're three to one to +tell me about that," he said. "If I'd kill you in your chair I might +have some trouble getting out the door." +</P> + +<P> +"Of course I'd take every chance to play safe," Harris admitted. "But +that is beside the point. I'd have told you the same thing if the odds +had been reversed." +</P> + +<P> +"Would you?" the albino pondered. "I wonder." +</P> + +<P> +"You know I would," Harris stated. "You've got brains, or you'd have +been dead for twenty years. If I thought you were a haphazard homicide +I wouldn't be sitting here. But you wouldn't kill a man without +looking a few weeks ahead and making sure it was safe." +</P> + +<P> +"Go ahead—Let's hear the rest of it," Harper urged. "You've got an +original line of talk." +</P> + +<P> +"You're playing one game and I'm playing mine," Harris said. "You're +in the saddle now—like you have been once or twice before. But you +know that the sentiment of a community reverses almost overnight. +You've stepped out just ahead of a clean-up a time or two in the past. +You know how it goes—your friends drop off like you had the plague. +Every man's out after your scalp. I've got a hard bunch of terriers +over at the Three Bar and you couldn't raid us without a battle big +enough to go down in history as the Three Bar war. Either way you'd +lose for it would stir folks up—and when they're stirred you're +through. Do you remember what Al Moody did up on the Gallatin and what +old Con Ristine sprung on the Nations Trail? That will happen again +right here." +</P> + +<P> +The two men were leaning toward each other, elbows resting on the +table. Harper relaxed and leaned back comfortably in his chair as he +twisted a smoke. Evans propped his feet on the table and Harris hung +one knee over the arm of his chair. The men at the bar knew that some +crisis had been safely passed. +</P> + +<P> +"You talk as if I was running an outfit of my own and had a bunch of +riders that could swarm down on you," Harper objected. "I don't even +run a brand of my own or have one man riding for me." +</P> + +<P> +"The wild bunch is riding for you," Harris stated. +</P> + +<P> +"Suppose that was true," Harper said. "Then what?" +</P> + +<P> +"In one country after the next they've hit the toboggan whenever they +got to feeling too strong. If you line up against me that time has +come again. If I get potted from the brush I've hedged it so that +those boys that filed over there won't be left in the lurch. There'll +be a reward of a thousand dollars hung up for the scalp of each of +fifteen men whose names I gathered while I was prowling round—reliable +men to carry on what I've begun; and marshals thicker than flies to +protect the homestead filings on the Three Bar." +</P> + +<P> +"Then it might be bad policy to bushwhack you," Harper observed. +</P> + +<P> +"You can go your own gait," Harris said. "As long as you lay off Three +Bar cows. You invited me one time to come down to your hangout in the +Breaks. I won't ever make that visit unless you call on the Three Bar +first; then, just out of politeness, I'll ride over at the head of a +hundred men." +</P> + +<P> +"Then it don't look as if we'd get anywhere, visiting back and forth," +Harper said. +</P> + +<P> +"Now don't think I'm throwing a bluff or threatening; I'm just telling +you. You could recite a number of things that could happen to me in +return—all of 'em true. I'm just counting that you've got brains and +can see it's not going to help either one of us to get lined up wrong. +What do you say—shall we call it hands off between the Three Bar and +you?" +</P> + +<P> +The albino half-closed his eyes, the pale eyeballs glittering through +the slit of his lids as he reflected on this proposition, tapping a +careless finger on his knee. He glanced absent-mindedly toward the +bar, his thoughts wholly occupied with the matter in hand. A pair of +eyes that gazed back at him drew his own and he found himself looking +at Bentley, the man who repped with the Three Bar for Slade. The +albino's suspicions were as fluid and easily roused as those of a beast +of prey in a dangerous neighborhood. With one of those quick shifts of +which his mind was capable he concentrated every mental effort toward +linking Bentley with some unpleasant episode of the past. The man had +turned away and Harper could only sense a vague feeling that he was +dangerous to him, without definite point upon which to base his +suspicions. At the sound of Harris's voice his mind made another +lightning shift back to the present. +</P> + +<P> +"Well?" Harris asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, if I had anything to do with it, like you seem to think, I'd +advise against our bucking each other," Harper said. "I'd try to get +along—and declare hands off." He rose, nodded to the two men and +returned to the stud game. +</P> + +<P> +"He'll do it too," Evans predicted. "There's that much fixed +anyway—not a bad piece of work." +</P> + +<P> +The two men returned to the bar and Brill moved close to Harris. For +fifteen years he had stood behind that bar and observed the men of the +whole countryside at their worst—and best; and he knew men. As well +as if he had heard the words of the three at the table he knew that +Harris and Harper had reached an agreement of some sort that was +satisfactory to both. +</P> + +<P> +"Take the boys over a drink on me," Harris said, and Brill slid a +bottle and five whisky glasses on to a tray and moved over to the table. +</P> + +<P> +"Here's a drink on the Three Bar boss," he announced. +</P> + +<P> +Lang scowled, remembering the recent occasion when Harris had ordered +them off. +</P> + +<P> +"To hell with——" he commenced, but the albino cut him short. +</P> + +<P> +"Drink it," he said. +</P> + +<P> +Ten minutes later the five men rose to go. Harris looked at his watch. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm off," he said to Evans. "Try and get the boys home by to-morrow +morning if it's possible." +</P> + +<P> +He went outside and mounted as the five rustlers swung to their saddles. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm going your way as far as the forks," he said to Harper. +</P> + +<P> +The Three Bar men were treated to the sight of their foreman riding +down the road beside Harper at the head of four of the worst ruffians +in the State. +</P> + +<P> +And behind the bar Brill moved softly back and forth when not serving +drinks, pausing opposite first one group and then the next to dab at +the polished wood with his cloth, listening carefully to the +conversation and gauging it to determine whether the apparent sentiment +toward the squatter foreman was sincere or would prove different when +the men, flushed with undiluted rye, were unrestrained by his presence. +At one end of the bar Evans and Bentley conversed together in low tones +but whenever Brill strolled casually to their end the conference +lagged. The few sentences which reached his ears were of trivial +concern. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap09"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +IX +</H3> + + +<P> +There was a new contentment in the eyes of the Three Bar girl as she +sat her horse beside Carlos Deane and looked off down the bottoms. A +haze of smoke drifted above the little valley of the Crazy Loop. Three +mule outfits were steadily ripping up the sage flats. Men lifted the +uprooted brush on forks and piled it for the burning. The two rode +down to the fields with the pungent sage smoke drifting in their faces. +Harris joined them, a smudge of fire-black across his forehead, and +swept his arm across the stretch of plowed ground. +</P> + +<P> +"Can you picture that covered with a stand of alfalfa hay?" he asked. +</P> + +<P> +The girl nodded. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes—and cut and cured and in the stack yards," she said. "And a +straight red run of Three Bar cows wintering under fence." +</P> + +<P> +Harris wondered if her new contentment came wholly from the progress +the Three Bar was making or was derived partly from the presence of +Carlos Deane. Each man had recognized the other as a contender for the +love of the Three Bar girl and during the two days of Deane's stay each +one had been covertly sizing and estimating the caliber of the other +man. +</P> + +<P> +"The opposite faction hasn't succeeded in wrecking the Three Bar up to +date," Deane said. "It's probable they see you're too strong for them." +</P> + +<P> +"It's hard to wreck plowed ground," Harris pointed out. "And that's +all they have to work on right now; not a fence to tear up, a stack to +fire or any growing crops to trample down. All they can do right now +is to wait. It must be wearing. But sooner or later they'll show +their teeth." +</P> + +<P> +For a month prior to Deane's arrival Harris had been occupied from dawn +till dark with the details of the new work. The wagons had made a +week's trip to the railroad to freight in more implements and supplies. +A hundred acres of plowed ground lay mellowing under the sun. Five +miles back up the slope of the hills two men worked in a valley of +lodgepole pine, felling, trimming and peeling sets of matched logs for +the cabins that must be erected on each filing. The cowhands were out +working the range in pairs, branding late-dropped calves and moving +drifted stock back to the home range. Forty white-face bulls had been +trail-herded from the railroad and thrown out along the foot of the +hills to replace the other bulls that had been rounded up and brought +in. These old stags now grazed in the big pasture lot until such time +as the beef herd should be gathered and shipped. In a few more days +the boys would come in from the range and gather at the home ranch, +preparatory to going out once more on the beef round-up. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm about to take a vacation," Harris said. "The ranger is coming +over to mark out some more trees for us and to run the U. S. brand on +the logs we've already cut. I'm going back up in the hills with him to +sort out a valley or two for summer range." +</P> + +<P> +"We don't need any extra range now," Billie said. "Why pay grazing +fees before we need the room." +</P> + +<P> +"Just to get our wedge in first," Harris explained. "We can get +grazing permits on the Forest now—right in the best grass valleys. +Each year we'll throw some cows up there to hold our rights. There'll +always be good grass on the Forest Reserves for they won't permit +overstocking. The day will come when we'll be glad to have permits to +summer-feed a thousand or so head on the Forest. I was thinking maybe +you and Deane would like to make the jaunt." +</P> + +<P> +"We'll go," the girl decided. +</P> + +<P> +"It's a question of time," Deane said. "How long will we be gone?" +</P> + +<P> +"We'll start in an hour or two," Harris said. "Just as soon as Wilton +turns up. We'll only be gone five days at the most." +</P> + +<P> +"Then I'll stretch my stay to cover it," Deane accepted. "I'd +certainly hate to pass up a chance for a trip in the hills." +</P> + +<P> +"We'll ride back and make up an extra bed roll," Harris said. "Then +we'll be all set to start when Wilton shows up." +</P> + +<P> +Calico had sidled off the plowing and was cropping the grass at the +edge of it. As Harris moved toward him Evans rode down the right-hand +slope and the three waited for him. +</P> + +<P> +"Moore and I were working in close and I thought I'd ride over to tell +you that the wild bunch has lost a veteran," he said. "Some one put +Barton out over in the Breaks." +</P> + +<P> +Barton, whose name was linked with that of Harper, had been found with +a rifle ball through his chest. His own gun, found by his +out-stretched hand, had showed one blackened cylinder, the empty shell +sufficient proof that he had fired a single shot at his assailant. +</P> + +<P> +"Anyway, he had a chance to see who got him," Lanky philosophized. "He +was likely ordered to turn round—given a fighting chance maybe." +</P> + +<P> +The girl could find no sorrow in her heart over the passing of Barton +but there was an uneasy feeling deep within her,—a vague suspicion +that she should be able to pronounce the killer's name. This elusive +thought was crowded from her mind when the ranger rode up to the Three +Bar accompanied by Slade, each man leading a pack horse. +</P> + +<P> +"Slade's going to look over a little territory up on the Forest," +Wilton explained. "So we can get it all done on one trip." +</P> + +<P> +There was no way to avoid this unexpected addition to their party. +Harris and the ranger packed the three bed rolls and Billie's teepee +along with the necessary equipment and in half an hour the little +cavalcade filed up a gulch back of the Three Bar, the ranger in the +lead with his pack horse. The other pack animals followed and the +three other men and the girl brought up the rear in single file. By +noon they made the first rims and followed over into a rolling country, +heavily timbered in the main. In the early evening they rode out on to +a low divide and Blind Valley showed below them, a broad expanse of +open grassland. A little stream threaded the bottoms and its winding +course was marked by thickets of birch. In places it disappeared under +the leafy tunnels of aspen groves, their pale silvery trunks and leaves +contrasting with the heavy blue-green of an occasional water-spruce. +In a narrowing of the valley it was choked from wall to wall by a +cottonwood jungle, opening out once more into wide meadows immediately +below the neck. Long open parks extended their tongues well back up +the timbered sidehills. +</P> + +<P> +"Feed!" Harris said. "Feed. Worlds of it." +</P> + +<P> +They angled down the slope and struck the rank grass of the +bottoms,—mountain hay in which the horses stood knee-deep. They made +camp at the mouth of a branching canyon, just within the timber. The +ranger threw the horses up this side gulch while Harris felled a dead +pine and kindled a fire. When the ranger returned he picketed one +horse in the heavy grass while Slade pitched Billie's teepee under a +spruce. The meal was finished, dishes washed and the five sat round a +fire. +</P> + +<P> +Harris sensed Deane's attitude toward it all for he knew something of +the other man's way of life. Those with whom Deane was thrown most in +contact were careful of appearances. It was unheard-of in his code +that a girl should jaunt for days accompanied by four men. Here +appearances seemed entirely disregarded and no one gave the matter a +thought. +</P> + +<P> +The moon swung over the ridges and shed its radiance over Blind Valley. +Deane motioned to Billie and the girl rose and followed him to the edge +of the timber where they sat on a blow-down. +</P> + +<P> +"Billie, let me take you away from all this," he urged. "All this hard +riding and rough man's work. Let me give you the things that will shut +out all the hardships. What's the use of going on like this?" +</P> + +<P> +The girl was conscious of a vague sense of disappointment. Deane was +an active figure in the business life of his own community and she had +felt some pride in the fact that when he should come to the Three Bar +he would find that she too was doing real work in the world. She +reflected that his attitude was that of so many other men, his idea of +love synonymous with shelter for the object of it, and his main plea +was that of providing her with shelter against all the rough corners of +life. Shelter! And what she wanted was to be part of things—to have +a hand in running her own affairs. It came to her that of all men +perhaps Slade understood her the best. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't want shelter!" she said. "And I can't think of anything else +till after the Three Bar is a going concern." +</P> + +<P> +The voices of the three men round the fire drifted to them. +</P> + +<P> +"Listen," she urged. +</P> + +<P> +"Blind Valley ought to summer-feed three hundred head," the ranger was +saying. "I'll recommend permits for that many cows." +</P> + +<P> +"That'll suit me," Slade nodded. "I'll put in application through you?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not if I can help it you won't," Harris said. "Why should you have +permits right in the back yard of the Three Bar with all the rest of +the hills open to you? There's a natural lead right down to the +corrals; divides to form wings. It's up to Wilton, of course, but I'm +going to make application to graze Blind Valley myself. They'll allow +whichever one he recommends." +</P> + +<P> +"Harris has first call," the ranger stated mildly. "This is the +logical range for his stuff—this and one or two others right close. +We can fix you up in a dozen other good grass countries further on, +Slade, if it's all the same." +</P> + +<P> +Slade nodded agreement. The ranger had authority to recommend the +issuing of permits and his superiors would not go contrary to his +suggestions in any but exceptional cases—certainly not in this matter. +Slade's eyes turned frequently toward the two figures on the log, +silhouetted against the white of the moonlit meadow, and his slashed +mouth set in disapproval. Harris noted this and smiled as it occurred +to him that Slade's views on the subject of Deane's appropriating the +girl for himself were about on a par with Deane's ideas relative to her +touring the hills with four men. +</P> + +<P> +The two came back and sat with the others round the dying fire, then +all turned in for the night, Billie in her teepee and the men in their +bed rolls with no other overhead shelter than the trees. In less than +an hour Harris raised on one elbow. The ranger woke just as Harris +slipped from his bed roll and tugged on his chaps. The steady thud of +hoofs had penetrated each man's consciousness and apprised him of the +fact that the horses were coming down. +</P> + +<P> +Wilton closed his eyes as Harris departed to head them back. Three +times during the night Deane was roused as one or the other of the +three men left his bed roll to frustrate an attempt of the horses to +make a break for home. Near morning he was once more wakened by a +clammy dampness on his face. A fine drizzle was falling. Slade was on +his feet, shoving a few sticks of wood inside the flap of Billie's +teepee. +</P> + +<P> +In the first gray light of morning Harris was up and slicing shavings +from the few dry sticks Slade had so thoughtfully tucked away. +Breakfast was cooked under the dripping trees. The ranger was soaked +to the knees as he waded through the tall grass to the picketed horse. +He saddled him and went up-country after the other horses. The outfit +was packed up and the little procession filed away toward the next +valley—and Carlos Deane proved his real caliber to Harris. +</P> + +<P> +Throughout the day they rode in a fine drizzle; in the timber the wet +branches whipped them and sprayed water down the necks of their +slickers; in the boggy meadows of the bottoms the mosquitoes hovered +round them in humming swarms. The horses stamped, shook their heads +angrily and switched their tortured flanks with dripping tails till at +last the men greased their noses, eyes and flanks to protect the +animals from the singing horde. When they dismounted to lead their +horses up precipitous game trails leading to the crest of some divide +Deane's Angora chaps flapped like dead weights and seemed to drag him +back. From the lofty ridges they gazed down upon white clouds floating +in the valleys; and at night they made camp and slept in damp bed rolls +with the clammy mist chilling them. The next day was the same. +</P> + +<P> +Harris knew that a man might evidence great courage in the face of +danger, risk his life in the heat of excitement, but that the true test +of iron control is to experience grinding discomfort and smile. +Deane's neck was raw and chafed from the wet neckband of his flannel +shirt and his hands and cheeks were puffed with the bites of the +buzzing pests. But Deane had been cheerful throughout and had uttered +no complaint. +</P> + +<P> +Toward evening of the second gloomy day Harris rode up beside him. +</P> + +<P> +"You'll do," he said. +</P> + +<P> +"How's that?" Deane asked. +</P> + +<P> +"There's maybe one man out of every two hundred that can go along like +this and not get to blaming every one in sight for what's happening to +him. I don't know as I'd have blamed you any if you'd been cussing us +all out for the past two days." +</P> + +<P> +Deane laughed and shook his head. +</P> + +<P> +"I've been rather enjoying it," he said. +</P> + +<P> +"You're just a plain, old-fashioned liar, Deane," Harris returned. +"You haven't been enjoying it any more than the rest of us—which is +mighty little; but you've got insides enough to let on like it's +considerable sport—which is a whole lot." +</P> + +<P> +"No one else has done any beefing," Deane said. "So why should I?" +</P> + +<P> +"This is everyday business with us," Harris pointed out. "And right +unusual for you. There's likely a number of things you do every day +back your way, but that doesn't signify that I could amble back there +and perform as well as you." +</P> + +<P> +"I suspect you'd make out all right," Deane said. "Anyway—I'm much +obliged for the endorsement." +</P> + +<P> +They camped again in the drizzle but by noon of the following day the +sun peeped through. In an hour every cloud and fog-bank had been +dispersed with a rapidity which is seen only in the hill country. The +ranger pulled up his horse as they struck a game trail in the saddle of +a low divide. A bunch of shod horses had been over it a few hours past. +</P> + +<P> +"Some of the albino's layout," Wilton surmised. "They cross through +here to that camp of theirs down in the Breaks. I've run across their +trails up here before." +</P> + +<P> +They rode out on to a spur and looked down on the low country. Slade +and the ranger were going on, the others returning to the Three Bar. +Harris pointed to the country spread out below them. +</P> + +<P> +"That's the Breaks," he told Deane. "I'll point out the albino's +stronghold." +</P> + +<P> +"While they're looking I want to talk to you," Slade said to Billie. +</P> + +<P> +"Let's get together," he said, when the others had passed on. "Why are +you so dead set on making a squatter outfit of the Three Bar? Don't +you know the nesters will flock in here and cut the range all up as +soon as they see a chance?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not my range," she said. "Outside of the V L and the Halfmoon D +there's not another site they can get water for, except maybe a couple +of spring gulches where flood reservoirs will hold back enough to water +a forty. So we'll still control our home range." +</P> + +<P> +"But there's a dozen sites down in my range," he said. +</P> + +<P> +"And a dozen small outfits wouldn't run any more cows than you do now," +she said. "At least not on my range; so what difference will it make +to me? Why don't you have men file on all those sites?" +</P> + +<P> +"You can't make a contract that will hold a man to turn over his +homestead after it's proved up," he said. "Half of them would keep +their land." +</P> + +<P> +"Of course," she agreed. "But then you'd have half instead of nothing +at all. Do you want the world?" +</P> + +<P> +"I want you!" he said. "Throw in with me, girl. I'm going to fight +these nesters off—the Three Bar among the rest if you don't quit. +I'll smash the Three Bar into mincemeat unless you run this damned +Harris off and quit this game." +</P> + +<P> +It was the first time Slade had ever threatened. Her spirits had +soared over the prospects of the Three Bar and she was suddenly afraid +for her brand if Slade, who had whittled down a dozen outfits at once, +should suddenly turn his whole attention to the Three Bar. +</P> + +<P> +"I've got it to do," Slade stated. "Since you've started this deal +there's been nesters filed papers on every good site in my range, +waiting to rush in as soon as I lose my grip. Do you think I'll let +them crowd me out? Not in a thousand years! I'm telling you—I'll +break the Three Bar if you keep it up." +</P> + +<P> +"All right!" she said. "And what about the homestead laws?" +</P> + +<P> +"I'm the law out here," he asserted. +</P> + +<P> +It came to her that Slade was fighting on the defensive, that he feared +to let the Three Bar succeed and set up a precedent in defiance of the +signs that dotted the range. +</P> + +<P> +"Then it's war!" she said. "And you'll go under yourself, from your +own size, if you haven't the judgment to hedge yourself now like the +rest. The Three Bar is going ahead—and we're going to win." +</P> + +<P> +She turned her horse but Slade caught her arm and whirled her around. +He jerked a thumb at the two men down the ridge. +</P> + +<P> +"What can Deane, a half-baked boy, give you?" he demanded. "Money—and +trinkets to hang all over you till you flash like a Mexican's bridle; a +flower garden and a soft front lawn to range in—and after a year or +two you'd give your soul to trade it off for an acre of raw sage. +You'd trade a castle full of glittering chandeliers for one hour at the +round-up fire—your box at the opera for a seat on the ground with your +back against the chuck-wagon wheel while the boys sang just one old +song. I know! You'd soon get fed up on too much of that. You want an +outfit of your own. I'll give you that—the biggest in the State." +</P> + +<P> +She shook her head without answering. +</P> + +<P> +"Then I'll break you," he predicted a second time. He drew a folded +slip of paper from his pocket and held it out to her. "That's the +exchange slip," he said. "It calls for three hundred odd head of mixed +stuff. You can send yours over any time." He turned his horse and +followed after the ranger while the girl joined Harris and Deane. +</P> + +<P> +Harris had slipped the strap of his glasses and handed them to Deane +who had dismounted and was peering off at the spot Harris had pointed +out. A few scattered shacks, showing as toy houses from the distance, +stood in the center of a broad open basin, sheltered on all sides by +the choppy mass of the Breaks. A solid corral, almost a stockade, +stood near the buildings and a few white points indicated that a teepee +or two had been pitched along its edge. +</P> + +<P> +"That's Arnold's stockade," Harris explained to Deane. "Arnold was an +old-time rustler that finished at the end of a rope fifteen years ago. +Now all the drifters in the country stop over here if they want a place +to hole up." +</P> + +<P> +Deane had been striving to fathom the attitude of a community where the +thieves were known as such, their headquarters a matter of common +knowledge, and yet allowed to carry on their trade. +</P> + +<P> +"Can't the sheriff clean them out of there?" he asked. +</P> + +<P> +"He could," Harris said. "But no man will make a complaint. They can +rustle every steer in the country and the losers are afraid to make a +report. Every outfit is supposed to protect its own. If Alden should +ride up to almost any ranch within a hundred miles and ask them if +they'd missed any stock in the last three years they'd shake their +heads and swear that they hadn't lost a hoof. But the Three Bar has a +clean page; we're not afraid he'll get a line on us while we're having +him round up some one else. The first time we get a scrap of real +evidence on any man we'll call Alden in." +</P> + +<P> +"You told me the Three Bar herds have been cut in half," Deane said. +"How much evidence do you need?" +</P> + +<P> +"It's like this:" Harris explained. "We'd have to make a specific +charge against a few men—name them in connection with some raid. That +nest down there is only a sort of stopping place. There's twenty or so +that use it on and off. Maybe the very men we'd name would be in +Coldriver or some other place and could prove it. Even if they +couldn't we couldn't get a man to testify. Then too, rustling is about +the hardest thing in the world to prove. There's a dozen ways they can +work it. I could catch some of them driving a bunch of Three Bar cows +toward the Idaho line. They'd look up and see me and calmly ride on +past the cows. They could say the bunch was just drifting ahead of +their horses—that they weren't driving them at all. Who can prove a +case of rustling even if you see it, unless you actually catch one +altering a brand—which they wouldn't do anywhere within a hundred +miles of that brand's range." +</P> + +<P> +"Then how will you ever convict one?" Deane asked. +</P> + +<P> +"The only way to convict a rustler right now is to kill him and swear +that you run up on him changing a brand," Harris said. "I expect +that's what we'll have to do." +</P> + +<P> +Deane looked at the girl to determine how she met this suggestion. +Instead of the shiver of distaste which he rather expected her lips +were pressed tight. +</P> + +<P> +"A little of that would help Slade too," she said. "He told me just +now that he'd smash the Three Bar." +</P> + +<P> +The man reflected that this sort of a life could not help but wear off +some of her natural fineness and harden her. +</P> + +<P> +They followed the rims till they had cleared the Breaks, then angled +down to the foothills and headed for the Three Bar. They held a steady +gait until a half hour after sunset and camped in the open near a tiny +spring. Again Deane was impressed with the impropriety of the girl's +being out with two men who loved her and the thought was an ache that +remained with him. It was a natural reaction,—the lifelong training +to guard against appearances which were open to criticism as +religiously as against the accomplished fact. +</P> + +<P> +As they sat round the little fire the girl handed Harris the paper +Slade had given her. It was a scrawled bill of sale calling for three +hundred odd head of Circle P cows, listed in the exact numbers of all +ages and sexes. In return she would send him an exchange slip for the +same number of Three Bar stock. This exchange system was one of +Slade's own devising, intended to eliminate the time and expense of +sending riders to scour adjacent ranges in search of drifted stock. +Each outfit exchanged slips based on the round-up tally with every +other brand and so could show bill of sale for off-brand stuff in their +beef shipments or for any rebrands on the range. +</P> + +<P> +"This labor-saving device is Slade's trump card," Harris said. "It +works all his way. We couldn't turn in a false report. But he has +three crews covering his range, each under a different wagon foreman +and no one of them wise to what the rest are doing. It's only the +foremen that jot down the daily tallies and keep the final score. Even +if they talked among themselves, why, they're all riding for Slade's +brand—and there you are." +</P> + +<P> +Deane was regarding the penciled memorandum signed by Slade. +</P> + +<P> +"Not a very impressive document," he observed. +</P> + +<P> +Harris laughed at the other's evident disapproval of such a slipshod +method of property transfer. +</P> + +<P> +"Not very," he agreed. "But it's absolutely good. You could borrow +money against that at the bank. He doesn't get us that way but here's +how he does: He's mapped out a rebrand system. His rebrand is Triangle +on the hip. When he gets our exchange slip all he has to do is go on +his range and run the Triangle on the hip of the number of Three Bar +stock it calls for. There are Three Bar cows ranging a hundred miles +from here, just as there's brands a hundred miles off whose stock turns +up here—with a Triangle on the hip. Who's going to check Slade up? +It would take three crews to cover his range and tally the fresh Three +Bar rebrands of this one season—a few here and a few there. He ships +trainloads of cows in a year. There's some old rebrands in each lot, +say; maybe more than last year's exchange. Well he simply has been +holding them over. He can easy explain that. It would break a small +outfit to hire enough hands to cover his range and check him up—and +he'd buy part of those. The albino's men are petty-larceny bandits +compared with Slade." +</P> + +<P> +Deane turned to the girl. +</P> + +<P> +"Billie, why don't you get out of a game where everything is crooked—a +game of who can steal the most and every man for himself?" he asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Why don't you fold your hands and give up your business the first +thing that goes wrong?" she countered. "Instead of trying to remedy +it?" +</P> + +<P> +"But you don't have to do it," he urged. +</P> + +<P> +"Neither do you," she said. "I've the same pride in the Three Bar that +you have in anything you've helped build up. You'd fight all the +harder for one of your schemes that was hard-pressed—and so would I." +</P> + +<P> +She turned to her teepee and ended the discussion, her pride a little +hurt that Deane should so little appreciate her work—and the spirit +that made her hold on instead of giving up. +</P> + +<P> +That evening they rode up to the Three Bar just as Waddles announced +the evening meal. +</P> + +<P> +"She's hot!" the big voice wailed. "She's re-e-ed hot!" +</P> + +<P> +The hands were gathering at the ranch, coming in from the range for a +frolic before the beef round-up should keep out for another month. +Deane's time was up and he had planned to leave on the following day. +</P> + +<P> +"You can't do that," Harris said. "Two more days for you. I've given +orders not to let you off the place till after the dance at Brill's. +This is Tuesday and the big frolic will be staged Thursday night. Then +you're free to go." +</P> + +<P> +Deane shook his head and prepared to offer an excuse but Harris +smilingly refused to consider it. +</P> + +<P> +"No use to try," he said. "The boys won't let you go. We've had you +out in the rain and now we'll try to make amends for it. Billie, don't +let him leave the place. I'll detail you as guard." +</P> + +<P> +"You hear the orders," she said. "You're stuck for two more days at +the Three Bar whether you like it or not." +</P> + +<P> +"That settles it," Deane said. "I do want to see that dance." +</P> + +<P> +Horne strolled up to them as they reached the corral. +</P> + +<P> +"Another of the wild bunch down," he said. "Magill this time. Got it +just the same as Barton did last week. Shot from in front; one empty +shell in his gun. The Breaks is getting to be a hard place to reside +in." +</P> + +<P> +Again the girl felt that queer sensation of having expected this to +transpire, as if possibly she had helped plan the deed herself and had +forgotten it. That night as she lay in bed her mind was concerned with +it and at times the solution seemed almost to reach the surface of her +consciousness. Two belated riders came up the lane. As they rode past +her open window she heard the name of Magill. +</P> + +<P> +"That's two for Bangs," said a voice she knew for Moore's. +</P> + +<P> +The evasive sense of familiarity, of being in some way identified with +the killings, was suddenly clear to her,—so clear that she marveled at +not having known at once. +</P> + +<P> +Old Rile Foster was haunting the Breaks near Arnold's, imposing grim +and merciless justice on all those whom he suspected of having had a +hand in the finish of Bangs. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap10"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +X +</H3> + + +<P> +Harris had left the ranch an hour before daylight, his ride occasioned +by the reports of several of the men. In the last three days each +couple that worked the range had found one or more of the new +white-face bulls shot down in their territory. The evidence, as Harris +pieced the scraps together, indicated that a lone rider had made a +swift raid, riding for forty miles along the foot of the hills in a +single day, shooting down every Three Bar bull that crossed his trail. +A dozen dead animals marked his course. A few more such raids and the +Three Bar calf crop would be extremely short the following spring. The +near end of the foray had extended to within ten miles of the home +ranch and Harris had gone out to have a look at some of the nearer +victims. He located two by the flights of meat-eating birds but range +stock had blotted out all possible signs. He rode back to the corrals +in the early afternoon and joined Billie and Deane. +</P> + +<P> +"Not a track," he said. "We must expect more or less of that. They'll +cut in on us wherever there's a chance." +</P> + +<P> +As Harris left them the girl pointed out a horseman riding up the lane. +</P> + +<P> +"The sheriff," she volunteered, and Deane noted an odd tightening of +her lips. +</P> + +<P> +Alden dismounted and accosted Moore and Horne. From their grinning +faces she knew that they were deliberately evading whatever questions +the sheriff might be asking. Horne's voice reached them. +</P> + +<P> +"Whoever it is seems to be doing a right neat job," he said. "Why not +let him keep it up?" +</P> + +<P> +The sheriff came over to Deane and the girl. +</P> + +<P> +"Billie, I expect you can tell me who's doing this killing over in the +Breaks," he said. +</P> + +<P> +She was unaccustomed to the easy dissimulation that was second nature +to the men of the whole countryside and her eyes fell under the +sheriff's steady gaze. Deane was looking into her face and with a +shock he realized that she could pronounce the name of the assassin but +was deliberately withholding it. She raised her head with a trace of +defiance. +</P> + +<P> +"No. I can't tell you," she said. +</P> + +<P> +Deane expected to hear the sheriff's curt demand that she divulge the +name of the man he sought. It must be easily apparent to him, as it +was to Deane, that she knew. But Alden only dropped a hand on her +shoulder and stood looking down at her. +</P> + +<P> +"All right, girl," he said mildly. "I reckon you can't tell. He can't +be such a rotten sort; if you refuse to turn him up." He pushed back +his hat and smiled at Deane. "We have to humor the womenfolks out +here," he explained, as he turned toward the bunk house. +</P> + +<P> +Deane, already at a loss to grasp the mental attitude of the range +dwellers, was further mystified by a sheriff who spoke of humoring the +ladies in a matter pertaining to a double killing. +</P> + +<P> +"Billie, you know!" he accused; "why wouldn't you tell?" +</P> + +<P> +"Because there's a good chance that he's a friend of mine," she stated +simply. "Those men had it coming to them and some way I can't feel any +regret." +</P> + +<P> +"But if it was justified he should give himself up and stand trial," he +said. +</P> + +<P> +"Then let him do it of his own accord," she said. "I certainly won't." +The memory of little Bangs, his adoring gaze fastened on her face, was +uppermost in her mind and brought a lump to her throat. "I hope he +gets them all." +</P> + +<P> +"Billie, let me take you away from all this," Deane urged again. "Let +me give you the things every girl should have—shut all the rough spots +out of your path. I want to give you the things every girl needs to +round out her life—a home and love and shelter." +</P> + +<P> +Shelter! Slade's words recurred to her: "A soft front lawn to range +in." +</P> + +<P> +"This is what I need," she said and waved an arm in a comprehensive +sweep. Two hands, recently arrived, were unpacking before the bunk +house. A third was shoeing a horse near the blacksmith shop. The mule +teams were plowing in the flats. A line of chap-clad men roosted as so +many crows on the top bar of the corral, mildly interested in the +performance of another who twirled a rope in a series of amazing +tricks. "That's what I need; all that," she said. "And you're asking +me to give it up." +</P> + +<P> +"But it's not the life for a girl," he insisted. +</P> + +<P> +"You've told me a hundred times that I was different from other girls. +But now you're wanting me to be like all the rest. Where would the +difference be then?" she asked a little wistfully. "Why can't you go +on liking me the way I am, instead of making me over?" +</P> + +<P> +But Carlos Deane could not see. It was his last evening alone with her +and after the meal they rode across the hills through the moonlight. +In that hour she was very near to doing as he wished. If only he had +suggested that she come to him as soon as the Three Bar was once more a +prosperous brand; had only pointed out how she could spend months of +each year on the old home ranch,—then he might have won his point +without waiting. But that is not the way of man toward woman. His +plea was that she leave all this behind—for him. And his hold was not +quite strong enough to induce her to give up every link of the life she +had loved for long years before Carlos Deane had been even a part of it. +</P> + +<P> +"I can't tell you now," she said as they rode back to the corrals. +"Not now. It would take something out of me—the vital part—if I had +to leave the old Three Bar in the shape it's in today. It's sort of +like deserting a crippled child." +</P> + +<P> +The next day her stand was unaltered and in the evening, when the whole +Three Bar personnel swung to their saddles and headed for the frolic at +Brill's, Deane had been unable to gain her promise. His luggage had +been sent ahead in a buckboard, for the dance was to be an all-night +affair and he would leave on the morning stage. +</P> + +<P> +There were but few horses at the hitch rails when they reached the post +but a dozen voices raised in song drifted faintly to their ears and +apprised them of the fact that other arrivals were not far behind. As +the Three Bar girl entered at the head of her men she saw Bentley and +Carpenter leaning against the bar, well toward the rear of the room. +</P> + +<P> +Within the last week she had heard that Carp, after being let off by +Harris, had started up a brand of his own down in Slade's range. +Harris's remarks about Slade's mode of acquiring new brands recurred to +her,—that he fostered some small outfit for a few seasons, then bought +it out. As the men scattered she commented on this to Harris. The +Three Bar foreman nodded. +</P> + +<P> +"Likely the same old move," he said. "I've been trying to get a line +on Carp. He started off with a bill of sale from Slade for a hundred +head of Three Bar rebrands. But it didn't come direct from Slade at +that. Morrow engineered the deal. Said he came into the paper for two +years' back pay from Slade; last year and the one before—had figured +to start up for himself and was to draw his pay in cows. The paper is +dated at the time Morrow quit Slade last year. What can we prove wrong +with that? Morrow simply sells the paper to Carp. Of course it's a +plant. All Carp has to do is to run Slade's Triangle on the hips of +any number of Three Bar she-stock. Like I told you, there's no way to +check Slade up on the number of our rebrands. If Carp gets caught it's +his own hard luck." +</P> + +<P> +A dozen men from the Halfmoon D swarmed in the door. Mrs. McVey, the +owner's wife, stationed herself in one corner with the Three Bar girl +while the men gravitated to the bar. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll take Deane in tow for a while," Harris said. "And get him +acquainted with folks." He led Deane to the bar and gave him scraps of +the history of various neighbors as they arrived. +</P> + +<P> +Harper's men came in, the albino standing half a head taller than any +other on the floor, and they mingled with the rest as if their records +were the most immaculate of the lot. Two of Slade's foremen arrived +with their families. The wife of one was lean and bent, worn from +years of drudgery. The other was an ample, red-cheeked woman of great +self-confidence, her favorite pose that of planting both hands on her +hips, elbows outspread, and nodding vigorously to emphasize her speech. +</P> + +<P> +Bart Epperson, a trapper from far back in the hills, had brought his +family to the frolic. Mrs. Epperson was a tiny, meek woman who had but +little to say. Her two daughters, in their late teens, had glossy +black hair, high cheek bones and faint olive tinge of skin which +betrayed a trace of Indian ancestry. +</P> + +<P> +Lafe Brandon came at the head of his tribe. Ma Brandon, white-haired +and motherly and respected by all, was possessed of a queer past known +to the whole community. Forty years before Lafe Brandon had stopped at +a sod hut on the Republican and found a girl wife with both eyes +discolored from blows of her heavy-handed spouse. Lafe had left the +bearded ruffian unconscious, with a broken nose and three fractured +ribs, and had ridden off with the girl. Five sons and a daughter had +been born to them. Two years before, Kit Brandon, the daughter, had +been wed to a merchant in Coldriver. The traveling parson who married +them heard of the parents' queer case, learned that Ma Brandon's former +mate was long since dead, and spoke earnestly to the pair. Both were +willing to do anything which might prove of future benefit to Kit. The +conference resulted in the old couple's standing before the parson and +having the marriage service performed for them an hour before a like +rite was rendered for the daughter. +</P> + +<P> +Harris laughed as he informed Deane of this bit of history. +</P> + +<P> +"They both considered it rather an unnecessary fuss," he said. "And +it's rumored that they had their first quarrel of a lifetime on the way +home from the service." +</P> + +<P> +Two of the sons were married and living at the home ranch. They came +to the dance with the rest of the family. Lou Brandon's wife, Dolly, +was a former dance-hall girl of Coldriver, and Al Brandon's better +half, Belle, was the daughter of a Utah cowman. +</P> + +<P> +An extra stage-load rolled in from Coldriver and four couples joined +the throng. +</P> + +<P> +"Ex-school-teachers," Harris informed. "They marry them so fast that +it's hard to keep one on the job instructing the rising generation in +the Coldriver school." +</P> + +<P> +Deane shrank from the thought of the Three Bar girl in such a mixture. +Someway she seemed many shades finer than the rest. +</P> + +<P> +"It couldn't be otherwise," Harris said, when Deane expressed this +thought. "She was raised at the knee of one of the finest women in the +world. I remember her mother myself—a little; and I've heard my own +mother sing the praises of Elizabeth Warren a thousand times." +</P> + +<P> +The albino interrupted them. +</P> + +<P> +"Cal—how come?" he greeted. The three men conversed in the most +casual, friendly fashion, as if there had never been a hint of friction +between Harris and Harper in the past. +</P> + +<P> +A great voice rose above the buzz of conversation, filling the big room +to the very rafters. +</P> + +<P> +"Choose your pardners for the dance!" Waddles bellowed from the +makeshift platform at one end of the room. "Go get your ga-a-als!" +</P> + +<P> +Deane moved across to the Three Bar girl. There was a general rush for +the side opposite the bar where the ladies had gathered. Couples +squared off for the Virginia reel, the shortage of ladies rectified by +a handkerchief tied on the arm of many a chap-clad youth to signify +that he was, for the moment, a girl. Waddles picked his guitar; two +fiddles broke into "Turkey in the Straw" and the dance was on with +Waddles calling the turns. +</P> + +<P> +All through the room they shuffled and bowed, whirled partners, locked +elbows and swung, the shriek of fiddles and scrape of feet punctuated +by the caller's boom. +</P> + +<P> +"Grab your gals for the grand right an' left!" the big voice wailed. +"Swing, rattle and roar!" "Clutch all partners for a once and a half!" +"Swing your gals and swing 'em high!" "Prance, scuffle and scrape!" +</P> + +<P> +Slade came in alone as the first dance was ended. +</P> + +<P> +A croupier and lookout, imported from Coldriver for the event, opened +Brill's roulette layout in one corner, a game he usually operated +himself on the occasions when his patrons chose to try their fortune +against the bank. The rattle of chips, the whir of the ivory ball and +the professional chant of lookout and croupier sounded between dances. +</P> + +<P> +"Single ought in the green," the croupier droned. +</P> + +<P> +"Single ought in the green," the lookout echoed. "The pea-green shade +is the bank's per cent. The house wins and the gamblers lose. Place +your bets for another turn." +</P> + +<P> +"She's off," the croupier chanted. "Off again on the giddy whirl. The +little ivory ball—she spins!" +</P> + +<P> +"Ten in the black," the croupier called. "Ten in the black," the +lookout seconded. "The black pays and the red falls off; the even +beats the odd." +</P> + +<P> +The full enjoyment of a novel scene was spoiled for Deane by the +sickening realization that the Three Bar girl was part of it, rubbing +elbows with the nondescript throng. He looked again at Harper, the +rustler chief; at Slade, with his peculiar turtle-like face, Slade the +cattle king—the killer. Billie Warren stood between the two Epperson +girls whose faces betrayed the taint of Indian blood, an arm about the +shoulders of each of them. The sheriff who had said that men must +humor womenfolks was leaning against the bar. Deane turned to Harris +but found him looking off across the room. He turned his own eyes that +way and glimpsed a dark man with an overlong, thin face and a set bleak +stare. Morrow had just come in. +</P> + +<P> +Five minutes later Harris stepped out the back door and Deane followed +him. At the sound of a footfall behind him Harris whirled on his heel +and when he confronted Deane the dim light from the door glinted on +something in his hand. +</P> + +<P> +"Sho," Harris deprecated. "I'm getting spooky. I thought it was some +one else." He slipped the gun back in its holster. "There's one or +two that would like right well to run across me from behind." +</P> + +<P> +"I followed you out to tell you it was decent of you to insist that I +stay over a few days," Deane said. "It was a white thing to do, +considering that we both want the same thing." +</P> + +<P> +"We both want her to have what's best for her," Harris said. "And I +don't know as she could do any better than to take up with you." +</P> + +<P> +"It may sound rather trite—coming after that," Deane said. "But +anyway, I'll have to say that I feel the same way about you." +</P> + +<P> +"Then, if we're both right in our estimates, why she can't go very far +wrong, either way she turns," Harris said. "So I reckon we're both +content." +</P> + +<P> +Harris moved on and motioned Deane to accompany him. +</P> + +<P> +"I thought I glimpsed a man I knew a few minutes back," Harris said. +"I'd like right well to have a talk with him." +</P> + +<P> +They wandered completely round the post and looked in the shadows of +the outbuildings but could find no trace of life. +</P> + +<P> +"Likely I was mistaken," Harris said at last. "I saw a face just +outside the door. He was more or less on my mind—the party I thought +it was. Some one else I expect, and he's gone inside." +</P> + +<P> +They returned to the hall. Morrow stood with two Halfmoon D men at the +end of the bar. Harris motioned him aside and Morrow withdrew from the +others. +</P> + +<P> +"This is pretty far north for you, Morrow," Harris suggested. +</P> + +<P> +"Is there any one restricting my range?" Morrow demanded. "If there is +I'd like to know." +</P> + +<P> +"Then I'll tell you," Harris answered. "The road is open—as long as +you keep on the road. Any time you stray a foot off the beaten trail +you're on the Three Bar range. I don't figure to get gunned up from +the brush more than once by the same man. Every Three Bar boy has +orders to shoot you down on sight any time you heave in view anywhere +within twenty miles of the Three Bar; so I wouldn't stray off the +main-traveled road any time you're going through." +</P> + +<P> +Lanky Evans had detached himself from a group and Morrow looked up to +find the tall man standing at his shoulder. +</P> + +<P> +"So you hunt in pairs," Morrow remarked. +</P> + +<P> +"And later in packs," Lanky returned. "Why don't you ever come up and +visit us? Every time I'm riding north I keep looking back, expecting +to see you come cantering up from the south. Harris been commenting +about the little dead-line we've drawn on you?" +</P> + +<P> +"What's the object of all this conversation?" Morrow flared. "If +you've got anything to say to me why get it over with." +</P> + +<P> +"Nothing special," Evans said. "I just thought maybe I could goad you +into being imprudent enough to come up our way—which I'm sure hoping +to observe you north of the line and somewhere within a thousand yards." +</P> + +<P> +Evans turned away and Morrow rejoined the two men he had left at the +bar. Deane looked about him. Apparently no one had noticed the little +by-play. +</P> + +<P> +"Evans didn't exactly mean quite all of that," Harris explained. "Of +course if Morrow does come up our way Lanky would prefer to see him +first—but he would rather he'd keep away. He staged that little talk +as a safeguard for me. If Morrow acquires the idea that several folks +are anxious to see him up there, he's apt to be real cautious how he +prowls round the Three Bar neighborhood looking for me." +</P> + +<P> +Deane looked again at Morrow and saw that Moore and Horne had drawn him +aside from the rest. The two Three Bar men were grinning and Morrow's +face was set and scowling. +</P> + +<P> +"The boys must have framed it up among themselves," Harris said. +"That's the third pair I've seen conversing with him. It's doubtful +whether Morrow is deriving much pleasure out of the dance." +</P> + +<P> +Deane crossed over to Billie. The music started but she shook her head +as he would have led her to the floor. +</P> + +<P> +"Sit down. I want to talk with you. Long time no see 'um after +to-night," she said. "It'll be daylight soon and I've a long tale to +tell." +</P> + +<P> +As the others danced she gave him a dozen messages to impart to various +friends. +</P> + +<P> +"Tell Judge Colton that Three Bar stock is rising," she said. "And +that as soon as things are all smoothed out, he can expect me for a +boarder. I'm going to make him one nice long visit." +</P> + +<P> +Practically all of her time away from the Three Bar had been spent with +Judge Colton's family and she was accepted as part of the household. +It was there she had met Deane and those others to whom her messages +were sent. +</P> + +<P> +Through an opening in the dancing throng Deane suddenly had a clear +view of the open rear door—one brief glimpse before the crowd closed +once more and shut off his view. He had an idea that he had seen a +face, hazy and indistinct, a few feet outside the door. He wondered if +it could be the friend for whom Harris had searched. +</P> + +<P> +"Make the visit soon, Billie," he urged. "It's been a long month since +we've had you with us. We thought maybe you'd deserted us back there. +How soon will this visit start—and how long will it last?" +</P> + +<P> +"It will start as soon as the Three Bar doesn't need me," she said. +"And last a long time." +</P> + +<P> +Again a lane opened through the crowd, affording a view of the door. +Deane saw the face outside in the night, and a foot or more below if +some bright object glinted in the dim light which filtered through. +The music ceased and the chant of the roulette croupier began, mingling +with the smooth purr of the ivory ball. There came a sudden hush from +the vicinity of the rear door, a hush that spread rapidly throughout +the room, so swift are the perceptions of a frontier gathering. +</P> + +<P> +Old Rile Foster stood just inside, his gun half-raised before him. +Canfield and Lang stood together in the center of the floor, apart from +the rest and with no others in line beyond them. Rile tossed a boot +heel on to the floor and as it rolled toward the two men he shot +Canfield through the chest. Lang's gun crashed almost with his own. +Rile's knees sagged under him and he pitched face down on the floor, +his arms sprawled out before him. +</P> + +<P> +The surge of the crowd, pressing back out of line, threw the albino on +the edge of it, his big form towering alone. +</P> + +<P> +The old man raised his head from the floor and crooked his wrist with +the last of his ebbing strength. +</P> + +<P> +"Four for Bangs," he said, and shot Harper between the eyes. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap11"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +XI +</H3> + + +<P> +The two loggers had finished cutting their quota of timber for the +homestead cabins and the white peeled logs lay piled and ready to be +snaked down to the Three Bar on the first heavy snows of fall. The +choppers had transferred their operations to the lower broken slopes +which they scoured for the scattered cedars of the foothills, cutting +them for fence posts and piling them in spots accessible to the wagons +to be hauled whenever the mule teams could be spared. +</P> + +<P> +The acreage of plowed ground increased day by day and would continue +till frost claimed the ground. As soon as the brush was burnt the mule +teams pulled heavy log drags across the field, pulverizing the lumps +and leveling inequalities of the surface. +</P> + +<P> +Evans had been sent out as foreman of the beef round-up while Harris +remained behind to direct the operations at the ranch. The details of +the new work were unfamiliar ones for the girl and she was entirely +absorbed in learning the reasons for every move; so much engrossed, in +fact, that she had not left the Three Bar during the month which had +elapsed since the dance at Brill's. A few days before Evans was due +with the beef herd she rode Papoose away from the ranch, intending to +make a long-deferred visit to the Brandons. +</P> + +<P> +After covering two-thirds of the distance along the foot of the hills +to the V L she saw a rider dip over a ridge two miles away. She +unslung Harris's glasses and dismounted to watch for his reappearance. +When he came again into her field of view another man was with him and +they were driving a few head of cows before them. They angled into a +valley that led off to the south, dropping into it some three miles +from her. +</P> + +<P> +She mounted Papoose and headed him on a parallel course, keeping well +out of sight behind the intervening waves of ground. After holding her +direction at a stiff lope till satisfied that she had passed the men +she angled across to intersect their course. +</P> + +<P> +As Papoose topped a low hogback that flanked the valley she saw the men +riding toward her down the bottoms, driving twenty or more head of +cows. One of the horses threw up his head, his ears pricked sharply +toward her, and the swift upward tilt of the rider's hat, as swiftly +lowered, informed her that she had been sighted. The other man did not +look up. They lifted their horses from a walk to a stiff trot and +veered past the cows, then looked up as if just aware of her approach, +and waited for her. The men were Bentley and Carp. +</P> + +<P> +Bentley greeted her cheerily. Carp nodded without a word. +</P> + +<P> +"What are you two doing up here?" she demanded without parley. +</P> + +<P> +"I repped with the Three Bar wagon and Carp worked with you for a spell +so we sort of know the range," Bentley explained. "Slade sent us up to +drift any strays back south." +</P> + +<P> +"Those you were driving are Three Bar stuff—every hoof," she said. +"All two-year-old she-stock." +</P> + +<P> +Bentley turned and regarded the little herd they had just passed. +</P> + +<P> +"Them? Sho—we wasn't driving them," Bentley denied easily. "They +just drifted ahead of us as we rode down the bottoms. A cow critter +will always move on ahead of a man. We rode on past 'em as soon as we +decided to amble along." +</P> + +<P> +She knew that they were on safe ground. Any cow would drift on before +a horseman. +</P> + +<P> +"The only way to convict a man on a case like this is to shoot him out +of the saddle before he has a chance to pass the cows," she said. +"That's what will happen to the next Slade rider that gets noticed with +any Three Bar cows moving out in front of him and headed south. You +can carry that word to Slade." +</P> + +<P> +She whirled Papoose and headed back for the ranch, the intended visit +to the Brandons postponed. Harris was piling brush in the lower field +when she arrived and she informed him of the act of the two men. +</P> + +<P> +"I wouldn't put it past Carp," he said. "But I hadn't sized Bentley up +just that way. It's hard to tell. If Carp shows up here again we'll +make him a visit in the middle of the night—and he won't trouble us +much after that." +</P> + +<P> +"We'd better pay Slade a night visit too," she said. Her feelings +toward Slade had undergone a complete revulsion. She knew beyond a +doubt that he had been responsible for the raid on Three Bar bulls. +The wild bunch would have had no object in such a foray. Figuring it +from any angle Slade was the only one man who could possibly derive any +benefit from that. She had come to see that Slade was fighting with +his back to the wall,—that he had run his course and come to the end +of it if squatters secured a start in his range, and he considered the +act of the Three Bar the opening wedge which would throw open the way +for the nesters to crowd him out. +</P> + +<P> +The evening of the following day the beef herd trailed into the lower +end of the Three Bar valley and bedded for the night. In the morning +the trail herd was headed for the railroad under a full crew, for +Harris had kept all hands on the job. +</P> + +<P> +There was none of the fast and varied work of the round-up; the +trail-herding of beef to market seeming a slow and monotonous procedure +in comparison. The cows were drifted slowly south, well spread out and +grazing as they moved. Harris detailed two men to ride the "points," +the two forward extremities of the herd; two others rode the "drags," +holding to either flank of the rear end of the drive. In choppy +country he detailed a third pair to skirt the middle flanks and prevent +leakage up any feathering coulees. +</P> + +<P> +The chuck wagon followed a mile behind and the horse wrangler brought +up the rear, bringing the remuda, much depleted in numbers from full +round-up strength, for it now carried but three extra horses for each +man. +</P> + +<P> +Three hours out from the Three Bar some of the cows showed a +disposition to rest and calmly bedded down; the forward drift of the +herd was arrested. After a prolonged rest they rose in scattering +groups to feed and once more they were moved slowly to the south. The +men not on active duty with the herd rode in knots and whiled away the +time as best they could. It was the habit to cover less than twenty +miles a day with the beef herd as any strenuous exertion would reduce +the weight of the grass-fattened steers. +</P> + +<P> +The drove was a nondescript lot. In addition to the steers and older +cows that comprised every trail herd, the off-color she-stock had been +carefully culled from the range. +</P> + +<P> +Harris pointed to the bunch. +</P> + +<P> +"Look that assortment over well, Billie," he advised. "A few seasons +more, with fair luck, and you won't see one of these rainbow droves +with every color from brindle to strawberry roan; none of those +humpbacked runts; they'll all be gone. That's almost the last mongrel +herd that will ever wear your brand. They'll run better every year +until we have all big flat-backed beef stock—a straight white-face +run." +</P> + +<P> +The third morning out from the home ranch broke stormy. Gray, leaden +skies and low scudding, drab clouds drifted over the foothills and +obscured the view of the peaks. A nasty drizzle dampened the face of +the world and laid its clammy touch on all living things. This +condition prevailed all through the day and shortly after the cows had +been milled and bedded for the night the drizzle turned to rain, now +falling straight and soft, again in fierce squalls whipped by varying +shifts of wind. A saddled night horse was picketed for every man. The +wagon stood close under a hill while the herd was bedded on a broad +flat at the mouth of a valley. +</P> + +<P> +The men lay in the open, their bed-tarps folded to shed as much +moisture as possible. The soggy patter of the rain on her teepee +lulled the girl to sleep but she was frequently roused. A dull +muttering materialized suddenly into a sharp thunderstorm and the +canvas walls of her teepee were almost continuously illuminated by +successive flashes. The picketed horses fretted and stamped. Between +peals she heard the voices of the night guards singing to soothe their +restless charges on the bed ground. One of the men shifted his bed +roll from a gathering puddle to some higher point of ground. +</P> + +<P> +She dropped to sleep again but was roused by voices outside as the +guards changed shifts and she estimated that it must be near morning, +the fourth change of guards. +</P> + +<P> +The sounds ceased as the men who had just been relieved turned in for +their sleep. A horse neighed shrilly within a few yards of her teepee. +Another took it up and an answer sounded from the flats. There was a +crash of pistol shots, a rumble of hoofs and the instant command of +Harris. +</P> + +<P> +"Roll out! Roll out!" he called. "Saddles! On your horses." +</P> + +<P> +Even as he shouted there came the swish of wet canvas as the men +tumbled from their bed rolls, the imprecations of the suddenly +awakened. Billie thrust her head from the teepee flap, the water +cascading down her neck. The successive flashes showed the men tugging +desperately at boots and chaps, their grotesque, froglike leaps for +their tethered mounts. She saw Harris, buckling his belt as he ran, +and the next flash showed him vaulting to Calico's back. +</P> + +<P> +The thunder of hoofs drew her eyes to the bed ground where a black mass +surged, then bore off up the valley. A scattered line of riders bore +down on the herd, two ghostly apparitions among them throwing the cows +into a panic of fear. She knew these for riders flapping yellow +slickers in the wind. As the light faded she saw three horizontal red +streaks cut the obscurity and knew that one of her guards was in the +midst of the rustlers, doing his single-handed best. The red splashes +of answering shots showed on all sides of him. She tugged on her chaps +and boots, slipped Papoose's picket rope and vaulted to his back. +</P> + +<P> +The scene was once more illuminated as she rode from the wagon. A big +pinto horse was strung out and running his best, the other Three Bar +men pounding after him. A riderless horse circled in the flat, a dark +shape sprawled near him, and she wondered which one of her men had gone +down. A knot of horsemen were turning up an opening gulch on the far +side of the valley. A half-dozen Three Bar riders veered their horses +for the spot. Harris turned in his saddle and his voice reached her +above the tumult. +</P> + +<P> +"Let 'em go!" he shouted. "Let 'em go! Hold the herd!" +</P> + +<P> +Far off on the opposite side she made out a lone horseman riding at a +full run along the sidehill above the cows as he made a supreme effort +to reach the head of the run. The Three Bar men split and streamed up +both sides of the bottoms. The flashes had ceased except for brief, +quivering plays of less than a second's duration. She hung her spurs +into Papoose and trusted to his footwork. The swift little horse +passed one rider, then another. There were only the rumble of hoofs +and the crazed bawling of cows to guide her as she drew near the rear +of the herd. A half-flare showed the pinto a bare twenty yards ahead, +with Harris putting him at the slope to pass the cows. She swung her +own horse after him and she felt the frequent skid of his feet on the +treacherous sidehill. Papoose braced on his haunches and slid down a +precipitous bank, buckled up the far side and down again, then swooped +across a long flat bench. Three times she felt the heaving plunge and +jar as the little horse skimmed over cut-bank coulees and washes which +her own eyes could not see in the dripping velvet black. +</P> + +<P> +From the sounds below she knew they were well up on the flanks of the +run and nearing the peak. The stampede seemed slowing. A long, +wavering flash revealed Harris a dozen jumps ahead. Papoose followed +the paint-horse as Harris put Calico down the slippery sidehill and +lifted him round the point of the herd. In the same flash Billie had +seen two slickers out before the peaks of the run, flapping weirdly in +the faces of the foremost cows. This accounted for the slowing-up she +had sensed. Two of her men were before them and she wondered how this +had come to pass. +</P> + +<P> +The lightning-play broke forth once more. She saw two riders swinging +round the opposite point. The two slickers were working in the center. +Harris's gun flashed six times. She jerked her own and rolled it. The +two riders who had just rounded the far point joined in. Cows in the +front ranks held back from this fearsome commotion out in front. +Others, driven by the pressure behind, forged past them, only to hold +back in their turn as the guns flashed before their eyes. +</P> + +<P> +The storm ceased as suddenly as it had begun and for two miles she rode +in inky darkness. The last mile was slower. It was showing gray in +the east and the night run had spent its force. The herd stopped and +the cows gazed stupidly about, standing with drooping heads and heaving +sides. Three Bar men showed on both flanks and in the rear. They had +held the drove intact and prevented its splitting up in detachments and +scattering through the night. +</P> + +<P> +Horne and Moore rode over to them and for the first time the girl +noticed that the two men who had wielded slickers out in front of the +run were nowhere to be seen. +</P> + +<P> +"Who was the pair out ahead?" Moore asked. "And what swallowed 'em up?" +</P> + +<P> +Harris shook his head. +</P> + +<P> +"Billie and I were the first to make the front," he said. +</P> + +<P> +"Not any," Moore stated positively. "I saw 'em five minutes before you +two swung round the point. I was wondering who had outrode the +paint-horse and Billie's little nag." +</P> + +<P> +Moore's left side was plastered with mud, as was the left side of his +mount. +</P> + +<P> +"I was on guard and halfway up the far side," he said. "Split Ear took +a header with me and delayed me some." +</P> + +<P> +He pointed to the mud crusted on his clothes. Billie knew that he was +the lone rider she had seen on the flanks of the herd as she rode away +from the wagon. The fall accounted for their Founding the point ahead +of him. Moore was looking off across the country. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you mean to tell me you didn't see those two slickers flapping out +in front?" he demanded. +</P> + +<P> +"I confess I didn't observe any," Harris said. "You're getting spooky, +Moore. A couple of white cows, likely, out ahead of the rest." +</P> + +<P> +Moore regarded him curiously. +</P> + +<P> +"Maybe that's so," he said. "Waving their tails in the air, sort of." +He grinned and turned his horse to head back a bunch that had drifted +out of the herd. +</P> + +<P> +"The boys made a nice ride," Harris said to Horne. "You float round +from one to the next and tell 'em we'll soon have a feed. I'll ride +back and send the wagon up." +</P> + +<P> +Billie rode with him as he skirted the herd and started on the return +trip. Her mind was occupied with the two riders who had slowed the run +and disappeared. There had been something familiar about them, for +every man has his individual way of sitting a saddle as he has an +individuality of gait when on foot. As she had viewed them in the +lightning's flash they had closely resembled Bentley and Carp. But she +decided that this resemblance had been but a fancied one, suggested by +the fact that the two men had been much on her mind of late. +</P> + +<P> +"We're not hurt bad," Harris said. "The boys held them bunched in good +shape. Maybe forty or so head down with broken legs—and ten pounds of +fat apiece run off the rest." +</P> + +<P> +A hatred of Slade was growing within her. Here, too, was a case where +no other would benefit by the senseless stampede. If the beef herd +could be broken up it would cause a delay to round it up in a strange +range with the certainty of many cows being missed,—a case of +weakening the Three Bar. +</P> + +<P> +She had been so absorbed in learning the details of the new work, so +elated at its progress, that she had come to believe in its ultimate +success. And they had been unmolested for so long a time. Then had +come the wanton slaughter of Three Bar bulls and now the stampede of +the trail herd. It was conclusive proof that Slade had abandoned his +former wearing-down process as too slow and was out to crush the Three +Bar in the speediest possible way and through any available means. +</P> + +<P> +There rose in her a flare of resentment against her neighbors, the +Brandons of the V L and the McVeys of the Halfmoon D. Both had taken +out papers on the best land in their respective localities as soon as +forewarned of her intended move. Ostensibly this was done merely as a +protection against outsiders but in reality they were hoping that she +would win out, in which case they would go through with their filings +and prove up. But neither outfit would come out in the open and give +her their support, preferring to hold aloof and benefit by her success +if it so transpired and lose nothing themselves if she should +fail—part of the policy of every man for himself—in the meantime +letting her brand bear the brunt of the fight. +</P> + +<P> +Harris, too, was pondering over Slade's change of tactics. He felt +assured that Slade's own men had not participated in starting the run. +Slade would not let any considerable number of his boys know that much +about him. Some of Lang's men had undoubtedly been hired to stampede +the Three Bar herd. +</P> + +<P> +"The very fact that Slade is so bald with it is proof that he sees the +necessity of crowding us fast," Harris said. "If we get too big a +start he's blown up—and he hasn't had anything to work on but plowed +ground. He's out now to worry us at odd ends. We can expect a steady +run of mishaps now, for he'll work fast—but we'll win out in the end." +</P> + +<P> +She nodded a little wearily for she knew that with Slade throwing all +his forces against her the Three Bar would be hard pressed. In +addition to this worry her mind was concerned with the riderless horse +she had seen as she rode away from the wagon, the huddled figure +sprawled in the flat. Every Three Bar rider was a friend and she +hesitated to hear which one of her men had gone down in the raid. +</P> + +<P> +"Who was it?" she asked at last, and Harris divined that she was +harking back to the fallen night guard who had tried to head the +raiders alone. +</P> + +<P> +"I've been trying not to think about that," he said. "Lanky was a good +pal of mine. I saw him go down, but I couldn't stop right then." +</P> + +<P> +Evans occupied a place in her regard that was perhaps a notch higher +than that of any other of the crew. +</P> + +<P> +"Can't we prove anything on Slade—do anything to stop him?" she +demanded. "If they've killed Lanky, I'll perjure myself if it's the +only way. I'll have Alden pick him up and I'll swear I saw him do the +thing himself. He's as guilty as if he actually had." +</P> + +<P> +"I've a bait or two out for Slade," Harris said. "But that way may +prove too slow. If Lanky's gone under, I expect I'll have to pick a +quarrel with Slade and hurry things along." +</P> + +<P> +"Don't you!" she objected. For all of her confidence in Harris's +efficiency in most respects, her implicit belief in his courage, she +could not forget the awkward swing of his gun and she had a swift +vision of him facing Slade without a chance. +</P> + +<P> +A crash of wagon wheels and the voice of Waddles admonishing the horses +interrupted her. The chuck wagon rolled round a bend as the big cook +followed the trail of the night run. Every bed had been rolled and +loaded to eliminate the necessity of a return. The remuda trailed +behind the wagon under the combined supervision of the nighthawk and +the wrangler. +</P> + +<P> +"How is Lanky?" was Harris's first query. +</P> + +<P> +Waddles jerked a thumb over his shoulder. Evans, shot once through the +arm and a second time through the shoulder, reclined on the +triple-thickness bed roll the cook had spread for him on the floor of +the wagon. +</P> + +<P> +"Only nicked—clean holes and no bones," Lanky said. "I'll be all +right as soon as Waddles will let me out of this chariot and I get to +riding comfortable on a horse." +</P> + +<P> +"He'll come round fine in a few days if we can keep him offen a horse +and riding comfortable in the wagon," Waddles countered. "I've give +him orders to that effect." +</P> + +<P> +Evans groaned. +</P> + +<P> +"He drives over places I wouldn't cross afoot," he complained. "Did +you hold the run?" +</P> + +<P> +Reassured on this point he flattened out on his pallet and the wagon +held on toward the herd. +</P> + +<P> +The weary cows were held over for a day of rest. The night guards were +doubled and this precaution was maintained during the succeeding two +stops before reaching the shipping point. +</P> + +<P> +Harris and Billie sat on the top rail of the loading chute while the +last few Three Bar steers were being prodded on board the cars. +</P> + +<P> +Harris slipped from his perch and motioned to Moore and Horne. +</P> + +<P> +"You can go up town now and take on a few drinks. Hunt up an old +friend or two and wag your chins. Make it right secretive and +confidential and make each one promise faithful not to breathe a +syllable to another living soul. That way the news is sure to travel +rapid." +</P> + +<P> +He returned to the girl as the stock train pulled out. Two hands waved +a joyous farewell from the top of the cars, delighted at the prospect +of a trip to market with the steers. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't pretend to regret that old Rile played even for Bang's," +Harris said. "But I wish he'd sorted out some one else in the albino's +place. It was bad business for the Three Bar when Harper went down." +</P> + +<P> +"He was the head of the gang," she said. "The worst of the lot." +</P> + +<P> +"And for that reason he was able to hold them down," Harris explained. +"It was some of the outfit from over in the Breaks that stampeded us. +Slade wouldn't let his own boys know that much about him so he'd hire +Lang. Harper had brains. He wouldn't have gone in for that. Lang has +thrown in against us. He's all bulk and no brains and as savage as an +Apache buck. He'll hang himself in the end but in the interim he may +hand us considerable grief." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap12"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +XII +</H3> + + +<P> +The wild riders of the Breaks no longer mingled with other men with the +same freedom as of old. Some fifteen men throughout the country felt +themselves marked and set apart from others. Friends no longer +fraternized with them at the bars when they rode into the towns. Doors +which had always been open in the past were now opened furtively if at +all. Lukewarm adherents fell away from them and avoided them even more +studiously than the rest. This swift transition had sprung apparently +from no more than a whisper, a murderous rumor which persisted in the +face of flat denials issued from its supposititious source. +</P> + +<P> +All through the range and as far south as the railroad it was current +gossip that the Three Bar would pay a thousand dollars reward for each +of fifteen men, a fast saddle horse thrown in and no questions asked. +The men were named, and if the rumor was based on truth it was +virtually placing a bounty on the scalps of certain men the same as the +State paid bounty on the scalps of wolves,—except that it was without +the sanction of the law. +</P> + +<P> +This backfire rumor had established a definite line with fifteen men +outside, conspicuous and alone, and those who had once followed the +hazy middle ground of semi-lawlessness with perfect security now +hastened to become solid citizens whose every act would stand the +light; for the whispers seemed all-embracing and it was intimated that +new names would be added to the original list to include those who +fraternized with the ones outside the pale. +</P> + +<P> +Those not branded by this alleged bounty system were quick to grasp the +beautiful simplicity of it all. Some recalled that a similar rumor, +supposed to have originated with old Con Ristine, had wiped out the +wild bunch that preyed on the Nations Cow-trail—that the Gallatin +clean-up had resulted from a like report which Al Moody was reported to +have launched. +</P> + +<P> +It had the effect of causing the men so branded to view all others with +suspicion, as possible aspirants out to collect the bounty on their +heads. It sowed distrust among their own ranks for there was always +the chance that one, in seeking safety for himself, might collect the +blood-money posted for another. The reference to the fast saddle horse +was guarantee that no questions would be asked before the price was +paid and no questions answered after the recipient had ridden away from +the Three Bar with his spoils. +</P> + +<P> +Yet, if the thing were true, it was the most flagrant violation of the +law ever launched, even in the Coldriver Strip where transgression was +the rule. For the branded men were not wanted on any charge. It was +merely the wholesale posting of rewards for the lives of some fifteen +citizens whose standing in the community was legally the same as the +rest,—prize money offered by an individual concern for its enemies +without reference to the law. On every possible occasion Harris flatly +denied that there was a shred of truth in the report. Al Moody, years +before, had also denied his responsibility for the rumors on the +Gallatin range; and Con Ristine had repudiated all knowledge of the +whispers that traveled the Nations Trail. But in each case these very +natural denials had served only to strengthen men's belief in the truth +of the reports; and inevitably they had established a hard line that +cut off the men so named from the rest of the countryside. +</P> + +<P> +Harris knew that his own life was forfeit any time he chanced to ride +alone. He had not a doubt but that Slade had put a price on his head +and that perhaps a dozen men were patiently waiting for a chance at +him. Any man whose name appeared on the black list which he was +supposed to have sponsored would overlook no opportunity to retaliate +in kind. In addition to this there was always the chance of a swift +raid on the men who had filed their homestead rights in the valley. +</P> + +<P> +As a consequence Harris had taken every possible precaution. Winter +had claimed the range and hardened the ground with frost. The full +force of Three Bar hands had been kept on the pay roll instead of being +let off immediately after the beef was shipped. These riders were +stationed in line camps out on the range, their ostensible purpose +being to hold all Three Bar cows close to the home ranch but in reality +they served two ends, acting as a cordon of guards as well. The two +woodcutters were camped in the edge of the hills behind the ranch and +daily patrolled the drifts that now lay deep in the timber for signs of +skulkers who might have slipped down from behind and stationed +themselves on some point overlooking the corrals. +</P> + +<P> +Three times in as many weeks strangers drifting in from other +localities stopped in Coldriver and profanely reported the fact that +for no reason whatever, while passing through the Three Bar range, they +had been held up and forced to state their business in that +neighborhood. +</P> + +<P> +Hostilities had ceased. The Three Bar girl had anticipated a series of +raids against the cows wearing her brand, swift forays in isolated +points of her range, but no stock losses were reported. On the surface +it appeared that Slade had given up all thought of harassing the Three +Bar. But the girl had come to know Slade. He would never recede from +his former stand. She noted that Harris's vigilance was never for an +instant relaxed and it was gradually impressed upon her that the +cessation of petty annoyances held more of menace than of assurance. +Slade had seen that the Three Bar was not to be discouraged in its +course and he now waited for an opportunity to launch a blow that would +cripple, striking simultaneously at every exposed point and delaying +only for a propitious time. In the face of continued immunity she was +filled with a growing conviction of impending trouble. +</P> + +<P> +Christmas had found the range covered with a fresh tracking snow which +precluded possibility of a raid and all hands had been summoned to the +home ranch for a two-day rest. Harris knew that cowhands, no matter +how loyal to the brand that pays them, are a restless lot and must have +their periodical fling to break the monotony of lonely days; so he had +provided food and drink in abundance. The frolic was over and the +hands back on the range. Harris sat with Billie before her fire. +</P> + +<P> +"They'll be satisfied for another two months," he said. "Then we'll +have to call them in for another spree." +</P> + +<P> +This evening conference before the fire had come to be a nightly +occurrence. Together they went over the details of the work +accomplished during the day and mapped out those for the next. From +outside came the crunch of hoofs and the screech of logs on the frozen +trail as the last mule team came down with its load. +</P> + +<P> +Most of the logs had been skidded down and the men now worked in pairs, +erecting the cabins on each filing. The cedar posts had been hauled +and strung out along the prospective fence lines. The wagons, under +heavy guard, had made two trips to the railroad to freight in more +implements and supplies. Thousands of pounds of seed oats and alfalfa +seed were stored at the Three Bar along with sixty hundred of cement. +</P> + +<P> +"Another two months and the cabins will be roofed and finished," Harris +said. "Then we'll be through till the frost is out of the ground. +We'll start building fence as soon as you can sink a post hole; and +we'll have time to break out another two hundred acres of ground before +time to seed it down." +</P> + +<P> +The girl nodded without comment, content to leave him to his thoughts, +her mind pleasantly occupied with her own. For long her evenings had +been lonely but now she had come to look forward to the conferences +before the blazing logs. She had made no attempt to analyze the +reasons for the new contentment which had transformed her evenings, +formerly periods of drab reflections, into the most pleasant portion of +each day. +</P> + +<P> +Harris gazed about the familiar room and wondered what the future held +out to him if he should be forced to spend his evenings alone after +having shared them for six months with the Three Bar girl. The weekly +letters still came from Deane. The girl valued Harris as a friend and +partner without apparent trace of more intimate regard. He wondered +which would prevail, the ties which bound her to the life she had +always known or the lure of the new life which beckoned. +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly, without having sought it, the explanation of her recent +contentment bubbled to the surface of the girl's consciousness, and she +turned and gazed at Harris. Night after night she had sat here with +old Cal Warren and discussed the details of their work and after his +passing her evenings had been hours of restlessness. Now Harris, the +partner, had crept into the father's place,—had in a measure filled +the void. +</P> + +<P> +Harris rose and flicked the ash from his cigarette, suppressing the +desire to take her in his arms, for he knew that time had not yet come. +As he opened the door to leave an eddy of steam curled in at the +opening as the warm air of the room battled on the threshold with the +thirty-below temperature of the outside world. She heard the hissing +crunch of his boots on the frozen crust—and reached for Deane's +Christmas letter to reread it for perhaps the fifth time. +</P> + +<P> +During the night a chinook poured its warm breath over the hills and +morning found the snow crumpling before it. The surface was a pulpy +mass intersected by rivulets. Water trickled from the eaves of the +buildings and there was a breath of spring in the air; false assurance +for those who knew, for it was inevitable that, once the chinook had +passed, bitter frost would clamp down once more. +</P> + +<P> +Such days, however, inspire plans for spring and Billie rode with +Harris through the lower field as he pointed out the various fence +lines and the lay of the ditches and laterals which would carry water +to irrigate the meadow, all these to be installed as soon as winter +should lose its grip. +</P> + +<P> +As Harris outlined his plans his words were tinged with optimism and he +allowed no hint of possible disaster to creep into his speech. But the +girl was conscious of that hovering uncertainty, the feeling that the +months of peace were but to lure her into a false sense of security and +that Slade would pounce on the Three Bar from all angles at once +whenever the time was right. +</P> + +<P> +She found some consolation in the fact that Lang's men no longer rode +through her range at will, but skirted it in their trips to and from +the Breaks. She attributed this solely to Harris's precautions in the +matter of outguards, for of all those within a hundred miles she was +perhaps the single one who had not heard of the sinister rumor that was +cutting Lang and his men off from the rest of the world. +</P> + +<P> +Men were discussing it wherever they met; in Coldriver they were +speculating on the possible results, the same in the railroad towns; +across the Idaho line and south into Utah it was the topic of the day. +And the single patron of Brill's store found the same question +uppermost in his mind. +</P> + +<P> +Carson was one of the many who were neither wholly good nor hopelessly +bad, one who had drifted with the easy current of the middle course. +And he was wondering if that middle course would continue to prove +safe. He played solitaire to pass the time. His horse and saddle had +been lost in a stud-poker game just prior to his catching the stage to +Brill's, where his credit had always been good. He rose, stretched and +accosted Brill. +</P> + +<P> +"Put me down for a quart," he said. +</P> + +<P> +"Whenever you put down the cash," Brill returned. +</P> + +<P> +"What's the matter with my credit?" Carson demanded. "I've always +paid." +</P> + +<P> +Brill reached for a book, opened it and slid it on to the bar. He +flipped the pages and indicated a number of accounts ruled off with red +ink. +</P> + +<P> +"So did Harper," he said. "He always paid; and Canfield—and Magill; +these others too. Their credit was good but they've all gone +somewheres I can't follow to collect. And they was owing me." He +tapped a double account. +</P> + +<P> +"Bangs was into me a little. Old Rile paid up for him and then got it +in his turn—with his name down for a hundred on my books. Harris and +Billie Warren paid up for Rile. Now just whoever do you surmise will +pay up for you?" +</P> + +<P> +"Me?" Carson inquired. "Why, I ain't dead. I'm clear alive." +</P> + +<P> +"So was they when I charged those accounts," Brill said. "But it looks +like stormy days ahead. I sell for cash." +</P> + +<P> +"I'm not on this death list, if that's what you're referring to," +Carson announced. +</P> + +<P> +"But it's easy to get enrolled," Brill said. "Your name's liable to +show up on it any time. Seen Lang in the last few days?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not in the last few months," Carson stated. "Nor yet in the next few +years. He's no friend of mine." +</P> + +<P> +"I sort of remember you used to be right comradely," Brill remarked. +</P> + +<P> +"That's before I really knowed Lang intimate," Carson said. "He didn't +strike me as such a bad sort at first; but now he's going too strong. +Folks are getting plum down on him." +</P> + +<P> +"What you mean is that folks who used to be friendly are growing spooky +about getting their own names on that list," Brill said. "That's what +has opened their eyes." +</P> + +<P> +"Maybe so," the thirsty man confessed. "But anyway, I'm through." +</P> + +<P> +"They're all through!" Brill said. "A hundred others just like you, +scattered here and there. It's come to them recent just what a bad lot +Lang is. It's hell what a whisper can do." +</P> + +<P> +"It is when that whisper is backed by a thousand-dollar reward," Carson +agreed. "If he really pays up it'll wreck Lang's little snap for sure." +</P> + +<P> +Brill dabbed his cloth at an imaginary spot on the polished slab and +nodded without comment. +</P> + +<P> +"I reckon he launched that scheme because Slade put a price on him +first," Carson said. +</P> + +<P> +"I didn't know Slade was into this," Brill stated softly. "There's no +proof of that. Not a shred." +</P> + +<P> +"No more than there's any proof that Harris is behind these rewards," +Carson said. "But you know that Slade is out to wreck the Three Bar +since they've planted squatters there." +</P> + +<P> +The storekeeper failed to respond. +</P> + +<P> +"There's likely a dozen men looking for Harris right now," Carson +prophesied. +</P> + +<P> +"But it's hard for one of 'em to get within ten miles of the ranch," +Brill observed. "So while they're maybe looking for him it's right +difficult to see him that far off." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't mind admitting that I'm for Harris—as against Slade," Carson +said. +</P> + +<P> +"Just between us two I don't mind confessing that I'm neutral—as +against everything else," Brill returned. +</P> + +<P> +"Now you know how I'm lined up. Do I get that quart?" Carson urged. +</P> + +<P> +"I knew how you was lined up months back." Brill turned on a dry smile. +</P> + +<P> +"I ain't told a soul till right now," Carson objected. "So how could +you know?" +</P> + +<P> +"You didn't need to tell. As soon as that rumor leaked out it was a +cinch where you'd stand. And a hundred others are crowding on to the +same foothold along with you." +</P> + +<P> +"And why not?" Carson demanded. "Who wants to get a thousand plastered +on his scalp? It would tempt a man's best friends." +</P> + +<P> +"Or scare 'em off," the storekeeper commented. "Which is all the same +in the end." +</P> + +<P> +A half dozen men clattered up in front and surged through the door. +More arrivals followed as the regular afternoon crowd gathered before +the bar. There were many jobless hands drifting from one ranch to the +next, "grublining" on each brand for a week or more at a time during +the slack winter months. +</P> + +<P> +Carpenter rode up alone. Brill lowered one lid and jerked his head +toward Carson. +</P> + +<P> +"Broke—and reformed," he said. "Maybe." +</P> + +<P> +Some minutes later Carp bought the thirsty man a drink. +</P> + +<P> +"You looking for a job?" he asked. "I can use you down my way." +</P> + +<P> +Carson was well versed in the bends of the devious trail and Carp's +ways smacked of irregularities. Carson had ideas of his own why the +other man was allowed to start up an outfit down in Slade's range. One +day Carp's name would be cited on the black list. As diplomatically as +possible he refused the offer of a job. +</P> + +<P> +The storekeeper smiled as he noted this. Carson had turned into a +solid citizen almost overnight. As Carp left him and joined another +group Brill poured Carson a drink. +</P> + +<P> +"You're a fair risk at that—as long as you stay cautious," he +remarked. "I'll stake you to a horse and saddle. You can ride the +grubline with the rest of the boys till spring and get a job when work +opens up." He slid a bottle across the bar. "Here's your quart." +</P> + +<P> +He stood looking after him as Carson moved to a table and motioned +several others to join him over the bottle. +</P> + +<P> +"That's about the tenth reformation that's transpired under my eyes in +as many days," Brill mused. "Give us time and this community will turn +pure and spotless. I don't mind any man's owing me if he stands a fair +show to go on living." +</P> + +<P> +The sheriff dropped in for one of his infrequent visits to Brill's. He +waved all hands to a drink. +</P> + +<P> +"I've just been out to the Three Bar to see Harris," he announced. +"And asked him about this news that's been floating about. He came +right out flat and says he's not offering a reward. That's all a +mistake." +</P> + +<P> +Every man in the room grinned at this statement. There was no other +possible reply that Harris could make. +</P> + +<P> +"Of course," the sheriff said reflectively. "Of course there's just a +chance that Cal lied to me." +</P> + +<P> +"He lied all right," Carp prophesied. "I'd bet my shirt he'll stand to +pay the price for every man that's cited on that list." +</P> + +<P> +"Shaw," the sheriff deprecated. "That's dead against the law, that is. +He can't do that." +</P> + +<P> +"He will do it," Carp predicted. "If I was on that list I'd be moving +for somewheres a long ways remote from here." +</P> + +<P> +"Then you'd better be starting," Alden counseled mildly. "For Harris +was just telling me that your name had got mixed up with it. Morrow's +name has sprung up too. Cal seemed mystified as to how it had come +about for he says you and Morrow never rode with the others on the +list. He couldn't figure how this thing come to start." +</P> + +<P> +"Figure!" Carp snapped. "He figured it out himself, who else? Are you +going to stand for his putting a price on every man he happens to +dislike?" +</P> + +<P> +"But he says he don't know anything about it," the sheriff +expostulated. "So how can I prove he does? I'd like to know for sure. +If I thought he was actually set to pay those rewards I'd have to ride +over and remonstrate with Cal. That would be in defiance of the law." +</P> + +<P> +One or two who had been drinking with Carp moved over to speak with +others and failed to return. He was left standing alone at the bar. +He shrugged his shoulders and went out. +</P> + +<P> +"Folks are considerable like sheep," Brill observed. It occurred to +him that in every saloon and in every bunk house within a hundred miles +the topic of conversation was the same. +</P> + +<P> +He lowered one lid as he looked at the sheriff and jerked his head +toward Carson. +</P> + +<P> +"He's broke—and reformed," he said. "Absolutely." +</P> + +<P> +The sheriff drew Carson aside. +</P> + +<P> +"If you're wanting a job I'll stake you to an outfit and feed you +through till spring. Forty a month from then on. I'll need a parcel +of deputies, likely, after that." +</P> + +<P> +"You've got one," Carson stated. "I'll sign now." +</P> + +<P> +The storekeeper, the sheriff and the new deputy stood at one end of the +bar. +</P> + +<P> +"It's queer that folks don't see the real object of this rumor," Brill +observed. +</P> + +<P> +"Its object is to clean out the hardest citizens in the country," +Carson said. "That's why they're named. Why else?" +</P> + +<P> +"The object is to clean up the rest of the country first," Brill said. +</P> + +<P> +Carson grunted his disbelief. +</P> + +<P> +"If Harris only wanted to wipe out those on the list he wouldn't go to +all this fuss," Brill explained. "He'd just put on an extra bunch of +hands and raid the Breaks himself. Swear he caught them running off a +bunch of Three Bar cows. Simpler and considerable less expense." +</P> + +<P> +"Then what's the object of this bounty?" Carson insisted. +</P> + +<P> +"That's aimed at the doubtful folks," Brill stated. "Folks that was on +the fence—like you. This death list makes them spooky and they turn +into good little citizens in one round of the clock. It leaves the +worst ones outside without a friend. Every one lined up solid behind +the law. Public sentiment will start running strong against those +outside. Then it'll be easy for the sheriff and a bunch of +deputies—like you—to clean the country up from end to end, with the +whole community backing your play." +</P> + +<P> +Carson considered this for some time. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I can furnish the deputies," he said at last. "Boys that are +strong for law and order from first to last." +</P> + +<P> +"I've got about all I need," the sheriff said. "A dozen or so. Mostly +old friends of yours. I've picked 'em up on and off in the last two +weeks. They're strong for upholding the last letter of the law—just +like you said." +</P> + +<P> +"A dozen?" Carson asked. "How'll you raise the money to pay that many +at once?" +</P> + +<P> +"I'm sort of expecting maybe the Three Bar will make up the deficit," +Alden said. "It's cheaper than paying rewards. That's another reason +I don't think Cal had a hand in this blacklist report." +</P> + +<P> +The storekeeper grinned. +</P> + +<P> +"Surely not. Surely not. I'd never suspect him of that," he said. +"But all the same it's working just as well as if he really had." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap13"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +XIII +</H3> + + +<P> +The first warm days of spring had drawn the frost from the ground. +Billie rode beside Harris down the lane to the lower field. A tiny +cabin stood completed on every filing. Two men were digging post holes +across the valley below the edge of the last fall's plowing and the +mule teams were steadily breaking out another strip. +</P> + +<P> +"Almost a year," she said, referring to the commencement of the new +work. +</P> + +<P> +"Just a year to-day," Harris corrected, and he was thinking of the day +he had first met the Three Bar girl. "This is our anniversary, sort +of." +</P> + +<P> +She nodded as she caught his meaning. +</P> + +<P> +"The anniversary of our partnership," she said. "You're good on dates. +We've pulled together pretty well, considering our start." +</P> + +<P> +"It was a rocky trail for the first few days," he confessed. "But all +the time I was hoping it would get smoothed out." +</P> + +<P> +"You told me there were millions of miles of sage just outside," she +recollected. "And millions of cows—and girls." +</P> + +<P> +"Later I told you something else," he said. "And I've been meaning it +ever since. The road to the outside is closed. If I was to start now +I'd lose the way." +</P> + +<P> +She pointed down the valley as a drove of horses moved toward them +under the guidance of a dozen men. The hands would start breaking out +the remuda the following day. The spring work was on. +</P> + +<P> +"Off to a running start on another year," he said. "And sure to hold +our lead." They drew aside as the remuda thundered past and on toward +the corrals. "From to-day on out, you and I'll be a busy pair," he +prophesied. +</P> + +<P> +His prediction proved true. The Three Bar was a beehive of activity +and it seemed that the hours between dawn and dark were all too short +for the amount of work Harris wished to crowd into them. +</P> + +<P> +The cowhands were breaking out the horses in the corrals while the +acreage of plowed land in the lower fields steadily increased. +</P> + +<P> +The heaviest cedar posts were tamped in place for the outer fence and a +six-wire barrier held range cows back from the bottoms which would soon +be in growing crops. It crossed the flats below the lower filings and +followed the road that held to one side of the valley clear to the +Three Bar lane. On the far side it mounted the bench that flanked the +bottoms and followed the crest of it, tying into the home corrals. +Lighter three-wire fences marked the homestead lines within. +</P> + +<P> +The day that Evans led the men out on the calf round-up, the mule teams +made their first trip across the plowed land with the drill. +</P> + +<P> +Harris and the girl sat their horses and watched the initial trip. The +fields were being seeded to alfalfa and oats so that the faster growing +grain might shade and protect the tender shoots of hay. Before the +grain ripened it would be cut green for hay, cured and stacked. +</P> + +<P> +When the seeding was completed Billie worked with Harris and together +they ran a level over the seeded ground, marking out the laterals on +grade across the fields from points where they would tap the main feed +ditches and carry water to the crops. +</P> + +<P> +Russ and Tiny followed the lines of stakes which marked their readings +of the level, throwing a plow furrow each way. A second pair of +homesteaders followed behind them, their mules dragging a pointed +steel-shod ditcher which forced out the loosened earth. +</P> + +<P> +A concrete head gate was installed at a feasible take-out point on the +Crazy Loop. Then all hands worked on a main feed ditch which would +carry sufficient volume of water to cover every filing. Lead ditches +tapped the main artery at frequent intervals, each one of capacity to +carry a head of water to irrigate one forty. These in turn feathered +out into the tiny laterals across the meadow. +</P> + +<P> +Early rains had moistened the fields and they were faintly green with +tiny shoots of oats. These thickened into a rank velvety carpet while +the homesteaders were hauling a hundred loads of rocks to form a crude +dam across the stream below the take-out. The water was gradually +raised till it ran almost flush with the top of the head gate. The +gates were lifted and the diverted waters sped smoothly down the new +channel to carry life to a portion of the sagebrush desert. +</P> + +<P> +A few days would find the cowhands back from the round-up. The +homesteaders must make one more trip to the railroad to freight in the +stacker and the two buck-sweeps to be used in putting up the hay. This +trip was delayed only till the round-up crew was back from the range +for a week of leisure and could act as guards while the others were +away. +</P> + +<P> +As the tangible results of the work became more apparent Harris's +vigilance increased. There was now more than plowed ground to work on; +crops to be trampled at a time when they would not lift again to permit +of mowing; fences to be wrecked so that range stock might have free +access to the fields. A single night could upset the work of many +months. But as he stood with Billie at the mouth of the lane he +allowed none of his thoughts to be reflected in his speech. +</P> + +<P> +It was two hours before dark and the perspective toward the east was +already foreshortened. Two jackrabbits hopped into the lane and moved +down toward the meadow. The homesteaders had turned their hands to +another job. Tiny and Russ, shod with rubber boots, were leaning on +their long-handled shovels in the forty nearest the house. Beyond them +the other irrigators were spreading the water over the growing crops. +</P> + +<P> +Billie Warren half-closed her eyes and viewed the broad expanse of +rippling green in the bottoms. How many times she had stood here in +the past with old Cal Warren while he visioned this very picture which +now unrolled before her eyes in reality; the transformation of the +Three Bar flat from a desert waste to a scene of abundant fertility +under the reclaiming touch of water. +</P> + +<P> +It was a quiet picture of farm life if one looked only upon the +blooming fields and took no account of the raw, barren foothills that +flanked them,—the gaunt, towering range behind. She found it +difficult to link the scene before her with the deviltry of a few +months past. The killing of Bangs and Rile Foster's consequent grim +retaliation; the raid on Three Bar bulls and the stampede of her trail +herd; all those seemed part of some life so long in the past as to form +no part of her present. +</P> + +<P> +The continued immunity had had its effect, regardless of her earlier +suspicions. She still realized the possibility of further raids but +they had been so long delayed that the prospect had ceased to impress +her as imminent. Tiny and Russ changed their head of water. As they +shifted positions she noted that each carried some tool beside his +irrigator's shovel. No man in the field ever strayed far from the +rifle which was part of his equipment. But even this was an evidence +of vigilance which had met her eye every day for months and had ceased +to impress. +</P> + +<P> +They walked to the near edge of the field and Harris stooped to part +the knee-deep grain, pointing to the slender stems of alfalfa with +their delicate leaves. +</P> + +<P> +"We have a record stand of young hay," he said. "It's thick all +through—every place I've looked." He straightened up and laughed. +"And I expect I've looked at every acre. I've been right interested in +those little shoots. It's deep-rooted now. The worst is past. I +don't see that anything that could happen now would kill it out. Next +year we'll put up a thousand tons of hay." +</P> + +<P> +He dropped a hand on her shoulder and stood looking down at her. +</P> + +<P> +"Billie, don't you think it's about time you were finding out what +Judge Colton wants?" he asked. "He's been right insistent on your +going back to confer with him." +</P> + +<P> +The girl shook her head positively. Two months before Judge Colton had +written that he must advise with her on matters of importance and +suggested that she come on at once. Harris had urged her to go and +almost daily referred to it. +</P> + +<P> +"I can't go now," she said. "Not till I've seen one whole season +through. When the first Three Bar crop is cut and in the stack I'll +go. All other business must wait till then. You two can't drive me +away till after I see that first crop in the stack." +</P> + +<P> +"If you'd go now you'd likely get back before we're through cutting," +he urged. "And the Judge has written twice in the last two weeks." +</P> + +<P> +Before she could answer this a horseman appeared on the valley road. +The furthest irrigator, merely a speck in the distance, exchanged +shovel for rifle and crossed to the fence. The rider, as if expecting +some such move, pulled up his horse and approached at a walk. +</P> + +<P> +Harris saw the two confer. The horseman handed some object to the +other and urged his horse on toward the house. He was one of the +sheriff's deputies. He grinned as he tapped his empty holster. +</P> + +<P> +"One of your watchdogs lifted my gun," he said. He handed Harris a +note. +</P> + +<P> +After reading it Harris looked at his watch and snapped it shut, +glanced at the sinking sun and turned to the girl. +</P> + +<P> +"I have to make a little jaunt," he explained. +</P> + +<P> +"Alden wants to see me. I'll take Waddles along. As we go down I'll +send Russ or Tiny up to cook for the rest." +</P> + +<P> +The deputy turned his horse into the corral and five minutes later +Harris and Waddles rode away. Waddles was mounted on Creamer, the big +buckskin. +</P> + +<P> +"We'll have to step right along," Harris said. "It's forty miles." +</P> + +<P> +They held the horses to a stiff swinging trot that devoured the miles +without seeming to tire their mounts. For four hours they headed south +and a little east, never slackening their pace except to breathe the +horses on some steep ascent. The buckskin and the paint-horse had lost +the first snap of their trot and it was evident that they would soon +begin to lag. Another hour and they had slowed down perceptibly. +</P> + +<P> +The two men dismounted and tied the horses to the brush in a sheltered +coulee, then started across a broad flat on foot. Out in the center a +spot showed darker than the rest,—the old cabin where Carpenter had +elected to start up for himself after being discharged from the Three +Bar. +</P> + +<P> +When within a hundred yards of the cabin a horse, tied to a hitch post +in front, neighed shrilly and Harris laid a restraining hand on +Waddles's arm. They knelt in the brush as the door opened and a man +stood silhouetted against the light. After a space of two minutes +Carp's voice reached them. +</P> + +<P> +"Not a sound anywheres," he said. "Likely some horses drifting past." +He went inside and closed the door. The two men circled the cabin and +came up from the rear. A window stood opened some eight inches from +the bottom. Through the holes in the ragged flour sack that served as +a curtain Harris secured a view of the inside. Carp and Slade sat +facing across a little table in the center of the room. +</P> + +<P> +"I want to clean up and go," Carp was saying. "This damn Harris put me +on the black list." +</P> + +<P> +"You've been on it for three months," Slade said. "Nothing has +happened yet. But don't let me keep you from pulling out any time you +like." +</P> + +<P> +"But I've got a settlement to make," Carp insisted. "Let's get that +fixed up." +</P> + +<P> +"Settlement?" Slade asked. "Settlement with who?" +</P> + +<P> +Carpenter leaned across the table and tapped it to emphasize his +remarks. +</P> + +<P> +"Listen. Morrow gave me a bill of sale from you calling for a hundred +head of Three Bar she-stock, rebranded Triangle on the hip." +</P> + +<P> +Slade nodded shortly. +</P> + +<P> +"I gave Morrow that for two years' back pay when he quit. He could +sell out to you if he liked." +</P> + +<P> +"And now I want to sell out," Carp said. "And be gone from here." +</P> + +<P> +"How many head have you got?" Slade asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Three hundred head," Carp stated. +</P> + +<P> +"You've increased right fast," Slade remarked. "I'd think you'd want +to stay where you was doing so well. How much do you want?" +</P> + +<P> +"Five dollars straight through," Carp said. +</P> + +<P> +"Cheap enough," Slade answered. "If only a man was in the market." He +looked straight at Carp and the man's eyes slipped away from Slade's +steady gaze. "But I'm not buying. Likely Morrow will buy you out." +</P> + +<P> +"Morrow ought to be here now," Carp stated. "He's coming to-night." +</P> + +<P> +"Then I'd better go," Slade said. "I don't like Morrow's ways." +</P> + +<P> +The thud of horse's hoofs sounded from close at hand. The two men +outside lay flat in the shadow of the house. A shrill whistle, twice +repeated, called Carp to his feet and he crossed to the door to answer +it. Morrow dismounted and came to the door. He nodded briefly to +Slade, hesitating on the sill as if surprised to find him there. Carp +lost no time in stating his proposition. He spoke jerkily. +</P> + +<P> +"I want to get out," he said. "I'll sell for five dollars a head." +</P> + +<P> +Morrow held up a hand to silence him. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll likely buy—but I never talk business in a crowd." He crossed +the room and sat with his back to the window. "There's plenty of time." +</P> + +<P> +"I take it I'm the crowd," Slade remarked. "So I'll step out." +</P> + +<P> +Morrow stiffened suddenly in his chair as a cold ring was pressed +against the back of his neck through the crack of the window. At the +same instant Carp had tilted back and raised one knee. The gun that +rested on his leg was peeping over the table at Slade. +</P> + +<P> +"Steady!" he ordered. "Sit tight!" +</P> + +<P> +The window was thrown up to its full height by Waddles and the curtain +snatched away from the gun which Harris held against Morrow's neck. +Carp's apparent nervousness had vanished. He flipped back his vest and +revealed a marshal's badge. +</P> + +<P> +"I'd as soon take you along feet first as any way," he said. "So if +you feel like acting up you can start any time now." +</P> + +<P> +Slade's eyes came back from the two men at the window and rested on the +badge. +</P> + +<P> +"So that's it," he said with evident relief. "A real arrest—when I +figured it was an old-fashioned murder you had planned. What do you +want with me?" +</P> + +<P> +Waddles had reached down and removed Morrow's gun. +</P> + +<P> +"A number of things," Carpenter said. "Obstructing the homestead laws +for one." +</P> + +<P> +Slade shook his head and smiled. +</P> + +<P> +"You've got the wrong party," he said. "You can't prove anything on +me." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't count on that," Carp said. "You've covered up right well. We +know you work through Morrow but can't prove a word. We've got enough +to hang him; but I expect maybe you'll get off." +</P> + +<P> +There was a scrape of feet outside the door and the sheriff entered and +took possession of Slade's gun as Harris and Waddles moved round from +the window and went inside. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm a few minutes late," Alden said. "I wasn't right sure how close I +was to the house so I left my horse too far back." +</P> + +<P> +"Here's your prisoners," Carp said. "Captured and delivered as agreed. +I haven't anything on Slade myself but if you want him he's yours." +</P> + +<P> +"What do you want with me?" Slade demanded a second time. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm picking you up on complaint make by the Three Bar," Alden said. +"I'll have to take you along." +</P> + +<P> +Slade turned on Harris. +</P> + +<P> +"What charge?" he asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Killing twelve Three Bar bulls on the last day of August," Harris +stated. +</P> + +<P> +"I was out with the ranger," Slade said. "Back in the hills. You know +that yourself. That charge won't stick." +</P> + +<P> +"Then maybe it was the second of May," Harris returned. "I sort of +forget." +</P> + +<P> +Slade suddenly grasped the significance of this arrest. +</P> + +<P> +"How many of you fellows are pussy-footing round out here?" he inquired +of Carp. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't mind confessing that several of the boys are riding for you," +Carp informed. "But while we've cinched Morrow we haven't been able to +trace it back to you. I even got put on the black list, thinking you +might do business with me direct after that—knowing my word wouldn't +stand against yours. But not you! You've covered your tracks." +</P> + +<P> +Carp spoke softly, as if to himself, detailing his failure to gather +conclusive evidence against Slade. +</P> + +<P> +"I even run your rebrand on fifty or so Three Bar cows. You knew there +wasn't a dollar changed hands when Morrow gave me that paper which +licensed me to rustle my own she-stock. We can't even prove that you +didn't owe him two years' back pay and square up by giving him that +bill of sale. There's never a check of yours made out to Morrow that's +gone through the bank. The boys who staged the stampede drew down a +lump sum from Morrow for the job. We know who was financing the +raid—can't be proved. The idea in my starting up was to run your +rebrand on any number of Three Bar cows. Later Morrow would buy me +out—acting for you; can't be proved. Oh, you're in the clear, all +right." +</P> + +<P> +Slade broke in upon the monologue. This recitation of his probable +immunity from conviction on every count, far from reassuring him, +served to confirm his original suspicion as to the reason for this +arrest without witnesses. If the sheriff had wanted him he had but to +send word for Slade to come in. He threw out one last line and the +answer convinced him beyond all doubt. +</P> + +<P> +"Then a lawyer will have me out in an hour," he predicted. +</P> + +<P> +"A lawyer could," Alden said. "If you saw one. But we've decided not +to let you have access to legal advice for the first few days." +</P> + +<P> +Slade turned on Carpenter. +</P> + +<P> +"This sort of thing is against the law," he said. "You're a United +States marshal. How can you go in on a kidnapping deal?" +</P> + +<P> +"I'm not in on it," Carp shrugged. "The sheriff asked me to arrest you +at the first opportunity. I've turned you over to him. The rest is +his affair. Besides, like I was mentioning, they can't prove a thing +on you. As soon as they're convinced of that they'll turn you loose." +</P> + +<P> +The sheriff nodded gravely. +</P> + +<P> +"The very day I'm satisfied Harris can't prove his charges I'll throw +open the doors. You'll be a free man that minute." +</P> + +<P> +A vision of the near future swept across Slade's mind. If he should be +locked up for three months and discharged for lack of evidence it would +wreck him as surely as the rumors of the last few months had cut Lang's +men off from the rest of the world. Squatters had filed on every +available site throughout his range and now waited to see if the Three +Bar would win its fight. If the news should be spread that he was +locked up these nesters would rush in. On his release he would find +them everywhere. With marshals scattered through the ranks of his own +men, intent on upholding the homestead laws, he would be helpless to +drive them out. The pictures of the different valleys suitable for +ranch sites, scattered here and there over his extensive range, +traveled through his mind in kaleidoscopic procession—and he visioned +a squatter outfit established on every one. If they locked him up at +this time he was lost. +</P> + +<P> +He nodded slowly. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I guess you've got me," he said. "I don't see that it will +amount to much, anyway. Sooner or later you'll let me out." He raised +his arms high above his head and stretched. Under cover of this casual +move he swiftly raised one foot. +</P> + +<P> +Slade planted his boot on the edge of the light table and gave a +tremendous shove. The far edge caught the sheriff across the legs and +overthrew him. The lantern crashed to the floor and at the same +instant Morrow aimed a sidewise, sweeping kick at Carpenter's ankles. +As the marshal went down his head struck the corner post of a bunk and +he did not rise. +</P> + +<P> +With a single sweep Morrow caught the back of his chair and swung it +above his head for the spot which Waddles had occupied at the instant +the light went out. The weapon splintered in his hands as it found its +mark, and as the big man struck the dirt floor Morrow leaped for the +dim light which indicated the open door. +</P> + +<P> +A huge paw clamped on one ankle and a back-handed wrench sent him +flying across the room to the far wall. With a sweep of the other hand +Waddles slammed the door with a bang that jarred the cabin. +</P> + +<P> +"We've got 'em trapped," the big voice exulted. "We've got 'em sewed +in a sack." +</P> + +<P> +Harris made one long reach and swung the butt of his gun for Slade's +head as the table went down but Slade, with the same motion, vaulted +the prostrate sheriff. The force of the blow threw Harris off his +balance and as he tripped and reeled to his knees Slade's boot heel +scored a glancing blow on his skull and floored him. He regained his +feet, gripping a fragment of the chair Morrow had smashed over +Waddles's head, and struck at a dim form which loomed against the vague +light of the window. +</P> + +<P> +The shape closed with him and he went down in a corner with Slade. +Slade struck him twice in the face, writhed away and gained his feet, +back-slashing at Harris's head with his spurs. Harris caught a +hand-hold in the long fur of the other's chaps, wrapped both arms round +Slade above the knees and dragged him back. His hand found Slade's +throat and he squeezed down on it as the man raised both knees and +thrust them against his stomach to break the hold. Slade's arm swept a +circle on the floor in search of the gun Harris had dropped but he was +jerked a foot from the floor and Harris jammed his head against the log +wall,—jammed again and Slade crumpled into a limp heap. Harris held +him there, unwilling to take a chance lest the other might be feigning +unconsciousness. But Slade was out of the fight. +</P> + +<P> +The sheriff struggled to his feet as Waddles tossed Morrow back from +the door and slammed it shut. He closed with Morrow but the man eluded +him. He dared not shoot with friends and enemies struggling all about +the black pit of the little room. +</P> + +<P> +Morrow leaped one way, then the opposite, as the sheriff groped for +him. Alden turned toward a rattle at the stove as he heard Slade's +head crunch against the wall under Harris's savage thrust. +</P> + +<P> +"Down him!" Waddles roared. "Tear him down! Tear him down! I'm +holding the door." +</P> + +<P> +From the corner by the stove an iron pot hurtled across the room for +the sound of the voice and crashed against the wall a foot from his +head. A second kettle struck Alden in the chest and he went down. +Waddles saw the light vanish from the window, then reappear. Morrow +had made a headlong dive through the little opening. +</P> + +<P> +Waddles swung back the door and sprang outside as Morrow vaulted to the +saddle. The big man lunged and tackled both horse and man as a grizzly +would seek to batter down his prey. +</P> + +<P> +The frightened horse struck at him, numbing one leg with the blow of an +iron-shod forefoot, then reared and wheeled away from the thing which +sprang at him, but Waddles retained his grip in the animal's mane, his +other hand clamped on Morrow's ankle. +</P> + +<P> +The rider leaned and struck him in the head. The crazed horse shook +Waddles off but as he fell the other man fell with him, dragged from +the saddle by the jerk of one mighty hand. They rolled apart and +Morrow leaped to his feet but Waddles had wrenched the leg already +numbed by the striking horse and it buckled under him and let him back +to the ground as he put his weight on it. He reached for his gun. A +form loomed above him, a heavy rock upraised in both hands. The gun +barked just as a downward sweep of the arms started the rock for his +head. Morrow pitched down across him and Waddles swept him aside with +a single thrust. +</P> + +<P> +He rose and stirred the limp shape with his toe as the sheriff reached +his side. +</P> + +<P> +"Dead bird!" Waddles announced and turned to limp back to the cabin. +</P> + +<P> +A match flared inside as Harris lighted the lantern. Carpenter stirred +and sat up, moving one hand along the gash in his scalp. The sheriff +stooped and snapped a pair of handcuffs on Slade's wrists. They +splashed water on his face and he opened his eyes. He regarded the +steel bracelets at his wrists as he was helped to his feet and turned +to Harris. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't forget that I'll kill you for this," he said. It was a simple +statement, made without heat or bluster, and aside from this one remark +he failed to speak a syllable until the sheriff rode away with him. +</P> + +<P> +The sheriff waved the lantern outside the door and before he lowered it +two deputies rode up, leading his horse. +</P> + +<P> +"We started at that shot," one of them announced in explanation of +their prompt arrival. +</P> + +<P> +Alden motioned Slade to his horse and helped him up. +</P> + +<P> +"Shoot him out of the saddle if he makes a break," he ordered briefly. +</P> + +<P> +"Now you can move against those men I've sworn out complaints for," +Harris said to Alden. "Public sentiment has turned against them to +such an extent that they won't get any help—and there won't be any to +fill their places, once we've cleaned them up. Deputize the whole +Three Bar crew when you're ready to start." +</P> + +<P> +The sheriff nodded and led the way with the two deputies riding close +behind, one riding on either side of Slade. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap14"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +XIV +</H3> + + +<P> +The freight wagons rattled away from the Three Bar as the first light +showed in the east, and the grind of wheels on gravel died out in the +distance as Harris and Billie finished their breakfast. +</P> + +<P> +They walked to the mouth of the lane and watched the light driving the +shadows from the valleys. A score of times they had stood so, never +tiring of the view afforded from this spot, a view which spoke of Three +Bar progress and future prosperity. The hands had come in from the +round-up the night before, prior to the return of Harris and Waddles +from their mysterious two-day trip in response to the sheriff's +message, and Evans had led them to Brill's for a night of play. They +were due back at the ranch in the early forenoon and Harris had allowed +the freighters to depart before the others arrived. +</P> + +<P> +"We'll be short of guards for the next hour or two," he said. "Till +the boys get back from Brill's—but they'll be rocking in most any time +now." +</P> + +<P> +"What did Alden want?" she asked, referring to the trip from which he +and Waddles had returned late the night before. +</P> + +<P> +"We made a call on Carp," he said. "He had some good news we've been +waiting for." +</P> + +<P> +"Then Carp is a Three Bar plant," she said. +</P> + +<P> +"He's a U. S. plant," Harris corrected. "But he's been working in with +us to get something on Slade—to gather proof that he's behind these +squatter raids of the last few years and the ones they've aimed at us +up to date. He couldn't get a shred that would hold in court. But +Slade is almost through. His claws are clipped." +</P> + +<P> +The girl started to question him as to Carp's activities but after the +first sentence she became aware that his attention was riveted on +something other than her words. He had thrown up his head like a +startled buck and was peering down the valley. +</P> + +<P> +Her range-bred ears caught and correctly interpreted the sound which +had roused him. A distant rumble reached her and the surface of the +earth seemed to vibrate faintly beneath her feet. She knew the jar for +the pounding of thousands of hoofs, the drone for the far-off bawling +of frightened cows. A low black line filled the valley from side to +side, rushing straight on up the gently-sloping bottoms for the Three +Bar flat. +</P> + +<P> +"They're on us," Harris said. "I might have known. Get back to the +house—quick!" +</P> + +<P> +As they ran she noticed that his eyes were not upon the surging mass of +cows in the valley but were trained on the broken slopes back of the +house. +</P> + +<P> +"Anyway, they don't want you," he said. "We'll do the best we can." +</P> + +<P> +Waddles stood in the door of the cookhouse, his big face flushed with +wrath as he gazed at the oncoming sea of cows. He reached up and took +the shotgun which reposed on two pegs above the door. +</P> + +<P> +He slammed the heavy door and dropped the bar as they sprang inside. +</P> + +<P> +"I made that prediction about clipping Slade's claws too soon," Harris +said. "What with Slade locked up and Morrow six feet underground, I +was overconfident. I might have known it was planned ahead." +</P> + +<P> +His face was lined with anxiety, an expression she had never before +seen him wear even in the face of emergency. She had no time to +question him about the assertions relative to Morrow and Slade. +</P> + +<P> +The front rank of the stampede was bearing down on the lower fence. +The barrier went down as so much spider web before the drive; posts +were broken short, wire was snapped and dragged, and three thousand +head of cows pounded on across the meadows. +</P> + +<P> +The girl had a sickening realization that the work of a year would be +blotted out in a space of seconds under those churning hoofs. It +seemed that she must die of sheer grief as she witnessed the complete +devastation of the fields she had watched day by day with such loving +care. The stampede swept the full length of the meadow and held on for +the house. The acute stab of her grief was dulled and replaced by a +mental lethargy. The worst had happened and she viewed the rest of the +scene with something akin to indifference. +</P> + +<P> +The foremost cows struck the corrals and they went down with a +splintering crash under the pressure from behind. She looked out on a +sea of tossing horns and heaving backs as the herd rushed through, the +heavy log buildings shaking from the mass of animals jammed against +them and squeezing past. +</P> + +<P> +The force of the run was spent on the steep slope back of the house and +the herd split into detachments and moved off through the hills. +</P> + +<P> +The west side of the house was windowless, a blank wall built against +the standing winds. Waddles was busily engaged in knocking out a patch +of chinking and endeavoring to work a loophole between the logs. +Harris was similarly engaged between two windows which overlooked the +blacksmith shop, storerooms and saddle room that formed a solid line of +buildings a hundred yards to the east. She reflected hazily that there +was little cause for such petty activity when the worst had happened +and the Three Bar had suffered an irreparable loss. +</P> + +<P> +Harris pointed down the valley to the south and she turned mechanically +and crossed to that window. A few riders showed on the ridges on +either flank of the valley. +</P> + +<P> +"They were cached up there to pick us off if we rode down to try and +turn the run," he said. "If it had been light they might have opened +on the wagons. But they knew the rest hadn't started the cows." +</P> + +<P> +She nodded without apparent interest. What might transpire now seemed +a matter to be viewed with indifference. +</P> + +<P> +"It's time for me to go," Harris said. "I'll hold the bunk house. +Good luck, Billie—we'll hold 'em off." +</P> + +<P> +He turned to Waddles who still worked to make a loophole through the +blank wall. +</P> + +<P> +"If it gets too hot put her outside and tell her to give herself up. +Even Lang would know that the whole country would be hunting them +to-morrow if they touched her. They won't if they can help it. But +this is their last hope—to trust in one final raid. They'll go +through with it. Make her go outside if it comes to that." +</P> + +<P> +He opened the door and leaped across the twenty yards of open space +which separated the main building from the bunk house. The fact that +no rifle balls searched for him as he sprang inside was sufficient +testimony that the raiders who might be posted in the hills back of the +house were not yet within easy range. He barred the door and looked +from the south window. The riders along the valley rims had descended +to the bottoms. Smoke was already rising from one homestead cabin and +they were riding toward the rest. Two men had dismounted by the head +gate. +</P> + +<P> +Harris cursed himself for not having anticipated this very thing. The +whole plan was clear to him. Slade would have known of the implements +at the railroad waiting to be freighted in. He would have known, too, +that when the cowhands came in from the round-up there would follow the +inevitable night at Brill's. Morrow had mapped out the raid long in +advance, engaging Lang to gather the cows throughout the first night +the round-up crew was in from the range and hold them a few miles from +the ranch. In case the freighters failed to leave before the others +came back from Brill's the raid would have been staged just the same; +men cached along the lip of the valley to pick off all those who should +attempt to ride down and turn the run; others ready to slip down from +behind and torch the buildings while the fight was going on in the +flat. Lang could not know that Slade was locked up and that Morrow was +dead so the raid had gone through as planned. +</P> + +<P> +Smoke was rising from two more cabins in the flats and Harris +reproached himself for another oversight in allowing the wagons to pull +out before the others arrived. The crop would have been ruined in any +event but with the hands at home they could have prevented the +destruction of the cabins. +</P> + +<P> +He turned to the opposite side and scanned the face of the hills for +signs of life. Not a sage quivered to show the position of bodies +crawling through the brush; no rattle of gravel indicated the presence +of men working down through any of the sheltered coulees behind; yet he +knew they were near. The silence was in sharp contrast to the rumble +and roar of the stampede just past. The only sounds which shattered +the quiet were the muffled thuds of Waddles's hand-axe as the cook +worked on a single idea and endeavored to gouge a loophole through the +cracks of the twelve-inch logs. Harris transferred his attention to +the long line of log buildings a hundred yards to the east. The row +afforded perfect cover for any who chose that route of approach. They +could walk up to them in absolute safety, screened both from himself +and those in the main house. +</P> + +<P> +As he watched the doors and windows for sign of movement within a voice +hailed them from the shop. +</P> + +<P> +"You might as well come out," it called. "We're going to fire the +plant." +</P> + +<P> +Harris stretched prone on the floor and rested the muzzle of his rifle +on a crack between the logs. It was hard shooting. He was forced to +shift the butt end of the gun, moving with it himself to line the +sights instead of swinging the free end of the barrel. He trained it +on a crack some two feet from the door of the shop. Behind the +aperture the light of a window on the far side showed faintly. +</P> + +<P> +"Come out!" the voice ordered. "Or we'll cook you inside. We've no +time to lose. Rush it!" +</P> + +<P> +The light disappeared from the crack and Harris pressed the trigger. +With the roar of his gun a shape pitched down across the door of the +shop. Some unseen hands caught the man by the feet and as he was +dragged back from sight Harris saw the red handkerchief which had +served as a mask. +</P> + +<P> +From all along the row of buildings a fire was opened on the bunk +house. Apparently one man was detailed to search out a certain crevice +between the logs. Harris threw himself flat against the lower log +which barely shielded him. One rifleman covered a crack breast-high, +another the one next below, drilling it at six-inch intervals. Shreds +of 'dobe chinking littered the room. The balls which found an entrance +splintered through the bunks and buried themselves in the logs of the +far wall. A third marksman worked on the lower crack. Puffs of 'dobe +pulverized before Harris's eyes as the systematic fire crept toward him +down the crack in six-inch steps. +</P> + +<P> +A flash of dust a few inches before his nose half blinded him. The +next shot drilled through an inch above his head, flattened sidewise on +the floor, and a fragment of shell-jacket, stripped in passing through, +scored his cheek and nicked his ear. The next fanned his shirt across +the shoulders and the biting scraps of 'dobe stung his back. +</P> + +<P> +The shooting suddenly ceased. Billie Warren, dazedly indifferent as to +what should happen to the Three Bar since the wreck of the lower field, +had roused to action the instant she saw the spurts of chinking fly +from the cracks of the bunk house before the fusillade sent after +Harris. She threw open the door and stepped out, holding up one hand. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't kill him!" she commanded. "If you fire another shot at him I'll +put up every dollar I own to hang every man that ever rode a foot with +Lang! Do you hear that, Lang?" +</P> + +<P> +"Lang's in Idaho," a voice growled surlily from the shop. "None of us +ever rode with Lang. We're from every brand on the range—and we're +going to burn you squatters out." +</P> + +<P> +"Draw off and let us ride away," she said. "You can have the Three +Bar." +</P> + +<P> +"All but Harris," the voice called back. "He stays!" +</P> + +<P> +She threw up the rifle she carried and touched it off at a crack near +the shop door. As the splinters flew from the edge of the log a figure +sprang past the door for the safety of the opposite side and she shot +again, then emptied the magazine at a crevice on the side where he had +taken refuge. +</P> + +<P> +"Get back inside, damn you!" a voice shouted. "We're going to wreck +the Three Bar—and you with it if you stand in the way. Get back out +of line!" +</P> + +<P> +Harris knew that the men would not be deterred in their purpose—would +sacrifice her along with the rest if necessary to accomplish their end. +</P> + +<P> +"Get back, Billie," he called from the bunk house. "You can't do us +any good out there. Take the little cabin and sit tight. We'll beat +them off." +</P> + +<P> +A haze of smoke showed through the storeroom door, a bright tongue of +flame leaping back of it. +</P> + +<P> +She turned to the door but Waddles had barred it behind her. +</P> + +<P> +"Take the little house, Pet," he urged. "Like Cal said. You'll be +safe enough. We'll give 'em hell." +</P> + +<P> +She walked to the little cabin that stood isolated and alone, the first +building ever erected on the Three Bar and which had sheltered the +Harrises before her father had taken over the brand. +</P> + +<P> +The smoke had spread all along the row of buildings and hung in an oily +black cloud above them, the hungry flames licking up the sides of the +dry logs. The men had withdrawn after putting the torch to the row in +a dozen spots. +</P> + +<P> +From her point of vantage she saw two masked men rise from the brush +and run swiftly down toward the main house, each carrying a can. She +divined their purpose instantly. +</P> + +<P> +"Watch the west side!" she called. "The west side—quick." +</P> + +<P> +The sound of Waddles's hand-axe ceased and an instant later the roar of +the shotgun sounded twice from within the house, followed by the cook's +lament. +</P> + +<P> +"Missed!" the big voice wailed. "Two minutes more and I'd have made a +real hole." +</P> + +<P> +The muffled crash of a rifle rolled steadily from the house as Waddles +fired at the chinking in an effort to reach the two men outside. But +they had accomplished their purpose and retreated, the house shielding +them from Harris's field of view; and they kept on the same line, out +of sight of the bunk house, till they reached a deep coulee which +afforded a safe route of retreat. +</P> + +<P> +The row of buildings was a seething mass of flames rolling up into the +black smoke. Flames hissed and licked up the blank wall of the main +House, traveling along the logs on which the two masked raiders had +thrown their cans of oil. The men outside had only to wait until the +occupants were roasted out. A stiff wind held from the west and once +the house was in flames they would be driven down upon the bunk house +and fire it in turn. She knew Waddles would come out when it grew too +hot. The raiders might let him go. It was Harris they waited for. +</P> + +<P> +The girl ran across and pounded on the bunkhouse door. +</P> + +<P> +"Run for it," she begged. "Make a run for the brush! I'll keep +between you and them. They won't shoot me. You can get to the brush. +There's a chance that way." +</P> + +<P> +"All right, old girl," Harris said. "In a minute now. But you go +back, Billie. Get back to the little house. As soon as it gets hot +I'll run for it. I've got ten minutes yet before I'm roasted out. +I'll start as soon as you're inside the house." +</P> + +<P> +"No. Start now!" she implored. The flames were sliding along one side +of the house and even now she could feel the heat of them fanned down +upon the bunk house by the wind. "Run, Cal," she entreated. "Run +while you've got a chance." She leaned upon the door and beat on it +with her fists. +</P> + +<P> +"All right, Billie," he said. "I'll go. You stay right where you are +as if you're talking to me." +</P> + +<P> +She heard him cross the floor. He dropped from the window on the far +side from the men. When he came in sight of them he was running in +long leaps for the brush, zigzagging in his flight. Their gaze had +been riveted on the girl and he gained a flying start of thirty yards +before a shot was fired. Then half a dozen rifles spurted from two +hundred yards up the slope, the balls passing him with nasty snaps. He +reached the edge of the sage and plunged headlong between two rocks. +Bullets reached for him, ripping through the tips of the sage above +him, tossing up spurts of gravel on all sides and singing in ricochets +from the rocks. +</P> + +<P> +One raider, in his eagerness to secure a better view, incautiously +exposed his head. He went down with a hole through his mask as a shot +sounded from the main house. From the window, his big face red and +dripping from the heat, Waddles pumped a rifle and covered Harris's +flight as best he could, drilling the center of every sage that shook +or quivered back of the house. +</P> + +<P> +Two men turned their attention to the one who handicapped their chances +of locating the crawling man and poured their fire through the window. +A soft-nose splintered the butt of the cook's rifle and tore a strip of +meat from his arm as another fanned his cheek. He dropped to the floor +and peered from a crack. The firing had suddenly ceased. He saw a hat +moving up a coulee, a mere flash here and there above the sage as the +owner of it ran. As he watched for the man to reappear, the roof of +the whole string of buildings to the east caved with a hissing roar and +belched sparks and debris high in the air. +</P> + +<P> +The fire was filtering through the cracks and circling its hungry +tongues inside. The smoke hurt his eyes and the heat seemed to crack +his skin. He crossed over to see if Harris was down; that would +account for the sudden cessation of shooting from the hills back of the +house. +</P> + +<P> +The raiders in the lower field were riding swiftly for the far side of +the valley. One man knelt near the head gate, then mounted and jumped +his horse off after the rest. Waddles put the whole force of his lungs +behind one mighty cheer. +</P> + +<P> +Fifty yards back in the brush Harris cautiously raised his head to +determine the cause of this triumphant peal. +</P> + +<P> +Far down along the rim of the valley, outlined against the sky, four +mules were running as so many startled deer under the bite of the lash +and six men swayed and clung in the wagon that lurched behind. High +above the crackle of the flames sounded Tiny's yelps, keen and clear, +as he urged on the flying mules. Three men unloaded from the wagon as +it came opposite the cluster of men riding far out across the flats. +They opened a long-range fire at a thousand yards while the others +stayed with the wagon as it rocked on toward the burning ranch. +</P> + +<P> +Billie was running to the brush at the spot where Harris had +disappeared. He rose to meet her. +</P> + +<P> +"Cal, you're not hurt?" she asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Not a scratch," he said. "Thanks to you." +</P> + +<P> +In her relief she grasped his arm and gave it a fierce little squeeze. +</P> + +<P> +"Then it's all right," she said. +</P> + +<P> +Waddles burst from the door of the burning house, his arms piled high +with salvage. +</P> + +<P> +"We'll save what we can," Harris said and started for the house. As he +ran the valley rocked with a concussion which nearly threw him flat and +a column of fragments and trash rose a hundred feet above the spot +where the head gate had been but a second past. +</P> + +<P> +A dozen running horses flipped over the edge of the hill and plunged +down toward the ranch. The men were back from Brill's. Tiny halted +the mules on the lip of the valley and the three men came down the +slope on foot. +</P> + +<P> +Harris held up his hand to halt the riders as they would have kept on +past the house. He knew that the raiders stationed behind the ranch +had long since reached their horses and were lost in the choppy hills. +He waved all hands toward the buildings and they swarmed inside, +carrying out load after load of such articles as could be moved and +piling them out of reach of the flames. +</P> + +<P> +The girl sat apart and watched them work. Her lethargy had returned. +It seemed a small matter to rescue these trinkets when the Three Bar +was a total wreck. The wind fanned the flames down on the bunk house +and one side was charred and smoking. The men drew back from the heat. +Tiny spurts of fire flickered along the charred side. Then it burst +into a sheet of flame. +</P> + +<P> +Harris spoke briefly to Evans and the tall man nodded as he itemized +the orders in his mind. +</P> + +<P> +"Now I'll get her away from here," Harris said. "It's hell for her to +just sit there and watch it burn." +</P> + +<P> +He caught two of the saddled horses that had carried the men from +Brill's and crossed over to where she sat. +</P> + +<P> +"Let's ride down to the field," he said. "And see what's got to be +done. I expect a week's work will repair that part of it all right." +</P> + +<P> +She gazed at him in amazement. He spoke of repairing the damage while +the Three Bar burned before his eyes. But she rose and mounted the +horse. He shortened her stirrup straps and they rode off down what had +once been the lane, the fence flattened by the rushing horde of cattle +that had swept through. +</P> + +<P> +The homestead cabins smoked but still stood intact. +</P> + +<P> +"Look!" he urged cheerfully. "Those logs were too green to burn. We +won't even have to rebuild. They'll look a little charred round the +edges maybe, but otherwise as good as new." +</P> + +<P> +Behind her sounded a gurgling roar as the roof of the main house fell +but Harris did not even look back. +</P> + +<P> +"We can restring that fence in a right short while," he asserted. +"We've lost one crop of oat-hay—which we didn't much need, anyhow. +That young alfalfa is too deep rooted to be much hurt. Next spring +it'll come out thick, a heavy stand of hay; and we'll cut a thousand +tons." +</P> + +<P> +They rode across fields trampled flat by thousands of churning hoofs +and reached the spot where the head gate had been, a yawning hole at +which the water sucked and tore. A section of the bank caved and was +washed away. And through it all he planned the work of reconstruction +and the transformation which would be effected inside a year,—while +behind them the home ranch was ablaze. +</P> + +<P> +"We're not bad hurt," he said. "They can't hurt our land. I'd rather +have this flat right now—the way it stands—than three thousand head +of cows on the range and no land at all. We can rebuild the place this +winter while work is slack. Build better than before. Those buildings +were pretty old, at best. There'll be enough hungry cowhands riding +grub-line at the Three Bar to rebuild it in two months. Every man that +feeds on us this winter will have to work." +</P> + +<P> +His enthusiasm failed to touch her. For her the Three Bar was wrecked, +the old home gone, and her gaze kept straying back to the eddying black +smoke-cloud at the foot of the hills. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap15"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +XV +</H3> + + +<P> +They rode from the devastated fields and angled southwest across the +range. Harris pointed out the calves along their course. +</P> + +<P> +"Look at those chunky little youngsters," he said. "Nearly every one +is good red stock. Only a scattering few that threw back to off-color +shades. This grading-up process doesn't take long to show." +</P> + +<P> +When some ten miles from the Three Bar he dismounted on a ridge and she +joined him, listening with entire indifference to his optimistic plans. +</P> + +<P> +"We're only scratched," he said. "It won't matter in the end." +</P> + +<P> +"This is the end," she dissented. "The Three Bar is done." +</P> + +<P> +"It's just the start," he returned. "It's the end for them! Don't you +see? They staked everything on one big raid that would smash the Three +Bar and discourage the rest from duplicating our move. That would give +Slade a new lease of life—delay the inevitable for a few more years. +They made one final attempt and lost." +</P> + +<P> +"Did they lose?" she inquired. "I thought they'd won." +</P> + +<P> +"They're through!" he asserted positively. "Slade is locked up. +Inside of a week the sheriff would have cleaned out the Breaks. It was +my fault this happened. With Slade locked up and Morrow dead it didn't +occur to me that anything was planned ahead. If the albino had lived +he'd never have run his neck into a noose by a raid like this. But +Lang was born without brains. Slade could hire him for anything." +</P> + +<P> +"Can you prove this on Slade?" she demanded. It was the first sign of +interest she had shown. Deep under her numbed indifference a thought +persisted,—a hope that Slade, the man who had brought about the raid, +should be made to pay. Harris shook his head. +</P> + +<P> +"As usual, Slade's in the clear," he said. "There's been a rumor +afloat which would be considered sufficient cause for Lang's men to +raid the Three Bar without other incentive." +</P> + +<P> +He resumed his glowing plans for reconstruction. +</P> + +<P> +"That's their last shot," he said. "We're only delayed—that's all. +We lost a few fences. Posts are free for the cutting and most of the +wire can be restrung. New wire is cheap. The corral poles are +scattered right on the spot; only the posts broken off. We can set +more posts and throw up the new corrals in two days. The homestead +cabins are only charred. The old buildings at the ranch are gone. +I'll put a crew in the hills getting out new logs and there'll be +enough out-of-job peelers riding grub-line to rebuild the whole place. +We can put up a few tents for the hands till the new bunk house is +built. We've got our land. The hay is tramped flat right now but the +roots aren't hurt. Next spring will show the whole flat coming up with +a heavy stand of hay." +</P> + +<P> +"You're a good partner, Cal," she said. "You've done your best. But +the whole thing would only happen over again. Slade's too strong for +us." +</P> + +<P> +"Slade's through!" he asserted again. "He's locked up and when he gets +out his hands will be tied. Inside of a month the law will be in the +saddle for the first time in years. Public sentiment is running that +way. All it ever needed was a start. Once Alden gets a grip on +things, with folks behind him, he'll never lose it again. From now on +you'll see every wild one cut short in his career. Folks will be busy +pointing them out instead of helping them cover it up." +</P> + +<P> +He painted the future of the Three Bar as the foremost outfit within a +hundred miles, but her mind was busy with a future so entirely +different from the one he portrayed that she scarcely grasped his +words. She felt a vague sense of relief that there was no decision for +her to make. It had been made for her and against her will, but it was +done. Always she had heard her parents speak of the day when they +should go back home; and she had always felt that the day would come +when she too would live in the place from which they had come,—with +frequent trips back to the range. The love for the ranch had delayed +her departure from year to year. But now the old familiar buildings +were gone and there were no ties to hold her here, or even to call her +back once she was gone. +</P> + +<P> +Harris rose and pointed, rousing her from her abstraction. Down in the +valley below them filed a long line of dusty horsemen. Behind them +came two men wrangling a pack string carrying equipment for a long +campaign. +</P> + +<P> +"There is the law!" he said. "That's what I brought you here to see. +It's what we've been waiting for. That is the first outfit of its sort +ever to ride these hills. There have been gangs organized by one brand +or another that rode out and imposed justice of their own, according to +their own ideas—and the next day perpetrated some injustice against +men whose ideas were opposed to theirs. But that little procession +stands for organized law!" +</P> + +<P> +She turned and looked behind her as her ear caught the thud of hoofs +and jangle of equipment. The Three Bar men were just topping the ridge. +</P> + +<P> +They had caught up a number of the horses released from the pasture lot +by the stampede. Calico and her own little horse, Papoose, were among +them. Waddles and Moore brought up the rear with a pack train loaded +with the bed rolls saved from the bunk-house fire. +</P> + +<P> +Harris knew that action, not inaction was the best outlet for her +energies, temporarily smothered by the shock of the raid. It was not +in her nature to sit with folded hands among the ruins of the ranch and +patiently wait for news. +</P> + +<P> +"I thought maybe you'd like to go," he said. "The jaunt will do you +good." +</P> + +<P> +She showed the first sign of interest she had evidenced. +</P> + +<P> +"And we're going to the Breaks," she stated. +</P> + +<P> +"That's where," he said. "We'll order them to give up and stand trial. +They won't. Then we'll clean them out. Hunt them down like rats! +We've only been waiting for folks to wake up to the fact that they were +sick of having the country run by men like Slade and harassed by the +wild bunch—and till after we'd picked up Slade. The way it's +transpired we'd maybe have done better to ride over a week ago." +</P> + +<P> +The little band in the valley was drawing near. She recognized Carp, +Bentley and another Slade man riding with the sheriff at their head. +</P> + +<P> +"What's Bentley doing there?" she asked. +</P> + +<P> +"One of Carp's men," Harris said. "If any of them get away from us +Carp will hound them down. He wears the U. S. badge and won't be +stopped by any feeling about crossing the Utah or Idaho lines. +Rustling is of no interest to him. That's the sheriff's job. But Carp +will round them up for obstructing the homestead laws." +</P> + +<P> +The Three Bar men came up and halted. Harris and the girl changed +mounts and led their men down to join the file of riders below. As she +rode she speculated as to Carlos Deane's sensations if he could but +know that she rode at the head of thirty men to raid the stronghold +Harris had once pointed out to him from the rims. +</P> + +<P> +For hours they rode at a shuffling trot that covered the miles. It was +well after sundown when they halted in a sheltered valley. Waddles +cooked a meal over an open fire. Bed rolls were spread and the men +were instantly asleep. Three hours before sunup the cook was once more +busy round a fire. The men slept on, undisturbed by the sounds, but +when he issued the summons to rise they rolled out. In a space of five +minutes every man was eating his meal; for they were possessed of that +characteristic which marks only the men who live strenuously and much +in the open,—the ability to fall instantly asleep after a hard day and +to wake as abruptly, every faculty alert with the opening of their eyes. +</P> + +<P> +The meal was bolted. The men detailed to guard the horses hazed them +into a rope corral. Saddles were hastily cinched on and the men rode +off through the gloom, leaving Waddles and three others to pack and +follow later in the day. Each man lashed a generous lunch on his +saddle before riding off. +</P> + +<P> +They held a stiff trot and in an hour out from camp they struck rough +going, the choppy nature of the country announcing that they were in +the edge of the Breaks. The horses slid down into cut-bank washes and +bad-land cracks, following the bottoms to some feasible point of ascent +in the opposite wall. Daylight found them twenty miles from camp and +the horses were breathing hard. They turned into a coulee threaded by +a well-worn trail. Three miles along this Bentley turned to the right +up a branching gulch with eight men. Another mile and Carp led a +similar detachment off to the left. Billie rode with the sheriff and +Harris at the head of the rest, holding to the beaten trail. +</P> + +<P> +"They had hours the start of us," Harris said. "They'd catch up fresh +horses on the range and keep on till they got in sometime in the night." +</P> + +<P> +He motioned to Billie. +</P> + +<P> +"You fall back," he said. The men had drawn their rifles from the +scabbards. "They never did post a guard. It wouldn't occur to Lang +that such a force could be mustered and start out short of a month. If +he thought so they'd be out of here and scattered instead of having a +lookout along the trail. But there's just a chance. So for a little +piece you'd better bring up the rear." +</P> + +<P> +She started to dissent but the sheriff seconded Harris's advice. +</P> + +<P> +"You move along back, Billie," he said. He patted her shoulder and +smiled. "I'm a-running this layout and if you don't mind the old +sheriff he'll have to picket you." +</P> + +<P> +She nodded and pulled Papoose out of the trail till the others filed +by, riding with Horne in rear of the rest. +</P> + +<P> +The party halted while Harris dismounted to examine the trail. It was +hard-packed but the scant signs showed that shod horses had come in +since any had gone out. +</P> + +<P> +"At least, there's some of them back," he said. "Likely all." +</P> + +<P> +"Lang is busy gloating over the fact that the Three Bar is sacked," +Alden said. "Figuring that the whole country will be afraid of him now +and that his friends will stand by—without a thought that his neck +will maybe get stretched a foot long before night." +</P> + +<P> +Harris turned up a side pocket and the men waited while he and the +sheriff climbed a ridge on foot to investigate. Harris motioned to the +girl. +</P> + +<P> +"Come along up where you can see," he said and she followed them up the +ridge. Two hundred yards from the horses they came out on a crest +which afforded a view of the basin that sheltered Lang's stockade. +</P> + +<P> +From behind a sage-clump Harris trained his glasses on the group a mile +out across the shallow basin. Smoke rose from the chimney of the main +building. Two men stood before a teepee near the stockade. There were +two other tents inside the structure, with a number of men moving about +them. Three sat on the ground with their backs against the log walls +of the main house. Thirty or more horses fed in a pasture lot and a +little band of eight or ten stood huddled together inside the stockade +at the far end from the tents. +</P> + +<P> +He handed his glasses to the girl. +</P> + +<P> +"We'll be starting," he said. "By the time we get fixed the rest will +be closing in. You stay here and watch the whole thing." +</P> + +<P> +"I'm going along," she said. +</P> + +<P> +The sheriff demurred. +</P> + +<P> +"It will be dirty business down there—once we start," he said. +"Business for men; and you're a better man than most of us, girl; but +you surely didn't reckon that Cal and me would let you go careening +down in gunshot of that hornet's nest." +</P> + +<P> +"I'm as good a shot as there is in the hills," she said. "And it was +my ranch they burned." +</P> + +<P> +The sheriff shoved back his hat and pushed his fingers through his mop +of gray hair. +</P> + +<P> +"Fact," he confessed. "Every word. But there's swarms of men in this +country—and such a damn scattering few of girls that we just can't +take the risk. That's how it is. If you don't promise to stay out of +it we'll have to detail a couple of the boys to ride guard on you till +it's over with." +</P> + +<P> +She knew that the other men would back Harris and Alden in their +verdict. She nodded and watched them turn back toward the horses. She +wanted to lead her men down in a wild charge on the stockade, shooting +into it as she rode, avenging the sack of the Three Bar in a smashing +fight. +</P> + +<P> +But there was nothing spectacular in the attack of Harris and the +sheriff. They went about it as if hunting vermin, cautiously and +systematically, taking every possible advantage of the enemy with the +least possible risk to their men. +</P> + +<P> +An hour after the two men had left her she saw a figure off to the +right. She trained the glasses on it and saw that it was Alden moving +toward the buildings. She swept the glasses round the edge of the +circular basin. From all sides, from the mouth of every coulee that +opened into it, dark specks were converging upon the stockade. Some of +them stood erect, others crouched, while a few sprawled flat and +crawled for short distances before rising and moving on. +</P> + +<P> +From her point of vantage it seemed that those round the buildings must +see them as clearly as she did herself; but she knew they were keeping +well out of sight, taking advantage of every concealing wave of ground +and all inequalities of surface. The advance was slower as they closed +in on the stockade. There was a sudden commotion among the men at the +buildings. They were moving swiftly under cover. Some of the +attacking force had been seen. The majority of the rustlers took to +the stockade. Four ran into the main cabin. +</P> + +<P> +It was as if she gazed upon the activities of battling ants, the whole +game spread out in the field of her glasses. There came a lull in the +action and she knew that the sheriff had raised his voice to summon +them to come out without their guns and go back as prisoners to stand +trial for every crime under the sun. +</P> + +<P> +Not a shot had been fired. One after another she picked up the men +with her glasses. Occasionally one moved, hitching himself forward to +some point which afforded a better view. One or two knelt in the +bottom of shallow draws, peering from behind some sheltering bush. +Inside the stockade she could see Lang's men kneeling or flattened on +the ground as they gazed through cracks in the walls. +</P> + +<P> +She made out Harris, crouching in a draw. A thin haze of smoke spurted +from his position. Three similar puffs showed along the face of the +stockade. Then the sounds of the shots drifted to her,—faint, snappy +reports. Harris had dropped flat and shifted his position the instant +he fired. A dozen shots answered the smoke-puffs along the stockade. +</P> + +<P> +Throughout the next half-hour there was not a shot fired in the flat; +no general bombardment, no wild shooting, but guerilla warfare where +every man held his fire for a definite human target. A man shifted his +position in the stockade, raised to peer from a hole breast high, and +she saw him pitch down on the ground before the sound of the shot +reached her. One of her men had noted the darkening of the crack and +had searched him out with a rifle shot. Three shots answered it from +the main cabin. +</P> + +<P> +The thud of hoofs on the trail below drew her eyes that way. Waddles +was riding out into the basin. He had brought the pack string up to +some point near at hand and deserted it to the care of the others while +he rode on ahead to join in the fight. He was almost within gunshot of +the place before he dismounted and allowed the horse to graze. She +watched his progress as he covered the last half-mile on foot. He had +discarded his heavy chaps, his blue and white shirt and overalls giving +him the appearance of some great striped beetle as he crawled up a +shallow ravine. The figures were small from distance, even when viewed +through the glasses, thus lending her a feeling of detachment and +lessening the personal element and the grim reality of the scene. +Rather it was as if she gazed into some instrument which portrayed the +moves of mannikins; yet the scene wholly absorbed her interest. +</P> + +<P> +Waddles cautiously raised his head for a view of the stockade and she +could see his convulsive duck as a rifle ball tossed up a spurt of +gravel round it. The man who had fired the shot went down as the +sheriff drilled the spot where a faint haze of smoke had shown. +</P> + +<P> +She presently noted one of her men sitting under a sheltering bank and +eating his lunch. She looked at her watch; it was after three,—the +day more than half gone and less than a hundred shots had been fired. +Five men were down in the stockade. +</P> + +<P> +The sun was sinking and the higher points along the west edge of the +basin were sending long shadows out across the flats before there was +further action except for an occasional shifting of positions. Those +remaining alive in the stockade were saddling the bunch of horses kept +inside. These were led close under the fence on her side where she +could no longer see them. +</P> + +<P> +The shadows lengthened rapidly and her view through the glasses was +beginning to blur when the gates of the stockade swung back and five +horses dashed out, running at top speed under the urge of the spurs. A +rider leaned low upon the neck of each horse and they scattered wide as +they fanned out across the basin, a wild stampede for safety, every man +for himself. +</P> + +<P> +She saw one man lurch sidewise and slip to the ground; another +straightened in the saddle, swung for two jumps, and slid off backwards +across the rump of his mount. She saw the great striped bug which was +Waddles rise to his knees in the path of a third. The rider veered his +mount and swung from the saddle, clinging along the far side of the +running horse. Then man and horse went down together and neither rose. +Waddles had shot straight through the horse and reached the mark on the +other side. The shooting ceased when six shots had been fired. Four +riderless horses were careening round the basin. Five hits out of six, +she reflected; perhaps six straight hits. +</P> + +<P> +The stockade was empty, leaving only the four in the house to be +accounted for. The dark specks in the brush were working closer to the +house, effectually blocking escape. Then she could no longer make them +out. The building showed only as a darker blot in the obscurity. A +tiny point of light attracted her eye. It grew and spread. She knew +that one of her men had crawled up under cover of night and fired the +house. It was now but a question of minutes, but the sight oppressed +her. She thought of the burning buildings on the Three Bar and rose to +make her way back to the pocket where the horses had been left in the +care of a deputy. +</P> + +<P> +"It will be over in an hour," she told the horse guard. +</P> + +<P> +All through the day she had scarcely moved and she was tired. The +hours of inactivity had proved more wearing than a day in the saddle. +Harris and the sheriff came in with their detail. +</P> + +<P> +There were no prisoners. +</P> + +<P> +"So they wouldn't give up even when they was burnt out," the horse +guard commented. "I thought maybe a few would march out and surrender." +</P> + +<P> +"I'd sort of hoped we'd have one or two left over so we could put on a +trial," the sheriff said. "There was three come out. But the light +was poor and all. Maybe they did aim to surrender. It's hard to say. +But if they did—why, some of the Three Bar boys read the signs wrong. +Anyway, there won't be any trial." +</P> + +<P> +They rode to the sheltered box canyon where Waddles had left the pack +train. A little later Bentley's men rode up and five minutes behind +them came Carp with the rest. The bed rolls were spread among the +stunted cedars on the floor of the canyon and all hands turned in. At +daylight the long return journey to the Three Bar was commenced. The +horses were tired and the back trip was slow. They camped for the +night twenty miles out from the ranch and before noon of the next day +the sheriff and the marshals had split off with their men, leaving the +Three Bar crew to ride the short intervening space to the ranch alone. +</P> + +<P> +As she neared the edge of the Crazy Loop valley the girl dreaded the +first glimpse of the pillaged ranch. For the first time it occurred to +her to wonder at the speed with which Harris had planned and executed +the return raid while the Three Bar still burned. +</P> + +<P> +"How did you get word to them all?" she asked. "Did you have it all +planned before?" +</P> + +<P> +"It was Carp," he said. "One of Lang's men rode down to inquire for +Morrow and told Carp the cows were gathered for the run and held near +the Three Bar. They figured Carp was a pal of Morrow's and all right. +It was near morning then. Carp sent Bentley fanning for Coldriver to +see if the sheriff was back and to bring out the posse if he hadn't +turned up. He started out for the Three Bar himself. The run was +under way when he came in sight so he cut over and headed the mule +teams at the forks and turned them back, then kept on after the boys at +Brill's. Sent word to me by Evans to meet them where we did." +</P> + +<P> +She did not hear the latter part of his explanation for they had +reached the edge of the valley and she looked down upon the ruins of +her ranch. +</P> + +<P> +"Now I'm ready to go," she said. "I'll go and see what Judge Colton +wants." +</P> + +<P> +"He wanted you to get away before anything like this occurred," Harris +said. "I knew that maybe we'd have tough going for a while at some +critical time and wanted you to miss all of that—to come back and find +the Three Bar booming along without having been through all the grief. +So I wrote him to urge you to come." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I'm going now," she said. "I don't need to be urged." +</P> + +<P> +Three of the homesteaders had been detailed to stay at the ranch. They +were putting up a temporary fence across the lower end to hold range +stock back from the trampled crops until a permanent one could be built +and linked up with the side fences which still stood intact. She +showed no interest in this. The sight below turned her weak and sick. +She wanted but to get away from it all. +</P> + +<P> +Harris pointed as they rode down the slope. The little cabin that old +Bill Harris had first erected on the Three Bar, and which had later +sheltered the Warrens when they came into possession of the brand, +stood solid and unharmed among the blackened ruins which hemmed it in +on all sides. +</P> + +<P> +"Look, girl!" he exclaimed triumphantly. +</P> + +<P> +"Look at that little house. The Three Bar was started with that! We +have as much as our folks started with—and more. They even had to +build that. We'll start where our folks did and grow." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap16"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +XVI +</H3> + + +<P> +Harris sat on a baggage truck and regarded the heap of luggage +somberly. Way off in the distance a dark blot of smoke marked the +location of the onrushing train which would take the Three Bar girl +away. +</P> + +<P> +"Some day you'll be wanting to come back, old partner," he predicted +hopefully. +</P> + +<P> +Billie shook her head. There is a certain relief which floods the +heart when the worst has passed. Looking forward and anticipating the +possible ruin of the Three Bar, she had thought such a contingency +would end her interest in life and she had resolutely refused to look +beyond it into the future. Now that it was wrecked in reality she +found that she looked forward with a faint interest to what the future +held in store for her,—that it was the past in which her interest was +dead. +</P> + +<P> +"Not dead, girl; only dormant," Harris said, when she remarked upon +this fact. "Like a seed in frozen ground. In the spring it will come +to life and sprout. The Three Bar isn't hurt. We're in better shape +than ever before and a clear field out in front; for the country is +cleaned up and the law is clamped on top." +</P> + +<P> +She honestly tried to rouse a spark of interest deep within her, some +ray of enthusiasm for the future of the Three Bar. But there was no +response. She assured herself again that the old brand which had meant +so much to her meant less than nothing now. That part of her was dead. +</P> + +<P> +The trail of smoke was drawing near and there was a rhythmic clicking +along the rails. Harris leaned and kissed her. +</P> + +<P> +"Just once for luck," he said, and slipped from his seat on the truck +as the train roared in. It halted with a screech of brakes and he +handed her up the steps. +</P> + +<P> +"Good-by, little fellow," he said. "I'll see you next round-up time." +</P> + +<P> +As the train slid away from the station she looked from her window and +saw him riding up the single street on the big paint-horse. The train +cleared the edge of the little town and passed the cattle chute. A +long white line through the sage marked the course of the Coldriver +Trail. Three wagons, each drawn by four big mules, moved toward the +cluster of buildings which comprised the town, the freighters on their +way to haul out materials for the rebuilding of the ranch. +</P> + +<P> +The work was going on but she no longer had a share in it. She was +looking ahead and planning a future in which the Three Bar played no +part. +</P> + +<P> +Deane was with Judge Colton, her father's old friend, to meet her at +the station. The news of the Three Bar fight had preceded her and the +press had given it to the world, including her part of it. As they +rode toward the Colton home she told the Judge she had come to stay and +Deane was content. After the strenuous days she had just passed +through she needed a long period of rest, he reflected; but the older +man smiled when he suggested this. +</P> + +<P> +"What she needs now is action," he said. "And no rest at all. If it +was me I'd try to wear her down instead of resting her up—keep her +busy from first to last. Cal Warren's girl isn't the sit-around type." +</P> + +<P> +Deane acted on this and no day passed without his having planned a part +of it to help fill her time. Her interest in the new life was genuine +and she was conscious of no active regret at parting from the old. It +was so different as to seem part of another world. The people she met, +their mode of life, their manner of speech; all were foreign to the +customs of the range. And this very dissimilarity kept her interest +alive until she grew to feel that she belonged. +</P> + +<P> +All through the fall and early winter she had scarcely an idle hour. +Her days here were almost as fully occupied as they had been before. +And in the late winter, after having visited other school friends who +lived farther east, she found herself anticipating the return to the +Colton home as eagerly as always in the past she had looked forward to +seeing the Three Bar after a long period away from it. +</P> + +<P> +The grip of winter was receding and a few of the hardier trees were +putting out buds when she returned. Every evening Deane was with her +and together they planned the next, as once she and Harris had planned +before her fireplace in the old ranch house. For the first time in her +life she was glad to be sheltered and pampered as were other girls. +Gliding servants anticipated her wishes and carried them out. But with +it all there was a growing restlessness within her,—a vague +dissatisfaction for which she could not account. She groped for an +answer but the analysis could not be expressed or definitely cleared in +her mind. +</P> + +<P> +She sat in the Colton library waiting for Deane to come and take her to +a lakeside clubhouse for the evening. Tiny leaves showed on the trees +and the lawn was a smooth velvet green. +</P> + +<P> +Slade's words of the long ago recurred to her. +</P> + +<P> +"A soft front lawn to range in," she quoted aloud. The reason for her +restlessness came with the words. +</P> + +<P> +Deane planned with her of evenings but the planning was all of play. +No word of work crept into it. If only he would accept her as wholly +into that part of his life as he did into the rest. She suddenly felt +that he was excluding her from something it was her right to share. +Their planning together was not constructive but something which led +nowhere, a restless, hectic rush for amusements which she enjoyed but +which could not make up the whole of her life. Always she had said +that men went to extremes and made of their wives either drudges or +little tinsel queens. They never followed the middle course and made +them full partners through thick and thin. +</P> + +<P> +And suddenly she longed to sit for just one evening before the fire and +plan real work with Cal Harris. He had been the one man she had known +who had asked that she work with him, instead of insisting that she +work for him,—or that he should work for her. She had drifted along, +expecting that that same state of affairs would go on indefinitely, +believing that he filled the void left by old Cal Warren. But now she +knew he held that place he had created for himself. They had worked +together and she had deserted the sinking ship to play the part of the +tinsel queen. +</P> + +<P> +The men would be just in from the horse round-up and breaking out the +remuda, preparatory to starting after the calves. She pictured Waddles +bawling the summons to feed from the cook-house door. She was +conscious of a flare—half of resentment, half of apprehension—toward +Harris for not having sent a word of affairs at the ranch. +</P> + +<P> +"There's millions of miles of sage just outside," she quoted. "And +millions of cows—and girls." Perhaps he had gone in search of them. +Perhaps, after all, he had found that the road to the outside was not +really closed as he had once told her it was. +</P> + +<P> +Judge Colton entered the room and interrupted her reverie by handing +her a paper. In the first black headline she saw Slade's name and +Harris's; an announcement of the last chapter of the Three Bar war. +</P> + +<P> +The first line of the article stated that Slade, the cattle king, had +been released. There was insufficient proof to convict on any count. +She felt a curious little shiver of fear for Harris with Slade once +more at large. The article retold the old tale of the fight and +portrayed Slade, on his release, viewing the range which he had once +controlled and finding a squatter family on every available ranch site. +</P> + +<P> +She had a flash of sympathy for Slade as she thought his sensations +must have been similar to her own when she had looked upon the ruins of +the Three Bar. But this was blotted out by the knowledge that he had +only met the same treatment he had handed to so many others; that he +had dropped into the trap he had built for her. She found no real +sympathy for Slade,—only fear for Harris since Slade was freed. The +old sense of responsibility for her brand had been worn too long to be +shed at will. She knew that now. +</P> + +<P> +"I suppose you'll be surprised to hear that I'm going back," she said. +</P> + +<P> +Her father's old friend smiled across at her and puffed his pipe. +</P> + +<P> +"Surprised!" he said. "Why, I've known all along you'd be going back +before long. I could have told you that when you stepped off the +train." +</P> + +<P> +He left her alone with Deane when the younger man arrived. She plunged +into her subject at once. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm sorry," she said. "But I'm going home. I'm not cut out for +this—not for long at one time. In ten days they'll be rounding up the +calves and I'll have to be there. I want to smell the round-up fire +and slip my twine on a Three Bar calf; to throw my leg across a horse +and ride, and feel the wind tearing past. I'm longing to watch the +boys topping off bad ones in the big corral and jerking Three Bar +steers. It will always be like that with me. So this is good-by." +</P> + +<P> +Four days later, in the early evening, the stage pulled into Coldriver +with a single passenger. The boys were in from a hundred miles around +for one last spree before round-up time. As the stage rolled down the +single street the festivities were in full swing. From one lighted +doorway came the blare of a mechanical piano accompanied by the scrape +of feet; the sound of drunken voices raised in song issued from the +next; the shrill laughter of a dance-hall girl, the purr of the ivory +ball and the soft clatter of chips, the ponies drowsing at the hitch +rails the full length of the street, the pealing yelp of some +over-enthusiastic citizen whose night it was to howl; all these were +evidences of the wide difference between her present surroundings and +those of the last eight months. She gazed eagerly out of the stage +window. It was good to get back. +</P> + +<P> +Both the driver and the shotgun guard who rode beside him were new men +on the job since she had left and neither of them knew the identity of +their passenger. As the stage neared the rambling log hotel where she +would put up for the night a compact group of riders swung down the +street. Her heart seemed to stop as she recognized the big paint-horse +at their head. She had not fully realized how much she longed to see +Cal Harris. As they swept past she recognized man after man in the +light that streamed from the doorways and dimly illuminated the wide +street. +</P> + +<P> +Instead of dismounting in a group they suddenly split up, as if at a +given signal, scattering the length of the block and dismounting +singly. There was something purposeful in this act and a vague +apprehension superseded the rush of gladness she had experienced with +the first unexpected view of the Three Bar crew. Men who stood on the +board sidewalks turned hastily inside the open doors as they glimpsed +the riders, spreading the news that the Three Bar had come to town. +The driver pulled up in front of the one hotel. +</P> + +<P> +"It'll come off right now," he said. "Slade's in town." +</P> + +<P> +"Sure," the guard replied. "Why else would Harris ride in at night +like this unless in answer to Slade's threat to shoot him down on +sight? Get the girl inside." +</P> + +<P> +The reason for the scattering was now clear to her. Slade, on his +release, had announced that he would kill Harris on sight whenever he +appeared in town. Slade had many friends. The Three Bar men were +scattered the length of the street to enforce fair play. +</P> + +<P> +The guard opened the door and motioned her out but she shook her head. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm going to stay here," she asserted. +</P> + +<P> +Her answer informed him of the fact that she was no casual visitor but +one who knew the signs and would insist on seeing it through. He +nodded and shut the door. +</P> + +<P> +Harris had dismounted at the far end of the block and was strolling +slowly down the board sidewalk on the opposite side. Groups of men +packed the doorways, each one striving to appear unconcerned, as if his +presence there was an accident instead of being occasioned by knowledge +that something of interest would soon transpire. A man she knew for a +Slade rider moved out to the edge of the sidewalk across the street +from Harris. She saw the lumbering form of Waddles edging up beside +him. Other Three Bar boys were watching every man who showed a +disposition to detach himself from the groups in the doors. The blare +of the piano and all sounds of revelry had hushed. +</P> + +<P> +The girl felt the clutch of stark fear at her heart. She had come too +late. Harris was to meet Slade. It seemed that she must die with him +if he should pass out before she could speak to him again and tell him +she was back. She had a wild desire to run to him,—at least to lean +from the window and call out to him to mount Calico and ride away. But +she knew he would not. She was frontier bred. Even the knowledge that +she was in town might unsteady him now. She sat without a move and the +driver and guard outside supposed her merely a curious on-looker +interested in the scene. +</P> + +<P> +"A hundred on Harris," the driver offered. +</P> + +<P> +The guard grunted a refusal. +</P> + +<P> +"I'd bet that way myself," he said. +</P> + +<P> +From this she knew that the two men were hoping Harris would be the one +to survive; but the fact that their proffered bets backed their +sentiments was no proof that they felt the conviction of their desire. +She knew the men of their breed. No matter how small the chance, their +money would inevitably be laid on the side of their wishes, never +against them, as if the wagering of a long shot was proof of their +confidence and might in some way exercise a favorable influence on the +outcome. No man had ever stood against Slade. She noted Harris's gun. +He carried it with the same awkward sling as of old, on the left side +in front with the butt to the right. +</P> + +<P> +"Fifty on Slade," a voice offered from the doorway of the hotel. The +guard started for the spot but the bet was snapped up by another. Wild +fighting rage swept through her at the thought that to all these men it +was but a sporting event. +</P> + +<P> +Her eyes never once left Harris as he came down the street. When +almost abreast of the stage Slade stepped from a doorway twenty feet in +before him and stopped in his tracks. Harris turned on one heel and +stood with his left side quartering toward Slade,—the old pose she +remembered so well. There was a tense quiet the length of the street. +</P> + +<P> +"Those you hire do poor work from behind," Harris said. "Maybe you +sometimes take a chance yourself and work from in front." His thumb +was hooked in the opening of his shirt just above the butt of his gun. +</P> + +<P> +Slade held a cigarette in his right hand and raised it slowly to his +lips. He removed it and flicked the ash from the end, then inspected +the results and snapped it again,—and the downward move of his wrist +was carried through in a smooth sweep for his gun. It flashed into his +hand but his knees sagged under him as a forty-five slug struck him an +inch above the buckle of his belt. Even as he toppled forward he +fired, and Harris's gun barked again. Then the Three Bar men were +vaulting to their saddles. Evans careened down the street, leading the +paint-horse, and within thirty seconds after Slade's first move for his +gun a dozen riders were turning the corner on the run. Before the +spectators had time to realize that it was over, the Three Bar men were +gone. Slade had many friends in town. +</P> + +<P> +The girl had seen Harris's draw, merely a single pull from left to +right and by his quartering pose the gun had been trained on Slade at +the instant it cleared the holster; not one superfluous move, even to +the straightening of his wrist. The driver's voice reached her. +</P> + +<P> +"Fastest draw in the world for the few that can use it," he said. +</P> + +<P> +The guard opened the door. The girl was sitting with her head bowed in +her hands. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't take it that way, Ma'am," he counseled. "He was a hard +one—Slade." +</P> + +<P> +But he had misread his signs. She felt no regret for Slade, only a +wave of thankfulness, so powerful as almost to unnerve her, over +Harris's escape, untouched. She accused herself of callousness but the +spring of her sympathy, usually so ready, seemed dry as dust when she +would have wasted a few drops on Slade. +</P> + +<P> +The next day, in the late afternoon, Harris looked up and saw a +chap-clad rider on the edge of the valley. She had ridden over +unannounced on a horse she had borrowed from Brill. She answered the +wave of his hat and urged the horse down the slope. He met her at the +mouth of the lane and together they walked back to the new buildings of +the ranch. The men breaking horses in the new corrals were the same +old hands. The same old Waddles presided over the new cook shack. Her +old things, rescued from the fire, were arranged in the living room of +the new house. A row of new storerooms and the shop stood on the site +of the old. And in the midst of all the improvements the old cabin +first erected on the Three Bar stood protected by a picket fence on +which a few vines were already beginning to climb. +</P> + +<P> +"It didn't take long to throw them up, with all hands working, along in +the winter when there wasn't much else to do," he said. +</P> + +<P> +After the men had quit work to greet the returning Three Bar boss she +went over every detail of the new house. The big living room and +fireplace were modeled closely along the lines of her old quarters; +heads and furs were on the walls, pelts and Indian rugs on the floors. +Running water had been piped down from a sidehill spring. The new +house was modernized. Then Harris saddled Calico and Papoose and they +rode down to the fields. +</P> + +<P> +As they turned into the lane they heard the twang of Waddles's guitar +from the cook shack, the booming voice raised in song in mid-afternoon, +a thing heretofore unheard of in the annals of Three Bar life. +</P> + +<P> +"There'll be one real feast to-night," Harris prophesied. "Waddles +will spread himself." +</P> + +<P> +They rode past the meadow, covered with a knee-deep stand of alfalfa +hay. +</P> + +<P> +"It was only tramped down," he said. "She came up in fine shape this +spring. We'll put up a thousand tons of hay." +</P> + +<P> +He held straight on past the meadow, turned off below the lower fence +and angled southwest across the range. The calves and yearlings along +their route gave proof that the grading-up of the Three Bar herds was +already having its effect. Ninety per cent. were straight red stock +with only a few throwbacks to off-color strains. The two spoke but +little and near sunset they rode out and dismounted on the ridge from +which, almost a year before, they had viewed the first move of +organized law in the Coldriver strip. +</P> + +<P> +A white-topped wagon came toward them up the valley along the same +route followed by the file of dusty riders on that other day. A woman +held the reins over the team and a curly-haired youngster jostled about +on the seat by her side. A man wrangled a nondescript drove of horses +and cows in the rear. +</P> + +<P> +"That's the way we both came into this country first, you and I," +Harris said. "Just like that little shaver on the seat." +</P> + +<P> +"Will they find a place to settle?" she asked, with a sudden hope that +the newcomers would find a suitable site for a home. +</P> + +<P> +"Maybe not close around here," he said. "Most of the good sites you +can get water on are picked up. But they'll find a place either here +or somewhere else a little further on." +</P> + +<P> +He slipped an arm about her shoulders. +</P> + +<P> +"It's been right lonesome planning without a little partner to talk it +all over with at night," he said. "Have you come back for keeps to +help me make the Three Bar the best outfit in three States? I can't +hold down that job alone." +</P> + +<P> +She nodded and leaned against him. +</P> + +<P> +"That's what they wanted—old Bill and Cal," she said. "But it's nice +that we want it too. I've come for keeps; and the road to the outside +is closed." +</P> + +<P> +They stood and watched the sun pitch over the far edge of the world; +and down in the valley below them the hopeful squatters were looking +for a place to camp. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR><BR> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Settling of the Sage, by Hal G. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Settling of the Sage + +Author: Hal G. Evarts + +Release Date: July 18, 2006 [EBook #18856] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SETTLING OF THE SAGE *** + + + + +Produced by Al Haines + + + + + + + + + + +[Frontispiece: His knees sagged under him as a forty-five slug struck +him an inch above the buckle of his belt.] + + + + + + +THE SETTLING OF THE SAGE + + +BY HAL G. EVARTS + + + +AUTHOR OF + +"The Cross Pull," "The Yellow Horde," etc. + + + + + +A. L. BURT COMPANY + +Publishers -------- New York + + +Published by arrangement with Little, Brown and Company + +Printed in U. S. A. + + + + +Copyright, 1922, + +BY HAL G. EVARTS. + + +All rights reserved + + + +Published January, 1922 + +Reprinted February, 1922 + +Reprinted March, 1922 + + + + +The Settling of the Sage + + +I + +A rider jogged northward along the road on a big pinto horse, a led +buckskin, packed, trailing a half-length behind. The horseman traveled +with the regulation outfit of the roaming range dweller--saddle, bed +roll and canvas war bag containing personal treasures and extra +articles of attire--but this was supplemented by two panniers of food +and cooking equipment and a one-man teepee that was lashed on top in +lieu of canvas pack cover. A ranch road branched off to the left and +the man pulled up his horse to view a sign that stood at the forks. + +"Squatter, don't let the sun go down on you," he read. "That's the +third one of those reminders, Calico," he told the horse. "The wording +a little different but the sentiment all the same." + +Fifty yards off the trail the charred and blackened fragments of a +wagon showed in sharp contrast to the bleached white bones of two +horses. + +"They downed his team and torched his worldly goods," the rider said. +"All his hopes gone up in smoke." + +He turned in his saddle and looked off across the unending expanse of +sage. Coldriver--probably so named from the fact that the three wells +in the town constituted the only source of water within an hour's +ride--lay thirty miles to the south, a cluster of some forty buildings +nestling on a wind-swept flat. Seventy miles beyond it, and with but +two more such centers of civilization between, the railroad stretched +across the rolling desolation. North of him the hills lifted above the +sage, angling with the directions so that four miles along the Three +Bar road that branched off to the left would bring him to their foot +and a like distance along the main fork saw its termination at Brill's +store, situated in a dent in the base of the hills, the end of the +Coldriver Trail. + +The man took one more look at the evidence left behind to prove that +the sign was no empty threat before heading the paint-horse along the +left-hand fork. The crisp cool of early spring was blown down from the +slope of the hills. Old drifts, their tops gray-streaked with dust, +lay banked in the gulches and on sheltered east slopes, but the new +grass had claimed the range to the very foot of the drifts, the green +of it intensified in patches watered by the trickle that seeped from +the downhill extremities of the snow banks. He noted that the range +cows along his route were poor and lean, their hip bones showing +lumpily through sagging skin, giving them the appearance of milkers +rather than of beef stock. The preceding summer had been hot and dry, +browning the range six weeks before its time, and the stock had gone +into the winter in poor shape. Heavy snowfalls had completed the havoc +and ten per cent. of the range stock had been winter-killed. Those +that had pulled through were slow in putting on weight and recovering +their strength. + +A big red steer stood broadside to him, the Three Bar brand looming on +its side, and the man once more pulled up his horse and lost himself in +retrospection as he gazed at the brand. + +"The old Three Bar, Calico," he remarked to the horse. "The old home +brand. It's been many a moon since last I laid an eye on a Three Bar +cow." + +The man was gazing directly at the steer but he no longer saw it. +Instead he was picturing the old-time scenes that the sight of the +brand recalled. Step by step he visioned the long trail of the Three +Bar cows from Dodge City to the Platte, from the Platte to the rolling +sage-clad hills round old Fort Laramie and from Laramie to the present +range. Many times he had heard the tale, and though most of the scenes +had been enacted before his birth, they were impressed so firmly upon +his mind by repetition that it seemed as if he himself had been a part +of them. + +His mind pictured two boys of somewhere round eighteen years of age +setting forth from the little home town of Kansas City, nestling at the +confluence of the Missouri and the Kaw. A year later Cal Warren was +whacking bulls on the Santa Fe Trail while the other, William Harris, +was holding the reins over four plunging horses as he tooled a +lumbering Concord stage over the trail from Omaha to the little camp +called Denver. + +It was five years before their trails crossed again. Cal Warren was +the first of the two to wed, and he had established a post along the +trail, a rambling structure of 'dobe, poles and sod, and there +conducted the business of "Two for One," a calling impossible and +unknown in any other than that day and place. + +The long bull trains were in sight from horizon to horizon every hour +of the day. The grind of the gravel wore down the hoofs of the unshod +oxen, and when footsore they could not go on. One sound bull for two +with tender feet was Warren's rule of trade. These crippled ones were +soon made sound in the puddle pen, a sod corral flooded with sufficient +water to puddle the yellow clay into a six-inch layer of stiff, healing +mud, then thrown out on the open range to fatten and grow strong. But +transitions were swift and sweeping. Steel rails were crowding close +behind the prairie schooners and the ox-bows. Bull trains grew fewer +every year and eventually Cal Warren made his last trade of two for one. + +Bill Harris had come back to view the railroad of which he had heard so +much and he remained to witness and to be a part of the wild days of +Abilene, Hays and Dodge, as each attained the apex of its glory as the +railroad's end and the consequent destination of the Texas trail herds. +The sight of these droves of thousands implanted a desire to run cows +himself and when he was wed in Dodge he broached this project to his +boyhood pal. + +It was the sincere wish of each to gain the other as a partner in all +future enterprise, but this was not to be. Warren had seen the bottom +drop out of the bull trade and he would not relinquish the suspicion +that any business dealing in four-footed stock was hazardous in the +extreme and he insisted that the solution of all their financial +problems rested upon owning land, not cows. Harris could not be +induced to farm the soil while steers were selling round eight dollars +a head. + +Warren squatted on a quarter of land. Harris bought a few head of +she-stock and grazed his cows north and west across the Kansas line +into the edge of the great unknown that was styled Nebraska and +Northwest District. At first his range was limitless, but in a few +short years he could stand on the roof of his sod hut and see the white +points of light which were squatters' wagons dotting the range to the +far horizon in any direction he chose to look. The first of these to +invade his range had been Cal Warren, moving on before the swarm of +settlers flocking into the locality of his first choice in such +alarming numbers that he feared an unhealthy congestion of humanity in +the near future. The debate of farming versus cows was resumed between +the two, but each held doggedly to his own particular views and the +longed-for partnership was again postponed. + +Harris moved once more--and then again--and it was something over two +decades after his departure from Dodge with the Three Bar cows that he +made one final shift, faring on in search of that land where nesters +were unknown. He made a dry march that cost him a fourth of his cows, +skirted the Colorado Desert and made his stand under the first rim of +the hills. Those others who came to share this range were men whose +views were identical with his own, whose watchword was: "Our cows shall +run free on a thousand hills." They sought for a spot where the range +was untouched by the plow and the water holes unfenced. They had +moved, then moved again, driven on before the invasion of the settlers. +These men banded together and swore that here conditions should be +reversed, that it was the squatter who should move, and on this +principle they grimly rested. + +Cal Warren had been the vanguard of each new rush of settlers that had +pushed Bill Harris on to another range, and the cowman had come to see +the hand of fate in this persistence. The nesters streamed westward on +all the trails, filing their rights on the fertile valleys and pushing +those who would be cattle barons undisputed back into the more arid +regions. When the Warren family found him out again and halted their +white-topped wagon before his door, Bill Harris gave it up. + +"I've come up to see about getting that partnership fixed up, Bill," +Warren greeted. "You know--the one we talked over in Dodge a while +ago, about our going in together when either of us changed his mind. +Well, I've changed mine. I've come to see that running cows is a good +game, Bill, so let's fix it up. I've changed my mind." + +"That was twenty years ago, Cal," Harris said. "But it still holds +good--only I've changed my mind too. You was dead right from the +first. Squatters will come to roost on every foot of ground and +there'll come a day when I'll have to turn squatter myself--so I might +as well start now. The way to get used to crowds, Cal, is to go where +the crowds are at. I'm headed back for Kansas and you better come +along. We'll get that partnership fixed up." + +A single child had come to bless each union in the parents' late middle +age. The Harris heir, a boy of eight, had been named Calvin in honor +of his father's friend. Cal Warren had as nearly returned the +compliment as circumstances would permit, and his three-year-old +daughter bore the name of Williamette Ann for both father and mother of +the boy who was his namesake, and Warren styled her Billie for short. + +Each man was as stubbornly set in his new views as he had been in the +old. The Harrises came into possession of the Warrens' prairie +schooner and drove off to the east. The Warrens took over the Three +Bar brand and the little Williamette Ann slept in the tiny bunk built +for the son of the Harris household. + +For a space of minutes these old pictures occupied the mind of the man +on the pinto horse. The led buckskin moved fretfully and tugged on the +lead rope, rousing the man from his abstraction. Distant strings of +prairie schooners and ox-bows faded from his mind's eye and he way once +more conscious of the red steer with the Three Bar brand that had +stirred up the train of reflections. He turned for another glimpse of +the distant sign as he headed the paint-horse along the road. + +"All that was quite a spell back, Calico," he said. "Old Bill Harris +planted the first one of those signs, and it served a good purpose +then. It's a sign that stands for lack of progress to-day. Times +change, and it's been eighteen years or so since old Bill Harris left." + +The road traversed the bench, angled down a side hill to a valley +somewhat more than a mile across. Calico pricked his ears sharply +toward the Three Bar buildings that stood at the upper end of it. + +Curious eyes peered from the bunk house as he neared it, for the +paint-horse and the buckskin were not without fame even if the man +himself were a stranger to them all. For the better part of a year the +two high-colored horses had been seen on the range,--south to the +railroad, west to the Idaho line. The man had kept to himself and when +seen by approaching riders he had always been angling on a course that +would miss their own. Those who had, out of curiosity, deliberately +ridden out to intercept him reported that he seemed a decent sort of +citizen, willing to converse on any known topics except those which +concerned himself. + +He dropped from the saddle before the bunk house and as he stood in the +door he noted half a dozen men lounging on the bunks. This indolence +apprised him of the fact that they were extra men signed on for the +summer season and that their pay had not yet started, for the cowhand, +when on the pay roll, works sixteen hours daily and when he rests or +frolics it is, except in rare instances, on his own time and at his own +expense. + +A tall, lean individual, who sat cross-legged on a bunk, engaged in +mending a spur strap, was the first to answer his inquiry for the +foreman. + +"Billie Warren is the big he-coon of the Three Bar," he informed. +"You'll likely find the boss at the blacksmith shop." The lanky one +grinned as the stranger turned back through the litter of log +outbuildings, guided by the hissing squeak of bellows and the clang of +a sledge on hot iron. Several men pressed close to the windows in +anticipation of viewing the newcomer's surprise at greeting the Three +Bar boss. But the man did not seem surprised when a young girl emerged +from the open door of the shop as he neared it. + +She was clad in a gray flannel skirt and black Angora chaps. The heavy +brown hair was concealed beneath the broad hat that was pulled low over +her eyes after the fashion of those who live much in the open. The man +removed his hat and stood before her. + +"Miss Warren?" he inquired. The girl nodded and waited for him to +state his purpose. + +"What are the chances of my riding for the Three Bar?" he asked. + +"We're full-handed," said the girl. "I'm sorry." + +"You'll be breaking out the remuda right soon now," he suggested. "I'm +real handy round a breaking corral." + +"They're all handy at that," she said. Then she noted the two horses +before the bunk house and frowned. Her eyes searched the stranger's +face and found no fault with it; she liked his level gaze. But she +wondered what manner of man this was who had so aimlessly wandered +alone for a year and avoided all other men. + +"Since you've finally decided to work, how does it happen that you +choose the Three Bar?" she asked, then flushed under his eyes as she +remembered that so many men had wished to ride for her brand more than +for another, their reasons in each case the same. + +"Because the Three Bar needs a man that has prowled this country and +gathered a few points about what's going on," he returned. + +"And that information is for sale to any brand that hires you!" said +the girl. "Is that what you mean?" + +"If it was, there would be nothing wrong with a man's schooling himself +to know all points of his job before he asked for it," he said. "But +it happens that wasn't exactly my reason." + +A shade of weariness passed over her face. During the two years that +her father had been confined to the house after being caved in by a +horse and in the one year that had elapsed since his death the six +thousand cows that had worn the Three Bar brand on the range had +decreased by almost half under her management. + +"I'll put you on," she said. "But you'll probably be insulted at what +I have to offer. The men start out after the horses to-morrow. I want +a man to stay here and do tinkering jobs round the place till they get +back." + +"That'll suit me as well as any," he accepted promptly. "I'm a great +little hand at tinkering round." + +The clang of the sledge had ceased and a huge, fat man loomed in the +door of the shop and mopped his dripping face with a bandanna. + +"I'm glad you've come," he assured the new-comer. "A man that's not +above doing a little fixing up! A cowhand is the most overworked and +underpaid saphead that ever lost three nights' sleep hand running and +worked seventy-two hours on end; sleep in the rain or not at all--to +hold a job at forty per for six months in the year. The other six he's +throwed loose like a range horse to rustle or starve. Hardest work in +the world--but he don't know it, or money wouldn't hire him to lift his +hand. He thinks it's play. Not one out of ten but what prides himself +that he can't be browbeat into doing a tap of work. Ask him to cut a +stick of firewood and he'll arch his back and laugh at you scornful +like. Don't that beat hell?" + +"It do," said the stranger. + +"I'm the best wagon cook that ever sloshed dishwater over the +tail-gate, and even better than that in a ranch-house kitchen," the +loquacious one modestly assured him. "But I can't do justice to the +meals when I lay out to do all the chores within four miles and run +myself thin collecting scraps and squaw wood to keep the stove het up. +Now since Billie has hired you, I trust you'll work up a pile of wood +that will keep me going--and folks call me Waddles," he added as an +afterthought. + +"Very good, Mr. Waddles," the newcomer smiled. "You shall have your +fuel." + +The big man grinned. + +"That title is derived from my shape and gait," he informed. "My +regular name is Smith--if you're set on tacking a Mister on behind it." + +The girl waved the talkative cook aside and turned to the new hand. + +"You'll take it then." + +He nodded. + +"Could you spare me about ten minutes some time to-day?" he asked. + +"Yes," she said. "I'll send for you when I have time." + +The man headed back for his horses and unlashed the buckskin's +top-pack, dropping it to the ground, then led the two of them back +toward the corral, stripped the saddle from the pinto, the side +panniers and packsaddle from the buckskin and turned them into the +corral. He rambled among the outbuildings on a tour of inspection and +the girl saw him stand long in one spot before the solid log cabin, now +used as a storeroom for odds and ends, that had been the first one +erected on the Three Bar and had sheltered the Harrises before her +father took over their brand. + + + + +II + +The Three Bar girl sat looking from the window of her own room, the +living room of the ranch house, one end of which was curtained off to +serve as sleeping quarters. The rattle of pots and pans came from the +big room in the rear which was used by Waddles as a kitchen and dining +hall for the hands. The new man was still prowling about the place, +inspecting every detail, and she wondered if he could tell her anything +which would prove of benefit in her fight to stop the shrinkage of the +Three Bar herds and help her to face the drastic changes that were +reshaping the policies of the range country. + +The Three Bar home range was one of many similar isolated spots where +the inhabitants held out for a continuance of the old order of things. +All through the West, from the Mexican border to the Canadian line, a +score of bitter feuds were in progress, the principles involved +differing widely according to conditions and locality. There were +existing laws,--and certain clans that denied the justice of each one, +holding out against its enforcement and making laws of their own. In +some spots the paramount issue was over the relative grazing rights of +cows and sheep, fanning a flame of hatred between those whose +occupations were in any way concerned with these rival interests. In +others the stockmen ignored the homestead laws which proclaimed that +settlers could file their rights on land. As always before, wherever +men resorted to lawlessness to protect their fancied rights, the +established order of things had broken down, all laws disregarded +instead of the single one originally involved. + +In many communities these clashes between rival interests had furnished +opportunity for rustlers to build up in power and practically take the +range. Each clan was outside the law in some one particular and so +could not have recourse to it against those who violated it in some +other respect; could not appear against neighbors in one matter lest +their friends do likewise against themselves in another. + +This attitude had enabled the wild bunch to saddle themselves on +certain communities and ply their trade without restraint. Rustling +had come to be a recognized occupation to be reckoned with; the +identity of the thieves was often known, and they visited from ranch to +ranch, whose owners possibly were honest themselves but had friends +among the outlaws for whom the latch-string was always out. The +rustlers' toll was in the nature of a tribute levied against every +brand and the various outfits expected certain losses from this source. +It was good business to recoup these losses at another's expense and +thus neighbor preyed on neighbor. Big outfits fought to crush others +who would start up in a small way, and between periods of defending +their own interests against the rustlers they hired them to harry their +smaller competitors from the range; clover for outlaws where all +factions, by mutual assent, played their own hands without recourse to +the law. It was a case of dog eat dog and the slogan ran: "Catch your +calves in a basket or some other thief will put his iron on them first." + +It was to this pass that the Three Bar home range had come in the last +five years. As Billie Warren watched the new hand moving slowly toward +the bunk house she pondered over what manner of man this could be who +had played a single-handed game in the hills for almost a year. Was he +leagued with the wild bunch, with the law, or was he merely an +eccentric who might have some special knowledge that would help her +save the Three Bar from extinction? + +The stranger picked up his bed roll and disappeared through the +bunk-house door as she watched him. + +The lean man who had first greeted him jerked a thumb toward an +unoccupied bunk. + +"Pay roll?" he inquired; then, as the new man nodded, "I'm most +generally referred to as Lanky," he offered tentatively. "Evans is the +rest of it." + +The stranger hesitated appreciably; then: + +"Harris will do all right for me--Cal for every day," he returned and +introductions had been effected. It was up to each man to use his own +individual method of making his name known to the newcomer as occasion +arose. + +There had been much speculation about the brand worn by the two horses. +The hands were a drifting lot, gathered from almost as many points as +there were men present, but none of them knew the brand. + +A dark, thin-faced man with a slender black mustache was the first to +voice a query, not from the fact that his curiosity was large--it was +perhaps less than that of any other man in the room--but for the reason +that he chose to satisfy it at once. Morrow's personality was cold and +bleak, inviting no close friendships or intimacies; uncommunicative to +a degree that had impressed itself on his companions of the last few +days and they looked up, mildly surprised at his abrupt interrogation. + +"Box L," he commented. "Where does that brand run?" + +"Southwest Kansas and Oklahoma," the stranger answered. + +"Squatter country," Morrow said. "Every third section under fence." + +Harris sat looking through the door at the valley spread out below and +after a moment he answered the thrust as if he had been long prepared +for it. + +"Yes," he said. "And that's what all range country will come to in a +few more years; farm what they can and graze what they can't--and the +sooner the better for all concerned." He waved an arm down the valley. +"Good alfalfa dirt going to waste down there--overrun with sage and +only growing enough grass to keep ten cows to the quarter. If that was +ripped up and seeded to hay it would grow enough to winter five +thousand head." + +This remark led to the old debate that was never-ending in the cow +country, breaking out afresh in every bunk house and exhaustively +rediscussed. There were men there who had viewed both ends of the +game,--had seen the foremost outfits in other parts tearing up the sage +and putting in hay for winter feed and had seen that this way was good. + +Evans regarded Harris curiously as he deliberately provoked the +argument, then sat back and listened to the various ideas of the others +as the discussion became heated and general. It occurred to Evans that +Harris was classifying the men by their views, and when the argument +lagged the lean man grinned and gave it fresh impetus. + +"It's a settled fact that the outfits that have put in hay are better +off," he said. "But there's a dozen localities like this, a dozen +little civil wars going on right now where the inhabitants are so +mulish that they lay their ears and fight their own interests by +upholding a flea-bit prejudice that was good for twenty years ago but +is a dead issue to-day." + +"And why is it dead to-day?" Morrow demanded. "And not as good as it +always was?" + +"Only a hundred or so different reasons," Evans returned indifferently. +"Then beef-tops brought ten dollars a head and they're worth three +times that now; then you bought a brand on the hoof, come as they run, +for round five dollars straight through, exclusive of calves; now it's +based at ten on the round-up tally. In those days a man could better +afford to let part of his cows winter-kill than to raise feed to winter +the whole of them through--among other things. These days he can't." + +"And have your water holes fenced," Morrow said. "As soon as you let +the first squatter light." + +"The government has prohibited fencing water holes necessary to the +adjacent range," Harris cut in. "If that valley was mine I'd have put +it in hay this long time back." + +"But it wasn't yours," Morrow pointed out. + +"No; but it is now, or at least a part of it is," Harris said. "I +picked up that school section that lays across the valley and filed on +a home quarter that butts up against the rims." He sat gazing +indifferently out the door as if unconscious of the dead silence that +followed his remark. More men had drifted in till nearly a dozen were +gathered in the room. + +"That's never been done out here--buying school sections and filing +squatter's rights," Morrow said at last. "This is cow country and will +never be anything else." + +"Good cow country," Harris agreed. "And it stands to reason it could +be made better with a little help." + +"Whenever you start helping a country with fence and plow you ruin it +for cows," Morrow stated. "I know!" + +"It always loomed up in the light of a good move to me," the newcomer +returned. "One of us has likely read his signs wrong." + +"There's some signs round here you better read," Morrow said. "They +were posted for such as you." + +"It appears like I'd maybe made a bad selection then. I'm sorry about +that," Harris deprecated in a negligent tone that belied his words. +"It's hard to tell just how it will pan out." + +"Not so very hard--if you can read," the dark man contradicted. + +The newcomer's gaze returned from down the valley and settled on +Morrow's face. + +"Do you run a brand of your own--so's you'd stand to lose a dollar if +every foot of range was fenced?" he inquired. + +"What are you trying to get at now?" Morrow demanded. + +"Nothing much--now; I've already got," Harris said. "A man's interest +lays on the side where his finances are most concerned." + +"What do you mean by that?" Morrow insisted. + +"You're good at predicting--maybe you're an expert at guessing too," +Harris returned. And suddenly Evans laughed as if something had just +occurred to him. + +Morrow glanced at him without turning his head, then fell silent, his +expression unchanged. + +A chunky youngster stood in the door and bent an approving gaze on the +big pinto as he swung out across the pasture lot. The boy's face was +small and quizzical, a shaggy mop of tawny hair hanging so low upon his +forehead that his mild blue eyes peered forth from under the fringe of +it and gave him the air of a surprised terrier, which effect had gained +him the title of Bangs. + +"I bet the little paint-horse could make a man swing and rattle to set +up in his middle, once he started to act up," he said. + +"Calico wouldn't know how to start," Harris said. "A horse, inside his +limitations, is what his breaker makes him. I never favored the idea +of breaking a horse to fight you every time you climb him. My horses +are gentle-broke." + +"But you have to be able to top off just any kind of a horse," Bangs +objected. + +"That don't hinder a man from gentling his own string," Harris returned. + +Bangs turned his surprised eyes on Harris and regarded him intently as +if striving to fathom a viewpoint that was entirely new to him. + +"Why, it don't, for a fact," he said at last. "Only I just never +happened to think of it like that before." + +Morrow laughed and the boy flushed at the disagreeable ring of it. The +sound was not loud but flat and mirthless, the syllables distinct and +evenly spaced. His white even teeth remained tight-closed and showed +in flashing contrast to his swarthy face and black mustache. Morrow's +face wore none of the active malignancy that stamps the features of +those uncontrolled desperadoes who kill in a flare of passion; rather +it seemed that the urge to kill was always with him, had been born with +him, his face drawn and over-lengthened from the inner effort to render +his homicidal tendencies submissive to his brain, not through desire +for regeneration, for he had none, but as a mere matter of expediency. +The set, bleak expression of countenance was but a reflection of his +personality and his companions had sensed this strained quality without +being able to define it in words. + +"You listen to what the squatter man tells you," Morrow said to Bangs. +"He'll put you right--give you a course in how everything ought to be +done." He rose and went outside. + +"That was a real unhumorous laugh," Evans said. "Right from the bottom +of his heart." + +A raucous bellow sounded from the cookhouse and every man within +earshot rose and moved toward the summons to feed. + +"Let's go eat it up," Evans said and left the bunk house with Harris. + +"Did you gather all the information you was prospecting for?" he asked. + +Harris nodded. "I sorted out one man's number," he said. + +"Now if you'd only whispered to me I'd have told you right off," Evans +said. "It's astonishing how easy it is to pick them if you try." + +"Waddles is a right unpresuming sort of a man in most respects," Evans +volunteered as they entered the cookhouse. "But he's downright +egotistical about his culinary accomplishments." + +All through the meal the gigantic cook hovered near Billie Warren as +she sat near one end of the long table. It was evident to Harris that +the big man was self-appointed guardian and counsellor of the Three Bar +boss. He showed the same fussy solicitude for her welfare that a hen +would show for her helpless chicks. + +"Praise the grub and have a friend at court," Harris murmured in Evans' +ear. + +Billie Warren had nearly completed her meal before the men came in. +She left the table and went to her own room. When Harris rose to go he +slapped the big man on the back. + +"I'd work for half pay where you get grub like this," he said. "That's +what I'd call a real feed." + +Waddles beamed and followed him to the door. + +"It's a fact that I can set out the best bait you ever throwed a lip +over," he confessed. "You're a man of excellent tastes and it's a real +pleasure to have you about." + +Billie Warren opened the door and motioned to Harris. He went into the +big front room that answered for both living room and sleeping +quarters. A fire burned in the rough stone fireplace; tanned pelts, +Indian curios and Navajo rugs covered the walls; more rugs and pelts +lay on the floor. Indian blankets partitioned off one end for her +sleeping room. + +"You had something to tell me," she observed, after he had remained +silent for the space of a minute, sitting in the chair she had +indicated and gazing into the fire. + +"And I'll have to start it a little different from the way I first +counted on," he said. "Have any of the boys mentioned my name to you?" + +She shook her head and waited for him to go on. + +"You won't care much to hear it," he announced. "I'd thought some of +spending two years here under some other name--but perhaps it's better +to come out in the open--don't you think?" + +The girl had straightened in her chair and was leaning toward him, her +face white and her gray eyes boring straight into the man's. She knew +now who he was,--the man she had more reason to despise than all others +on earth combined. Of the Harris family she knew nothing at all except +that her father's lifelong regret had been the fact that the +partnership between himself and his oldest friend, William Harris, had +never been brought to pass. And this regret had, in the end, led him +to try and cement that arrangement in the second generation. Five +years before his trail had crossed that of the elder Harris for the +first time since he had taken over the Three Bar brand; and when his +will had been read she had known that on the occasion of that visit his +old friend had played upon this sentiment to trick him into making it. +On all sides of her she had evidence that men were wolves who preyed +upon the interests of others, and there was not a doubt that the father +of the man before her had preyed upon her interests through the +sentiment of her parent; no other possible theory could account for the +strange disposal of his property, the will dated and signed at the +exact time of his visit to the Harrises. + +The tenseness of her pose was replaced by lethargic indifference and +she relaxed into her chair. + +"I've known all the time you would come," she said. + +"It's too bad, Billie," he said. "It's tough having me wished on to +you this way." + +"Don't play that game with me!" she flared. "Of course you've +disproved every drop of human decency in advance." + +"It sure looms up like that on the surface," he admitted ruefully. +"But I didn't have a hand in cinching you this way." + +"You could have proved that by staying away. I wrote you a year ago +that I'd donate you a half-interest in the Three Bar at the expiration +of the time if you'd only keep off the place. But at the last moment +you couldn't resist having it all. Ten more days and you'd have been +too late." + +The man nodded slowly. + +"Too late," he agreed and sat looking into the fire. + +She had been almost a son to her father, had ridden the range with him, +managed the Three Bar during his sickness; and such was her loyalty to +his memory that not a trace of her bitterness had been directed toward +her parent. He had loved the Three Bar and had always believed that +old Bill Harris, its founder, had loved it too. His will had +stipulated that half of his property should go to the younger Harris +under the condition that the man should make his home on the Three Bar +for two out of the first three years after her father's decease. The +whole of it was to go to him in case she failed to make her own home at +the Three Bar during her co-heir's stay, or in the event of her +marriage to another before the expiration of three years. + +"Of course I'm tied here for two years," she said. "Or left penniless. +If you can make it unpleasant enough to drive me away--which won't be +difficult--you win." + +"I wouldn't count too strong on that," he counseled mildly. + +"Then why did you come?" she insisted. "Half of it was yours by merely +keeping away." + +"Maybe I'm sort of tied up myself--in ways you don't suspect," he +offered. + +"Very likely!" she returned; "sounds plausible. You might offer to +marry me," she suggested when he failed to answer. "You could gain +full possession at once that way." + +He removed his gaze from the fire and looked long at her. + +"It will likely come to that," he said. + +"I'll put a weapon in your hands," she retorted. "Whenever it does +come to that I'll leave the ranch--so now you know the one sure way to +win." + +"I hope it won't pan out like that," he said. "I'll be +disappointed--more than I can say." + +She rose and stood waiting for him to go. + +"Good night, Billie," he said. "I expect maybe things will break all +right for us." + +She did not answer and he went out. Waddles hailed him in friendly +fashion as he passed through the cookhouse, then wiped his hands and +stepped into Billie's quarters. Waddles was a fixture at the Three +Bar; he had ridden for her father until he had his legs smashed up by a +horse and had thereafter reigned as cook. He was confidential adviser +and self-appointed guardian of the girl. His mind was still pleasantly +concerned with the stranger's warm praise of his culinary efforts. + +"That new man now, Billie," he remarked. "He's away off ahead of the +average run. You mark me--he'll be top hand with this outfit in no +time at all." Then he observed the girl's expression. "What is it, +Pet?" he inquired. "What's a-fretting you?" + +"Do you know who he is?" she asked. + +Waddles wagged a negative head. + +"He's Calvin Harris," she stated. + +Instead of the blank dismay which she had expected to see depicted on +Waddles's face at this announcement, it seemed to her that the big man +was pleased. + +"The hell!" he said. "'Scuse me, Billie. So this here is Cal! Well, +well--now what do you think of that?" + +"I think that I don't want to stay here alone with him while you're out +after the horses," she returned. + +"Wrong idea!" the big man promptly contradicted. "You've got to stick +it out for two years, girl. The best thing you can do is to get +acquainted; and figure out how to get along the best you can--the pair +of you." + +"That's probably true," she assented indifferently. "I'll have to face +a number of things that are equally unpleasant in the next two +years--so I might as well start now. He must have praised the food in +order to win you to his side in two minutes flat." + +Waddles's face expressed pained reproach. + +"Now there it is again!" he said. "You know I'm only on one +side--yours. Old Cal Warren had some definite notion when he framed +this play; so it's likely this young Cal is on your side, too." + +"But even more likely not," she stated. + +"Then what?" + +"Why, then I'll have to kill him and put a stop to it," the big man +announced. "But it's noways probable that it will come to that. Let's +use logic. He spoke well of my cooking--like you said--which proves +him a man of some discernment. No way to get around that. Now a man +with his judgment wouldn't suspect for one living second that he could +play it low-down on you with me roosting close at hand. Putting two +plain facts together it works out right natural and simple that he's on +the square. As easy as that," he finished triumphantly. "So don't you +fret. And in case he acts up I'll clamp down on him real sudden," he +added by way of further reassurance. + +His great paw opened and shut to illustrate his point as he moved +toward the door and the Three Bar girl knew that when Waddles spoke of +clamping down it was no mere figure of speech. + + + + +III + +Billie Warren heard the steady buzz of a saw and later the ringing +strokes of an axe. The men had departed three hours before to be gone +for a week on the horse round-up but she had not yet issued from her +own quarters. The music of axe and saw was ample evidence that her new +and undesired partner was making valuable use of his time. She went +outside and he struck the axe in a cross section of pine log as she +moved toward him. + +"We'll have to get along the best we can," she announced abruptly. "Of +course you will have a say in the management of the Three Bar and draw +the same amount for yourself that I do." + +He sat on a log and twisted a cigarette as he reflected upon this +statement. + +"I'd rather not do that," he decided. "I don't want to be a drain on +the brand--but to help build it up. Suppose I just serve as an extra +hand and do whatever necessary turns up--in return for your letting me +advise with you on a few points that I happen to have worked out while +I was prowling through the country." + +"Any way you like," she returned. "It's for you to decide. Any money +which you fail to draw now will revert to you in the end so it won't +matter in the least." + +His reply was irrelevant, a deliberate refusal to notice her ungenerous +misinterpretation of his offer. + +"Do you mind if I gather a few Three Bar colts round here close and +break out my own string before they get back?" he asked. + +"Anything you like," she repeated. "I'm not going to quarrel. I've +made up my mind to that. I'll be gone the rest of the day." + +Five minutes later he saw her riding down the lane. She was not +seeking companionship but rather solitude and for hours she drifted +aimlessly across the range, sometimes dismounting on some point that +afforded a good view and reclining in the warm spring sun. Dusk was +falling when she rode back to the Three Bar. As she turned her sorrel, +Papoose, into the corral she noticed several four-year-old colts in the +pasture lot. As she returned to the house Harris appeared in the door. + +"Grub-pile," he announced. + +They sat down to a meal of broiled steak, mashed potatoes, hot +biscuits, coffee and raspberry jam. She had deliberately absented +herself through the noon hour and well past the time for evening meal, +confidently expecting to find him impatiently waiting for her to return +and prepare food for him. + +"You make good biscuits--better than those Waddles stirs up," she said. +"Though I'd never dare tell him so." It was the first time she had +conceded that there might be even a taint of good in him. + +"Well, yes--they're some better than those I usually turn out," he +confessed. "Having a lady to feed I flaked the lard in cold instead of +just melting it and stirring her in like I most generally do. I'm +right glad that you consider them a success." + +When the meal was finished she rose without a word and went into her +own quarters, convinced that this desertion would certainly call forth +a protest; but the man calmly went about the business of washing the +dishes as if he had expected nothing else, and presently she heard the +door close behind him and immediately afterwards a light appeared in +the bunk-house window. + +The rattle of pots and pans roused her before daylight. Some thirty +minutes later he called to her. + +"I've finished," he said. "You'd better eat yours before it gets +cold," and the closing of the door announced that he had gone without +waiting for an answer. She heard again the sound of saw and axe as he +worked up the dry logs into stove lengths. At least he was making good +his word to the cook. The sounds ceased when the sun was an hour high +and when she looked out to determine the reason she saw him working +with four colts in one of the smaller corrals. + +He had fashioned a hackamore for each and they stood tied to the corral +bars. He left them there and repaired to the big gates of the main +corral. The two swinging halves sagged until their ends dragged on the +ground when opened or closed, necessitating the expenditure of +considerable energy in performing either operation. She watched him +tear down the old support wires and replace them with new ones, +stretching a double strand from the top of the tall pivot posts to the +free ends of the gates. Placing a short stick between the two strands +of heavy wire he twisted until the shortening process had cleared the +gate ends and they swung suspended, moving so freely that a rider could +lean from his saddle and throw them open with ease. + +This completed to his satisfaction he fashioned heavy slabs of wood to +serve as extra brake-blocks for the chuck wagon. Between the +performance of each two self-appointed duties he spent some little time +with the colts, handling them and teaching them not to fear his +approach, cinching his saddle on first one and then the next, talking +to them and handling their heads. + +For three days there was little communication between the two. It was +evident that he had no intention of forcing his society upon her, and +her failure to prepare his meals failed to elicit a single sign to show +that he had expected otherwise; the contrary was true, in fact, for he +invariably prepared enough for two. It was clear that he exercised the +same patience toward her that he showed in handling the green +four-year-olds; and she was inclined to be a little scornful of his +method of gentle-breaking them. She felt her own ability to handle any +horse on the range although old Cal Warren had gentled every animal she +had wanted for her own and flatly refused to let her mount any others. +Waddles was as insistent upon this point as her parent had been, but +never had she known a cowhand who took time and pains to gentle his own +string. + +In the afternoon of the third day she saw him swing to the back of a +big bay, easing into the saddle without a jar, and the colt ambled +round the corral, rolling his eyes back toward the thing clamped upon +him but making no effort to pitch. He dismounted and stripped off the +saddle, cinched it on a second horse and let him stand, leading a third +out to a snubbing post near the door of the blacksmith shop where he +proceeded to put on his first set of shoes. + +The girl went out and sat on the sill of the shop door and watched him. +The colt pulled back in an effort to release the forefoot that the man +held clamped between his leather-clad knees, then changed his tactics +and sagged his weight against Harris. + +"You Babe!" the man ordered. "Don't you go leaning on me." He pared +down the hoof and fitted the shoe but before nailing it on he released +the colt's foot and addressed the girl. "If I'd fight him now while +he's spooky and half-scared it would spoil him maybe," he explained. + +"I gentle-break mine, too," she said, and the man overlooked the +inflection which, as plainly as words, was intended to convey the +impression that his ways were effeminate. "If every man used up his +time gentling his string he'd never have a day off to work at anything +else." + +"Why, it don't use up much time," he objected. "They halfway break +themselves, standing round with a saddle on and having a man handle +them a little between spells of regular work--like cutting firewood and +such. And it's a saving of time in the end. There's three hundred odd +days every year when a man consumes considerable time fighting every +horse he steps up on--if they're broke that way to start." + +"So your only reason for not riding them out is to save time," she said. + +"If you mean that I'm timid," he observed, "why, I don't know as I'd +bother to dispute it." He moved over and sat on his heels facing her, +twisting the ever handy cigarette. "Listen," he urged. "Let's you and +I try to get along. Now if you'll only make up your mind that I'm not +out to grab the Three Bar, not even the half of it that's supposed to +be mine--unless you get paid for it--why, we're liable to get to liking +each other real well in the end. I'll give you a contract to that +effect." + +"Which you know would be worthless!" she returned. "The will +specifically states that any agreements between us prior to the time of +division are to be disregarded. A written contract would have no more +value than your unsupported promise and in view of what's happened you +don't expect me to place a value on that." + +He pulled reflectively at his cigarette and she rather expected another +of the irrelevant remarks with which he so often replied to her pointed +thrusts. + +"No," he said at last. "But it's a fact that I don't want the Three +Bar--or rather I do if you should ever decide to sell." + +"I never will," she stated positively. "It's always been my home. +I've been away and had a good time; three winters in school and +enjoying every second; but there always comes a time when I'm sick to +get back, when I know I can't stay away from the Three Bar, when I want +to smell the sage and throw my leg across a horse--and ride!" + +"I know, Billie," he said softly. "I was raised here, up until I was +eight. My feeling is likely less acute than yours but I've always +hankered to get back to where the sage and pine trees run together. I +mentioned a while back that I was tied up peculiar and stood to lose +considerable if I failed to put in two years out here--which wouldn't +have been of any particular consequence only that I found out that the +Three Bar was going under unless some one put a stop to what's going +on. I'll pull it out of the hole, maybe, and hand it back to you." + +She was swayed into a momentary belief in his sincerity but steeled +herself against it, and in the effort to strengthen the crumbling walls +of her dislike she fell back on open ridicule. + +"You!" she flared. "And what can you do against it--a man that was +raised in squatter country behind a barb-wire fence, who has to gentle +his horses before he can sit up on one, who has hitched a gun on his +belt because he thinks it's the thing to do, and has stowed it in a +place where he'd have to tie himself in a knot--or undress--to reach +it. And then you talk of pulling the Three Bar out of a hole! Why, +there are twenty men within fifty miles of here that would kill you the +first move you made." + +"There's considerable sound truth in that," he said. He looked down at +his gun; it swung on his left side, in front, the butt pointing toward +the right. "It's easier to work with it sort of out of the way of my +hands," he explained and smiled. + +She found herself liking him, even in the face of the treachery he had +practiced against her father and was correspondingly angry, both with +herself and at him. She left him without a word and returned to the +house. + +He finished putting the shoes on the colt and as he turned him back +into the corral he observed a horseman jogging up the lane at a trail +trot. He knew the man for Slade, whose home ranch lay forty miles to +the south and a little west, the owner of the largest outfit in that +end of the State; a man feared by his competitors, quick to resent an +insinuation against his business methods and capable of backing his +resentment. + +Slade dropped from his horse and accorded Harris only a casual nod as +he headed for the house. Slade's face was of a peculiar cast. The +black eyes were set very close together in a wide face; his cheek bones +were low and oddly protruding, sloping far out to a point below each +eye. His small ears were set so close to his skull that the +outcropping cheek bones extended almost an inch beyond them to either +side. Yet there was a certain fascination about his face and bearing +that appealed to the spark of the primitive in women; that last +lingering cell that harks fondly back to men in the raw. His age might +have been anywhere above twenty-six and under fifty-six. + +He walked through the cookhouse and opened the door of the girl's +quarters without the formality of a knock, as if a frequent visitor and +sure of his privileges. + +"How many times have I told you to knock?" she demanded. "The next +time you forget it I'll go out as you come in." + +Slade dropped into a chair. + +"I never have knocked--not in twelve years," he said. + +"It was somewhat different when I was a small girl and you were only a +friend of my father," she pointed out. "But now----" + +"But now that I've come to see you as a woman it's different?" he +inquired. "No reason for that." + +She switched the channel of conversation and spoke of the coming +round-up, of the poor condition of range stock owing to the severity of +the winter; but it was a monologue. For a time the man sat and +listened, as if he enjoyed the sound of her voice, contributing nothing +to the conversation himself, then suddenly he stirred in his chair and +waved a hand to indicate the unimportance of the topics. + +"Yes, yes; true enough," he interrupted. "But I didn't come to talk +about that. When are you coming home with me, Billie?" + +"And you can't come if you insist on talking about that," she countered. + +"I'll come," he stated. "Tell me when you're going to move over to the +Circle P." + +"Not ever," she said. "I'd rather be a man's horse than his wife. Men +treat women like little tinsel queens before, and afterwards they +answer to save a cook's wages and drudge their lives out feeding a +hunch of half-starved hands--or else go to the other extreme. Wives +are either work horses or pets. I was raised like a boy and I want to +have a say in running things myself." + +"You can go your own gait," he pledged. + +"I'm doing that now," she returned. "And prefer going on as I am." + +Slade rose and moved over to her, taking her hands and lifting her from +her chair. + +The girl pushed him back with a hand braced against his chest. + +"Stop it!" she said. "You're getting wilder every time you come, but +you've never pawed at me before. I won't have people's hands on me," +and she made a grimace of distaste. + +The man reached out again and drew her to him. She wrenched away and +faced Slade. + +"That will be the last time you'll do that until I give the word," she +said. "I don't want the Circle P--or you. When I do I'll let you +know!" + +He moved toward her again and she refused to back away from him but +stood with her hands at her sides. + +"If you put a finger on me it's the last lime you'll visit the Three +Bar," she calmly announced. + +He stood so close as almost to touch her but she failed to lift a hand +or move back an inch, and Slade knew that he faced one whose spirit +matched his own, perhaps the one person within a hundred miles who did +not fear him. He had tamed men and horses--and women; he raised his +arms slowly, deliberately, to see if she would flinch away or stand +fast and outgame him. She knew that he was harmless to her--and he +knew it. He might perpetrate almost any crime on the calendar and come +clear; but in this land where women were few they were honored. One +whisper from the Three Bar girl that Slade had raised his hand against +her and, powerful as he was, the hunt for him would be on, with every +man's hand against him. + +His arms had half circled her when he whirled, catlike, every faculty +cool and alert, as a voice sounded from the door. Both had been too +engrossed to notice its noiseless opening. + +"I've finished cleaning up round the shop and corrals," Harris said. +"Is there any rubbish round the house you'd like to have throwed out +and piled in a dry gulch somewheres out of sight?" + +He stood in the door, half facing them, his left side quartering toward +Slade. To the girl it appeared that the strange pose was for the +purpose of enabling him to take a quick step to the right and spring +outside if Slade should make a move and she felt a tinge of scorn at +his precaution even though she knew that it would avail him nothing if +Slade's deadly temper were roused by the insult. Slade, who had killed +many, would add Harris to his list before he could move. + +Slade's understanding of the quartering position and the odd sling of +Harris's gun was entirely different and as he shifted his feet until he +faced the man in the door, his movements were slow and deliberate, +nothing that could be misconstrued. + +"Who summoned you in here?" he demanded. + +Harris did not reply but stood waiting for some word from the girl. +She had a sudden sick dread that Slade would kill him and was surprised +at the sentiment, for no longer than an hour before she had wished him +dead. She made belated answer to his original question. + +"No," she said. "Go on out, please." + +He turned his back on Slade and went out. + +"And you," she said to Slade, "you'd best be going too. We've been too +good neighbors to quarrel--unless you come over again with the same +idea you did to-day." + +At sunset the girl called to Harris and he repaired to the house and +found her putting a hot meal for two on the end of the long pine table, +the first time she had deigned to eat with him since that first meal. + +"There's no use of our going on like this," she said. "We've two years +of it to face; so it's best to get on some kind of a neutral footing." + +For her own peace of mind she had tried to smother her dislike of him +and he was very careful to avoid any topic that would rekindle it. +They washed the dishes together, and from that hour their relations, to +all outward appearance, were friendly or at least devoid of open +hostility. They no longer ate separately; she did not avoid him during +the day, and the second evening she prepared two places at her own +table in the big living room before the fireplace. + +"It's so empty out there," she explained. + +"With only the two of us at a table built for twenty." + +He lingered for an hour's chat before her fire and each evening +thereafter was the same. But he knew that she was merely struggling to +make the best of a matter that was distasteful, that her opinion of him +was unaltered. Her bitterness could not be entirely concealed, and she +frequently touched on some fresh point that added to her distrust of +his present motives and confirmed her belief in his double-dealing in +the past. There were so many of these points; his refusal to accept +her offer to give him his half-interest if he would stay off the place; +his weak insinuations that there was some reason why he must spend two +years on the Three Bar; his prowling the country for a year spying on +the methods she followed in running the outfit, half of which would +soon be his; his buying the school section and filing on a quarter of +land, the location blocking the lower end of the Three Bar valley. +Whenever she mentioned one of these he refused to take issue with her. +And one night she touched on still another point. + +"What was the reason for your first idea--of coming here under another +name?" she demanded. + +"I thought maybe others knew I'd been left a part interest," he said, +"and it might be embarrassing. The way it is, with only the two of us +knowing the inside, I can stay on as a regular hand until the time is +up." + +"You're so plausible," she said. "You put it as a favor to me. Did it +ever strike you that if the truth were known it might also be +uncomfortable for you?" + +He smiled across at her and once more she frowned as she discovered +that he was likeable for all his underhandedness. + +"Worse than that--suicidal," he admitted. + +"If you mentioned what you think of me, that I've framed to rob you by +law, you wouldn't be bothered with me for long." He laughed softly and +stretched his feet toward the fire. "Look at it any way you like and +I'm in bad shape to deal you any misery," he pointed out. "If you'd +drop a hint that I'm an unwelcome addition it would only be a matter of +days until I'd fail to show up for meals. If you view it from that +angle you can see I'm setting on the powder can." + +She did see it, but had not so clearly realized it till he pointed it +out, and for the first time she wavered in her conviction that he had +come simply to deprive her of her rights. But the thought that her +father would not easily have willed away the home place to another +without being unduly influenced served to reinstate her distrust along +with a vague resentment for his having shaken it by throwing himself so +openly on her mercy. + +"You probably thought to overcome that by reaching the point the whole +thing so patently aims for," she said. "And you calculated +well--arriving at a time when we'd be alone for a week. The whole +scheme was based on that idea and I've been patiently wondering why you +don't rush matters and invite me to marry you." + +He rose and flicked the ash from his cigarette into the fireplace. + +"I do invite you--right now," he said, and in her surprise she left her +chair and stood facing him. "I'd like real well to have you, Billie." + +"That's the final proof," she said. "I'm surprised that you didn't +tell me the first day." + +"So am I," he said. + +She found no answer for this but stood silent, knowing that she had +suddenly become afraid of him. + +"And that's the living truth," he affirmed. "Other men have loved you +the first day. You know men well enough to be certain that I wouldn't +be tied to one woman for the sake of owning a few head of cows--not if +I didn't want her for herself." He waved an arm toward the door. +"There's millions of miles of sage just outside," he said. "And +millions of cows--and girls." + +He moved across to her and stood almost touching her, looking down into +her face. When Slade had stood so a few days past she had been coldly +indifferent except for a shiver of distaste at the thought of his +touching her. Before Harris she felt a weakening, a need of support, +and she leaned back from him and placed one hand behind her on the +table. + +"You judge for yourself whether a man wouldn't be right foolish--with +all those things I mentioned being right outside to call him--to marry +a woman he didn't want for herself, because she had a few hundred head +of cows." He smiled down at her. "Don't pull back from me, Billie; I +won't lay a finger on you. But now do you think it's you I want--or +the little old Three Bar?" + +"You can prove it," she said at last. "Prove it by going away for six +months--or three." + +He shook his head. + +"Not that," he said. "I've told you I was sewed up in a right peculiar +way myself--which wouldn't matter a damn if it wasn't for this. I'd +have tossed it off in a second if the girl on the Three Bar had turned +out to be any other than you. Now I'm going to see it through. The +Three Bar is going under--the brand both our folks helped to +found--unless some one pulls it out of the hole. Believe me if you can +and if you can't--why, you know that one remark about my being +unwelcome here will clear the road for you, like I mentioned a few +minutes back." + +He turned away without touching her and she had not moved when the door +closed behind him. + +An hour past noon on the following day a drove of horses appeared at +the lower extremity of the valley and swept on toward the ranch. As +Harris threw open the gates of the big corral he saw her standing in +the door of the cookhouse watching the oncoming drove. Riders flanked +the bunch well out to each side to steady it. There was a roar of +hoofs and a stifling cloud of dust as three hundred half-wild horses +clattered past and crowded through the gates, scattering swiftly across +the pasture lot back of the corral. A dozen sweat-streaked riders +swung from their saddles. There was no chance to distinguish color or +kind among them through the dust caked in the week-old growth of beard +that covered every face. + +One man remained on his mount and followed the horses into the pasture +lot, cutting out fifty or more and heading them back into the corral; +for Waddles had decreed that they could have the rest of the afternoon +off for a jaunt to Brill's Store and they waited only to change mounts +before the start. + +Calico stood drooping sleepily in one of the smaller corrals and Harris +moved toward him, intending to ride over with the rest of the men. + +"The boss said for you to ride Blue," Morrow stated as Harris passed +the group at the gates of the corral. "He's clear gentle-broke, Blue +is." + +The men looked up in surprise. Morrow had not been near the house to +receive instructions from the girl. The lie had been so apparent as to +constitute a direct challenge to the other man. + +Harris stood looking at him, then shrugged his shoulders. + +"Whatever the boss says goes with me," he returned evenly. + +A rangy blue roan swept past with the fifty or so others. At least +once every round of the corral he laid back his ears and squealed as he +scored some other horse with his teeth, then lashed out with wicked +heels. + +"I reckon that'll be Blue?" Harris asked of Evans and the lanky one +nodded. The men scattered round the corral and each watched his chance +to put his rope on some chosen horse. The roan kept others always +between himself and any man with a rope but at last he passed Harris +with but one horse between. Harris nipped his noose across the back of +the intervening horse and over the blue roan's head. + +Blue stopped the instant the rope tightened on his neck. + +"You've been busted and rope-burnt a time or two," Harris remarked, and +he led the horse out to saddle him. The big blue leaned back, +crouching on his haunches as the man put on the hackamore. His eyes +rolled wickedly as Harris smoothed the saddle blanket and he flinched +away with a whistling snort of fear, his nostrils flaring, as the heavy +saddle was thrown on his back. + +Harris tightened the front cinch and the blue horse braced himself and +drew in a long, deep breath. + +"That's right, Blue, you swell up and inflate yourself," Harris said. +"I'll have to squeeze it out of you." He fastened the hind cinch +loosely, then returned to the front and hauled on the latigo until the +pressure forced the horse to release the indrawn breath and it leaked +out of him with a groaning sigh. + +"I wonder now why Morrow is whetting his tommyhawk for me," Harris +remarked as he inspected the big roan. "You're a hard one, Blue. I'll +let that saddle warm up on you before I top you off." + +Every horse pitched a few jumps from force of habit when first mounted, +some of them indifferently, others viciously, then moved restlessly +around, anxious for the start. + +"Well, step up on him and let's be going," Morrow ordered surlily. + +Harris took a short hold on the rope reins of the hackamore with his +left hand, cramped the horse's head toward him and gripped the mane, +his right hand on the horn, and swung gently to the saddle, easing into +it without a jar. + +"Easy, Blue!" he said, holding up the big roan's head. "Don't you hang +your head with me." He eased the horse to a jerky start and they were +off for Brill's at a shuffling trot. Three times in the first mile +Blue bunched himself nervously and made a few stiff jumps but each time +Harris held him steady. The pace was increased to a long, swinging +trot and he felt the play of powerful muscles under him as the blue +horse seemed to reach out for distance at every stride. + +"You'd have made one good little horse, Blue," he said, "if some sport +hadn't spoiled you on the start." + +"Don't speak loud or the blue horse might shy and spill his pack," +Morrow remarked in a tone loud enough for Harris to overhear. Evans +turned in his saddle and eyed the dark man curiously. + +"He won't upset his load to-day," he prophesied. "Harris is just past +the colt stage, round twenty-seven or eight somewheres, and has +out-growed his longing to show off. But he'll be able to sit up in the +middle of anything that starts to move out from under him." + +They left the horses drooping at the several hitch rails before the +post and crowded in. A few paused along the counters of merchandise +that flanked the left side of the big room while the rest headed +straight for the long bar that extended the full length of the opposite +side. The Three Bar men had scarcely tossed off their first drink +before there sounded a clatter of hoofs outside and twelve men from the +Halfmoon D trooped in. + +"Out of the way!" the foremost youth shouted. "Back off from the pine +slab, you Three Bar soaks, and give parched folks a chance. Two hours' +play and six months' work--so don't delay me." + +The throng before the bar was a riot of color; Angora chaps ranging +from orange and lavender to black and silky white; smooth leather +chaps, and stamped, silver-ornamented and plain, with here and there an +individual design, showing that the owner had selected some queerly +spotted steer and tanned the pelt with the hair on to be fashioned into +gaudy vest and pants. 'Twas an improvident, carefree lot who lived +to-day with scarce a thought for to-morrow. The clatter of sardine and +salmon cans mingled with the clink of glassware at the bar as the men +who had missed the noon meal lunched out of cans between drinks. + +Some few detached themselves from the group and occupied themselves +with writing. Several started a game of stud poker at one of the many +tables. Harris wrote a few letters before joining in the play, and as +he looked up from time to time he caught many curious glances leveled +upon him. Morrow had been busily spreading the tidings that a would-be +squatter was among them and they were curious to see the man who had +deliberately defied the unwritten law of the Coldriver Range. When he +had finished his writing he crossed over to the group, tossed a bill on +the bar and waved all hands to a drink. + +Waddles had instructed Evans to start the men back before the spree had +progressed to a point where they would refuse to leave Brill's and so +leave the Three Bar short-handed. At the end of two hours he looked at +his watch and snapped it shut. + +"Turn out!" he shouted. "On your horses!" + +"That goes for my men, too," the Halfmoon D foreman seconded. +"Outside!" + +Morrow had not neglected to inform the men from the Halfmoon D that +Harris gentled his horses. + +"Handle the little roan horse gentle," he advised as they moved toward +the door. "Better hobble your stirrups before you crawl him." Several +men turned and grinned. In riding contests women were allowed to +hobble their stirrups while the same precaution disqualified a man. + +Most of the men were young, scarcely more than boys, full of rough play +and youthful pride of accomplishment along with a desire to make a +presumably careless display of it. A Halfmoon D youth mounted a blocky +bay and as he threw his leg across it he loosed a shrill yip and +reached forward to rake the horse's shoulder. The bay dropped his head +and performed. A half-dozen others followed his example and their +horses pitched off in as many directions. All eyes were turned on +Harris as he neared the big roan. + +"Oh, I might as well act up a little," he said to Evans. "They seem to +be looking for it." + +"He's a hard citizen, that roan," Evans remarked. "I'll wrangle for +you, Cal." + +Harris stepped over to the horse. + +"I wonder what old Blue can do," he said. He hooked the roan in the +shoulder as he mounted and the horse plunged his head between his knees +and rose in the air. The big roan bawled and expelled a long-drawn +"wa-a-augh" each time he struck the ground, then savagely shook his +whole frame as he rose again. The first four jumps Harris swung both +feet forward and hooked his shoulders and the next two bounds reached +back and raked his flanks, in accordance with the regulation rules +prescribed for contest riding. + +"He's riding for the judges," a megaphone voice announced. "Boy, +you've rode your horse!" + +Blue varied his leaps, draping himself in fantastic curves, lighting on +a slant with his side arched out, sunfishing and swapping ends, then +threw himself over and smashed down on his back. Harris slipped +sidewise and cleared himself. + +"Fourteen long jumps," one man testified. "One hell of a long time on +an eel like that!" + +As Blue regained his feet Harris stepped into the saddle and rose with +him, the hackamore rope trailing loose under the horse's feet. A +chorus of approving yelps broke out. + +"Rake him from ears to tail roots!" "Ri-ide 'im, rider!" "Hang 'em up +into that horse!" "Claw him!" "Scra-a-atch him!" + +This wave of questionable advice ceased as Blue, after three short +jumps, somersaulted forward and his rider made a headlong side-dive for +safety. + +Evans had flanked the roan's course and he now leaned from the saddle +and seized the hackamore rope; as Blue scrambled to his feet he took +two quick turns of the rope and snubbed his head short to the saddle +horn. The roan struggled and threw himself, his head still suspended +by the rope, rose and reared to strike savagely at the man who held +him, but Evans left his saddle and leaned far out, his right foot on +the ground, left still in the stirrup, and eased himself back into the +saddle as the fighting horse slid down. He had never once lost his +hold which snubbed Blue to the horn, a pretty bit of wrangling. + +"He's on the fight now," Evans said. "I'll hold him solid till he +cools down--which won't be long, for Cal didn't cut him any; he was +swinging his feet free and never hooked him once." He jerked his thumb +at the roan's shoulder and flanks where not a drop of blood appeared; +his hide would have been tattered indeed if Harris had driven home his +rowels each time he swung his feet. "Nice ride." + +Harris walked back to a small group that had not yet mounted, Morrow +among them. His left side was quartering toward Morrow and apparently +he was addressing the group as a whole instead of any one man. + +"The next time some one frames me to put on a show like that," he said, +"why, he'd better make certain beforehand about what part he's willing +to play in the performance himself--for next time I won't take it out +of the horse." + + + + +IV + +It is said that there comes a day in the life of every handler of bad +horses when he will mount one and ride him out, master him and +dismount,--and forever after decline to ride another. Riley Foster was +evidence of this. For three years Rile and Bangs had been inseparable, +riding together on every job, and the shaggy youth topped off the +animals in Foster's string before the older man would mount them. As +Bangs went about his work his faded blue eyes were ever turned toward +the Three Bar boss who stood in the door of the blacksmith shop. + +The girl was vaguely troubled as she noted this. Bangs and Foster had +returned for their second season at the Three Bar. All through the +previous summer the boy had evidenced his silent adoration, his eyes +following her every move. + +The scene round Billie was one of strenuous activity, every effort bent +toward whipping the remuda into shape for the calf round-up in the +least possible space of time. + +Every rider must have nine horses in his string. His five circle +horses needed but little training, the only necessary qualifications +being endurance and a sufficient amount of breaking to make it possible +to saddle them; the two night mounts must be partially broken to work +the herd, then switched to night guarding and thereafter used +exclusively for that. But the two cow horses required long and skilful +training. Every man gave one of his circle string the preliminary +training of the cow horse each season, the work resumed by the man to +whose string the horse was allotted the following year; thus new ones +were coming on to replace the older horses as fast as they were +condemned. + +Four pairs of men worked within a hundred yards of the girl, taking +equal turns at riding and wrangling. The one who wrangled put his rope +on a horse and led him out, snubbed him to the saddle horn and +frequently eared him as well, while the one who was to ride him out +cinched on his saddle and mounted. + +Green horses were led out, one after another, to be saddled for the +first time, and those previously broken required a few work-outs to +knock the wire edge off their unwillingness to carry a rider after a +winter of freedom on the range. + +Three men were shoeing horses tied to snubbing posts at ten-yard +intervals before the shop. One animal that had fought viciously +against this treatment had been thrown and stretched, his four feet +roped to convenient posts, and while he struggled and heaved on the +ground Rile Foster calmly fitted and nailed the shoes on him. Cal +Harris finished shoeing the colt he was working. + +"That's the last touch," he said. "My string is all set to go." + +"You have five colts gentled for your circle bunch," she said. "But +you didn't pick a single cow horse. The boys have sorted out the best +ones and the few that are left won't answer for a man that insists on a +gentled string." + +"Creamer and Calico will do for me," he said. "I broke them myself and +maybe I can worry along." + +"Did you break them like that?" she asked. Bangs was topping a horse +that strenuously refused to be conquered and as they looked on the +animal threw himself. + +"Like that? Well, no--not precisely," Harris said. "They're not +breaking horses. They're proving that they're bronc-peelers that can +ride 'em before they're broke. A horse started out that way will be a +bronc till the day he dies. The first thing he knows some straddler +swarms him and hangs the spurs in him. He bogs his head and starts out +to slip his pack--and from right then on he thinks the first thing to +do whenever a man steps up on him is to try his best to shake him off." + +Three men were lashing their bed rolls and war bags on three pack +horses and when this task was completed they rode down the lane, each +one leading his pack animal. Harris knew this as evidence that they +would start after the calves on the following day. The custom was to +exchange representatives to ride with each wagon within a reasonable +distance, the reps to look after the interest of the brand for which +they rode. + +"How many reps do you trade?" he asked. + +"Three," she said. "Halfmoon D, V L and with Slade." + +The Halfmoon D lay some fifteen miles eastward along the foot of the +hills; the V L the same distance to the west, but cached away in a +pocket that led well back into the base of the range, a comparatively +small outfit owned by the Brandons, father and four sons, who made +every effort to keep the bulk of their cows ranging in their own home +basin and exchanged reps only with the Three Bar. + +Slade's home place lay forty miles south and a little west and his cows +grazed for over a hundred miles, requiring three wagons to cover his +range. + +During the afternoon the three reps came in to replace the men who had +left. The surplus horses had been cut out and thrown back on the +range, only those required for the remuda remaining in the pasture lot. +The chuck wagon was wheeled before the cookhouse door and packed for an +early start. Before the first streaks of dawn the men had saddled and +breakfasted. It was turning gray in the east when four horses, +necessitating the attentions of four men, were hooked to the wagon. A +man hung on the bit of each wheel horse while another grasped the bits +of the lead team as Waddles made one last hasty trip inside. + +"This will be a rocky ride for a mile or two," he prophesied, as he +mounted the seat and braced himself. "These willow-tails haven't had +on a strap of harness for many a month. All set. Turn loose!" + +The men stepped back and the four horses hit the collars raggedly. One +wheel horse reared and jumped forward. The off leader dropped his head +and pitched, shaking himself as if struggling to unseat a rider, then +the four settled into a jerky run and the heavy wagon clattered and +lurched down the lane. + +"Fine way to break work stock," Harris remarked to Evans. "That layout +would bring maybe a dollar a head." + +The men swung to their saddles and followed the wagon at a shuffling +trot. From where she rode between Evans and Harris, the girl turned in +her saddle and watched two men throw open the gates of the big corral +where the remuda was held. The wrangler, whose duty it was to tend the +horse herd by day, and the nighthawk who would guard it at night sat on +their horses at the far end of the corral and urged the herd out as the +gates swung back. The remuda streamed down the valley, the two first +riders swinging wide to either flank while the nighthawk and wrangler +brought up the rear. + +The four that pulled the wagon had settled to a steady gait and when +some three miles below the Three Bar Waddles wheeled to the right and +angled up the bench that flanked the bottoms, the wagon tilting +perilously in the ascent, then struck out westward across a rolling +country that showed not even a wagon track. The big cook unerringly +picked the route of least resistance to the point from which the first +circle would be launched, striking every wash and coulee at a place +where a crossing was possible. + +Shortly before noon the wagon was halted in a broad bottom threaded by +a tiny spring-fed stream. The teams were unhitched; mounts were +unsaddled and thrown into the horse herd, which was then headed into +the mouth of a branching draw and allowed to graze. Waddles dumped off +the bed rolls that were piled from the broad lowered tail-gate to the +wagon top and each man sorted out his own and spread it upon some spot +which struck him as a likely bed ground. + +One man carried water from the stream. Two others snaked in wood for +the chuck-wagon fire. Still another drove long stakes in the shape of +a hollow square, stretching a single rope from one to the next and +fashioning a frail rope corral. + +Harris and Evans took three poles that were slung under the wagon, +looped the top-rope of a little teepee round the small ends of them and +erected the three, tripod fashion, after having first pegged down the +teepee sides. Harris brought the girl's bed roll and war bag from the +wagon and placed them inside. + +"There's your house," he said. "All ready to move in." + +The men repaired to the creek bank and splashed faces and hands. The +big voice of the cook bellowed angrily from the wagon. + +"Downstream! Downstream!" he boomed. "Get below that water hole!" + +Two men who had elected to perform their ablutions above the point from +which the culinary water supply was drawn moved hastily downstream. + +It was not long before Waddles was dispensing nourishment from the +lowered tail-gate, ladling food and hot coffee into the plates and cups +which the men held out to him. They drew away and sat cross-legged on +the ground. The meal was almost finished when six horsemen rode down +the valley and pulled up before the wagon. + +"What's the chance for scraps?" the leader asked. + +"Step down," Waddles invited. "And throw a feed in you. She's still +a-steaming." + +Four of the men differed in no material way from the Three Bar men in +appearance. The fifth was a ruffian with little forehead, a face of +gorilla cast, stamped with brute ferocity and small intelligence. The +last of the six was a striking figure, a big man with pure white hair +and brows, his pale eyes peering from a red face. + +"The roasted albino is Harper, our leading bad man in these parts," +Evans remarked to Harris. "And the human ape is Lang; Fisher, Coleman, +Barton and Canfield are the rest. Nice layout of murderers and such." + +Harper's men ate unconcernedly, conscious that they were marked as men +who had violated every law on the calendar, but knowing also that no +man would take exceptions to their presence on that general ground +alone, and as they had neared the wagon each man had scanned the faces +of the round-up crew to make certain that there were none among them +who might bear some more specific and personal dislike. + +The Three Bar men chatted and fraternized with them as they would have +done with the riders of any legitimate outfit. Harper praised the food +that Waddles tendered them. + +Billie Warren forced a smile as she nodded to them, then moved off and +sat upon a rock some fifty yards from the wagon, despising the six men +who ate her fare and inwardly raging at the conditions which forced her +to extend the hospitality of the Three Bar to men of their breed +whenever they chanced by. + +Harris strolled over and sat down facing her, sifting tobacco into a +brown paper and deftly rolling his smoke. + +"Has it been on your mind--what I was telling you a few nights back, +about how much I was loving you?" he asked. + +"You had your chance to prove it by going away," she said, "and +refused; so why bring it up again? The next two years will be hard +enough without my having to listen to that." + +"Our families must have been real set on throwing us together," he +observed. "I was cut off without a dime myself--unless I spent two +full years on the Three Bar." + +She was angry with herself for believing him sincere, for being +convinced that he too, as he had several times intimated, was tied in +much the same fashion as herself. The explanation came to her in an +illuminating flash. The elder Harris must have nursed a lifelong +enmity against her father, who had believed him the most devoted friend +on earth. + +She had often heard the tale of how her parent had, in all +friendliness, followed old Bill Harris step by step from Dodge City to +the Platte, to old Fort Laramie and finally to the present Three Bar +range. Perhaps the one so followed had felt that Cal Warren was but +the hated symbol of the whole clan of squatters who had driven him from +place to place and eventually forced him to relinquish his hope of +seeing the Three Bar brand on a hundred thousand cows; that his +friendliness had been simulated, his vindictiveness nursed and finally +consummated by leaving his affairs in such fashion that his son must +carry on the work his trickery had begun. + +The voice of Waddles reached them. He was announcing a half-day of +rest, according to her orders. + +"It's kill-time for the rest of the day," he stated. "Make the most of +it." + +For three weeks past, excepting for the trip to Brill's, the men had +toiled incessantly, breakfasting before sunup and seeking their bunks +long after dark. Some immediately turned to their bed rolls to make up +lost sleep. Others repaired to the stream to wash out extra articles +of soiled clothing before taking their rest. + +Harris resumed where he had broken off some five minutes before. + +"And I'd have tossed it off, as I told you once, if the Three Bar girl +had turned out to be any except you. You've had a tough problem to +work out, girl," he said. "I sold out my little Box L outfit for more +than it was worth--and figured to stop the leak at the Three Bar and +put the old brand on its feet." + +His calm assurance on this point exasperated the girl. + +"How?" she demanded. "What can you do?" She pointed toward the six +men near the wagon. "During the time you spent prowling the hills did +you ever come across those men?" + +"Not to pal round with them," he confessed. "But I did cut their trail +now and then." + +"Then don't you know what every other man in this country knows--that +those six and a lot more of their breed are responsible for every loss +within a hundred miles? They can operate against a brand one week and +stop at the home ranch and get fed the next. That's where the Three +Bar loss comes in. And I have to feed them when they come along." + +"Some day we'll feed them and hang them right after the meal," he said. +"They're not the outfit that's going to be hardest to handle when the +time arrives." + +"What do you mean?" she asked. "No one has ever been able to handle +them up to date." + +"Did it ever strike you as queer that Slade could come into this +country twelve years back, with nothing but a long rope and a running +iron, and be owning thirty thousand head to-day?" + +"He has the knack to protect his own and increase," she said. "They're +afraid of Slade." + +Harris absently traced the Three Bar in the dust with a stick, then +fashioned the V L and the Halfmoon D, the three brands that ranged +along the foot of the hills. With a few deft strokes he transformed +the Three Bar into the Three Cross T, reworked the V L into a Diamond +Box and the Halfmoon D into Circle P, each one of the worked-overs +representing one of the dozen or so brands registered by Slade. He +blotted out his handiwork with the flat of his hand. + +"Don't you suppose that the owner of every one of those brands knows +that?" she scoffed. "A clumsy rebrand would loom up for a mile. +Slade's no fool." + +"Not in a thousand years," Harris agreed. "I was just commenting on +how peculiar it was that the three brands he runs farthest north should +be so easy worked over into any one of the three that his range +overlaps up this way. And I happen to know his farthest south brands +would work out the same way with the outfits at the other end of his +range. But he earmarks all of his brands the same--with jinglebobs; +and jinglebobs most generally drop off and leave nothing but a good big +piece absent out of the ear." + +"So you think a man as big as Slade is stupid enough to try his hand at +brand-blotting on all sides at once?" she asked. + +"No; nor even once on one side," he returned. "Not him. The one fact +that the similarity of brands would make it easy to fall into the habit +is enough to keep every outfit watching him. He couldn't start--and +knows it." + +"Then what does it all amount to?" she asked. + +"While folks watch him on that score he could work in a dozen ways that +don't concern those brands at all," he said. + +The girl shook her head impatiently and looked across at the six men +who ate her fare. + +"Look at them," she flared. "Eating my food; and in a few nights +they'll be hazing a bunch of Three Bar steers toward the Idaho line. +Why doesn't some man that is a man kill that albino fiend and all his +whelps and rid the country of his breed? Even Slade lets them put up +at his place." + +"If they're pestering you I'll order them off," he said. + +"And what effect would that have?" she inquired scornfully. + +"The effect of causing them to climb their horses and amble off down +the country," he returned. He sprawled on the grass, his head propped +on one hand as he regarded them. + +"Then probably you'd better order them off," she suggested. "You have +my permission. Now's your chance to make good the lordly brag of +helping the Three Bar out of the hole." She instantly regretted having +said it. A dozen times of late she had wondered if she were turning +bitter and waspish, if she would ever again be the even-tempered Billie +Warren with a good word and a smile for every one. + +Harris was, as always, apparently undisturbed by her words. Far down +the bottoms she could see a point of light which she knew for a white +sign that read: "Squatter, don't let sundown find you here." The man +before her had defied these sinister warnings scattered about the range +and publicly announced that he would put in hay on his filing, knowing +that he was a marked man from the hour he turned the first furrow. +Whatever his shortcomings, lack of courage was not one of them. + +"I take that back," she said, referring to her words of a few moments +before. Harris straightened to a sitting position in his surprise at +this impulsive retraction, and as he smiled across at her she divined +that this man, seemingly so impervious to her sarcasm, could be easily +moved by a single kind word. + +"Thanks, Billie," he said. "That was real white of you." + +He rose and sauntered toward the wagon and Billie Warren felt a sudden +clutch of fear as he halted before Harper and she realized that he had +taken her words literally and intended ordering them off. + +"I've been made temporary foreman of the Three Bar--just so the boss +could try me out on that job for an hour or two," he remarked +conversationally. "So I'm putting in a new rule that goes into effect +right off. When you boys ride away, in a few minutes from now, you can +tell folks that the grub line is closed as far as the Three Bar is +concerned." + +Lang took a half-step toward him, his face reflecting his gathering +rage as his slow brain comprehended the fact that this speech was but +another way of announcing that he and his men would find no welcome at +the Three Bar from that moment on. Harper caught his arm and jerked +him back. The albino was an old hand and could rightly read the signs. + +"The gentleman was remarking to me," he said to Lang; "not you." He +turned to Harris, noting as he did so that every Three Bar man, +excepting those asleep, had suddenly evidenced keen interest in what +was transpiring there; several carelessly shifted their positions. +"There's no law to make you feed any man," he said to Harris. "From +now on we'll pay our way--as far as the Three Bar is concerned." + +His tones were casual; only his pale eyes, fastened unblinkingly on +Harris's face, betrayed his real feeling toward the man who, +notwithstanding the roundabout nature of his announcement, had +practically ordered him to stay away from the Three Bar for all time. + +"But even in the face of that," he resumed, "we'll welcome you any time +you happen to ride down our way." + +Every man within earshot understood the threat that lay beneath the +casual words. + +"Then I'll likely drop in some time," Harris said. "If you'll send +word where it is. And I'll bring fifty men along." + +The albino motioned his men toward their horses and they mounted and +rode off down the bottoms. Harris walked back and resumed his seat +near the girl, who sat looking at him as if she could not believe what +she had just witnessed. + +"You see it was just as easy as I'd counted on," he said. "It'll be a +considerable saving on food." + +"But how did you know?" she asked. "Why is Harper afraid of you?" + +"He's not," Harris said. "Not for a single second. But he's an old +hand and has left a few places on the jump before he came out here." + +"And he thinks you know it!" she guessed. + +"He don't care what I know; it's what he knows himself--that the wild +bunch is always roosting on the powder can even when it appears like +they're sitting pretty--that counts with him. You thought I was taking +a fool chance of out-gaming him. In reality I was taking almost an +unfair advantage of him, providing he had the brains he must possess to +have lived to his age." + +She could find no ready-made answer to this surprising statement. He +sprawled comfortably on the grass, turning over in his mind the +conditions that were but a repetition of the history of so many +frontiers; first the earliest settlers resenting the intrusion of the +later ones and resorting to lawless means of protecting their priority; +then the strengthening of the outlaw element, half the countryside in +league with the wild bunch, the two opposing factions secretly hiring +the predatory class to prey upon rival interests; then, inevitably, the +clean split, usually occasioned by the outlaws having increased in +power until they felt competent to defy both sides, to play both ends +against the middle, to commit atrocities that opened the eyes of those +who, believing they had subsidized the lawless, suddenly woke to the +fact that they had subsidized themselves; then the outlaws, in their +turn, discovering that every man's hand was against them; the ruthless +establishing of a definite line between those inside and those outside +the law, replacing the vague middle ground of semi-lawlessness. Always +their friends fell away from them, those secretly leagued with them +fearing to be seen in their company, and those not too definitely known +to belong to their ranks invariably quitting them cold, often joining +forces against them and developing into more or less substantial +citizens, according to the standards of their day. + +"Don't you know that the albino will kill you for that?" the girl asked +at length. + +"Not unless he can stage it as a personal quarrel," he said. "He'll +never follow it up as coming out of what happened to-day by taking it +out on me as temporary foreman of the Three Bar--for ordering him off." + +"Why?" she puzzled. "What possible difference would that make to a man +like him?" + +"Just this," he said: "There's a good majority of folks that don't +relish seeing Harper's bunch ride up--that feed them through policy. +But whenever you make it plain to a man that he's compelled to do a +thing whether he likes it or not it's ten to one he'll balk out of +sheer human pride. If Harper kills the Three Bar foreman on the +grounds that he refused to feed all his men--why then, right off, every +other foreman and owner within a hundred miles starts to resenting the +possibility that maybe the albino feels the same way toward him. +Harper knows that." + +"But if your theory had been wrong?" she persisted. "What then?" + +"Then," he said, "then there'd have been hell and repeat. I wasn't +just acting as me, a personal affair, but, as I took pains to remark +aloud, as the foreman of the Three Bar. Every Three Bar man would have +gone into action the second Harper made a move at me. You know +that--and Harper knew it." + +She realized the soundness of this statement. The one unalterable code +of the country, a code that had been fostered till it eclipsed all +others, decreed that a man should be loyal to the brand for which he +rode. The whole fabric of the cow business was based on that one point. + +"And a wrangle of that magnitude was something he couldn't risk," +Harris said. "It would stir folks up, and any time they're stirred a +mite too far Harper has come to the end of his rope. Any other brand +could have done the same--only folks fall into a set habit of mind and +figure they must do what others do just because it's custom." + +"But now they'll work their deviltry all the stronger against the Three +Bar," she predicted. "They could wreck us if they tried. You couldn't +get a conviction in five years. Not a man would testify against one of +Harper's outfit." + +"Then we'll put on a fighting crew and hold them off," he said. "But +that's not the layout that will be hardest to handle in the long run. +Slade is the one real hard nut for the Three Bar to crack. He can work +it a dozen different ways and you couldn't prove one of them on him to +save your soul. He's one smooth hombre--Slade." + +Harris rose and headed for his bed roll and the girl sought the shelter +of her teepee for a rest. All was quiet near the wagon till Waddles +boomed the summons to feed. After the meal a youth named Moore mounted +a saddled horse that was picketed nearby and rode up a branching gulch, +returning with a dry cedar log which he snaked to the wagon at the end +of his rope. After a few hours' rest and the prospects of a full +night's sleep ahead the hands snatched an hour for play. + +They sat cross-legged round the fire kindled from the cedar and raised +their voices in song. Waddles drew forth a guitar and picked a few +chords. Bentley, the man who repped for Slade, carried the air and the +rest joined in. The voices were untrained but from long experience in +rendering every song each man carried his part without a discordant +note. Evans sang a perfect bass. Bangs a clear tenor; Moore faked a +baritone that satisfied all hands and Waddles wagged his head in unison +with the picking of his guitar and hummed, occasionally accenting the +air with a musical, drumlike boom. They rambled through all the old +familiar songs of the range. The Texan herded his little dogie from +the Staked Plains to Abilene; the herd was soothed on the old bed +ground--bed down my dogie, bed down--and the poor cowboy was many times +buried far out on the lone prair-ee. + +Bangs had stationed himself so that he could see the girl and +throughout the evening his surprised eyes never once strayed from +Billie Warren's face. + +She leaned back against the wagon wheel, enjoying it all, but her +complacence was jarred as she half-turned and noted Morrow's face, +drawn and bleak, unsoftened by the music. Again the feeling of dislike +for him rose within her; but he was an efficient hand and she had +nothing definite against him. At the end of an hour Waddles rose and +returned his instrument to the wagon. The group broke up and every man +turned in. + +Billie Warren lay in her teepee, her mind busily going over the events +of the day. The night sounds of the range drifted to her. A bull-bat +rasped a note or two from above. A picketed horse stamped restlessly +just outside and a range cow bawled from an adjacent slope. The +night-hawk had relieved the wrangler and she could half-hear, half-feel +the low jar of many hoofs as he grazed the remuda slowly up the valley, +singing to while away the time. + +She reflected that Cal Harris was at least possessed of self-confidence +and that procrastination was certainly not to be numbered among his +failings. It came to her that his interests, for the present, were +identical with her own. As half-owner in the Three Bar it would be as +much to his advantage as to her own to build it up. Waddles's warped +legs prevented his acting as foreman on the job and it might be that +the other man would find some way to prevent the leak that was sapping +the life from the Three Bar. His half-ownership entitled him to the +place. Billie Warren loved her brand and her personal distrust of +Harris was submerged in the hope that his sharing the full +responsibility with herself might be a step toward putting it back on +the old-time plane of prosperity. + +The jar of hoofs had ceased and she knew that the remuda had bedded +down; and having at last reached a decision she fell asleep with the +crooning voice of the nighthawk drifting to her ears. + + + + +V + +It seemed but a few fleeting moments before Waddles's voice roused her. + +"Roll out!" he bawled. "Feet in the trough!" + +There was instant activity, the jingle of belts and spurs and in five +minutes every man was fully clothed and splashing at the creek. It was +showing rose and gray in the east when the meal was finished and the +cook's voice was once more raised. + +"All set! Ru-un-n 'em in!" he called, and there came the rumble of +hoofs as the nighthawk acted on this order and headed the remuda toward +the wagon. Two men mounted the horses that had been picketed close at +hand throughout the night and stationed themselves on either side of +the open end of the rope corral to guide the horse herd into it. + +The horses could not be seen until almost upon them, looming suddenly +out of the dim gray of early morning and surging into the corral. The +nighthawk and the two men already mounted rode around it, driving back +any horse that showed a disposition to leave the corral by a downward +slash of a doubled rope across his face and ears. The men went in and +scattered through the milling herd, each one watching his chance to put +his noose on a circle horse of his own string. + +When most of the men were mounted Billie urged Papoose over near +Harris's horse. + +"Do you know how to throw a circle?" she asked. + +"After a fashion," he said. "I've bossed one or two in the past." + +"Then we'd better be off," she suggested. "Since you're the Three Bar +foreman it's for you to say when." + +"I only preempted that job for ten minutes or so," he explained with +evident embarrassment. "You surely didn't think I was trying to boost +myself into the foreman's job for keeps?" + +"No," she said. "But you're half-owner--and you can handle men. I'm +giving you free rein to show what you can do." + +Harris straightened in his saddle and motioned to the men. + +"Let's go!" he ordered, and headed his horse for the left-hand flank of +the valley. They ascended the first slopes, picked a long ridge and +followed it to the crest of the low divide between that valley and the +next. + +Harris increased the pace and they swept up-country along the divide at +a steady lope. When traveling or making a long day's ride on a single +horse the cowhand saves his mount and travels always at a trail-trot, +but with work to be done, three circles to be thrown in a day and with +a string of fresh horses for every hand, the paramount issue of the +circle is the saving of time rather than the saving of mounts. As they +reached the head of the first draw that led back down into the valley +Harris waved an arm. + +"Carp," he called, and a middle-aged man named Carpenter, abbreviated +to Carp, wheeled his horse from the group and headed down the draw. + +A half-mile farther on they reached the head of another gulch. + +"Hanson!" the new foreman called, and the man who repped for the +Halfmoon D dropped out. One man was detailed to work each draw and +when some five miles up the divide there were but half the crew left. +Harris dropped down a long ridge and crossed the bottoms. Far down the +valley the wagon showed through the thin, clear air. The foreman led +the way to the opposite divide and doubled back, sending a man down +every gulch. + +The girl rode with him. Down in the bottoms they could see the riders +detailed on the opposite side hazing the cows out of their respective +draws and heading them toward the wagon. The first few men left their +cows in the flat and veered past them to station themselves near the +wagon and block the valley, sitting their horses at hundred-yard +intervals across it. + +Harris and the girl worked the last draw themselves and when they drove +their cows out of the mouth of it they found a herd already milled, two +hundred yards above the wagon. Harris left her and circled the bunch, +estimating it. + +A few belated riders were bringing their quotas to swell the herds. +Frequently a bunch of cows made a break to leave and many were allowed +to make good their escape to the safety of the broken slopes. But +these were only marked stuff previously branded and any attempt +including a cow with an unbranded calf was instantly blocked. Each +rider noted the brands of any cows which he let escape and more +particularly still he scanned them with an eye for the presence of a +"slick," an animal missed in previous round-ups and wearing no brand. +Slick cows were fair prey for any man who first put his rope on them +and he was entitled to run his own brand on a slick or to mark it with +the brand for which he rode and draw down a certain scale of premiums +at the end of the round-up season. + +Harris changed mounts, throwing his saddle on the paint-horse. When +the last rider appeared with his bunch and threw it into the herd +Harris signaled all hands to change mounts. Half the men repaired to +the rope corral and caught up cow horses while the balance of the crew +held the herd, each one relieving some other as soon as he had saddled +a fresh horse. + +When the hands commenced working the herd the Three Bar girl watched +the trained cow horses with an interest that was always fresh, for from +long experience they thoroughly understood every move of the game. + +A sagebrush fire was burning fifty yards above the wagon and each man +rode past it, leaned from his saddle and dropped his running iron in +the flame. + +The men worked round the edge of the bunch and slipped a noose on every +calf that was thrown to the edge of the constantly shifting mass. +Morrow roped the first calf and dragged it to the fire. A cow darted +away with her calf and Bangs's horse whirled to head her back. As +Bangs shook out his rope the horse changed tactics and abandoned the +course that would have carried him past to turn them, following in +close behind them instead. After two preliminary swings Bangs made his +throw and missed. The horse did not miss a step but kept on close +behind the calf while his rider coiled the rope. The second throw fell +fair and the horse set his feet and braced himself as the calf hit the +end of the rope. + +As much as she loved the round-up, many times as she had seen it, +Billie Warren had never become calloused to the brutalities perpetrated +on the calves. She withdrew and sat in the shade of the wagon. She +was downwind and the dust raised by the trampling hoofs floated down to +her, mingled with the odor of steaming cows, the acrid smoke of the +sage fire and the taint of scorched hair and flesh. + +Some of the men handled their hot irons with makeshift tongs of split +sage, which were soon burnt through and replaced. Others used slender, +long-handled pliers for the work. + +The horses held the calves helpless, moving just enough to keep the +ropes taut. Evans loosed a fresh-branded calf and rode over to the +wagon for a drink. Several cows raced wildly round at a distance from +the fire. + +"One of those old sisters will go on the prod and make a break for some +one right soon," he predicted to the girl. + +A calf bawled in pain and a cow, maddened by the appeal of her +offspring, charged the group around the fire. The horses that stood +there, holding calves, pricked their ears and watched her rush alertly +but before it was necessary for any one of them to dodge, Slade's rep +slipped his rope on her, jumped his horse off at an angle and brought +her down. + +Evans pointed to where Harris, seated on the big pinto, was working +slowly through the center of the herd. + +"He's gone in after another slick," Evans said. "Watch the paint-horse +work." + +Calico was moving after the animal Harris wanted, working easily and +without a single sharp rush that would cause undue disturbance among +the cows. + +"A good cow horse is like a hound," Lanky observed. "Let him spot the +critter you're wanting and nothing can shake him off." + +Calico followed a serpentine course through the mass, crowded a +three-year-old to the edge and cut him out. The animal attempted to +dodge back among his fellows but the paint-horse turned as on a pivot +and blocked him, then started him off in a straightaway run. + +"There's a real rope-horse," Lanky said. "I've been noticing him work. +Look!" + +Calico had braced himself as the slick was roped, shoving his hind feet +out ahead, squatting on his haunches and raising his forefeet almost +clear of the ground. + +"Cal broke him without shoes in front," Evans explained. "His feet got +tender after he'd jerked a steer or two and he learned to sock his hind +feet ahead and take the jar on them. He'll last two years longer that +way. A horse that takes all the weight on his front feet in jerking +heavy stuff soon gets stove up in the shoulders and has to be +condemned. This Cal Harris has one whole bagful of knowing tricks." + +He rode back to the work after this endorsement of her choice of a +foreman. + +Through all the turmoil the nighthawk slept peacefully in the shade of +a sage-clump. Waddles dozed in the wagon but suddenly came to life +with a start and signaled to the wrangler who, in his turn, waved an +arm to the man nearest him. The four wagon horses were roped and +harnessed while Waddles loaded the bed rolls on the tailgate and lashed +them fast. The rope corral was dismantled and loaded. The chuck wagon +veered past the herd and lumbered up the valley and the wrangler and +one other followed with the horse herd. + +In a short space of time the herd had been worked, the last calf +branded, and Harris led the men up the bottoms. As they rode each one +reported the brands of all stock which he had let break away from his +bunch before reaching the herd. Each rep entered the number and kind +of his own brand so reported to the former tally taken of the herd. + +Five miles up the valley, at the spot where Harris had crossed it a few +hours before, they found the wagon waiting at the new stand, the corral +refashioned and the remuda inside it. It was but ten o'clock but the +first circle had commenced at four. The noon meal on the round-up was +served whenever the first circle was completed. The men fell +ravenously on the hot meal, changed to fresh circle horses and started +again. + +It was falling dusk when the herd gathered in the third circle had been +worked and the last calf branded for the day. The men had unsaddled +and spread their bed rolls before Waddles had announced the meal. The +nighthawk came riding up on the horse he had picketed prior to going to +sleep before sunup at the first stand. His bed roll was lashed on a +half-wild range horse he had roped and it sagged to one side, having no +pack saddle to keep it from slipping, and he spoke in no gentle terms +of an outfit that would pull out without troubling to throw his pack +saddle from the wagon or taking pains to picket an extra horse. His +fretfulness passed, however, as he smelled the hot coffee and he +repaired to the wagon, his ill humor dissipated. + +There was no music that night, every man retiring to his bed roll the +instant he finished his meal. + +At the end of the first week out from the ranch Harris pulled up his +horse beside the girl's and showed her his tally book. + +"We've run Slade's mark on more calves than we have our own," he said. +"That's one way he works." + +"But that's not his fault and it doesn't mean anything," she said. +"His cows are sure to drift. This first strip we've worked is the +southernmost edge of our range and his north wagon works the strip +right south of us. We're sure to find a number of his cows. As we +double back on our next lap we'll not find the same proportion." + +"Not quite--but plenty," he predicted. "We've marked more calves for +Slade in one week than all his three wagon crews will mark for the +Three Bar in a year. The first three weeks of each season your men do +a little more work for Slade than they do for you. It's a safe bet +that the Halfmoon D does the same, and so on through every brand that +joins his range. That puts him way off ahead." + +"But that is pure accident," she said. + +"It's pure design," he stated. "His boys are busy shoving his cows +from the middle all ways so that when fall comes he has a good inside +block that's only been lightly fed over. They fall back on that for +winter feed. Last winter, when cows were dying like rats, his men were +out drifting Slade's stuff back toward his middle range." + +"That's true enough," she admitted. "But----" + +"But you thought he was doing it as a favor to you--getting his surplus +off your territory so your own cows would have a better chance. That's +the same kind of talk he floated all round the line; playing the +benevolent neighbor when in reality the old pirate had deliberately +planned, year after year, to overcrowd your range and feed you out." + +"But his men would know," she objected. + +"Not many of them would grasp the whole scheme of it," he said. "You +hadn't thought of it yourself. He'd detail a pair of boys to shove a +few hundred head way off to the south. A few days later another couple +would be throwing a bunch off northeast. See? And what if a few of +them did surmise? They're riding for his brand." + +The girl nodded. That unalterable code again,--the religion of being +loyal to one's brand. Not one of Slade's men would balk at doing it +knowingly; each would do anything to advance his interests as long as +he drew his pay from Slade. + +"I doubt if there's a dozen men within two hundred miles that haven't +lifted a few calves now and then for the brand they were riding for. +That's the way it goes. A rule that was fine to start--loyalty to the +hand that paid you; then carried too far until it's degenerated into a +tool that's often abused," he said. + +As they talked Harris detailed men for each draw but when they reached +the point where they were due to drop down and cross the valley he +pulled up his horse. + +"You take the rest of the circle, Carp," he instructed Carpenter. "I'm +going to ride off up the ridge a piece." The girl regarded him +curiously. No less than three times in the last week he had stopped +midway of the circle and asked her to complete it. Now he had turned +it over to Carp and he signaled her to remain with him. + +"Where are we going?" she asked as she watched the men ride down toward +the bottoms. "And why?" + +"Back the way we came," he said. "And maybe I can show you why." + +He headed back the divide they had just followed until he came to the +saddle at the head of a draw that led down to the valley. Far below +them they could see a rider hazing a bunch of cows out into the +bottoms. High on the right-hand slope of the gulch lay a notch, a +little blind basin watered by the seepage from a sidehill spring, and +there on the green bed of it a dozen cows with their calves grazed +undisturbed. For perhaps five minutes Harris lolled sidewise in the +saddle and watched them. Then a rider appeared on the ridge that +divided that draw from the next, dropped in below the cows and headed +them back over the ridge into the draw from which he had appeared. +Even at that distance she recognized this last man as Lanky Evans. +Harris resumed his way down the divide and she knew that he had +discovered some irregularity for which he had been seeking. + +"Who was the man that overlooked those cows?" she asked. "Who worked +that draw?" + +"Morrow," he said. "His eyesight is getting bad. That's the second +time this week--and the last. I've detailed Lanky to work the gulch +next to him every circle so that he could drop over the ridge and see +what was going on. That's why he's always late coming in--not because +he's lazy but because he's been working almost a double shift." + +"Then Morrow is an inside man for Harper," she said. "Drawing Three +Bar pay and working against us too." + +"Yes," he said. "Only he's an inside man for Slade." + +"But how could his leaving those calves behind benefit Slade?" she +demanded. + +"How could it benefit Harper?" he countered. "Can you tell me that?" + +She could not and motioned for him to go on. + +"None of Harper's men has a brand of his own," he said. "They're +living on the move. They can't wait for calves to grow up. The way +they work is to run a bunch of beef steers across into Idaho. They'll +pick up another bunch there and shove them across the Utah line and +repeat by moving a drove of some Utah brand up in here. Only beef +steers--quick turning stuff. You know about the reputation of the O V +and the Lazy H Four." + +She knew all too well. There was a half-feud, a smoldering distrust +displayed between cowmen on each side of the three State lines, a +triangle of ill feeling. It was current rumor that the O V and the +Lazy H Four, ranging far southwest of the Three Bar, would traffic in +any steers that came from across either the Utah or Idaho line. In the +corner of those States were similar outfits that were receiving +stations for rustled stock from the opposite sides. But they were good +neighbors and kept hands off so far as brands on their home range were +concerned. It was part of the game, and as long as their own interests +were not disturbed the adjacent outfits were blind. The triangular +feud had been fostered to a point where the thieves were immune. Even +if a direct complaint should be brought against them they had but to +ride across into another State and a sheriff following them would be +helpless, the inhabitants resenting this intrusion into their affairs +by an officer from another State, truly having no right there, and +refusing to aid him even if they did not actually oppose his passage. + +"But how would it benefit Slade?" she repeated. + +"Why, suppose that Morrow overlooked a nice bunch of Three Bar calves +all along this first strip next to Slade's range," Harris said. "Then +some Slade rider happens to drop along after our wagon has moved on and +he hazes them off south. Later another picks them up and shoves them +along another half-day's drive--way beyond where our boys ever work, +even beyond the strip covered by Slade's north wagon, the only one that +carries a Three Bar rep; what then?" + +"The calves would still be with mothers wearing the Three Bar mark," +she said. "After they leave the cows they're slicks, fair game for the +first man that puts his rope on them--and Slade wouldn't risk running +one of his own brands on them before they left the cows." + +"Not one of his own, no," Harris said; "only one that's going to be his +later on. Did it ever strike you as queer that Slade, whose way is to +crush every new outfit, should suffer a soft-hearted streak every year +or so and befriend some party that had elected to start up for himself +right in the middle of Slade's range? And later buy him out? That's +the way he came into nearly every brand he runs." + +"He's impulsive in his friendships," she defended. "He has always been +like that." + +"And his impulses embrace some right queer folks," Harris remarked. +"Several of those dinky little owners have moved out right sudden with +a dozen riders from some other outfit fanning along close behind; +McArthur didn't even get moved, for the Brandons went on the war trail +before he had time to start. But it transpired that he was all set to +go because Slade showed bill of sale for Mac's holdings, dated only the +day before. That's how he came to own every one of those brands that +match up so close with those of every outfit that overlaps his range." + +"But if he actually dealt with so many as you believe, some one of them +would be sure to have trouble later on and tell of it," she argued. + +"And it would be the word of a self-confessed thief against that of the +biggest owner within two hundred miles, and Slade would laugh at +him--or kill him, according to whatever mood he happened to be in." + +They had turned their horses down a long ridge that led to the wagon in +the bottoms. + +"I'll mention to the boys that Morrow sold out the interests of the +Three Bar while he was drawing down your pay. They'll pass sentence on +him right sudden. Four hours from now they'll have dry-gulched him so +far from nowhere that even the coyotes can't find him." + +"Not that," she said. "Turn him over to the sheriff. You caught him +in the act." + +"In the act of missing a few cows on his detail. The sheriff would +hold him almost an hour before he let him go." + +"Then give him his check and send him off the Three Bar range," she +said. + +Harris waited till the herd had been worked and the men had gathered +round the wagon. Then he handed Morrow a check. + +"Here's your time," he said. "You can be leaving almost any time now." + +Every man knew that Morrow had been caught at some piece of work +contrary to the interests of the Three Bar. The discharged hand gave a +short ugly laugh. + +"As soon as you pussyfooted into the foreman's job I knew it was only a +question of time," he said. + +"Exactly," Harris returned. "Pack your stuff." + +"A foreman has a scattering of a dozen or so men to back him up," +Morrow observed with a shrug of one shoulder toward the rest of the men. + +Harris turned to the girl. + +"I resign for about sixty seconds," he said and swung back toward +Morrow; and again all hands noted his queer quartering stand. "I'm not +foreman right at this minute," he said. "So if you had anything in +particular to address to me in a personal vein you can start now. +Otherwise you'd better be packing your stuff." + +Morrow turned his back and headed for the rope corral. When he had +saddled one horse and packed his effects on another he turned to Evans. + +"You helped frame this on me," he said. "I thought I saw you messing +over into my detail a few days back." + +"Right on the first ballot," Lanky assented. "I'm only riding for one +brand at a time." + +"One day right soon I'll run across you again," Morrow prophesied. + +"Then I'll take to riding with my head over my shoulder--surveying my +back-track," Lanky promised. "Because we'll most likely meet from +behind." + +For the first time Morrow's bleak face changed expression, the lines +deepening from the strain of holding himself steady in the face of the +contemptuous insults with which Lanky casually replied to his threats. + +He started to snarl an answer, his usual self-repression deserting him, +but Harris waved an impatient hand. + +"Drag it!" he snapped. "Get moving. If I had my own way we'd lead +your horse out from under you--and we will if I ever hear of your +turning up on the Three Bar range again." + + + + +VI + +Billie Warren rode with Harris on the last lap of the circle. There +were but two men remaining with them. + +"Moore!" Harris called, and the man turned his horse down the head of a +draw that would lead him out into the bottoms a trifle less than a mile +above the wagon. Harris heard a shrill whistle behind him and turned +sidewise in the saddle to look back, saw that Moore had regained the +ridge and was signaling. They turned and rode back to him. + +"There's another," Moore said, pointing down the gulch. "It's getting +to be a habit." + +A dead cow lay on a little flat a hundred yards below. For three +consecutive days some rider had found a fresh-killed Three Bar cow. +Every animal had been shot. + +"I'll look this one over myself," Harris decided. "There's only two +more gulches to work. Each one of you boys take one." + +The girl followed him as he turned down the first steep pitch. They +pulled up their horses and sat looking at the cow. A trickle of blood +oozed out of a hole between her eyes. Harris rode in a circle round +the spot. + +"He downed her from some point above," he said. "Not a sign anywhere +close at hand." He surveyed the ridges that flanked either side of the +draw and the little saddle-like depression at the head of it from which +they had just descended. From beyond this gap came the shrill nicker +of a horse, the sound chopped short as if a man had clamped his hand on +the animal's nostrils to silence it. Harris turned swiftly to the girl. + +"It's a plant," he said. "Ride--hard!" + +He suited his action to the words and jumped his horse off down the +bottoms. He waved her over to one side. + +"Keep well away from me!" he ordered. "They don't want you." + +They hung their spurs into their mounts and the horses plunged down the +steeply-pitching bottoms, vaulting sage clumps and bounding along the +cow trails that threaded the brush. Two hundred yards below the cow +the draw made an elbow bend. The girl rounded it and as Harris +followed a jump behind he felt a jarring tug at the cantle of his +saddle and the thin, sharp crack of a rifle reached him. The gulch +made a reverse bend and as they swept around it Harris swung sidewise +in the saddle and looked back. They were entirely sheltered from any +point on the divide six hundred yards behind them. He pulled his horse +to a swinging trot and they rode down the sloping meadow that led +straight to the main valley. + +"It was certainly stupid of me not to know right off that it was a +decoy," he said. "A man just out to act spiteful would have piled up a +dozen cows at one stand and left. He's downed one every day--in plain +sight of the divide we'd follow on the circle, knowing that I'd soon +ride down to look one over myself. All he had to do was to cache +himself on the far side, watch for me to ride down, wait until the rest +had gone on and climb to the divide and pot me. And it would have been +so dead easy to turn the tables and bushwhack him," he added +regretfully. "If only I'd have used my head in time." + +A sick chill swept the girl as she thought of an enemy with the +patience to kill a cow every day, use it for a decoy and wait for a +chance at his human prey. + +The cows that grazed on the meadow raced off ahead of them. A bunch of +wild range horses swept up the broken slopes and wheeled to watch them +pass. + +"We didn't get started any too soon," Harris said. "His horse wasn't +more than a hundred feet beyond the notch when he blew off and warned +us--not time for me to get cached and drop him as he topped the ridge." + +The girl's eyes suddenly riveted on a small round hole in the cantle of +his saddle where the ball had entered. On the inside and far to the +left extremity of the cantle a ragged gash showed where if had passed +out. The shot had been fired as he wheeled round the sharp bend, +quartering away from the man above, but even then the ball had not +missed his left hip to exceed an inch. + +She started her horse so suddenly that before he realized her purpose +she was well in the lead and going at a dead run toward the mouth of +the gulch where it opened out into the main bottoms two hundred yards +beyond. + +From the opposite slope riders were hazing cows out of their respective +draws; some had reached the wagon; others were coming down from above. +The running horse caught every man's eye as the girl careened out into +the center of the valley, rose in her stirrups and waved an arm in a +circle above her head. In five seconds riders were whirling in behind +her from all directions as she headed for the wagon. + +She waved those already on the spot toward the rope corral. + +"Change horses!" she called, and as each man rode in he caught up a +fresh horse. + +"Scatter out; some of you below where we came down, some above," she +said. "Five hundred to the man that brings Morrow in." + +"It's no use, Billie," Harris counseled mildly. "He's plum out of the +country by now. It'll be dark in three hours--and it's right choppy +country over there." + +Waddles interposed and seconded her move. + +"Let 'em rip," he said. "There's just a chance." + +Bangs was the first to change mounts. The boy's physical +qualifications were as sound as his mental ability was limited and it +was his pride to have a string of mounts that included the worst horses +in the lot. He rode from the corral on Blue, holding the big roan +steady, and headed up the ridge a mile below where Harris and the girl +had come down. Rile Foster chose the next; five riders were but a few +jumps behind. Harris did not change horses but searched hastily in his +war bag and slipped the strap of a binocular case across his shoulders +and rode off with the girl as she finished cinching her saddle on a +fresh horse. + +In less than five minutes from the time she had reached the wagon the +last Three Bar man had mounted and gone. Harris rode with her up a +long ridge that led up to the divide; they followed another into the +next bottoms and ascended the second divide. This was sharp and rocky, +its crest a maze of ragged pinnacles. He chose the highest of these +and dismounted to sweep the range with his glasses. The low country +beyond them was broken and choppy, a succession of tiny box canyons and +rough coulees. Off to the right he made out Rile Foster working +through the tangle. Somewhere beyond him Bangs would be doing the +same. Riders came into view off to the left, crossing some ridge, only +to disappear once more. The high point afforded a view of every ridge +for miles. After perhaps half an hour Harris caught five horsemen in +the field of his glasses. They were riding in a knot. + +"They've picked up his trail," he said. "But he'll have too long a +lead. He'll be fanning right along and they'll have to work out a +track. In less than two hours it will be dark--and by morning he'll be +forty miles from here and up on a fresh horse." + +He rested his elbows on the ground to steady the glasses as he trained +them off in the direction the five men had gone. Twice he saw them +cross over ridges. Then a tiny, swift-moving speck came into his field +of view, traveling up the slope of a distant divide. The ant-like +rider dipped over the crest of it and was gone. + +"He's more than five miles in the lead of them," he said. "Across +rough country too. There was just a chance that he would work back +through these breaks below us instead of making a ride for it, and we +could have spotted him from up here. We might as well be going." + +They mounted and headed to the right along the divide. + +"If Rile is in sight we can wait for him," he said. "And see if he's +picked up any tracks." + +A half-mile along the ridge they saw Foster off through the breaks and +he was working back their way. + +"Thanks, Billie," Harris said. "For losing a circle trying to run him +down." + +"I'd have done as much for any Three Bar man," she returned. + +"Of course," he said. "I'd have expected that. But all the same I'd +hardly looked to see you show much concern over what happened to me." + +"I don't want to see even you shot in the back," she said. "Is that +answer enough?" + +"It shows that I'm progressing," he smiled. "Maybe my good qualities +will grow on you until you get to thinking right well of me." + +They waited till Foster joined them on the ridge. + +"Bangs crossed over a mile below," Rile said. "We might pick him up." + +"Any sign?" Harris asked as they moved down the divide. + +"A bunch of shod horses went down through there a few days back," Rile +said. "Three or four men likely, with a few pack horses along. There +was a fresh track, made this morning, going up-country alone. He +likely stayed at their camp all night, wherever it is. I worked +across, thinking he might go back to it; but there was no down trail. +He's pulled out." + +"I saw him," Harris said. "He's gone." + +They stopped in the saddle of the ridge where a fresh track showed the +spot Bangs had crossed. + +The girl was looking at Harris and saw a sudden pallor travel up under +his tan and as she turned to see what had occasioned it he crowded his +horse against her own. + +"Don't look!" he ordered, and forced her horse over the far side of the +ridge. "You'd better ride on back to the wagon," he urged. "There's +been some sort of doings over across. Rile and I will ride down and +look into it." Without a word she turned her horse toward the wagon. + +"It's God's mercy she didn't see," Harris said, as the two crossed back +over the ridge. "Isn't that a hell of a way for a man to die?" + +But the girl had seen. Her one brief look had revealed a horse coming +round a bend in a little box canyon below. A shapeless thing dragged +from one stirrup and at every third or fourth jump the big blue horse +side-slashed the limp bundle with his heels. + +As the two men reached the bottoms the frenzied horse had stopped and +was fighting to free himself of the thing that followed him. He moved +away from it in a circle but it was always with him. He squealed and +kicked it, then dashed off in a fresh panic, side-swiping his pursuer. + +Harris's rope tightened on his neck and threw him. As he rolled over +Foster's noose snared both hind feet and he was held stretched and +helpless between two trained cow horses while the men disengaged the +bundle that had once been Bangs. One boot heel was missing and his +foot was jammed through the stirrup, evidence that the horse had +pitched with him and the loosened heel had come off, allowing his foot +to slip through as he was thrown. + +Harris pointed to a burnt red streak across the right side of Bangs's +neck. He unbuttoned his shirt and revealed a similar streak under his +left armpit. + +Old Rile cursed horribly and his face seemed to have aged ten years. + +"They learned that from the albino," he said. "It's an old trick that +always works. They dropped a rope on him and jerked him, pried off his +heel, shoved his boot through and laid the quirt on his horse. Blue +did the rest." + +Both men knew well how it had happened. Bangs had run across the camp +of some of the wild bunch, men he had known for long, and the +slow-thinking youth had suspected no more danger from riding on up to +them at this time than at any other. He had told them of the shot +fired at Harris and they had known that some other Three Bar man would +find the trail leading from the direction of their camp. And Bangs +would mention having found them there, linking them with the +bushwhacker. + +When Bangs had left a pair of them had ridden a distance with him and +accomplished their aim. + +"It's coming dark," Harris said. "And by morning they'll be thirty +miles away. That sort of a killing was never fastened on to any man +yet." + +The old man raised a doubled fist and his face was lined with sorrow. + +"Bangs was almost a son to me," he said. "I taught him to ride--and +we've rode together on every job since then. You hear me! Some one is +going to die for this!" + +It was an hour after sundown when they reached the wagon with all that +was earthly of Bangs lashed across the blue horse and it was midnight +before the five men who had followed the trail returned with the word +that they had been unable to even sight the man they tracked. + +During the next week the girl inwardly accused the men of +heartlessness. They jested as carelessly as if nothing unusual had +occurred and she heard no mention of Bangs. It seemed that it took but +a day for them to forget a former comrade who had come to an untimely +end. Rile Foster had disappeared but on the fifth day he turned up at +the Three Bar wagon and resumed his work without the least explanation +of his absence. + +The old man was gloomy and silent, his face set in sorrowful lines as +he went about his work, and it was evident that he was continually +brooding over the fate of the youth he had loved. It seemed to the +girl that the men were even more cheerful and thoughtless than usual, +that they concerned their minds with every conceivable topic except +that which was uppermost in her own. The death of Bangs had affected +them not at all. + +She could not shake off the remembrance of the boy's adoring gaze as +his eyes had followed every move she made and in some vague way she +felt that she was responsible for the accident. She often rode near +Rile Foster, knowing what was in his mind. He spoke but little and, in +common with the rest, he never once mentioned Bangs. + +At the end of a week Slade rode up to the wagon as the men were working +the cows gathered in the second circle of the day. He jerked his head +to draw her aside out of range of Waddles's ears. + +"How's the Three Bar showing up this spring?" he asked abruptly. + +"Better than ever," she retorted and he caught a note of defiance in +her voice. + +"You're lying, Billie," he asserted calmly. "The Three Bar will show +another shrinkage this year." + +"How do you know?" she flashed; and the distrust of him that Harris had +roused in her, lately submerged beneath the troubling thoughts of +Bangs, was suddenly quickened and thrown uppermost in her mind. In +gauging him from this new angle she sensed a ruthlessness in him that +was not confined solely to business efficiency; he would crush her +interests without a qualm if it would gain his end. + +"I know," he asserted. "It's my business to know everything that goes +on anywhere near my range. There's not another outfit within a hundred +miles that's on the increase. They're just hanging on, some of them +making a little, some of them not. You say you want to run the Three +Bar brand yourself. There's not a man in this country that would touch +a Three Bar cow if you was hooked up with me." + +"And then the Three Bar would be only one out of a dozen or more Slade +brands," she said. She pointed to the men that worked with the milling +cows in the flat. "That's what I want," she said. "To run an outfit +of my own--not one of yours." + +For no reason at all she was suddenly convinced of the truth of +Harris's suspicions concerning Slade. She noted that his eyes traveled +from one man to the next till he had scrutinized every one that worked +the herd. + +"Are you looking for Morrow?" she demanded, and instantly regretted her +remark. Slade's face did not change by so much as the bat of an eye +and he failed to reply for a space--too long a space, she +reflected--then turned to her. + +"Morrow--who's he?" he asked. "And why should I look for him?" + +"He rode for you last year," she said. + +"Oh! That fellow. I recall him now. Bleak-looking citizen," he said. +"And what about him?" + +"You tell me," she countered. + +"That new foreman of yours--the fellow that was scouting round alone +for a few months--has been talking with his mouth," Slade said. "If he +keeps that up I'll have to ask him to speak right out what's on his +mind." + +"He'll tell you," she prophesied. "What then?" + +"Then I'll kill him," the man stated. + +The girl motioned to Lanky Evans and he rode across to them. + +"Lanky, I want you to remember this," she said. "Slade has just +promised to kill Harris. And if he does I'll spend every dollar I own +seeing that he's hung for it," she turned to Slade. "You might repeat +what you just told me," she suggested. + +Slade looked at her steadily. + +"You misunderstood me," he stated. "I don't recall any remark to that +effect or even to mentioning the name of Harris. Who is he, anyhow?" + +Evans slouched easily in the saddle and twisted a smoke. + +"Now let's get this straight what I'm to remember," he said. "Mr. +Slade was saying that he planned to down Cal Harris the first time he +caught him out alone. I heard him remark to that effect." He turned +and grinned cheerfully at Slade. "That's his very words--and I'd swear +to it as long as my breath held out. I'll sort of repeat it over to +myself so that I can give it to the judge word for word when the time +comes." + +Slade favored him with a long stare which Lanky bore with unconcern, +smiling back at him pleasantly. + +"I've got my little piece memorized," Evans said; "and in parting let +me remark that Cal Harris will prove a new sort of a victim for you to +work on. If you tie into him he'll tear down your meat-house." He +turned his horse and rode back to the herd. + +"I'll play your own game," the girl told Slade. "If anything happens +to another man who is riding for me and I have any reason to even +suspect you were at the bottom of it I'll swear that I saw you do the +thing yourself. The Three Bar is the only outfit with a clean enough +record to drag anything up for an airing before the courts without +taking a chance. This rule of every man for himself won't hold good +with me." + +She moved toward the wagon and Slade kept pace with her, leading his +horse. There was no sign of life around the wagon and the jerky +movement of a hat, barely visible through the tips of the sage, +indicated that Waddles was washing out some clothing at the creek bank +fifty yards away. + +Slade leaned against the hind wheel on the far side from the herd and +looked down at her. + +"You're a real woman, Billie," he said. "You better throw in with a +real man--me--and we'll own this country. I'll run the Three Bar on +ten thousand head whenever you say the word." + +"I'd rather see it on half as many through my own efforts," she said. +"And some day I will." + +"Some day you'll see it my way," he prophesied. "I know you better +than any other man. You want an outfit of your own--and if the Three +Bar gets crowded out you'll go to the man that can give you one in its +place. That will be me. Some day we'll trade." + +"Some day--right soon--you'll trade your present holdings for a nice +little range in hell," a voice said in Slade's ear and at the same +instant two huge paws were thrust from the little window of the +cook-wagon and clamped on his arms above the crook of his elbows. +Slade was a powerful man but he was an infant in the grip of the two +great hands that raised him clear of the ground and shook him before he +was slammed down on his face ten feet away by a straight-arm thrust. +His deadly temper flared and the swift move for his gun was +simultaneous with the twist which brought him to his feet, but his hand +fell away from the butt of it as he looked into the twin muzzles of a +sawed-off shotgun which menaced him from the window. + +It occurred to him that the nighthawk must have been restless and had +elected to wash at the creek bank instead of indulging in sleep, thus +accounting for the bobbing hat he had seen, for assuredly it did not +belong to the cook, as he had surmised. The face behind the gun was +the face of Waddles. + +"I'm about to touch off a pound of shot if you go acting up," Waddles +said. "Any more talk like you was just handing out and you'll get +smeared here and there." + +"Are you running the Three Bar?" Slade asked. + +"Only at times, when the notion strikes me," Waddles said. "And this +is one. Whenever you've got any specific business to transact with us +why come right along over and transact it--and then move on out." + +Billie Warren laughed suddenly, a gurgle of sheer amusement at the +sight of the most dreaded man within a hundred miles standing there +under the muzzle of a shotgun, receiving instructions from the mouth of +the Three Bar cook. For Slade was helpless and knew it. Even if he +took a chance with Waddles and won out he would be in worse shape than +before, for if he turned a finger against her old watchdog and friend +he would gain only her deadly enmity. + +"Waddles, you win," Slade said. "I'll be going before you change your +mind." + +As the man walked toward his horse which had sidled a few steps away +the big cook gazed after him and fingered the riot gun regretfully. + +The wagon did not move on when the men had finished working the herd as +the rest of the day had been set aside for kill-time. An hour after +Slade's departure the hands were rolling in for a sleep. The girl saw +Rile Foster draw apart from the rest and sit with his back against a +rock. He was regarding some small object held in his hand. As he +turned it around she recognized it as a boot heel and the reason for +Rile's absence was clear to her. He had back-tracked the blue horse to +the scene of the mishap. + +She was half asleep when a voice some distance from the teepee roused +her by speaking the name of Bangs. + +"I've a pretty elastic conscience myself," the voice went on. "I'm not +above lifting a few calves for the brand I'm riding for or any little +thing like that, but this deal sort of gorges up in me. They'll never +cinch it on to any man--they never do. Old Rile is brooding over it. +He'll likely run amuck. One way or another he'll try to break even for +Bangs." + +Billie recognized the voice as Moore's and knew that one of her men, at +least, had not forgotten Bangs. It was the first time an intimation +that the affair was other than an accident had reached her ears. + +In the evening, after resting, the men once more gathered round a fire +for an hour's play. They had evidently blotted out the memory of a +friend who had raised his voice with theirs on the last such event, for +they sang mostly the rollicking airs with even more than the usual +amount of chaff between songs. But there was one old favorite that +they did not sing. At last Waddles swung into the tune of it and as +they buried the poor cowboy far out on the lone prair-ee she noted the +difference at once, and more clearly than ever before she divined the +reason why cowhands were apparently so devoid of sentiment, refusing to +be serious on any topic, passing off those things nearest to their +hearts with a callous jest. It was only that there were so many rough +spots in the hard life they led that they avoided dwelling too +seriously on matters that could not be rectified lest they become +gloomy and morose. There were warm hearts under the indifferent +exteriors. For now the voices were soft and hushed and she knew that +every man was thinking of the lonely mound of rocks that marked the +last resting place of Bangs. + + + + +VII + +The calf round-up was nearing the end. Two weeks would see the finish +and supply the final tally. The figures had already progressed to the +point where they gave evidence of another shrinkage from the count of +the previous year; and during one of the weekly half-day periods of +rest three members of the Three Bar personnel found their minds +occupied with a problem which excluded all thoughts of sleep. The +problem in each case was the same but each one viewed it from the +individual standpoint of his own particular knowledge of the subject. + +Harris sat on a rock and reviewed the plans he had formulated for the +salvation of the Three Bar brand, realizing the weak spots and mapping +out some special line of defense that might serve to strengthen them. +In the seclusion of the wagon Waddles was carefully rereading a +much-thumbed document for perhaps the hundredth time. A man had come +in at daylight with the mail from Brill's and Billie Warren was within +her teepee poring over her share of it. The men had finished theirs +and were sleeping. + +The girl read first the four letters in the same handwriting, one to +mark each week she had been on the round-up. The fifth was from Judge +Colton, her father's old friend, to whose hands all his affairs had +been entrusted. After scanning this she read again the other four. +Ever since her last visit to the Coltons, just prior to her father's +death, the arrival of these letters had been as regular as the +recurrence of Sunday, one for each week, and in moments of despondency +over the affairs of the Three Bar she drew strength from them. Very +soon now, in the course of a few months at the outside, she and the +writer would meet away from his native environment and in the midst of +her own. Always before this had been reversed and her association with +Carlos Deane had held a background of his own setting,--a setting in +startling contrast to her log house, nestling in a desert of sage. The +Deane house was a wonderful old-fashioned mansion set in a grove of +century-old elms and oaks. She knew his life and now he would see her +in her natural surroundings. + +Perhaps it was her very difference from other girls that had first +interested Carlos Deane, and the fact that he stood out from others, +even among his own intimates, that had drawn her interest to him. +Deane had been an athlete of renown and a popular idol at school and +his energy had been brought to bear in business as successfully as in +play. In a hazy sort of way she felt that some day she would listen to +the plea that, in some fashion or other, was woven into every letter; +but not till the Three Bar was booming and no longer required her +supervision. Everything else in the world was secondary to her love +for her father's brand and the anxiety of the past two years of its +decline eclipsed all other issues. + +Her reflections were interrupted by Harris's voice just outside her +teepee. + +"Asleep, Billie?" he asked softly. + +"No," she said. "What is it?" + +"I've thrown your saddle on Papoose," he said. "Let's have a look +around." + +She assented and they rode off up the left-hand slope of the valley. A +mile or so from the wagon Harris dismounted on a high point. + +"Let's have a medicine chat," he offered. "I've got considerable on my +mind." + +She leaned against a rock and he sat cross-legged on the ground, facing +her and twisting a cigarette as an aid to thought. Her head was tilted +back against the rock, her eyes half-closed. + +"They say folks get disappointed in love and go right on living," he +observed. "I wonder now. I've met quite a scattering of girls and +maybe there were a dozen or so out of the lot that sized up a shade +better than the rest. Looking back from where I sit it occurs to me +that it was a right colorless assortment, after all. I've heard that +men run mostly to form and at one time or another let it out to some +little lady that there's no other in the world. That's my own state +right about now. Are you always going to keep on disliking me?" + +"I don't dislike you," she said. She was still convinced of his +father's trickery toward her own; but Cal Harris's quiet efficiency and +his devotion to Three Bar interests had convinced her, against her +will, that he had taken no part in it. "But if you brought me out here +to go into that I'm going back." + +"I didn't," he denied. "But I drifted into it sort of by accident. No +matter what topic I happen to be conversing on I'm always thinking how +much I'd rather be telling you about that. Whenever I make some simple +little assertion about things in general, what I'm really thinking is +something like this, 'Billie, right this minute I'm loving you more +than I did two minutes back.' You might keep that in mind." + +The girl did not answer but sat looking off across the jumbled +foothills, rock-studded and gray with sage. Some distance from them a +bare shale-slide extended for half a mile along a sidehill, barren and +devoid of all vegetation. Here and there, far off across the country, +vivid patches on the slopes indicated thickets of willows and birch +growing below spring seeps. A few scattered cedars sprouted from the +rocky ledges of the more broken country and a clump of gnarled, +wind-twisted cottonwoods marked a distant water hole. A whitish glare +was reflected from an alkali flat in the bottom of a shallow basin. +Twenty miles to the north the first rims of the hills rose out of the +low country and through the breaks in them she could see long sloping +valleys of lodgepole, the dark green relieved by the pale silvery sheen +of aspen clumps; dense spruce jungles of the more precipitous slopes +topped by rugged peaks covered with perpetual snow; certainly no soft +or homelike scene. One must be filled with a vast love of it--or die +of it--for without that love of the open life would be a deadly thing +to bear in a desert of sage. + +"I've always loved it," she said. "Whenever I've been away there +always came a time when I was restless to get back. I've always felt +that it would kill me to leave with the idea that I'd never see the +Three Bar range again. But now the country has changed. At times it +seems as if it would be a vast relief to me to leave it all behind." + +"It's the people that have changed," he said. "It's only the history +of all frontiers. The first settlers win it for themselves. Then +clashing elements creep in; sheep and cattle wars; stockmen and +squatter quarrels; later the weeding out of the wild bunch--parasites +like Harper's crew: still later there'll be squabbles between the +nesters themselves; jumping claims and rowing over water rights. Then +it will all iron out, the country will settle up according to its +topography and give its best to the human race. You may grow to think +you hate the hills for what happens to you individually during the +change--but it's in your blood to love them and that love will always +return." + +"It may return if the Three Bar weathers the change," she said. + +"We'll weather it," he asserted cheerfully. "Shall I tell you how?" + +"Yes. Tell me," she said. "I'd like to know. The Three Bar is going +to show another loss this year." + +"And likely the next," he assented. "Maybe still another. But that +will be about all." + +"That will surely be all," she said. "Two more years of decrease and +there won't be enough left of the Three Bar to divide." + +"Listen," he said, tapping his knee with a forefinger to emphasize his +point. "Cal Warren always wanted to put the Three Bar flats under +cultivation. He's probably told you that a hundred times." + +"A thousand," she amplified. "But the sentiment of the country was +against it the same as it is to-day." + +"But it's not," he contradicted. + +"Then why all those signs?" she asked. "They run every squatter out +now just as they always did." + +"Who?" he asked. "Do you have a hand in it?" + +"No," she said. "The others do." + +"Probably they think the same of you," he pointed out. "There's just +one man in this country that profits by keeping that no-squatter +sentiment alive." + +"You must hate Slade," she observed. + +"I haven't any feeling toward him one way or the other," he asserted. +"He's an obstacle, that's all. That's the way he would feel about me +if I stood in his way. There's at least one Slade in every locality +and in every line of business throughout the world. Ambition for +power. He wants the whole countryside. If he'd win out on that he'd +want the next--and finally he'd want the world." + +"He has this particular part of the world under his thumb," she said. + +"But he won't have for long," he insisted. "He's topheavy and ripe for +a fall. Those signs are all that saves him from going to pieces like +an over-inflated balloon. He's the only man we'll have to fight." + +"What convinces you of that?" she asked. + +"See here," he urged, the emphasizing forefinger tapping again. "This +will always be range country. It will only support a certain number of +cows. If the Three Bar had a section in hay to winter-feed your stuff +you could run double what you do now on the same range. It's the same +with every other small concern. There's only a few spots suitable for +home-ranch sites and every one of those has a brand running out of it +now--excepting those sites down in Slade's range. If all those outfits +put in hay it wouldn't cut up the range any more than it is now--except +down Slade's way. Every outfit in the country could run twice as many +head as they do now--except Slade. He couldn't." + +"Why?" she asked. "Why wouldn't that apply to him as well?" + +"Because he's strung out over a hundred miles. The minute farming +starts there'll be squatters filing on every quarter where they can get +water to put it in crop. There's twenty places Slade would have to +cover by filings to hold his range where the others would only have to +file on one to control the amount of range they're using now." + +She nodded as she caught this point. + +"Folks have fallen into a set habit of mind," he explained. "You think +because every squatter is burned out that every outfit but the Three +Bar is against sticking a plow in the ground. The rest probably feel +the same way--know they haven't a hand in it but figure that you have. +As a matter of fact, it's Slade alone. That's how I got a line on +Morrow the first night I landed. I said something about putting in hay +and he came right to the front and made a red-hot anti-squatter talk. +I knew right off he was Slade's man." + +"How could you be sure of that?" she asked. "I've heard men with every +outfit express the same views." + +"Morrow hasn't a brand of his own," Harris said. "He wouldn't lose a +dollar if the whole range was under fence. He's drawing down money to +keep that feeling alive. You'll find one with every outfit in this +country. And the chances are you'll find every one of them overlooking +a few calves on his circle--same as Morrow did. There's a persistent +rumor to the effect that any man who burns out a squatter can drop in +at Slade's and get five hundred dollars in cash. The wild bunch will +handle every case that turns up if that rumor is true." + +"The sheriff has never been able to pick up a single one of the men who +have burned those squatters out," she said. + +"And he never will without some help," Harris agreed. "Alden's hands +are tied. He's only an ornament right now and folks have come to +believe he's real harmless. But Alden is playing his own game +single-handed the best he can. One day he'll get his hooks into some +of these torch-bearers so deep they'll never shake them out. The +homestead laws can't be defied indefinitely. The government will take +a hand and send marshals in here thicker than flies. Then the outfits +that have hedged themselves in advance are on top. The rest are +through." + +"But what can the Three Bar do against Slade until those marshals +come?" she asked. + +"There's a difference between sacking an established outfit with a big +force of hands and burning out some isolated squatter roosting in a +wagon," Harris said. "I've filed on water out of the Crazy Loop to +cover the section I bought in the flats. We can pick men and give them +a job with the Three Bar between spells of doing prove-up work. We can +put in a company ditch to cover all the filings, pay them for working +on it and charge their pro-rata share of improvements up against each +man's final settlement. When they've made final proof we can buy out +those who want to sell." + +"The cost of a project like that would be too big for the Three Bar to +stand," she objected. + +"I'll put it up," he offered. "The money from the sale of the little +old Box L. I want to see this go through. We can square accounts when +the Three Bar makes the top of the hill." + +He pointed to a bunch of cows that fed in a bottom below them. + +"Look at that. Every color under the sun--and every shape. Let's put +the flats in hay, girl, and start grading the Three Bar up. We'll weed +out the runty humpbacked critters and all off-color she-stuff; keep +only straight red cows. It doesn't take much more feed to turn out a +real beef steer than one of those knife-backed brothers down in the +flat. We'll gather our own cows close to the home ranch and shove +other brands off our range, throw forty white-face bulls out close +round the place and start building up real beef; steers that will bring +fifty a head where those runts bring twenty-five. And big red +she-stock will bring more money too. In five years we'll have a +straight red brand and the Three Bar will be rated at thirty dollars a +head, come as they run on the range, instead of round ten or twelve as +they'd figure us now. We'll have good hay land that will be worth more +by itself than the whole brand is to-day. Say the word, girl, and +we'll build up the old outfit that both of our folks helped to found." + +The girl had closed her eyes as he painted this picture of +possibilities and except for the difference of voice it might well have +been old Cal Warren speaking; the views and sentiments were the same +she had so often heard her father express. Next to the longed-for +partnership with old Bill Harris the dream of his life had been to see +the Three Bar flats a smooth meadow of alfalfa. + +"I'll put a bunch of terriers in there that will be hard for Slade to +uproot," Harris said. "What do you say, Billie? Let's give it a try." + +"I'd like to see it done," she said. "But so much depends on the +outcome. I'll have to write Judge Colton first. He has all my affairs +in charge." + +Harris smiled across at her. + +"That's right peculiar," he observed. "The Judge is holding the reins +over my little prospects too. They've tangled your interests and mine +up all along the line it seems. You drop a line to Judge Colton and +sort of outline the plan. Maybe he'll see it our way." + +They mounted and rode back to the wagon and the girl went straight to +Waddles with the proposition Harris had urged. The big man had fallen +asleep with the paper he had been perusing still clutched in his hand. + +"Tell him to go his best," Waddles advised, when she had outlined +Harris's scheme. "He'll put a bunch of terriers on the Three Bar that +will cut Slade's claws. If they burn out the boys Cal Harris puts on +the place then there'll be one real war staged at the old Three Bar." + +"He's been telling you," she accused. + +"He did sort of mention it," Waddles confessed. + +"Then his idea is to import a bunch of gun-fighters," she said. "I +won't have a bunch of hired killers living at the Three Bar." + +"These boys will just be the sort that's handy at knowing how to avoid +getting killed themselves," Waddles evaded. "You can't rightly blame +any man for that. And besides, Slade has to be met on his own ground." + +"Do you think Slade is at the bottom of the Three Bar losses every +year?" she asked. + +"Every hoof," Waddles stated. "Every last head! Maybe the albino's +layout rustles an odd bunch on and off. But Slade is the man that's +out to wreck your brand." The big cook heaved a sigh as he reached a +decision on a matter which had been troubling him for days. "That's +what Cal Warren was afraid of--Slade's branching out our way like he +had already toward the south. And that's one reason he left things +tied up the way he did." + +He tapped the much-thumbed document on his knee and handed it to the +girl. + +"You and Young Cal have been sort of half-hostile," he said. "Cast an +eye over that and maybe it'll help you two youngsters to get along." + +Three times the girl read every word of the paper while Waddles smoked +his pipe in silence. Then she sat on the gate of the wagon and gazed +off across the sage; and she was picturing again the long trail of the +Three Bar cows; but this time she was reconstructing the scene at the +end of it. Instead of one man scheming to trick an old friend at the +last crossing of their trails she now visioned two old men regretting +that the life-long hope of a partnership had never been fulfilled and +planning to cement that arrangement in the next generation. For old +Bill Harris had left her a full half-interest in everything he owned on +earth with the single stipulation that she retain her half of the Three +Bar for five years after her father's death. + +"But why?" she asked presently. "Why did he do that for me? He'd +never seen me since I was three years old." + +"He did it for the girl of old Cal Warren, the best friend he had +topside of ground," Waddles said. "Your dad and Bill Harris had been +pals since they was hatched." + +"But why didn't they let us know?" she insisted. "Instead of tangling +it up in this round-about way?" + +"Bill Harris had a soft spot in his heart for the old Three Bar the +same as your daddy had," Waddles said. "They knew there was hard times +and changes ahead and both hated to think of the old brand going under +or changing hands. They was afraid that if both you and the boy knew +your path was going to be carpeted soft in any event that you might +sell out if things got to breaking wrong. This way it looked like +you'd be sure to stick. But they both knew too that when old folks go +mixing into young folks' affairs without consulting them, things are +liable to get all snarled. So they hedged it for both of you." + +"How?" she asked. "What if either or both of us should have refused to +abide by the terms?" + +"Then both properties would have been split between the two of you, the +same as if you'd carried them out," he said. "You didn't go and think +now, Pet, that them two wise old heads was going to leave the +youngsters in the lurch! They was planning the best they knew. Your +dad told me to keep an eye on the general lay. And Judge Colton sent +me that copy to have on hand to sort of iron things out when I thought +best. I'm telling you because I know you wouldn't quit the Three Bar +as long as there's two cows left." + +"Does Cal know?" she asked. + +"Not a word," Waddles asserted. "He's likely considerable puzzled +himself. But he's of a optimistic turn of mind, Cal is, and white +folks too. He surmises things will break right some day, knowing his +own dad and havin' visited round a day or two with yours. 'I don't +know what they're at,' he says to me. 'But they was both square +shooters, those old boys, and whatever it was they didn't aim to cook +up any misery for either the little girl or me, so what's the use to +fret?' You drop the Judge a line, girl, and turn Harris loose to rip +up the Three Bar flat and seed it down to hay." + +She nodded and slipped from the end-gate of the wagon, taking the paper +with her. Harris was soaking a flannel shirt in the little stream, +flattening it in a riffle and weighting it down with rocks. She went +straight to him and sat on the bank, motioning him to a seat by her +side. He dried his hands and took the paper she held out to him. + +"What's in the wind?" he asked. + +She nodded to indicate the document and he sat down to look over it. +His quizzical expression was erased as he saw his father's name and the +girl watched his face for some evidence of resentment as he read on. +Their status was now reversed, for Bill Harris's holdings had been +easily double those of her own parent. She saw the sun wrinkles deepen +at the corners of his eyes as he grasped the text of it and he looked +up at her and laughed. + +"Now we're resting easy," he said. "An even trade." + +"Uneven," she dissented. "Of course you know that I'll not take +advantage of that." + +"Accounts are all squared off between us now," he said. "And of course +you'll do just what it says." He held up his hand as she started to +dissent. "Don't you!" he reproved. "Let's let that end of it +slide--rest for a while. Maybe some day we'll lump both into one and +the two of us boss the whole job." + +She rested a hand on his arm. + +"Of course you know I'm sorry for a number of things I've said to you," +she said. "But I want to thank you for being too decent to return them +in kind. You're real folks, Cal." + +"Good girl, Billie," he thanked her. "As to what you said, it's +remarkable that you didn't say more. I knew you weren't crabbing over +what you might lose for yourself but over the thought that your father +had been tricked. I tried to put myself in your place and if I'd been +you I know I'd have kicked me off the place, or told Waddles to turn +loose his wolf." + +He switched abruptly away from the topic in hand and reverted to the +subject they had discussed an hour past. + +"We've a clear field now with nothing on our minds but the job of +putting the Three Bar on its feet," he said. "The Three Bar is a +pretty small outfit the way things are to-day but in a few more years +the brand that runs three thousand head will be almost in the class of +cattle kings. The range will be settled with an outfit roosting on +every available site. The big fellows will find their range cut up and +then they're through. If the Three Bar files on all the water out of +Crazy Loop and covers the flat with hay we'll control all the range for +a number of miles each way. There's not another site short of +Brandon's place west of us--twelve miles or so; about the same to the +east; still farther off south of us. We'll be riding the crest." + +"If we can only hold on against Slade," she agreed. "But can we?" + +"Watch us!" he said. "The Brandons would file on their home basin and +put the V L bottoms in hay to-morrow if they could. McVey's been +wanting to do it on the Halfmoon D ever since he bought out the brand +five years back. They're all afraid to start. But they'll be for +us--and follow us as soon as we show them it can be done. Art Brandon +is repping with us and I've been sounding him out. You talk to him. +In the meantime you try and get a letter off to the Judge to-day." + +The girl nodded. + +"We'll try it," she said. "I know that Cal Warren would rather see the +Three Bar go to pieces from its own pressure, fighting from the inside +to grow, than to see it whittled down from the outside without our +fighting back." + +She crossed to her teepee to write the letter asking Judge Colton's +advice on this matter which would mean the turning point in Three Bar +affairs. An hour later a man rode away from the wagon, his bed roll +packed on a led horse, heading for Brill's with the message that meant +so much to the Three Bar. As he left Harris handed him two letters he +had written weeks past, before leaving the ranch. + +Presumably only the three of them knew of the intended move but in the +course of the next few days it had become rumored among the men that +the Three Bar was to turn into a farming outfit. The girl learned that +Carpenter was the source of these whispers. Hanson, the rep from the +Halfmoon D, apprised her of this fact. + +Ever since the departure of Morrow Carp had been sullen. Twice he had +taken exceptions to some order of Harris's but the new foreman had +patiently overlooked the fact. However on the fifth day after the +departure of Horne with the letter to Judge Colton, Harris whirled on +the man as he made an anti-squatter remark when the hands were gathered +for the noon meal. + +"That'll be all," he said. "I'll figure out your time. You took +things up where Morrow left off. Now you can go hunt him up and +compare notes." + +"Can't a man speak his mind?" Carp demanded. + +"He can talk his head off," Harris said. "But he can't overlook any +Three Bar calves on his circle while I'm running the layout. Morrow +tried that on while he was breaking you in." + +Carp surveyed the faces of the men and started to speak but changed his +mind and headed for the rope corral. + +"He's a cringing sort of miscreant," Moore said as Carp rode off. "He +was even afraid to speak up for himself--thought maybe the boys would +pass sentence on him before he could get out of sight. I expect Carp +is poor sort of folks." + +"That's going to leave us short-handed," Harris said to the girl. +"Morrow, Carp and Bangs--three short. Horne ought to get back from +Brill's to-day. We've only one more week out so I guess we can worry +through." + +"How did you know?" she asked. "About Carp, I mean." + +"Lanky caught him overlooking a bunch of cows with calves," Harris +explained. "Lanky is worth double pay." + +The Three Bar girl had noted that Carpenter had been much with Bentley, +Slade's rep, since Morrow had gone. She had come to be suspicious of +all things connected with Slade. + +"Are you watching Bentley?" she asked. + +Harris shook his head. + +"No use," he said. "Slade wouldn't work that way. Bentley is his +known representative and anything Bent might do would reflect on Slade. +Slade only works through one or two others who arrange for all the +rest. Morrow is likely one of his right-hand men. He'd fix it for +Carp without Slade's name even coming into it at all. Carp might have +a good idea where the money came from but he'd draw it from Morrow and +never get to the man behind. We'll never get anything on Bentley for +that reason--because he's known to draw Slade's pay." + +"Then how can we ever prove anything on Slade?" she insisted. + +"It's ten to one we can't," he said. "Even if one of his chief fixers +should turn him up it wouldn't work. It would be the same old +story--the word of an owner against that of a self-confessed thief. We +may have to handle Slade without proof." + +Horne came back from Brill's in the early evening and another man rode +with him. + +"Alden," Billie said. "I wonder what the sheriff is doing out in here." + +The sheriff stripped the saddle from his horse and the wrangler swooped +down to haze the animal in with the remuda as Alden joined Harris and +the girl. He was a tall, gaunt man with a slight stoop. His keen gray +eyes peered forth from a maze of sun-wrinkles surmounted by bushy +eyebrows, the drooping gray mustache accentuating rather than +detracting from the hawk-like strength of countenance. He dropped a +hand on the girl's shoulder and looked down at her. + +"How are things breaking this season, Billie?" he asked. "Everything +running smooth?" + +"About the same," she said. They were old friends and the girl knew +that Alden would help her in any possible way. + +The sheriff turned to Harris. + +"I see you've settled down to a steady job, Cal, instead of browsing +round the hills alone. I run across Horne at Brill's and he was +telling me about some one gunning for you from the brush. Morrow, he +says. Do you want me to pick Morrow up?" + +"It would only waste your time," Harris said. "We couldn't prove it on +him--the way things are." + +"Fact," Alden agreed. "But I could hold him till after you're back at +the ranch. Some day folks may wake up and need a sheriff. It's hard +to say." + +The men had finished working the herd and were crowding around the +wagon for their meal. + +"You go ahead and eat, Billie," Alden said. "Cal and I'll feed a +little later on. I've got a fuss to pick with Cal." + +Billie left them together and the sheriff squatted on his heels. + +"What's this rumor about your farming the Three Bar?" he asked. "Horne +said all the hands were guessing, but I haven't heard anything about it +outside." + +"And I don't want it leaking out before we start," Harris said. "But +we're going to break out the flat. I had the plans all laid and sent +word off. Things are moving toward the start right now." + +"It'll stir things up," Alden predicted. With one forefinger he traced +a design in the dust, then blotted it out. "I'll play in with you the +best I can." + +"We've got to make a clean split," Harris said. "Get the wild ones +definitely set apart. Then they can be handled." When he spoke again +it was apparently as if to himself. "Al Moody sprung it in the +Gallatin country a few years back," he said reflectively. "And old Con +Ristine worked it on the Nations Cow-trail twenty years ago. It always +brings the split." + +"That kind of thing is dead against the law," the sheriff said. "But +it works right well--that backfire stuff. And it's never been proved +on either Al Moody or old Con Ristine, so I hear." + +"But of course I wouldn't have a hand in anything like that," Harris +stated. + +"No. Neither would I," said the sheriff. "Nothing like that." + +Alden was regarding old Rile Foster who had drawn apart from the rest +and was eating his meal in solitude. The old man had taken a boot heel +from his pocket and was studying it as if fascinated by the somber +reflections it roused in him. Alden shook his head as he rose and +moved toward the wagon. + +"Horne was telling me about Bangs too," he said. "Pretty tough for +Rile. They was as close as father and son, those two." + +Harris and the sheriff joined the rest at the wagon and held out plates +and cups to Waddles. The girl was oddly excited, anxious for the +start, now that the decision had been made. + +"How long will it take to get things moving after we get back?" she +asked. + +"Not more than a week at the outside," Harris said. "Probably less." + +"You don't mean that," she stated. "I want to know the truth." + +"You have it," he assured her. "I had the plans all laid. Our crew is +already headed for the Three Bar. Before they get there every man will +have filed on a quarter I designated for him. Inside a week we'll have +covered the flat." + +Long after the hands had turned in for the night she heard a faint +murmur of voices and looked from her teepee. The brilliant moonlight +showed Harris and the sheriff sitting off by themselves. For no +apparent reason she thought of Carlos Deane and, point by point, she +contrasted him with the man who sat talking to the sheriff. Each was +almost super-efficient in his own chosen line and she caught herself +wondering what each one would do if suddenly transplanted to the +environment of the other. Then her mind occupied itself with Harris +who would soon break out the first plow furrow that had ever scarred +the range within a radius of fifty miles and she pictured again a sign +she had seen that day: "Squatter let your wagon wheels keep turning." + + + + +VIII + +Three heavy wagons, each drawn by four big mules, traveled north along +the Coldriver stage trail. Every wagon was loaded to the brim of the +triple box. Two men were mounted on each wagon seat, the man beside +the driver balancing a rifle across his knees. The butt of another +protruded from a saddle scabbard that was lashed to each wagon within +easy reach of the man who handled the reins. + +"Nice place to camp, Tiny," said the guard on the lead wagon. He +pointed off across a flat beside the road toward a sign that loomed in +the center. The black-browed giant designated as Tiny swung the mules +off the road and headed for the sign. The three wagons were drawn up +some fifteen yards apart in the shape of a triangle, the mules +unhitched and given a feed of grain from nose-bags, tied to the wagons +and supplied with baled hay. Tiny walked over and viewed the sign. + +"Squatter don't let sunset find you here," he read. + +"It's about that time now," he observed, squinting over his shoulder. +"It'd be a mistake to leave evidence like that around." He tore down +the sign and worked it into firewood with an axe. "Now they can't do +nothing to us for drifting in here by error," he remarked to his +companions. "It wouldn't be fair." + +While four of them slept the other two remained awake, rousing a second +pair after a three-hour period. In the morning the three wagons +lumbered on. Near sunset they passed another sign where the Three Bar +road branched off to the left. Tiny pulled up the mules. + +"Uproot that little beauty, Russet," he advised. "We're getting close +to home." + +The carrot-haired guard descended and threw his weight against the +sign, working it from side to side until the posts were loosened in the +ground, pried it up and loaded it on the wagon. + +"Quick work, Russ," the big man complimented. "For a little sawed-off +runt, you're real spry and active." He clucked to the mules and they +settled steadily into the collars and moved on to the Three Bar. As +they rolled up the lane the freighters could see the chuck wagon drawn +up before the house, the remuda milling round the big pasture lot and a +number of men moving among the buildings. The calf round-up was over. + +The Three Bar men viewed the freighters curiously as they swung the +mule teams in front of the blacksmith shop, noted the rifle in the +hands of each guard and the second one in easy reach of each driver. +They knew what this portended. + +The freighters had stripped off the wagon-sheet lashed across the top +of each load and the Three Bar men moved casually toward the wagons, +curious to view the contents. + +"You boys get to knowing each other," Harris said. "These +mule-skinners will be hanging out at the Three Bar from now on." + +The short man, known as Russet, removed his hat and scratched his head +reflectively as he studied the first move in unloading his wagon. +Moore promptly uncovered his own head and revealed his brilliant red +shock of hair, his freckled face breaking into a genial grin. + +"Hello, you red-hot little devil," he greeted. "I'm glad some one has +turned up with redder hair than mine. Brother--shake!" + +Russ looked him over carefully. + +"Don't you claim no relationship with me, you sorrel hyena," he said. +"I won't stand it for a holy second. Get a move on and help me snatch +off this load." + +All down the line the Three Bar men were getting acquainted with the +freighters, introductions effected in much the same manner as that +between Russet and Moore. A thousand pounds of oats were tossed from +the top of the first wagon and when the concealing sacks were cleared +away there were three heavy plows showing underneath, the spaces +between them filled with shining coils of fence wire. The second load +consisted of a dismantled drill, a crate of long-handled shovels, and +more barbed wire; the third held a rake and a mowing machine, more +wire, kegs of fence staples and a dozen forks. + +"The Three Bar will be the middle point of a cyclone," Moore prophesied +as he viewed the implements. "Just as soon as this leaks out." + +"We fetched our cyclone openers with us," Russ assured him. "Let her +buck." + +From the cook-shack door the girl viewed these preparations, then +turned her eyes to the flat and visioned it with a carpet of rippling +hay. + +There was a clatter of hoofs and a rattling of gravel as five horsemen +put their sure-footed mounts down the steep slope two hundred yards +back of the house and followed along the fence of the corral. The five +Brandons had cut across the shoulder of the mountain. The girl +wondered at this visit as she heard Lafe Brandon, the father and head +of the tribe, ask Harris to put them up for the night. + +An hour later Harris and Lafe came to her door and she let them in. + +"The Brandons are riding down to file on a quarter apiece," Harris +said. "Art quit the wagon below their place as we came in and told the +rest that we're going to farm the Three Bar." + +"Then you're doing the same?" she asked Lafe with sudden hope that her +brand would have company in the move. + +Old man Brandon shook his head. + +"Not right off," he said. "Until we see how you folks pan out. We +can't fix to handle it the way you do. We're filing to protect +ourselves before some nester outfit turns up at our front door." + +The old man explained his views. There was enough flow in the stream +that cut their home valley to water something over a section of land. +With that filed on they would control their home range. They could +grade up their cows and increase a hundred per cent. with a section +under hay. He hoped the Three Bar would win, but he feared to start in +the face of the wave of opposition he was sure would rise against the +move. + +"We're not fixed for it," he explained again. + +"But the other small outfits feel the same way," Harris said. "If two +of us start the rest will join in." + +"Maybe so," the old man said doubtfully. "But noways likely. They're +too set on the other side." The thought was deep-rooted and he could +not be moved. + +"We'll let it out it's only for protection that we all are filing," he +said. "And that we don't aim to prove up. The outfits that don't file +now will lose out. This will always be open range, more than ninety +per cent. of it, and those who file on their water will control the +grass. As soon as the squatters see one outfit starting, they'll take +out papers on every piece of dirt they can get water to. They'll have +six months to move on, then a six months' stay. They'll hang round +waiting for things to open up so they can rush in here. The brand +owners who haven't hedged theirselves beforehand will run down to file +and find that nesters have had papers on all the good pieces right in +their dooryard for months. They'll have only the plots left that their +home ranch sets on, and likely no water even for that." + +The Brandons stayed for the night and rode off at daylight the next +morning, while the Three Bar men prepared for a trip to Brill's. As +the rest were saddling for the start Harris saw old Rile Foster seated +by himself, gazing off across the hills. + +"Better come and ride over with us, Rile," he urged. "Bangs would want +you to try and forget." + +The old man shook his head. + +"I'm drifting to-day," he said. "I'll likely be back before long. I +back-tracked Blue to their camp and trailed them twenty miles to where +they joined another bunch. It was some of Harper's devils--I don't +know which four. One way or another, whether I get the right four or +not, I'm going to play even for Bangs." + +When the rest of the men rode off the old man was still leaning against +the shop. + +There were less than a dozen others in Brill's store when the Three Bar +men crowded through the door. Five men sat at one of the tables in the +big room and indulged in a casual game of stud. Harper and Lang were +among them. Two of them Harris knew as men named Hopkins and Wade. +The fifth was unknown to him. + +The albino's eyes met Harris's steadily as he entered at the head of +the Three Bar men. Those among the hands who had formerly fraternized +as freely with Harper's men as with those who rode for legitimate +outfits now held way from them since their foreman had ordered Harper +from the Three Bar wagon. They merely nodded as they filed past to the +bar. + +"Who is the man dealing now?" Harris inquired of Moore. + +The freckled youth turned to the card players. + +"Magill," he said. "Same breed as the rest." + +The news that the Three Bar had turned into a squatter outfit had been +widely noised abroad. Carpenter had stopped at Brill's late the night +before and announced the fact. Others had seemed already aware of it. + +From behind the bar Brill covertly studied the man who was responsible +for this change. Four men from the Halfmoon D stood grouped at one end +of the room. They split up and mingled among the others. Brill moved +up and down behind the bar, polishing it with a towel. One after +another he drew each of the men from the Halfmoon D into conversation +with the Three Bar foreman to determine whether or not they resented +his move. There was no evidence of it in their speech. They had all +been present when Harris rode the blue horse and had heard his +subsequent remark to Morrow. There was but one reference to the state +of affairs at the Three Bar. + +"Now you've gone and raised hell," one boy from the Halfmoon D remarked +to Harris. "You'll have folks out looking for your scalp." He lowered +his voice and Brill moved nearer to wipe away an imaginary spot on the +bar. "It's Slade you'll have to buck," the boy warned. "There's +likely to be some excitement over in your neighborhood. I'd like right +well to ride for the Three Bar next year. Hold a job for me in the +spring." + +The men from the two outfits mingled as unrestrainedly as before and at +last Harris smiled across at Brill. + +"Well, have you sized it all up?" he asked. + +The storekeeper looked up quickly, knowing that Harris had read his +purpose in drawing him into conversation with the four men. He +polished the bar thoughtfully, then nodded. + +"A man in my business has to keep posted--both ways," he said. "I just +wanted to make sure. Five years ago every man would have quit the +Three Bar like a snake--feeling was that strong. But the boys drift +from place to place and they've seen both ends of it. They don't give +a damn one way or the other now. Why should they? They've got nothing +at stake. Five years ago you couldn't have hired a man to ride for +you. Now they'll be pouring in asking for jobs--just because they +figure there'll be some excitement on tap." + +The men from the Halfmoon D were due back and inside of an hour they +rode off, leaving only Harris's men and the five card-players in the +place. Harris walked over to the table and the Three Bar men shifted +positions, slouching sidewise at the bar or leaning with their backs to +it, alertly watching this unexpected move as the foreman spoke to the +albino. + +"Let's you and I draw off and have a little talk," he said. "If you +can spare the time." + +Harper looked up at him in silence. He carefully tilted up the corner +of his hole-card and peeked at it, then turned his other cards face +down on the table. + +"Pass," he said, and rose to face Harris. "Lead the way." + +Harris moved over to another table and the two men sat down, facing +each other across it. He motioned to Evans and Lanky joined them. +Harris plunged abruptly into what he had to say. + +"First off, Harper, I want you to get it straight that I'm not fool +enough to threaten you--for I know you're not any more afraid of me +than I am of you. This is just a little explaining, a business talk, +so we'll both know where we stand. It's up to you whether we let each +other alone or fight." + +"Good start," the albino commented. "Go right on." + +"All right--it's like this," Harris resumed. "I'm going to have my +hands full without you hiring out to pester us. I'm not out to reform +the country. They set the fashion of dog eat dog and every man for +himself; so the Three Bar is all that interests me. You keep out of my +affairs and I'll let you go your own gait. If you mix in I'll have +your men hunted down like rats." + +Harper glanced toward the group at the bar. + +"You were prudent enough to pick a time when you're three to one to +tell me about that," he said. "If I'd kill you in your chair I might +have some trouble getting out the door." + +"Of course I'd take every chance to play safe," Harris admitted. "But +that is beside the point. I'd have told you the same thing if the odds +had been reversed." + +"Would you?" the albino pondered. "I wonder." + +"You know I would," Harris stated. "You've got brains, or you'd have +been dead for twenty years. If I thought you were a haphazard homicide +I wouldn't be sitting here. But you wouldn't kill a man without +looking a few weeks ahead and making sure it was safe." + +"Go ahead--Let's hear the rest of it," Harper urged. "You've got an +original line of talk." + +"You're playing one game and I'm playing mine," Harris said. "You're +in the saddle now--like you have been once or twice before. But you +know that the sentiment of a community reverses almost overnight. +You've stepped out just ahead of a clean-up a time or two in the past. +You know how it goes--your friends drop off like you had the plague. +Every man's out after your scalp. I've got a hard bunch of terriers +over at the Three Bar and you couldn't raid us without a battle big +enough to go down in history as the Three Bar war. Either way you'd +lose for it would stir folks up--and when they're stirred you're +through. Do you remember what Al Moody did up on the Gallatin and what +old Con Ristine sprung on the Nations Trail? That will happen again +right here." + +The two men were leaning toward each other, elbows resting on the +table. Harper relaxed and leaned back comfortably in his chair as he +twisted a smoke. Evans propped his feet on the table and Harris hung +one knee over the arm of his chair. The men at the bar knew that some +crisis had been safely passed. + +"You talk as if I was running an outfit of my own and had a bunch of +riders that could swarm down on you," Harper objected. "I don't even +run a brand of my own or have one man riding for me." + +"The wild bunch is riding for you," Harris stated. + +"Suppose that was true," Harper said. "Then what?" + +"In one country after the next they've hit the toboggan whenever they +got to feeling too strong. If you line up against me that time has +come again. If I get potted from the brush I've hedged it so that +those boys that filed over there won't be left in the lurch. There'll +be a reward of a thousand dollars hung up for the scalp of each of +fifteen men whose names I gathered while I was prowling round--reliable +men to carry on what I've begun; and marshals thicker than flies to +protect the homestead filings on the Three Bar." + +"Then it might be bad policy to bushwhack you," Harper observed. + +"You can go your own gait," Harris said. "As long as you lay off Three +Bar cows. You invited me one time to come down to your hangout in the +Breaks. I won't ever make that visit unless you call on the Three Bar +first; then, just out of politeness, I'll ride over at the head of a +hundred men." + +"Then it don't look as if we'd get anywhere, visiting back and forth," +Harper said. + +"Now don't think I'm throwing a bluff or threatening; I'm just telling +you. You could recite a number of things that could happen to me in +return--all of 'em true. I'm just counting that you've got brains and +can see it's not going to help either one of us to get lined up wrong. +What do you say--shall we call it hands off between the Three Bar and +you?" + +The albino half-closed his eyes, the pale eyeballs glittering through +the slit of his lids as he reflected on this proposition, tapping a +careless finger on his knee. He glanced absent-mindedly toward the +bar, his thoughts wholly occupied with the matter in hand. A pair of +eyes that gazed back at him drew his own and he found himself looking +at Bentley, the man who repped with the Three Bar for Slade. The +albino's suspicions were as fluid and easily roused as those of a beast +of prey in a dangerous neighborhood. With one of those quick shifts of +which his mind was capable he concentrated every mental effort toward +linking Bentley with some unpleasant episode of the past. The man had +turned away and Harper could only sense a vague feeling that he was +dangerous to him, without definite point upon which to base his +suspicions. At the sound of Harris's voice his mind made another +lightning shift back to the present. + +"Well?" Harris asked. + +"Why, if I had anything to do with it, like you seem to think, I'd +advise against our bucking each other," Harper said. "I'd try to get +along--and declare hands off." He rose, nodded to the two men and +returned to the stud game. + +"He'll do it too," Evans predicted. "There's that much fixed +anyway--not a bad piece of work." + +The two men returned to the bar and Brill moved close to Harris. For +fifteen years he had stood behind that bar and observed the men of the +whole countryside at their worst--and best; and he knew men. As well +as if he had heard the words of the three at the table he knew that +Harris and Harper had reached an agreement of some sort that was +satisfactory to both. + +"Take the boys over a drink on me," Harris said, and Brill slid a +bottle and five whisky glasses on to a tray and moved over to the table. + +"Here's a drink on the Three Bar boss," he announced. + +Lang scowled, remembering the recent occasion when Harris had ordered +them off. + +"To hell with----" he commenced, but the albino cut him short. + +"Drink it," he said. + +Ten minutes later the five men rose to go. Harris looked at his watch. + +"I'm off," he said to Evans. "Try and get the boys home by to-morrow +morning if it's possible." + +He went outside and mounted as the five rustlers swung to their saddles. + +"I'm going your way as far as the forks," he said to Harper. + +The Three Bar men were treated to the sight of their foreman riding +down the road beside Harper at the head of four of the worst ruffians +in the State. + +And behind the bar Brill moved softly back and forth when not serving +drinks, pausing opposite first one group and then the next to dab at +the polished wood with his cloth, listening carefully to the +conversation and gauging it to determine whether the apparent sentiment +toward the squatter foreman was sincere or would prove different when +the men, flushed with undiluted rye, were unrestrained by his presence. +At one end of the bar Evans and Bentley conversed together in low tones +but whenever Brill strolled casually to their end the conference +lagged. The few sentences which reached his ears were of trivial +concern. + + + + +IX + +There was a new contentment in the eyes of the Three Bar girl as she +sat her horse beside Carlos Deane and looked off down the bottoms. A +haze of smoke drifted above the little valley of the Crazy Loop. Three +mule outfits were steadily ripping up the sage flats. Men lifted the +uprooted brush on forks and piled it for the burning. The two rode +down to the fields with the pungent sage smoke drifting in their faces. +Harris joined them, a smudge of fire-black across his forehead, and +swept his arm across the stretch of plowed ground. + +"Can you picture that covered with a stand of alfalfa hay?" he asked. + +The girl nodded. + +"Yes--and cut and cured and in the stack yards," she said. "And a +straight red run of Three Bar cows wintering under fence." + +Harris wondered if her new contentment came wholly from the progress +the Three Bar was making or was derived partly from the presence of +Carlos Deane. Each man had recognized the other as a contender for the +love of the Three Bar girl and during the two days of Deane's stay each +one had been covertly sizing and estimating the caliber of the other +man. + +"The opposite faction hasn't succeeded in wrecking the Three Bar up to +date," Deane said. "It's probable they see you're too strong for them." + +"It's hard to wreck plowed ground," Harris pointed out. "And that's +all they have to work on right now; not a fence to tear up, a stack to +fire or any growing crops to trample down. All they can do right now +is to wait. It must be wearing. But sooner or later they'll show +their teeth." + +For a month prior to Deane's arrival Harris had been occupied from dawn +till dark with the details of the new work. The wagons had made a +week's trip to the railroad to freight in more implements and supplies. +A hundred acres of plowed ground lay mellowing under the sun. Five +miles back up the slope of the hills two men worked in a valley of +lodgepole pine, felling, trimming and peeling sets of matched logs for +the cabins that must be erected on each filing. The cowhands were out +working the range in pairs, branding late-dropped calves and moving +drifted stock back to the home range. Forty white-face bulls had been +trail-herded from the railroad and thrown out along the foot of the +hills to replace the other bulls that had been rounded up and brought +in. These old stags now grazed in the big pasture lot until such time +as the beef herd should be gathered and shipped. In a few more days +the boys would come in from the range and gather at the home ranch, +preparatory to going out once more on the beef round-up. + +"I'm about to take a vacation," Harris said. "The ranger is coming +over to mark out some more trees for us and to run the U. S. brand on +the logs we've already cut. I'm going back up in the hills with him to +sort out a valley or two for summer range." + +"We don't need any extra range now," Billie said. "Why pay grazing +fees before we need the room." + +"Just to get our wedge in first," Harris explained. "We can get +grazing permits on the Forest now--right in the best grass valleys. +Each year we'll throw some cows up there to hold our rights. There'll +always be good grass on the Forest Reserves for they won't permit +overstocking. The day will come when we'll be glad to have permits to +summer-feed a thousand or so head on the Forest. I was thinking maybe +you and Deane would like to make the jaunt." + +"We'll go," the girl decided. + +"It's a question of time," Deane said. "How long will we be gone?" + +"We'll start in an hour or two," Harris said. "Just as soon as Wilton +turns up. We'll only be gone five days at the most." + +"Then I'll stretch my stay to cover it," Deane accepted. "I'd +certainly hate to pass up a chance for a trip in the hills." + +"We'll ride back and make up an extra bed roll," Harris said. "Then +we'll be all set to start when Wilton shows up." + +Calico had sidled off the plowing and was cropping the grass at the +edge of it. As Harris moved toward him Evans rode down the right-hand +slope and the three waited for him. + +"Moore and I were working in close and I thought I'd ride over to tell +you that the wild bunch has lost a veteran," he said. "Some one put +Barton out over in the Breaks." + +Barton, whose name was linked with that of Harper, had been found with +a rifle ball through his chest. His own gun, found by his +out-stretched hand, had showed one blackened cylinder, the empty shell +sufficient proof that he had fired a single shot at his assailant. + +"Anyway, he had a chance to see who got him," Lanky philosophized. "He +was likely ordered to turn round--given a fighting chance maybe." + +The girl could find no sorrow in her heart over the passing of Barton +but there was an uneasy feeling deep within her,--a vague suspicion +that she should be able to pronounce the killer's name. This elusive +thought was crowded from her mind when the ranger rode up to the Three +Bar accompanied by Slade, each man leading a pack horse. + +"Slade's going to look over a little territory up on the Forest," +Wilton explained. "So we can get it all done on one trip." + +There was no way to avoid this unexpected addition to their party. +Harris and the ranger packed the three bed rolls and Billie's teepee +along with the necessary equipment and in half an hour the little +cavalcade filed up a gulch back of the Three Bar, the ranger in the +lead with his pack horse. The other pack animals followed and the +three other men and the girl brought up the rear in single file. By +noon they made the first rims and followed over into a rolling country, +heavily timbered in the main. In the early evening they rode out on to +a low divide and Blind Valley showed below them, a broad expanse of +open grassland. A little stream threaded the bottoms and its winding +course was marked by thickets of birch. In places it disappeared under +the leafy tunnels of aspen groves, their pale silvery trunks and leaves +contrasting with the heavy blue-green of an occasional water-spruce. +In a narrowing of the valley it was choked from wall to wall by a +cottonwood jungle, opening out once more into wide meadows immediately +below the neck. Long open parks extended their tongues well back up +the timbered sidehills. + +"Feed!" Harris said. "Feed. Worlds of it." + +They angled down the slope and struck the rank grass of the +bottoms,--mountain hay in which the horses stood knee-deep. They made +camp at the mouth of a branching canyon, just within the timber. The +ranger threw the horses up this side gulch while Harris felled a dead +pine and kindled a fire. When the ranger returned he picketed one +horse in the heavy grass while Slade pitched Billie's teepee under a +spruce. The meal was finished, dishes washed and the five sat round a +fire. + +Harris sensed Deane's attitude toward it all for he knew something of +the other man's way of life. Those with whom Deane was thrown most in +contact were careful of appearances. It was unheard-of in his code +that a girl should jaunt for days accompanied by four men. Here +appearances seemed entirely disregarded and no one gave the matter a +thought. + +The moon swung over the ridges and shed its radiance over Blind Valley. +Deane motioned to Billie and the girl rose and followed him to the edge +of the timber where they sat on a blow-down. + +"Billie, let me take you away from all this," he urged. "All this hard +riding and rough man's work. Let me give you the things that will shut +out all the hardships. What's the use of going on like this?" + +The girl was conscious of a vague sense of disappointment. Deane was +an active figure in the business life of his own community and she had +felt some pride in the fact that when he should come to the Three Bar +he would find that she too was doing real work in the world. She +reflected that his attitude was that of so many other men, his idea of +love synonymous with shelter for the object of it, and his main plea +was that of providing her with shelter against all the rough corners of +life. Shelter! And what she wanted was to be part of things--to have +a hand in running her own affairs. It came to her that of all men +perhaps Slade understood her the best. + +"I don't want shelter!" she said. "And I can't think of anything else +till after the Three Bar is a going concern." + +The voices of the three men round the fire drifted to them. + +"Listen," she urged. + +"Blind Valley ought to summer-feed three hundred head," the ranger was +saying. "I'll recommend permits for that many cows." + +"That'll suit me," Slade nodded. "I'll put in application through you?" + +"Not if I can help it you won't," Harris said. "Why should you have +permits right in the back yard of the Three Bar with all the rest of +the hills open to you? There's a natural lead right down to the +corrals; divides to form wings. It's up to Wilton, of course, but I'm +going to make application to graze Blind Valley myself. They'll allow +whichever one he recommends." + +"Harris has first call," the ranger stated mildly. "This is the +logical range for his stuff--this and one or two others right close. +We can fix you up in a dozen other good grass countries further on, +Slade, if it's all the same." + +Slade nodded agreement. The ranger had authority to recommend the +issuing of permits and his superiors would not go contrary to his +suggestions in any but exceptional cases--certainly not in this matter. +Slade's eyes turned frequently toward the two figures on the log, +silhouetted against the white of the moonlit meadow, and his slashed +mouth set in disapproval. Harris noted this and smiled as it occurred +to him that Slade's views on the subject of Deane's appropriating the +girl for himself were about on a par with Deane's ideas relative to her +touring the hills with four men. + +The two came back and sat with the others round the dying fire, then +all turned in for the night, Billie in her teepee and the men in their +bed rolls with no other overhead shelter than the trees. In less than +an hour Harris raised on one elbow. The ranger woke just as Harris +slipped from his bed roll and tugged on his chaps. The steady thud of +hoofs had penetrated each man's consciousness and apprised him of the +fact that the horses were coming down. + +Wilton closed his eyes as Harris departed to head them back. Three +times during the night Deane was roused as one or the other of the +three men left his bed roll to frustrate an attempt of the horses to +make a break for home. Near morning he was once more wakened by a +clammy dampness on his face. A fine drizzle was falling. Slade was on +his feet, shoving a few sticks of wood inside the flap of Billie's +teepee. + +In the first gray light of morning Harris was up and slicing shavings +from the few dry sticks Slade had so thoughtfully tucked away. +Breakfast was cooked under the dripping trees. The ranger was soaked +to the knees as he waded through the tall grass to the picketed horse. +He saddled him and went up-country after the other horses. The outfit +was packed up and the little procession filed away toward the next +valley--and Carlos Deane proved his real caliber to Harris. + +Throughout the day they rode in a fine drizzle; in the timber the wet +branches whipped them and sprayed water down the necks of their +slickers; in the boggy meadows of the bottoms the mosquitoes hovered +round them in humming swarms. The horses stamped, shook their heads +angrily and switched their tortured flanks with dripping tails till at +last the men greased their noses, eyes and flanks to protect the +animals from the singing horde. When they dismounted to lead their +horses up precipitous game trails leading to the crest of some divide +Deane's Angora chaps flapped like dead weights and seemed to drag him +back. From the lofty ridges they gazed down upon white clouds floating +in the valleys; and at night they made camp and slept in damp bed rolls +with the clammy mist chilling them. The next day was the same. + +Harris knew that a man might evidence great courage in the face of +danger, risk his life in the heat of excitement, but that the true test +of iron control is to experience grinding discomfort and smile. +Deane's neck was raw and chafed from the wet neckband of his flannel +shirt and his hands and cheeks were puffed with the bites of the +buzzing pests. But Deane had been cheerful throughout and had uttered +no complaint. + +Toward evening of the second gloomy day Harris rode up beside him. + +"You'll do," he said. + +"How's that?" Deane asked. + +"There's maybe one man out of every two hundred that can go along like +this and not get to blaming every one in sight for what's happening to +him. I don't know as I'd have blamed you any if you'd been cussing us +all out for the past two days." + +Deane laughed and shook his head. + +"I've been rather enjoying it," he said. + +"You're just a plain, old-fashioned liar, Deane," Harris returned. +"You haven't been enjoying it any more than the rest of us--which is +mighty little; but you've got insides enough to let on like it's +considerable sport--which is a whole lot." + +"No one else has done any beefing," Deane said. "So why should I?" + +"This is everyday business with us," Harris pointed out. "And right +unusual for you. There's likely a number of things you do every day +back your way, but that doesn't signify that I could amble back there +and perform as well as you." + +"I suspect you'd make out all right," Deane said. "Anyway--I'm much +obliged for the endorsement." + +They camped again in the drizzle but by noon of the following day the +sun peeped through. In an hour every cloud and fog-bank had been +dispersed with a rapidity which is seen only in the hill country. The +ranger pulled up his horse as they struck a game trail in the saddle of +a low divide. A bunch of shod horses had been over it a few hours past. + +"Some of the albino's layout," Wilton surmised. "They cross through +here to that camp of theirs down in the Breaks. I've run across their +trails up here before." + +They rode out on to a spur and looked down on the low country. Slade +and the ranger were going on, the others returning to the Three Bar. +Harris pointed to the country spread out below them. + +"That's the Breaks," he told Deane. "I'll point out the albino's +stronghold." + +"While they're looking I want to talk to you," Slade said to Billie. + +"Let's get together," he said, when the others had passed on. "Why are +you so dead set on making a squatter outfit of the Three Bar? Don't +you know the nesters will flock in here and cut the range all up as +soon as they see a chance?" + +"Not my range," she said. "Outside of the V L and the Halfmoon D +there's not another site they can get water for, except maybe a couple +of spring gulches where flood reservoirs will hold back enough to water +a forty. So we'll still control our home range." + +"But there's a dozen sites down in my range," he said. + +"And a dozen small outfits wouldn't run any more cows than you do now," +she said. "At least not on my range; so what difference will it make +to me? Why don't you have men file on all those sites?" + +"You can't make a contract that will hold a man to turn over his +homestead after it's proved up," he said. "Half of them would keep +their land." + +"Of course," she agreed. "But then you'd have half instead of nothing +at all. Do you want the world?" + +"I want you!" he said. "Throw in with me, girl. I'm going to fight +these nesters off--the Three Bar among the rest if you don't quit. +I'll smash the Three Bar into mincemeat unless you run this damned +Harris off and quit this game." + +It was the first time Slade had ever threatened. Her spirits had +soared over the prospects of the Three Bar and she was suddenly afraid +for her brand if Slade, who had whittled down a dozen outfits at once, +should suddenly turn his whole attention to the Three Bar. + +"I've got it to do," Slade stated. "Since you've started this deal +there's been nesters filed papers on every good site in my range, +waiting to rush in as soon as I lose my grip. Do you think I'll let +them crowd me out? Not in a thousand years! I'm telling you--I'll +break the Three Bar if you keep it up." + +"All right!" she said. "And what about the homestead laws?" + +"I'm the law out here," he asserted. + +It came to her that Slade was fighting on the defensive, that he feared +to let the Three Bar succeed and set up a precedent in defiance of the +signs that dotted the range. + +"Then it's war!" she said. "And you'll go under yourself, from your +own size, if you haven't the judgment to hedge yourself now like the +rest. The Three Bar is going ahead--and we're going to win." + +She turned her horse but Slade caught her arm and whirled her around. +He jerked a thumb at the two men down the ridge. + +"What can Deane, a half-baked boy, give you?" he demanded. "Money--and +trinkets to hang all over you till you flash like a Mexican's bridle; a +flower garden and a soft front lawn to range in--and after a year or +two you'd give your soul to trade it off for an acre of raw sage. +You'd trade a castle full of glittering chandeliers for one hour at the +round-up fire--your box at the opera for a seat on the ground with your +back against the chuck-wagon wheel while the boys sang just one old +song. I know! You'd soon get fed up on too much of that. You want an +outfit of your own. I'll give you that--the biggest in the State." + +She shook her head without answering. + +"Then I'll break you," he predicted a second time. He drew a folded +slip of paper from his pocket and held it out to her. "That's the +exchange slip," he said. "It calls for three hundred odd head of mixed +stuff. You can send yours over any time." He turned his horse and +followed after the ranger while the girl joined Harris and Deane. + +Harris had slipped the strap of his glasses and handed them to Deane +who had dismounted and was peering off at the spot Harris had pointed +out. A few scattered shacks, showing as toy houses from the distance, +stood in the center of a broad open basin, sheltered on all sides by +the choppy mass of the Breaks. A solid corral, almost a stockade, +stood near the buildings and a few white points indicated that a teepee +or two had been pitched along its edge. + +"That's Arnold's stockade," Harris explained to Deane. "Arnold was an +old-time rustler that finished at the end of a rope fifteen years ago. +Now all the drifters in the country stop over here if they want a place +to hole up." + +Deane had been striving to fathom the attitude of a community where the +thieves were known as such, their headquarters a matter of common +knowledge, and yet allowed to carry on their trade. + +"Can't the sheriff clean them out of there?" he asked. + +"He could," Harris said. "But no man will make a complaint. They can +rustle every steer in the country and the losers are afraid to make a +report. Every outfit is supposed to protect its own. If Alden should +ride up to almost any ranch within a hundred miles and ask them if +they'd missed any stock in the last three years they'd shake their +heads and swear that they hadn't lost a hoof. But the Three Bar has a +clean page; we're not afraid he'll get a line on us while we're having +him round up some one else. The first time we get a scrap of real +evidence on any man we'll call Alden in." + +"You told me the Three Bar herds have been cut in half," Deane said. +"How much evidence do you need?" + +"It's like this:" Harris explained. "We'd have to make a specific +charge against a few men--name them in connection with some raid. That +nest down there is only a sort of stopping place. There's twenty or so +that use it on and off. Maybe the very men we'd name would be in +Coldriver or some other place and could prove it. Even if they +couldn't we couldn't get a man to testify. Then too, rustling is about +the hardest thing in the world to prove. There's a dozen ways they can +work it. I could catch some of them driving a bunch of Three Bar cows +toward the Idaho line. They'd look up and see me and calmly ride on +past the cows. They could say the bunch was just drifting ahead of +their horses--that they weren't driving them at all. Who can prove a +case of rustling even if you see it, unless you actually catch one +altering a brand--which they wouldn't do anywhere within a hundred +miles of that brand's range." + +"Then how will you ever convict one?" Deane asked. + +"The only way to convict a rustler right now is to kill him and swear +that you run up on him changing a brand," Harris said. "I expect +that's what we'll have to do." + +Deane looked at the girl to determine how she met this suggestion. +Instead of the shiver of distaste which he rather expected her lips +were pressed tight. + +"A little of that would help Slade too," she said. "He told me just +now that he'd smash the Three Bar." + +The man reflected that this sort of a life could not help but wear off +some of her natural fineness and harden her. + +They followed the rims till they had cleared the Breaks, then angled +down to the foothills and headed for the Three Bar. They held a steady +gait until a half hour after sunset and camped in the open near a tiny +spring. Again Deane was impressed with the impropriety of the girl's +being out with two men who loved her and the thought was an ache that +remained with him. It was a natural reaction,--the lifelong training +to guard against appearances which were open to criticism as +religiously as against the accomplished fact. + +As they sat round the little fire the girl handed Harris the paper +Slade had given her. It was a scrawled bill of sale calling for three +hundred odd head of Circle P cows, listed in the exact numbers of all +ages and sexes. In return she would send him an exchange slip for the +same number of Three Bar stock. This exchange system was one of +Slade's own devising, intended to eliminate the time and expense of +sending riders to scour adjacent ranges in search of drifted stock. +Each outfit exchanged slips based on the round-up tally with every +other brand and so could show bill of sale for off-brand stuff in their +beef shipments or for any rebrands on the range. + +"This labor-saving device is Slade's trump card," Harris said. "It +works all his way. We couldn't turn in a false report. But he has +three crews covering his range, each under a different wagon foreman +and no one of them wise to what the rest are doing. It's only the +foremen that jot down the daily tallies and keep the final score. Even +if they talked among themselves, why, they're all riding for Slade's +brand--and there you are." + +Deane was regarding the penciled memorandum signed by Slade. + +"Not a very impressive document," he observed. + +Harris laughed at the other's evident disapproval of such a slipshod +method of property transfer. + +"Not very," he agreed. "But it's absolutely good. You could borrow +money against that at the bank. He doesn't get us that way but here's +how he does: He's mapped out a rebrand system. His rebrand is Triangle +on the hip. When he gets our exchange slip all he has to do is go on +his range and run the Triangle on the hip of the number of Three Bar +stock it calls for. There are Three Bar cows ranging a hundred miles +from here, just as there's brands a hundred miles off whose stock turns +up here--with a Triangle on the hip. Who's going to check Slade up? +It would take three crews to cover his range and tally the fresh Three +Bar rebrands of this one season--a few here and a few there. He ships +trainloads of cows in a year. There's some old rebrands in each lot, +say; maybe more than last year's exchange. Well he simply has been +holding them over. He can easy explain that. It would break a small +outfit to hire enough hands to cover his range and check him up--and +he'd buy part of those. The albino's men are petty-larceny bandits +compared with Slade." + +Deane turned to the girl. + +"Billie, why don't you get out of a game where everything is crooked--a +game of who can steal the most and every man for himself?" he asked. + +"Why don't you fold your hands and give up your business the first +thing that goes wrong?" she countered. "Instead of trying to remedy +it?" + +"But you don't have to do it," he urged. + +"Neither do you," she said. "I've the same pride in the Three Bar that +you have in anything you've helped build up. You'd fight all the +harder for one of your schemes that was hard-pressed--and so would I." + +She turned to her teepee and ended the discussion, her pride a little +hurt that Deane should so little appreciate her work--and the spirit +that made her hold on instead of giving up. + +That evening they rode up to the Three Bar just as Waddles announced +the evening meal. + +"She's hot!" the big voice wailed. "She's re-e-ed hot!" + +The hands were gathering at the ranch, coming in from the range for a +frolic before the beef round-up should keep out for another month. +Deane's time was up and he had planned to leave on the following day. + +"You can't do that," Harris said. "Two more days for you. I've given +orders not to let you off the place till after the dance at Brill's. +This is Tuesday and the big frolic will be staged Thursday night. Then +you're free to go." + +Deane shook his head and prepared to offer an excuse but Harris +smilingly refused to consider it. + +"No use to try," he said. "The boys won't let you go. We've had you +out in the rain and now we'll try to make amends for it. Billie, don't +let him leave the place. I'll detail you as guard." + +"You hear the orders," she said. "You're stuck for two more days at +the Three Bar whether you like it or not." + +"That settles it," Deane said. "I do want to see that dance." + +Horne strolled up to them as they reached the corral. + +"Another of the wild bunch down," he said. "Magill this time. Got it +just the same as Barton did last week. Shot from in front; one empty +shell in his gun. The Breaks is getting to be a hard place to reside +in." + +Again the girl felt that queer sensation of having expected this to +transpire, as if possibly she had helped plan the deed herself and had +forgotten it. That night as she lay in bed her mind was concerned with +it and at times the solution seemed almost to reach the surface of her +consciousness. Two belated riders came up the lane. As they rode past +her open window she heard the name of Magill. + +"That's two for Bangs," said a voice she knew for Moore's. + +The evasive sense of familiarity, of being in some way identified with +the killings, was suddenly clear to her,--so clear that she marveled at +not having known at once. + +Old Rile Foster was haunting the Breaks near Arnold's, imposing grim +and merciless justice on all those whom he suspected of having had a +hand in the finish of Bangs. + + + + +X + +Harris had left the ranch an hour before daylight, his ride occasioned +by the reports of several of the men. In the last three days each +couple that worked the range had found one or more of the new +white-face bulls shot down in their territory. The evidence, as Harris +pieced the scraps together, indicated that a lone rider had made a +swift raid, riding for forty miles along the foot of the hills in a +single day, shooting down every Three Bar bull that crossed his trail. +A dozen dead animals marked his course. A few more such raids and the +Three Bar calf crop would be extremely short the following spring. The +near end of the foray had extended to within ten miles of the home +ranch and Harris had gone out to have a look at some of the nearer +victims. He located two by the flights of meat-eating birds but range +stock had blotted out all possible signs. He rode back to the corrals +in the early afternoon and joined Billie and Deane. + +"Not a track," he said. "We must expect more or less of that. They'll +cut in on us wherever there's a chance." + +As Harris left them the girl pointed out a horseman riding up the lane. + +"The sheriff," she volunteered, and Deane noted an odd tightening of +her lips. + +Alden dismounted and accosted Moore and Horne. From their grinning +faces she knew that they were deliberately evading whatever questions +the sheriff might be asking. Horne's voice reached them. + +"Whoever it is seems to be doing a right neat job," he said. "Why not +let him keep it up?" + +The sheriff came over to Deane and the girl. + +"Billie, I expect you can tell me who's doing this killing over in the +Breaks," he said. + +She was unaccustomed to the easy dissimulation that was second nature +to the men of the whole countryside and her eyes fell under the +sheriff's steady gaze. Deane was looking into her face and with a +shock he realized that she could pronounce the name of the assassin but +was deliberately withholding it. She raised her head with a trace of +defiance. + +"No. I can't tell you," she said. + +Deane expected to hear the sheriff's curt demand that she divulge the +name of the man he sought. It must be easily apparent to him, as it +was to Deane, that she knew. But Alden only dropped a hand on her +shoulder and stood looking down at her. + +"All right, girl," he said mildly. "I reckon you can't tell. He can't +be such a rotten sort; if you refuse to turn him up." He pushed back +his hat and smiled at Deane. "We have to humor the womenfolks out +here," he explained, as he turned toward the bunk house. + +Deane, already at a loss to grasp the mental attitude of the range +dwellers, was further mystified by a sheriff who spoke of humoring the +ladies in a matter pertaining to a double killing. + +"Billie, you know!" he accused; "why wouldn't you tell?" + +"Because there's a good chance that he's a friend of mine," she stated +simply. "Those men had it coming to them and some way I can't feel any +regret." + +"But if it was justified he should give himself up and stand trial," he +said. + +"Then let him do it of his own accord," she said. "I certainly won't." +The memory of little Bangs, his adoring gaze fastened on her face, was +uppermost in her mind and brought a lump to her throat. "I hope he +gets them all." + +"Billie, let me take you away from all this," Deane urged again. "Let +me give you the things every girl should have--shut all the rough spots +out of your path. I want to give you the things every girl needs to +round out her life--a home and love and shelter." + +Shelter! Slade's words recurred to her: "A soft front lawn to range +in." + +"This is what I need," she said and waved an arm in a comprehensive +sweep. Two hands, recently arrived, were unpacking before the bunk +house. A third was shoeing a horse near the blacksmith shop. The mule +teams were plowing in the flats. A line of chap-clad men roosted as so +many crows on the top bar of the corral, mildly interested in the +performance of another who twirled a rope in a series of amazing +tricks. "That's what I need; all that," she said. "And you're asking +me to give it up." + +"But it's not the life for a girl," he insisted. + +"You've told me a hundred times that I was different from other girls. +But now you're wanting me to be like all the rest. Where would the +difference be then?" she asked a little wistfully. "Why can't you go +on liking me the way I am, instead of making me over?" + +But Carlos Deane could not see. It was his last evening alone with her +and after the meal they rode across the hills through the moonlight. +In that hour she was very near to doing as he wished. If only he had +suggested that she come to him as soon as the Three Bar was once more a +prosperous brand; had only pointed out how she could spend months of +each year on the old home ranch,--then he might have won his point +without waiting. But that is not the way of man toward woman. His +plea was that she leave all this behind--for him. And his hold was not +quite strong enough to induce her to give up every link of the life she +had loved for long years before Carlos Deane had been even a part of it. + +"I can't tell you now," she said as they rode back to the corrals. +"Not now. It would take something out of me--the vital part--if I had +to leave the old Three Bar in the shape it's in today. It's sort of +like deserting a crippled child." + +The next day her stand was unaltered and in the evening, when the whole +Three Bar personnel swung to their saddles and headed for the frolic at +Brill's, Deane had been unable to gain her promise. His luggage had +been sent ahead in a buckboard, for the dance was to be an all-night +affair and he would leave on the morning stage. + +There were but few horses at the hitch rails when they reached the post +but a dozen voices raised in song drifted faintly to their ears and +apprised them of the fact that other arrivals were not far behind. As +the Three Bar girl entered at the head of her men she saw Bentley and +Carpenter leaning against the bar, well toward the rear of the room. + +Within the last week she had heard that Carp, after being let off by +Harris, had started up a brand of his own down in Slade's range. +Harris's remarks about Slade's mode of acquiring new brands recurred to +her,--that he fostered some small outfit for a few seasons, then bought +it out. As the men scattered she commented on this to Harris. The +Three Bar foreman nodded. + +"Likely the same old move," he said. "I've been trying to get a line +on Carp. He started off with a bill of sale from Slade for a hundred +head of Three Bar rebrands. But it didn't come direct from Slade at +that. Morrow engineered the deal. Said he came into the paper for two +years' back pay from Slade; last year and the one before--had figured +to start up for himself and was to draw his pay in cows. The paper is +dated at the time Morrow quit Slade last year. What can we prove wrong +with that? Morrow simply sells the paper to Carp. Of course it's a +plant. All Carp has to do is to run Slade's Triangle on the hips of +any number of Three Bar she-stock. Like I told you, there's no way to +check Slade up on the number of our rebrands. If Carp gets caught it's +his own hard luck." + +A dozen men from the Halfmoon D swarmed in the door. Mrs. McVey, the +owner's wife, stationed herself in one corner with the Three Bar girl +while the men gravitated to the bar. + +"I'll take Deane in tow for a while," Harris said. "And get him +acquainted with folks." He led Deane to the bar and gave him scraps of +the history of various neighbors as they arrived. + +Harper's men came in, the albino standing half a head taller than any +other on the floor, and they mingled with the rest as if their records +were the most immaculate of the lot. Two of Slade's foremen arrived +with their families. The wife of one was lean and bent, worn from +years of drudgery. The other was an ample, red-cheeked woman of great +self-confidence, her favorite pose that of planting both hands on her +hips, elbows outspread, and nodding vigorously to emphasize her speech. + +Bart Epperson, a trapper from far back in the hills, had brought his +family to the frolic. Mrs. Epperson was a tiny, meek woman who had but +little to say. Her two daughters, in their late teens, had glossy +black hair, high cheek bones and faint olive tinge of skin which +betrayed a trace of Indian ancestry. + +Lafe Brandon came at the head of his tribe. Ma Brandon, white-haired +and motherly and respected by all, was possessed of a queer past known +to the whole community. Forty years before Lafe Brandon had stopped at +a sod hut on the Republican and found a girl wife with both eyes +discolored from blows of her heavy-handed spouse. Lafe had left the +bearded ruffian unconscious, with a broken nose and three fractured +ribs, and had ridden off with the girl. Five sons and a daughter had +been born to them. Two years before, Kit Brandon, the daughter, had +been wed to a merchant in Coldriver. The traveling parson who married +them heard of the parents' queer case, learned that Ma Brandon's former +mate was long since dead, and spoke earnestly to the pair. Both were +willing to do anything which might prove of future benefit to Kit. The +conference resulted in the old couple's standing before the parson and +having the marriage service performed for them an hour before a like +rite was rendered for the daughter. + +Harris laughed as he informed Deane of this bit of history. + +"They both considered it rather an unnecessary fuss," he said. "And +it's rumored that they had their first quarrel of a lifetime on the way +home from the service." + +Two of the sons were married and living at the home ranch. They came +to the dance with the rest of the family. Lou Brandon's wife, Dolly, +was a former dance-hall girl of Coldriver, and Al Brandon's better +half, Belle, was the daughter of a Utah cowman. + +An extra stage-load rolled in from Coldriver and four couples joined +the throng. + +"Ex-school-teachers," Harris informed. "They marry them so fast that +it's hard to keep one on the job instructing the rising generation in +the Coldriver school." + +Deane shrank from the thought of the Three Bar girl in such a mixture. +Someway she seemed many shades finer than the rest. + +"It couldn't be otherwise," Harris said, when Deane expressed this +thought. "She was raised at the knee of one of the finest women in the +world. I remember her mother myself--a little; and I've heard my own +mother sing the praises of Elizabeth Warren a thousand times." + +The albino interrupted them. + +"Cal--how come?" he greeted. The three men conversed in the most +casual, friendly fashion, as if there had never been a hint of friction +between Harris and Harper in the past. + +A great voice rose above the buzz of conversation, filling the big room +to the very rafters. + +"Choose your pardners for the dance!" Waddles bellowed from the +makeshift platform at one end of the room. "Go get your ga-a-als!" + +Deane moved across to the Three Bar girl. There was a general rush for +the side opposite the bar where the ladies had gathered. Couples +squared off for the Virginia reel, the shortage of ladies rectified by +a handkerchief tied on the arm of many a chap-clad youth to signify +that he was, for the moment, a girl. Waddles picked his guitar; two +fiddles broke into "Turkey in the Straw" and the dance was on with +Waddles calling the turns. + +All through the room they shuffled and bowed, whirled partners, locked +elbows and swung, the shriek of fiddles and scrape of feet punctuated +by the caller's boom. + +"Grab your gals for the grand right an' left!" the big voice wailed. +"Swing, rattle and roar!" "Clutch all partners for a once and a half!" +"Swing your gals and swing 'em high!" "Prance, scuffle and scrape!" + +Slade came in alone as the first dance was ended. + +A croupier and lookout, imported from Coldriver for the event, opened +Brill's roulette layout in one corner, a game he usually operated +himself on the occasions when his patrons chose to try their fortune +against the bank. The rattle of chips, the whir of the ivory ball and +the professional chant of lookout and croupier sounded between dances. + +"Single ought in the green," the croupier droned. + +"Single ought in the green," the lookout echoed. "The pea-green shade +is the bank's per cent. The house wins and the gamblers lose. Place +your bets for another turn." + +"She's off," the croupier chanted. "Off again on the giddy whirl. The +little ivory ball--she spins!" + +"Ten in the black," the croupier called. "Ten in the black," the +lookout seconded. "The black pays and the red falls off; the even +beats the odd." + +The full enjoyment of a novel scene was spoiled for Deane by the +sickening realization that the Three Bar girl was part of it, rubbing +elbows with the nondescript throng. He looked again at Harper, the +rustler chief; at Slade, with his peculiar turtle-like face, Slade the +cattle king--the killer. Billie Warren stood between the two Epperson +girls whose faces betrayed the taint of Indian blood, an arm about the +shoulders of each of them. The sheriff who had said that men must +humor womenfolks was leaning against the bar. Deane turned to Harris +but found him looking off across the room. He turned his own eyes that +way and glimpsed a dark man with an overlong, thin face and a set bleak +stare. Morrow had just come in. + +Five minutes later Harris stepped out the back door and Deane followed +him. At the sound of a footfall behind him Harris whirled on his heel +and when he confronted Deane the dim light from the door glinted on +something in his hand. + +"Sho," Harris deprecated. "I'm getting spooky. I thought it was some +one else." He slipped the gun back in its holster. "There's one or +two that would like right well to run across me from behind." + +"I followed you out to tell you it was decent of you to insist that I +stay over a few days," Deane said. "It was a white thing to do, +considering that we both want the same thing." + +"We both want her to have what's best for her," Harris said. "And I +don't know as she could do any better than to take up with you." + +"It may sound rather trite--coming after that," Deane said. "But +anyway, I'll have to say that I feel the same way about you." + +"Then, if we're both right in our estimates, why she can't go very far +wrong, either way she turns," Harris said. "So I reckon we're both +content." + +Harris moved on and motioned Deane to accompany him. + +"I thought I glimpsed a man I knew a few minutes back," Harris said. +"I'd like right well to have a talk with him." + +They wandered completely round the post and looked in the shadows of +the outbuildings but could find no trace of life. + +"Likely I was mistaken," Harris said at last. "I saw a face just +outside the door. He was more or less on my mind--the party I thought +it was. Some one else I expect, and he's gone inside." + +They returned to the hall. Morrow stood with two Halfmoon D men at the +end of the bar. Harris motioned him aside and Morrow withdrew from the +others. + +"This is pretty far north for you, Morrow," Harris suggested. + +"Is there any one restricting my range?" Morrow demanded. "If there is +I'd like to know." + +"Then I'll tell you," Harris answered. "The road is open--as long as +you keep on the road. Any time you stray a foot off the beaten trail +you're on the Three Bar range. I don't figure to get gunned up from +the brush more than once by the same man. Every Three Bar boy has +orders to shoot you down on sight any time you heave in view anywhere +within twenty miles of the Three Bar; so I wouldn't stray off the +main-traveled road any time you're going through." + +Lanky Evans had detached himself from a group and Morrow looked up to +find the tall man standing at his shoulder. + +"So you hunt in pairs," Morrow remarked. + +"And later in packs," Lanky returned. "Why don't you ever come up and +visit us? Every time I'm riding north I keep looking back, expecting +to see you come cantering up from the south. Harris been commenting +about the little dead-line we've drawn on you?" + +"What's the object of all this conversation?" Morrow flared. "If +you've got anything to say to me why get it over with." + +"Nothing special," Evans said. "I just thought maybe I could goad you +into being imprudent enough to come up our way--which I'm sure hoping +to observe you north of the line and somewhere within a thousand yards." + +Evans turned away and Morrow rejoined the two men he had left at the +bar. Deane looked about him. Apparently no one had noticed the little +by-play. + +"Evans didn't exactly mean quite all of that," Harris explained. "Of +course if Morrow does come up our way Lanky would prefer to see him +first--but he would rather he'd keep away. He staged that little talk +as a safeguard for me. If Morrow acquires the idea that several folks +are anxious to see him up there, he's apt to be real cautious how he +prowls round the Three Bar neighborhood looking for me." + +Deane looked again at Morrow and saw that Moore and Horne had drawn him +aside from the rest. The two Three Bar men were grinning and Morrow's +face was set and scowling. + +"The boys must have framed it up among themselves," Harris said. +"That's the third pair I've seen conversing with him. It's doubtful +whether Morrow is deriving much pleasure out of the dance." + +Deane crossed over to Billie. The music started but she shook her head +as he would have led her to the floor. + +"Sit down. I want to talk with you. Long time no see 'um after +to-night," she said. "It'll be daylight soon and I've a long tale to +tell." + +As the others danced she gave him a dozen messages to impart to various +friends. + +"Tell Judge Colton that Three Bar stock is rising," she said. "And +that as soon as things are all smoothed out, he can expect me for a +boarder. I'm going to make him one nice long visit." + +Practically all of her time away from the Three Bar had been spent with +Judge Colton's family and she was accepted as part of the household. +It was there she had met Deane and those others to whom her messages +were sent. + +Through an opening in the dancing throng Deane suddenly had a clear +view of the open rear door--one brief glimpse before the crowd closed +once more and shut off his view. He had an idea that he had seen a +face, hazy and indistinct, a few feet outside the door. He wondered if +it could be the friend for whom Harris had searched. + +"Make the visit soon, Billie," he urged. "It's been a long month since +we've had you with us. We thought maybe you'd deserted us back there. +How soon will this visit start--and how long will it last?" + +"It will start as soon as the Three Bar doesn't need me," she said. +"And last a long time." + +Again a lane opened through the crowd, affording a view of the door. +Deane saw the face outside in the night, and a foot or more below if +some bright object glinted in the dim light which filtered through. +The music ceased and the chant of the roulette croupier began, mingling +with the smooth purr of the ivory ball. There came a sudden hush from +the vicinity of the rear door, a hush that spread rapidly throughout +the room, so swift are the perceptions of a frontier gathering. + +Old Rile Foster stood just inside, his gun half-raised before him. +Canfield and Lang stood together in the center of the floor, apart from +the rest and with no others in line beyond them. Rile tossed a boot +heel on to the floor and as it rolled toward the two men he shot +Canfield through the chest. Lang's gun crashed almost with his own. +Rile's knees sagged under him and he pitched face down on the floor, +his arms sprawled out before him. + +The surge of the crowd, pressing back out of line, threw the albino on +the edge of it, his big form towering alone. + +The old man raised his head from the floor and crooked his wrist with +the last of his ebbing strength. + +"Four for Bangs," he said, and shot Harper between the eyes. + + + + +XI + +The two loggers had finished cutting their quota of timber for the +homestead cabins and the white peeled logs lay piled and ready to be +snaked down to the Three Bar on the first heavy snows of fall. The +choppers had transferred their operations to the lower broken slopes +which they scoured for the scattered cedars of the foothills, cutting +them for fence posts and piling them in spots accessible to the wagons +to be hauled whenever the mule teams could be spared. + +The acreage of plowed ground increased day by day and would continue +till frost claimed the ground. As soon as the brush was burnt the mule +teams pulled heavy log drags across the field, pulverizing the lumps +and leveling inequalities of the surface. + +Evans had been sent out as foreman of the beef round-up while Harris +remained behind to direct the operations at the ranch. The details of +the new work were unfamiliar ones for the girl and she was entirely +absorbed in learning the reasons for every move; so much engrossed, in +fact, that she had not left the Three Bar during the month which had +elapsed since the dance at Brill's. A few days before Evans was due +with the beef herd she rode Papoose away from the ranch, intending to +make a long-deferred visit to the Brandons. + +After covering two-thirds of the distance along the foot of the hills +to the V L she saw a rider dip over a ridge two miles away. She +unslung Harris's glasses and dismounted to watch for his reappearance. +When he came again into her field of view another man was with him and +they were driving a few head of cows before them. They angled into a +valley that led off to the south, dropping into it some three miles +from her. + +She mounted Papoose and headed him on a parallel course, keeping well +out of sight behind the intervening waves of ground. After holding her +direction at a stiff lope till satisfied that she had passed the men +she angled across to intersect their course. + +As Papoose topped a low hogback that flanked the valley she saw the men +riding toward her down the bottoms, driving twenty or more head of +cows. One of the horses threw up his head, his ears pricked sharply +toward her, and the swift upward tilt of the rider's hat, as swiftly +lowered, informed her that she had been sighted. The other man did not +look up. They lifted their horses from a walk to a stiff trot and +veered past the cows, then looked up as if just aware of her approach, +and waited for her. The men were Bentley and Carp. + +Bentley greeted her cheerily. Carp nodded without a word. + +"What are you two doing up here?" she demanded without parley. + +"I repped with the Three Bar wagon and Carp worked with you for a spell +so we sort of know the range," Bentley explained. "Slade sent us up to +drift any strays back south." + +"Those you were driving are Three Bar stuff--every hoof," she said. +"All two-year-old she-stock." + +Bentley turned and regarded the little herd they had just passed. + +"Them? Sho--we wasn't driving them," Bentley denied easily. "They +just drifted ahead of us as we rode down the bottoms. A cow critter +will always move on ahead of a man. We rode on past 'em as soon as we +decided to amble along." + +She knew that they were on safe ground. Any cow would drift on before +a horseman. + +"The only way to convict a man on a case like this is to shoot him out +of the saddle before he has a chance to pass the cows," she said. +"That's what will happen to the next Slade rider that gets noticed with +any Three Bar cows moving out in front of him and headed south. You +can carry that word to Slade." + +She whirled Papoose and headed back for the ranch, the intended visit +to the Brandons postponed. Harris was piling brush in the lower field +when she arrived and she informed him of the act of the two men. + +"I wouldn't put it past Carp," he said. "But I hadn't sized Bentley up +just that way. It's hard to tell. If Carp shows up here again we'll +make him a visit in the middle of the night--and he won't trouble us +much after that." + +"We'd better pay Slade a night visit too," she said. Her feelings +toward Slade had undergone a complete revulsion. She knew beyond a +doubt that he had been responsible for the raid on Three Bar bulls. +The wild bunch would have had no object in such a foray. Figuring it +from any angle Slade was the only one man who could possibly derive any +benefit from that. She had come to see that Slade was fighting with +his back to the wall,--that he had run his course and come to the end +of it if squatters secured a start in his range, and he considered the +act of the Three Bar the opening wedge which would throw open the way +for the nesters to crowd him out. + +The evening of the following day the beef herd trailed into the lower +end of the Three Bar valley and bedded for the night. In the morning +the trail herd was headed for the railroad under a full crew, for +Harris had kept all hands on the job. + +There was none of the fast and varied work of the round-up; the +trail-herding of beef to market seeming a slow and monotonous procedure +in comparison. The cows were drifted slowly south, well spread out and +grazing as they moved. Harris detailed two men to ride the "points," +the two forward extremities of the herd; two others rode the "drags," +holding to either flank of the rear end of the drive. In choppy +country he detailed a third pair to skirt the middle flanks and prevent +leakage up any feathering coulees. + +The chuck wagon followed a mile behind and the horse wrangler brought +up the rear, bringing the remuda, much depleted in numbers from full +round-up strength, for it now carried but three extra horses for each +man. + +Three hours out from the Three Bar some of the cows showed a +disposition to rest and calmly bedded down; the forward drift of the +herd was arrested. After a prolonged rest they rose in scattering +groups to feed and once more they were moved slowly to the south. The +men not on active duty with the herd rode in knots and whiled away the +time as best they could. It was the habit to cover less than twenty +miles a day with the beef herd as any strenuous exertion would reduce +the weight of the grass-fattened steers. + +The drove was a nondescript lot. In addition to the steers and older +cows that comprised every trail herd, the off-color she-stock had been +carefully culled from the range. + +Harris pointed to the bunch. + +"Look that assortment over well, Billie," he advised. "A few seasons +more, with fair luck, and you won't see one of these rainbow droves +with every color from brindle to strawberry roan; none of those +humpbacked runts; they'll all be gone. That's almost the last mongrel +herd that will ever wear your brand. They'll run better every year +until we have all big flat-backed beef stock--a straight white-face +run." + +The third morning out from the home ranch broke stormy. Gray, leaden +skies and low scudding, drab clouds drifted over the foothills and +obscured the view of the peaks. A nasty drizzle dampened the face of +the world and laid its clammy touch on all living things. This +condition prevailed all through the day and shortly after the cows had +been milled and bedded for the night the drizzle turned to rain, now +falling straight and soft, again in fierce squalls whipped by varying +shifts of wind. A saddled night horse was picketed for every man. The +wagon stood close under a hill while the herd was bedded on a broad +flat at the mouth of a valley. + +The men lay in the open, their bed-tarps folded to shed as much +moisture as possible. The soggy patter of the rain on her teepee +lulled the girl to sleep but she was frequently roused. A dull +muttering materialized suddenly into a sharp thunderstorm and the +canvas walls of her teepee were almost continuously illuminated by +successive flashes. The picketed horses fretted and stamped. Between +peals she heard the voices of the night guards singing to soothe their +restless charges on the bed ground. One of the men shifted his bed +roll from a gathering puddle to some higher point of ground. + +She dropped to sleep again but was roused by voices outside as the +guards changed shifts and she estimated that it must be near morning, +the fourth change of guards. + +The sounds ceased as the men who had just been relieved turned in for +their sleep. A horse neighed shrilly within a few yards of her teepee. +Another took it up and an answer sounded from the flats. There was a +crash of pistol shots, a rumble of hoofs and the instant command of +Harris. + +"Roll out! Roll out!" he called. "Saddles! On your horses." + +Even as he shouted there came the swish of wet canvas as the men +tumbled from their bed rolls, the imprecations of the suddenly +awakened. Billie thrust her head from the teepee flap, the water +cascading down her neck. The successive flashes showed the men tugging +desperately at boots and chaps, their grotesque, froglike leaps for +their tethered mounts. She saw Harris, buckling his belt as he ran, +and the next flash showed him vaulting to Calico's back. + +The thunder of hoofs drew her eyes to the bed ground where a black mass +surged, then bore off up the valley. A scattered line of riders bore +down on the herd, two ghostly apparitions among them throwing the cows +into a panic of fear. She knew these for riders flapping yellow +slickers in the wind. As the light faded she saw three horizontal red +streaks cut the obscurity and knew that one of her guards was in the +midst of the rustlers, doing his single-handed best. The red splashes +of answering shots showed on all sides of him. She tugged on her chaps +and boots, slipped Papoose's picket rope and vaulted to his back. + +The scene was once more illuminated as she rode from the wagon. A big +pinto horse was strung out and running his best, the other Three Bar +men pounding after him. A riderless horse circled in the flat, a dark +shape sprawled near him, and she wondered which one of her men had gone +down. A knot of horsemen were turning up an opening gulch on the far +side of the valley. A half-dozen Three Bar riders veered their horses +for the spot. Harris turned in his saddle and his voice reached her +above the tumult. + +"Let 'em go!" he shouted. "Let 'em go! Hold the herd!" + +Far off on the opposite side she made out a lone horseman riding at a +full run along the sidehill above the cows as he made a supreme effort +to reach the head of the run. The Three Bar men split and streamed up +both sides of the bottoms. The flashes had ceased except for brief, +quivering plays of less than a second's duration. She hung her spurs +into Papoose and trusted to his footwork. The swift little horse +passed one rider, then another. There were only the rumble of hoofs +and the crazed bawling of cows to guide her as she drew near the rear +of the herd. A half-flare showed the pinto a bare twenty yards ahead, +with Harris putting him at the slope to pass the cows. She swung her +own horse after him and she felt the frequent skid of his feet on the +treacherous sidehill. Papoose braced on his haunches and slid down a +precipitous bank, buckled up the far side and down again, then swooped +across a long flat bench. Three times she felt the heaving plunge and +jar as the little horse skimmed over cut-bank coulees and washes which +her own eyes could not see in the dripping velvet black. + +From the sounds below she knew they were well up on the flanks of the +run and nearing the peak. The stampede seemed slowing. A long, +wavering flash revealed Harris a dozen jumps ahead. Papoose followed +the paint-horse as Harris put Calico down the slippery sidehill and +lifted him round the point of the herd. In the same flash Billie had +seen two slickers out before the peaks of the run, flapping weirdly in +the faces of the foremost cows. This accounted for the slowing-up she +had sensed. Two of her men were before them and she wondered how this +had come to pass. + +The lightning-play broke forth once more. She saw two riders swinging +round the opposite point. The two slickers were working in the center. +Harris's gun flashed six times. She jerked her own and rolled it. The +two riders who had just rounded the far point joined in. Cows in the +front ranks held back from this fearsome commotion out in front. +Others, driven by the pressure behind, forged past them, only to hold +back in their turn as the guns flashed before their eyes. + +The storm ceased as suddenly as it had begun and for two miles she rode +in inky darkness. The last mile was slower. It was showing gray in +the east and the night run had spent its force. The herd stopped and +the cows gazed stupidly about, standing with drooping heads and heaving +sides. Three Bar men showed on both flanks and in the rear. They had +held the drove intact and prevented its splitting up in detachments and +scattering through the night. + +Horne and Moore rode over to them and for the first time the girl +noticed that the two men who had wielded slickers out in front of the +run were nowhere to be seen. + +"Who was the pair out ahead?" Moore asked. "And what swallowed 'em up?" + +Harris shook his head. + +"Billie and I were the first to make the front," he said. + +"Not any," Moore stated positively. "I saw 'em five minutes before you +two swung round the point. I was wondering who had outrode the +paint-horse and Billie's little nag." + +Moore's left side was plastered with mud, as was the left side of his +mount. + +"I was on guard and halfway up the far side," he said. "Split Ear took +a header with me and delayed me some." + +He pointed to the mud crusted on his clothes. Billie knew that he was +the lone rider she had seen on the flanks of the herd as she rode away +from the wagon. The fall accounted for their Founding the point ahead +of him. Moore was looking off across the country. + +"Do you mean to tell me you didn't see those two slickers flapping out +in front?" he demanded. + +"I confess I didn't observe any," Harris said. "You're getting spooky, +Moore. A couple of white cows, likely, out ahead of the rest." + +Moore regarded him curiously. + +"Maybe that's so," he said. "Waving their tails in the air, sort of." +He grinned and turned his horse to head back a bunch that had drifted +out of the herd. + +"The boys made a nice ride," Harris said to Horne. "You float round +from one to the next and tell 'em we'll soon have a feed. I'll ride +back and send the wagon up." + +Billie rode with him as he skirted the herd and started on the return +trip. Her mind was occupied with the two riders who had slowed the run +and disappeared. There had been something familiar about them, for +every man has his individual way of sitting a saddle as he has an +individuality of gait when on foot. As she had viewed them in the +lightning's flash they had closely resembled Bentley and Carp. But she +decided that this resemblance had been but a fancied one, suggested by +the fact that the two men had been much on her mind of late. + +"We're not hurt bad," Harris said. "The boys held them bunched in good +shape. Maybe forty or so head down with broken legs--and ten pounds of +fat apiece run off the rest." + +A hatred of Slade was growing within her. Here, too, was a case where +no other would benefit by the senseless stampede. If the beef herd +could be broken up it would cause a delay to round it up in a strange +range with the certainty of many cows being missed,--a case of +weakening the Three Bar. + +She had been so absorbed in learning the details of the new work, so +elated at its progress, that she had come to believe in its ultimate +success. And they had been unmolested for so long a time. Then had +come the wanton slaughter of Three Bar bulls and now the stampede of +the trail herd. It was conclusive proof that Slade had abandoned his +former wearing-down process as too slow and was out to crush the Three +Bar in the speediest possible way and through any available means. + +There rose in her a flare of resentment against her neighbors, the +Brandons of the V L and the McVeys of the Halfmoon D. Both had taken +out papers on the best land in their respective localities as soon as +forewarned of her intended move. Ostensibly this was done merely as a +protection against outsiders but in reality they were hoping that she +would win out, in which case they would go through with their filings +and prove up. But neither outfit would come out in the open and give +her their support, preferring to hold aloof and benefit by her success +if it so transpired and lose nothing themselves if she should +fail--part of the policy of every man for himself--in the meantime +letting her brand bear the brunt of the fight. + +Harris, too, was pondering over Slade's change of tactics. He felt +assured that Slade's own men had not participated in starting the run. +Slade would not let any considerable number of his boys know that much +about him. Some of Lang's men had undoubtedly been hired to stampede +the Three Bar herd. + +"The very fact that Slade is so bald with it is proof that he sees the +necessity of crowding us fast," Harris said. "If we get too big a +start he's blown up--and he hasn't had anything to work on but plowed +ground. He's out now to worry us at odd ends. We can expect a steady +run of mishaps now, for he'll work fast--but we'll win out in the end." + +She nodded a little wearily for she knew that with Slade throwing all +his forces against her the Three Bar would be hard pressed. In +addition to this worry her mind was concerned with the riderless horse +she had seen as she rode away from the wagon, the huddled figure +sprawled in the flat. Every Three Bar rider was a friend and she +hesitated to hear which one of her men had gone down in the raid. + +"Who was it?" she asked at last, and Harris divined that she was +harking back to the fallen night guard who had tried to head the +raiders alone. + +"I've been trying not to think about that," he said. "Lanky was a good +pal of mine. I saw him go down, but I couldn't stop right then." + +Evans occupied a place in her regard that was perhaps a notch higher +than that of any other of the crew. + +"Can't we prove anything on Slade--do anything to stop him?" she +demanded. "If they've killed Lanky, I'll perjure myself if it's the +only way. I'll have Alden pick him up and I'll swear I saw him do the +thing himself. He's as guilty as if he actually had." + +"I've a bait or two out for Slade," Harris said. "But that way may +prove too slow. If Lanky's gone under, I expect I'll have to pick a +quarrel with Slade and hurry things along." + +"Don't you!" she objected. For all of her confidence in Harris's +efficiency in most respects, her implicit belief in his courage, she +could not forget the awkward swing of his gun and she had a swift +vision of him facing Slade without a chance. + +A crash of wagon wheels and the voice of Waddles admonishing the horses +interrupted her. The chuck wagon rolled round a bend as the big cook +followed the trail of the night run. Every bed had been rolled and +loaded to eliminate the necessity of a return. The remuda trailed +behind the wagon under the combined supervision of the nighthawk and +the wrangler. + +"How is Lanky?" was Harris's first query. + +Waddles jerked a thumb over his shoulder. Evans, shot once through the +arm and a second time through the shoulder, reclined on the +triple-thickness bed roll the cook had spread for him on the floor of +the wagon. + +"Only nicked--clean holes and no bones," Lanky said. "I'll be all +right as soon as Waddles will let me out of this chariot and I get to +riding comfortable on a horse." + +"He'll come round fine in a few days if we can keep him offen a horse +and riding comfortable in the wagon," Waddles countered. "I've give +him orders to that effect." + +Evans groaned. + +"He drives over places I wouldn't cross afoot," he complained. "Did +you hold the run?" + +Reassured on this point he flattened out on his pallet and the wagon +held on toward the herd. + +The weary cows were held over for a day of rest. The night guards were +doubled and this precaution was maintained during the succeeding two +stops before reaching the shipping point. + +Harris and Billie sat on the top rail of the loading chute while the +last few Three Bar steers were being prodded on board the cars. + +Harris slipped from his perch and motioned to Moore and Horne. + +"You can go up town now and take on a few drinks. Hunt up an old +friend or two and wag your chins. Make it right secretive and +confidential and make each one promise faithful not to breathe a +syllable to another living soul. That way the news is sure to travel +rapid." + +He returned to the girl as the stock train pulled out. Two hands waved +a joyous farewell from the top of the cars, delighted at the prospect +of a trip to market with the steers. + +"I don't pretend to regret that old Rile played even for Bang's," +Harris said. "But I wish he'd sorted out some one else in the albino's +place. It was bad business for the Three Bar when Harper went down." + +"He was the head of the gang," she said. "The worst of the lot." + +"And for that reason he was able to hold them down," Harris explained. +"It was some of the outfit from over in the Breaks that stampeded us. +Slade wouldn't let his own boys know that much about him so he'd hire +Lang. Harper had brains. He wouldn't have gone in for that. Lang has +thrown in against us. He's all bulk and no brains and as savage as an +Apache buck. He'll hang himself in the end but in the interim he may +hand us considerable grief." + + + + +XII + +The wild riders of the Breaks no longer mingled with other men with the +same freedom as of old. Some fifteen men throughout the country felt +themselves marked and set apart from others. Friends no longer +fraternized with them at the bars when they rode into the towns. Doors +which had always been open in the past were now opened furtively if at +all. Lukewarm adherents fell away from them and avoided them even more +studiously than the rest. This swift transition had sprung apparently +from no more than a whisper, a murderous rumor which persisted in the +face of flat denials issued from its supposititious source. + +All through the range and as far south as the railroad it was current +gossip that the Three Bar would pay a thousand dollars reward for each +of fifteen men, a fast saddle horse thrown in and no questions asked. +The men were named, and if the rumor was based on truth it was +virtually placing a bounty on the scalps of certain men the same as the +State paid bounty on the scalps of wolves,--except that it was without +the sanction of the law. + +This backfire rumor had established a definite line with fifteen men +outside, conspicuous and alone, and those who had once followed the +hazy middle ground of semi-lawlessness with perfect security now +hastened to become solid citizens whose every act would stand the +light; for the whispers seemed all-embracing and it was intimated that +new names would be added to the original list to include those who +fraternized with the ones outside the pale. + +Those not branded by this alleged bounty system were quick to grasp the +beautiful simplicity of it all. Some recalled that a similar rumor, +supposed to have originated with old Con Ristine, had wiped out the +wild bunch that preyed on the Nations Cow-trail--that the Gallatin +clean-up had resulted from a like report which Al Moody was reported to +have launched. + +It had the effect of causing the men so branded to view all others with +suspicion, as possible aspirants out to collect the bounty on their +heads. It sowed distrust among their own ranks for there was always +the chance that one, in seeking safety for himself, might collect the +blood-money posted for another. The reference to the fast saddle horse +was guarantee that no questions would be asked before the price was +paid and no questions answered after the recipient had ridden away from +the Three Bar with his spoils. + +Yet, if the thing were true, it was the most flagrant violation of the +law ever launched, even in the Coldriver Strip where transgression was +the rule. For the branded men were not wanted on any charge. It was +merely the wholesale posting of rewards for the lives of some fifteen +citizens whose standing in the community was legally the same as the +rest,--prize money offered by an individual concern for its enemies +without reference to the law. On every possible occasion Harris flatly +denied that there was a shred of truth in the report. Al Moody, years +before, had also denied his responsibility for the rumors on the +Gallatin range; and Con Ristine had repudiated all knowledge of the +whispers that traveled the Nations Trail. But in each case these very +natural denials had served only to strengthen men's belief in the truth +of the reports; and inevitably they had established a hard line that +cut off the men so named from the rest of the countryside. + +Harris knew that his own life was forfeit any time he chanced to ride +alone. He had not a doubt but that Slade had put a price on his head +and that perhaps a dozen men were patiently waiting for a chance at +him. Any man whose name appeared on the black list which he was +supposed to have sponsored would overlook no opportunity to retaliate +in kind. In addition to this there was always the chance of a swift +raid on the men who had filed their homestead rights in the valley. + +As a consequence Harris had taken every possible precaution. Winter +had claimed the range and hardened the ground with frost. The full +force of Three Bar hands had been kept on the pay roll instead of being +let off immediately after the beef was shipped. These riders were +stationed in line camps out on the range, their ostensible purpose +being to hold all Three Bar cows close to the home ranch but in reality +they served two ends, acting as a cordon of guards as well. The two +woodcutters were camped in the edge of the hills behind the ranch and +daily patrolled the drifts that now lay deep in the timber for signs of +skulkers who might have slipped down from behind and stationed +themselves on some point overlooking the corrals. + +Three times in as many weeks strangers drifting in from other +localities stopped in Coldriver and profanely reported the fact that +for no reason whatever, while passing through the Three Bar range, they +had been held up and forced to state their business in that +neighborhood. + +Hostilities had ceased. The Three Bar girl had anticipated a series of +raids against the cows wearing her brand, swift forays in isolated +points of her range, but no stock losses were reported. On the surface +it appeared that Slade had given up all thought of harassing the Three +Bar. But the girl had come to know Slade. He would never recede from +his former stand. She noted that Harris's vigilance was never for an +instant relaxed and it was gradually impressed upon her that the +cessation of petty annoyances held more of menace than of assurance. +Slade had seen that the Three Bar was not to be discouraged in its +course and he now waited for an opportunity to launch a blow that would +cripple, striking simultaneously at every exposed point and delaying +only for a propitious time. In the face of continued immunity she was +filled with a growing conviction of impending trouble. + +Christmas had found the range covered with a fresh tracking snow which +precluded possibility of a raid and all hands had been summoned to the +home ranch for a two-day rest. Harris knew that cowhands, no matter +how loyal to the brand that pays them, are a restless lot and must have +their periodical fling to break the monotony of lonely days; so he had +provided food and drink in abundance. The frolic was over and the +hands back on the range. Harris sat with Billie before her fire. + +"They'll be satisfied for another two months," he said. "Then we'll +have to call them in for another spree." + +This evening conference before the fire had come to be a nightly +occurrence. Together they went over the details of the work +accomplished during the day and mapped out those for the next. From +outside came the crunch of hoofs and the screech of logs on the frozen +trail as the last mule team came down with its load. + +Most of the logs had been skidded down and the men now worked in pairs, +erecting the cabins on each filing. The cedar posts had been hauled +and strung out along the prospective fence lines. The wagons, under +heavy guard, had made two trips to the railroad to freight in more +implements and supplies. Thousands of pounds of seed oats and alfalfa +seed were stored at the Three Bar along with sixty hundred of cement. + +"Another two months and the cabins will be roofed and finished," Harris +said. "Then we'll be through till the frost is out of the ground. +We'll start building fence as soon as you can sink a post hole; and +we'll have time to break out another two hundred acres of ground before +time to seed it down." + +The girl nodded without comment, content to leave him to his thoughts, +her mind pleasantly occupied with her own. For long her evenings had +been lonely but now she had come to look forward to the conferences +before the blazing logs. She had made no attempt to analyze the +reasons for the new contentment which had transformed her evenings, +formerly periods of drab reflections, into the most pleasant portion of +each day. + +Harris gazed about the familiar room and wondered what the future held +out to him if he should be forced to spend his evenings alone after +having shared them for six months with the Three Bar girl. The weekly +letters still came from Deane. The girl valued Harris as a friend and +partner without apparent trace of more intimate regard. He wondered +which would prevail, the ties which bound her to the life she had +always known or the lure of the new life which beckoned. + +Suddenly, without having sought it, the explanation of her recent +contentment bubbled to the surface of the girl's consciousness, and she +turned and gazed at Harris. Night after night she had sat here with +old Cal Warren and discussed the details of their work and after his +passing her evenings had been hours of restlessness. Now Harris, the +partner, had crept into the father's place,--had in a measure filled +the void. + +Harris rose and flicked the ash from his cigarette, suppressing the +desire to take her in his arms, for he knew that time had not yet come. +As he opened the door to leave an eddy of steam curled in at the +opening as the warm air of the room battled on the threshold with the +thirty-below temperature of the outside world. She heard the hissing +crunch of his boots on the frozen crust--and reached for Deane's +Christmas letter to reread it for perhaps the fifth time. + +During the night a chinook poured its warm breath over the hills and +morning found the snow crumpling before it. The surface was a pulpy +mass intersected by rivulets. Water trickled from the eaves of the +buildings and there was a breath of spring in the air; false assurance +for those who knew, for it was inevitable that, once the chinook had +passed, bitter frost would clamp down once more. + +Such days, however, inspire plans for spring and Billie rode with +Harris through the lower field as he pointed out the various fence +lines and the lay of the ditches and laterals which would carry water +to irrigate the meadow, all these to be installed as soon as winter +should lose its grip. + +As Harris outlined his plans his words were tinged with optimism and he +allowed no hint of possible disaster to creep into his speech. But the +girl was conscious of that hovering uncertainty, the feeling that the +months of peace were but to lure her into a false sense of security and +that Slade would pounce on the Three Bar from all angles at once +whenever the time was right. + +She found some consolation in the fact that Lang's men no longer rode +through her range at will, but skirted it in their trips to and from +the Breaks. She attributed this solely to Harris's precautions in the +matter of outguards, for of all those within a hundred miles she was +perhaps the single one who had not heard of the sinister rumor that was +cutting Lang and his men off from the rest of the world. + +Men were discussing it wherever they met; in Coldriver they were +speculating on the possible results, the same in the railroad towns; +across the Idaho line and south into Utah it was the topic of the day. +And the single patron of Brill's store found the same question +uppermost in his mind. + +Carson was one of the many who were neither wholly good nor hopelessly +bad, one who had drifted with the easy current of the middle course. +And he was wondering if that middle course would continue to prove +safe. He played solitaire to pass the time. His horse and saddle had +been lost in a stud-poker game just prior to his catching the stage to +Brill's, where his credit had always been good. He rose, stretched and +accosted Brill. + +"Put me down for a quart," he said. + +"Whenever you put down the cash," Brill returned. + +"What's the matter with my credit?" Carson demanded. "I've always +paid." + +Brill reached for a book, opened it and slid it on to the bar. He +flipped the pages and indicated a number of accounts ruled off with red +ink. + +"So did Harper," he said. "He always paid; and Canfield--and Magill; +these others too. Their credit was good but they've all gone +somewheres I can't follow to collect. And they was owing me." He +tapped a double account. + +"Bangs was into me a little. Old Rile paid up for him and then got it +in his turn--with his name down for a hundred on my books. Harris and +Billie Warren paid up for Rile. Now just whoever do you surmise will +pay up for you?" + +"Me?" Carson inquired. "Why, I ain't dead. I'm clear alive." + +"So was they when I charged those accounts," Brill said. "But it looks +like stormy days ahead. I sell for cash." + +"I'm not on this death list, if that's what you're referring to," +Carson announced. + +"But it's easy to get enrolled," Brill said. "Your name's liable to +show up on it any time. Seen Lang in the last few days?" + +"Not in the last few months," Carson stated. "Nor yet in the next few +years. He's no friend of mine." + +"I sort of remember you used to be right comradely," Brill remarked. + +"That's before I really knowed Lang intimate," Carson said. "He didn't +strike me as such a bad sort at first; but now he's going too strong. +Folks are getting plum down on him." + +"What you mean is that folks who used to be friendly are growing spooky +about getting their own names on that list," Brill said. "That's what +has opened their eyes." + +"Maybe so," the thirsty man confessed. "But anyway, I'm through." + +"They're all through!" Brill said. "A hundred others just like you, +scattered here and there. It's come to them recent just what a bad lot +Lang is. It's hell what a whisper can do." + +"It is when that whisper is backed by a thousand-dollar reward," Carson +agreed. "If he really pays up it'll wreck Lang's little snap for sure." + +Brill dabbed his cloth at an imaginary spot on the polished slab and +nodded without comment. + +"I reckon he launched that scheme because Slade put a price on him +first," Carson said. + +"I didn't know Slade was into this," Brill stated softly. "There's no +proof of that. Not a shred." + +"No more than there's any proof that Harris is behind these rewards," +Carson said. "But you know that Slade is out to wreck the Three Bar +since they've planted squatters there." + +The storekeeper failed to respond. + +"There's likely a dozen men looking for Harris right now," Carson +prophesied. + +"But it's hard for one of 'em to get within ten miles of the ranch," +Brill observed. "So while they're maybe looking for him it's right +difficult to see him that far off." + +"I don't mind admitting that I'm for Harris--as against Slade," Carson +said. + +"Just between us two I don't mind confessing that I'm neutral--as +against everything else," Brill returned. + +"Now you know how I'm lined up. Do I get that quart?" Carson urged. + +"I knew how you was lined up months back." Brill turned on a dry smile. + +"I ain't told a soul till right now," Carson objected. "So how could +you know?" + +"You didn't need to tell. As soon as that rumor leaked out it was a +cinch where you'd stand. And a hundred others are crowding on to the +same foothold along with you." + +"And why not?" Carson demanded. "Who wants to get a thousand plastered +on his scalp? It would tempt a man's best friends." + +"Or scare 'em off," the storekeeper commented. "Which is all the same +in the end." + +A half dozen men clattered up in front and surged through the door. +More arrivals followed as the regular afternoon crowd gathered before +the bar. There were many jobless hands drifting from one ranch to the +next, "grublining" on each brand for a week or more at a time during +the slack winter months. + +Carpenter rode up alone. Brill lowered one lid and jerked his head +toward Carson. + +"Broke--and reformed," he said. "Maybe." + +Some minutes later Carp bought the thirsty man a drink. + +"You looking for a job?" he asked. "I can use you down my way." + +Carson was well versed in the bends of the devious trail and Carp's +ways smacked of irregularities. Carson had ideas of his own why the +other man was allowed to start up an outfit down in Slade's range. One +day Carp's name would be cited on the black list. As diplomatically as +possible he refused the offer of a job. + +The storekeeper smiled as he noted this. Carson had turned into a +solid citizen almost overnight. As Carp left him and joined another +group Brill poured Carson a drink. + +"You're a fair risk at that--as long as you stay cautious," he +remarked. "I'll stake you to a horse and saddle. You can ride the +grubline with the rest of the boys till spring and get a job when work +opens up." He slid a bottle across the bar. "Here's your quart." + +He stood looking after him as Carson moved to a table and motioned +several others to join him over the bottle. + +"That's about the tenth reformation that's transpired under my eyes in +as many days," Brill mused. "Give us time and this community will turn +pure and spotless. I don't mind any man's owing me if he stands a fair +show to go on living." + +The sheriff dropped in for one of his infrequent visits to Brill's. He +waved all hands to a drink. + +"I've just been out to the Three Bar to see Harris," he announced. +"And asked him about this news that's been floating about. He came +right out flat and says he's not offering a reward. That's all a +mistake." + +Every man in the room grinned at this statement. There was no other +possible reply that Harris could make. + +"Of course," the sheriff said reflectively. "Of course there's just a +chance that Cal lied to me." + +"He lied all right," Carp prophesied. "I'd bet my shirt he'll stand to +pay the price for every man that's cited on that list." + +"Shaw," the sheriff deprecated. "That's dead against the law, that is. +He can't do that." + +"He will do it," Carp predicted. "If I was on that list I'd be moving +for somewheres a long ways remote from here." + +"Then you'd better be starting," Alden counseled mildly. "For Harris +was just telling me that your name had got mixed up with it. Morrow's +name has sprung up too. Cal seemed mystified as to how it had come +about for he says you and Morrow never rode with the others on the +list. He couldn't figure how this thing come to start." + +"Figure!" Carp snapped. "He figured it out himself, who else? Are you +going to stand for his putting a price on every man he happens to +dislike?" + +"But he says he don't know anything about it," the sheriff +expostulated. "So how can I prove he does? I'd like to know for sure. +If I thought he was actually set to pay those rewards I'd have to ride +over and remonstrate with Cal. That would be in defiance of the law." + +One or two who had been drinking with Carp moved over to speak with +others and failed to return. He was left standing alone at the bar. +He shrugged his shoulders and went out. + +"Folks are considerable like sheep," Brill observed. It occurred to +him that in every saloon and in every bunk house within a hundred miles +the topic of conversation was the same. + +He lowered one lid as he looked at the sheriff and jerked his head +toward Carson. + +"He's broke--and reformed," he said. "Absolutely." + +The sheriff drew Carson aside. + +"If you're wanting a job I'll stake you to an outfit and feed you +through till spring. Forty a month from then on. I'll need a parcel +of deputies, likely, after that." + +"You've got one," Carson stated. "I'll sign now." + +The storekeeper, the sheriff and the new deputy stood at one end of the +bar. + +"It's queer that folks don't see the real object of this rumor," Brill +observed. + +"Its object is to clean out the hardest citizens in the country," +Carson said. "That's why they're named. Why else?" + +"The object is to clean up the rest of the country first," Brill said. + +Carson grunted his disbelief. + +"If Harris only wanted to wipe out those on the list he wouldn't go to +all this fuss," Brill explained. "He'd just put on an extra bunch of +hands and raid the Breaks himself. Swear he caught them running off a +bunch of Three Bar cows. Simpler and considerable less expense." + +"Then what's the object of this bounty?" Carson insisted. + +"That's aimed at the doubtful folks," Brill stated. "Folks that was on +the fence--like you. This death list makes them spooky and they turn +into good little citizens in one round of the clock. It leaves the +worst ones outside without a friend. Every one lined up solid behind +the law. Public sentiment will start running strong against those +outside. Then it'll be easy for the sheriff and a bunch of +deputies--like you--to clean the country up from end to end, with the +whole community backing your play." + +Carson considered this for some time. + +"Well, I can furnish the deputies," he said at last. "Boys that are +strong for law and order from first to last." + +"I've got about all I need," the sheriff said. "A dozen or so. Mostly +old friends of yours. I've picked 'em up on and off in the last two +weeks. They're strong for upholding the last letter of the law--just +like you said." + +"A dozen?" Carson asked. "How'll you raise the money to pay that many +at once?" + +"I'm sort of expecting maybe the Three Bar will make up the deficit," +Alden said. "It's cheaper than paying rewards. That's another reason +I don't think Cal had a hand in this blacklist report." + +The storekeeper grinned. + +"Surely not. Surely not. I'd never suspect him of that," he said. +"But all the same it's working just as well as if he really had." + + + + +XIII + +The first warm days of spring had drawn the frost from the ground. +Billie rode beside Harris down the lane to the lower field. A tiny +cabin stood completed on every filing. Two men were digging post holes +across the valley below the edge of the last fall's plowing and the +mule teams were steadily breaking out another strip. + +"Almost a year," she said, referring to the commencement of the new +work. + +"Just a year to-day," Harris corrected, and he was thinking of the day +he had first met the Three Bar girl. "This is our anniversary, sort +of." + +She nodded as she caught his meaning. + +"The anniversary of our partnership," she said. "You're good on dates. +We've pulled together pretty well, considering our start." + +"It was a rocky trail for the first few days," he confessed. "But all +the time I was hoping it would get smoothed out." + +"You told me there were millions of miles of sage just outside," she +recollected. "And millions of cows--and girls." + +"Later I told you something else," he said. "And I've been meaning it +ever since. The road to the outside is closed. If I was to start now +I'd lose the way." + +She pointed down the valley as a drove of horses moved toward them +under the guidance of a dozen men. The hands would start breaking out +the remuda the following day. The spring work was on. + +"Off to a running start on another year," he said. "And sure to hold +our lead." They drew aside as the remuda thundered past and on toward +the corrals. "From to-day on out, you and I'll be a busy pair," he +prophesied. + +His prediction proved true. The Three Bar was a beehive of activity +and it seemed that the hours between dawn and dark were all too short +for the amount of work Harris wished to crowd into them. + +The cowhands were breaking out the horses in the corrals while the +acreage of plowed land in the lower fields steadily increased. + +The heaviest cedar posts were tamped in place for the outer fence and a +six-wire barrier held range cows back from the bottoms which would soon +be in growing crops. It crossed the flats below the lower filings and +followed the road that held to one side of the valley clear to the +Three Bar lane. On the far side it mounted the bench that flanked the +bottoms and followed the crest of it, tying into the home corrals. +Lighter three-wire fences marked the homestead lines within. + +The day that Evans led the men out on the calf round-up, the mule teams +made their first trip across the plowed land with the drill. + +Harris and the girl sat their horses and watched the initial trip. The +fields were being seeded to alfalfa and oats so that the faster growing +grain might shade and protect the tender shoots of hay. Before the +grain ripened it would be cut green for hay, cured and stacked. + +When the seeding was completed Billie worked with Harris and together +they ran a level over the seeded ground, marking out the laterals on +grade across the fields from points where they would tap the main feed +ditches and carry water to the crops. + +Russ and Tiny followed the lines of stakes which marked their readings +of the level, throwing a plow furrow each way. A second pair of +homesteaders followed behind them, their mules dragging a pointed +steel-shod ditcher which forced out the loosened earth. + +A concrete head gate was installed at a feasible take-out point on the +Crazy Loop. Then all hands worked on a main feed ditch which would +carry sufficient volume of water to cover every filing. Lead ditches +tapped the main artery at frequent intervals, each one of capacity to +carry a head of water to irrigate one forty. These in turn feathered +out into the tiny laterals across the meadow. + +Early rains had moistened the fields and they were faintly green with +tiny shoots of oats. These thickened into a rank velvety carpet while +the homesteaders were hauling a hundred loads of rocks to form a crude +dam across the stream below the take-out. The water was gradually +raised till it ran almost flush with the top of the head gate. The +gates were lifted and the diverted waters sped smoothly down the new +channel to carry life to a portion of the sagebrush desert. + +A few days would find the cowhands back from the round-up. The +homesteaders must make one more trip to the railroad to freight in the +stacker and the two buck-sweeps to be used in putting up the hay. This +trip was delayed only till the round-up crew was back from the range +for a week of leisure and could act as guards while the others were +away. + +As the tangible results of the work became more apparent Harris's +vigilance increased. There was now more than plowed ground to work on; +crops to be trampled at a time when they would not lift again to permit +of mowing; fences to be wrecked so that range stock might have free +access to the fields. A single night could upset the work of many +months. But as he stood with Billie at the mouth of the lane he +allowed none of his thoughts to be reflected in his speech. + +It was two hours before dark and the perspective toward the east was +already foreshortened. Two jackrabbits hopped into the lane and moved +down toward the meadow. The homesteaders had turned their hands to +another job. Tiny and Russ, shod with rubber boots, were leaning on +their long-handled shovels in the forty nearest the house. Beyond them +the other irrigators were spreading the water over the growing crops. + +Billie Warren half-closed her eyes and viewed the broad expanse of +rippling green in the bottoms. How many times she had stood here in +the past with old Cal Warren while he visioned this very picture which +now unrolled before her eyes in reality; the transformation of the +Three Bar flat from a desert waste to a scene of abundant fertility +under the reclaiming touch of water. + +It was a quiet picture of farm life if one looked only upon the +blooming fields and took no account of the raw, barren foothills that +flanked them,--the gaunt, towering range behind. She found it +difficult to link the scene before her with the deviltry of a few +months past. The killing of Bangs and Rile Foster's consequent grim +retaliation; the raid on Three Bar bulls and the stampede of her trail +herd; all those seemed part of some life so long in the past as to form +no part of her present. + +The continued immunity had had its effect, regardless of her earlier +suspicions. She still realized the possibility of further raids but +they had been so long delayed that the prospect had ceased to impress +her as imminent. Tiny and Russ changed their head of water. As they +shifted positions she noted that each carried some tool beside his +irrigator's shovel. No man in the field ever strayed far from the +rifle which was part of his equipment. But even this was an evidence +of vigilance which had met her eye every day for months and had ceased +to impress. + +They walked to the near edge of the field and Harris stooped to part +the knee-deep grain, pointing to the slender stems of alfalfa with +their delicate leaves. + +"We have a record stand of young hay," he said. "It's thick all +through--every place I've looked." He straightened up and laughed. +"And I expect I've looked at every acre. I've been right interested in +those little shoots. It's deep-rooted now. The worst is past. I +don't see that anything that could happen now would kill it out. Next +year we'll put up a thousand tons of hay." + +He dropped a hand on her shoulder and stood looking down at her. + +"Billie, don't you think it's about time you were finding out what +Judge Colton wants?" he asked. "He's been right insistent on your +going back to confer with him." + +The girl shook her head positively. Two months before Judge Colton had +written that he must advise with her on matters of importance and +suggested that she come on at once. Harris had urged her to go and +almost daily referred to it. + +"I can't go now," she said. "Not till I've seen one whole season +through. When the first Three Bar crop is cut and in the stack I'll +go. All other business must wait till then. You two can't drive me +away till after I see that first crop in the stack." + +"If you'd go now you'd likely get back before we're through cutting," +he urged. "And the Judge has written twice in the last two weeks." + +Before she could answer this a horseman appeared on the valley road. +The furthest irrigator, merely a speck in the distance, exchanged +shovel for rifle and crossed to the fence. The rider, as if expecting +some such move, pulled up his horse and approached at a walk. + +Harris saw the two confer. The horseman handed some object to the +other and urged his horse on toward the house. He was one of the +sheriff's deputies. He grinned as he tapped his empty holster. + +"One of your watchdogs lifted my gun," he said. He handed Harris a +note. + +After reading it Harris looked at his watch and snapped it shut, +glanced at the sinking sun and turned to the girl. + +"I have to make a little jaunt," he explained. + +"Alden wants to see me. I'll take Waddles along. As we go down I'll +send Russ or Tiny up to cook for the rest." + +The deputy turned his horse into the corral and five minutes later +Harris and Waddles rode away. Waddles was mounted on Creamer, the big +buckskin. + +"We'll have to step right along," Harris said. "It's forty miles." + +They held the horses to a stiff swinging trot that devoured the miles +without seeming to tire their mounts. For four hours they headed south +and a little east, never slackening their pace except to breathe the +horses on some steep ascent. The buckskin and the paint-horse had lost +the first snap of their trot and it was evident that they would soon +begin to lag. Another hour and they had slowed down perceptibly. + +The two men dismounted and tied the horses to the brush in a sheltered +coulee, then started across a broad flat on foot. Out in the center a +spot showed darker than the rest,--the old cabin where Carpenter had +elected to start up for himself after being discharged from the Three +Bar. + +When within a hundred yards of the cabin a horse, tied to a hitch post +in front, neighed shrilly and Harris laid a restraining hand on +Waddles's arm. They knelt in the brush as the door opened and a man +stood silhouetted against the light. After a space of two minutes +Carp's voice reached them. + +"Not a sound anywheres," he said. "Likely some horses drifting past." +He went inside and closed the door. The two men circled the cabin and +came up from the rear. A window stood opened some eight inches from +the bottom. Through the holes in the ragged flour sack that served as +a curtain Harris secured a view of the inside. Carp and Slade sat +facing across a little table in the center of the room. + +"I want to clean up and go," Carp was saying. "This damn Harris put me +on the black list." + +"You've been on it for three months," Slade said. "Nothing has +happened yet. But don't let me keep you from pulling out any time you +like." + +"But I've got a settlement to make," Carp insisted. "Let's get that +fixed up." + +"Settlement?" Slade asked. "Settlement with who?" + +Carpenter leaned across the table and tapped it to emphasize his +remarks. + +"Listen. Morrow gave me a bill of sale from you calling for a hundred +head of Three Bar she-stock, rebranded Triangle on the hip." + +Slade nodded shortly. + +"I gave Morrow that for two years' back pay when he quit. He could +sell out to you if he liked." + +"And now I want to sell out," Carp said. "And be gone from here." + +"How many head have you got?" Slade asked. + +"Three hundred head," Carp stated. + +"You've increased right fast," Slade remarked. "I'd think you'd want +to stay where you was doing so well. How much do you want?" + +"Five dollars straight through," Carp said. + +"Cheap enough," Slade answered. "If only a man was in the market." He +looked straight at Carp and the man's eyes slipped away from Slade's +steady gaze. "But I'm not buying. Likely Morrow will buy you out." + +"Morrow ought to be here now," Carp stated. "He's coming to-night." + +"Then I'd better go," Slade said. "I don't like Morrow's ways." + +The thud of horse's hoofs sounded from close at hand. The two men +outside lay flat in the shadow of the house. A shrill whistle, twice +repeated, called Carp to his feet and he crossed to the door to answer +it. Morrow dismounted and came to the door. He nodded briefly to +Slade, hesitating on the sill as if surprised to find him there. Carp +lost no time in stating his proposition. He spoke jerkily. + +"I want to get out," he said. "I'll sell for five dollars a head." + +Morrow held up a hand to silence him. + +"I'll likely buy--but I never talk business in a crowd." He crossed +the room and sat with his back to the window. "There's plenty of time." + +"I take it I'm the crowd," Slade remarked. "So I'll step out." + +Morrow stiffened suddenly in his chair as a cold ring was pressed +against the back of his neck through the crack of the window. At the +same instant Carp had tilted back and raised one knee. The gun that +rested on his leg was peeping over the table at Slade. + +"Steady!" he ordered. "Sit tight!" + +The window was thrown up to its full height by Waddles and the curtain +snatched away from the gun which Harris held against Morrow's neck. +Carp's apparent nervousness had vanished. He flipped back his vest and +revealed a marshal's badge. + +"I'd as soon take you along feet first as any way," he said. "So if +you feel like acting up you can start any time now." + +Slade's eyes came back from the two men at the window and rested on the +badge. + +"So that's it," he said with evident relief. "A real arrest--when I +figured it was an old-fashioned murder you had planned. What do you +want with me?" + +Waddles had reached down and removed Morrow's gun. + +"A number of things," Carpenter said. "Obstructing the homestead laws +for one." + +Slade shook his head and smiled. + +"You've got the wrong party," he said. "You can't prove anything on +me." + +"I don't count on that," Carp said. "You've covered up right well. We +know you work through Morrow but can't prove a word. We've got enough +to hang him; but I expect maybe you'll get off." + +There was a scrape of feet outside the door and the sheriff entered and +took possession of Slade's gun as Harris and Waddles moved round from +the window and went inside. + +"I'm a few minutes late," Alden said. "I wasn't right sure how close I +was to the house so I left my horse too far back." + +"Here's your prisoners," Carp said. "Captured and delivered as agreed. +I haven't anything on Slade myself but if you want him he's yours." + +"What do you want with me?" Slade demanded a second time. + +"I'm picking you up on complaint make by the Three Bar," Alden said. +"I'll have to take you along." + +Slade turned on Harris. + +"What charge?" he asked. + +"Killing twelve Three Bar bulls on the last day of August," Harris +stated. + +"I was out with the ranger," Slade said. "Back in the hills. You know +that yourself. That charge won't stick." + +"Then maybe it was the second of May," Harris returned. "I sort of +forget." + +Slade suddenly grasped the significance of this arrest. + +"How many of you fellows are pussy-footing round out here?" he inquired +of Carp. + +"I don't mind confessing that several of the boys are riding for you," +Carp informed. "But while we've cinched Morrow we haven't been able to +trace it back to you. I even got put on the black list, thinking you +might do business with me direct after that--knowing my word wouldn't +stand against yours. But not you! You've covered your tracks." + +Carp spoke softly, as if to himself, detailing his failure to gather +conclusive evidence against Slade. + +"I even run your rebrand on fifty or so Three Bar cows. You knew there +wasn't a dollar changed hands when Morrow gave me that paper which +licensed me to rustle my own she-stock. We can't even prove that you +didn't owe him two years' back pay and square up by giving him that +bill of sale. There's never a check of yours made out to Morrow that's +gone through the bank. The boys who staged the stampede drew down a +lump sum from Morrow for the job. We know who was financing the +raid--can't be proved. The idea in my starting up was to run your +rebrand on any number of Three Bar cows. Later Morrow would buy me +out--acting for you; can't be proved. Oh, you're in the clear, all +right." + +Slade broke in upon the monologue. This recitation of his probable +immunity from conviction on every count, far from reassuring him, +served to confirm his original suspicion as to the reason for this +arrest without witnesses. If the sheriff had wanted him he had but to +send word for Slade to come in. He threw out one last line and the +answer convinced him beyond all doubt. + +"Then a lawyer will have me out in an hour," he predicted. + +"A lawyer could," Alden said. "If you saw one. But we've decided not +to let you have access to legal advice for the first few days." + +Slade turned on Carpenter. + +"This sort of thing is against the law," he said. "You're a United +States marshal. How can you go in on a kidnapping deal?" + +"I'm not in on it," Carp shrugged. "The sheriff asked me to arrest you +at the first opportunity. I've turned you over to him. The rest is +his affair. Besides, like I was mentioning, they can't prove a thing +on you. As soon as they're convinced of that they'll turn you loose." + +The sheriff nodded gravely. + +"The very day I'm satisfied Harris can't prove his charges I'll throw +open the doors. You'll be a free man that minute." + +A vision of the near future swept across Slade's mind. If he should be +locked up for three months and discharged for lack of evidence it would +wreck him as surely as the rumors of the last few months had cut Lang's +men off from the rest of the world. Squatters had filed on every +available site throughout his range and now waited to see if the Three +Bar would win its fight. If the news should be spread that he was +locked up these nesters would rush in. On his release he would find +them everywhere. With marshals scattered through the ranks of his own +men, intent on upholding the homestead laws, he would be helpless to +drive them out. The pictures of the different valleys suitable for +ranch sites, scattered here and there over his extensive range, +traveled through his mind in kaleidoscopic procession--and he visioned +a squatter outfit established on every one. If they locked him up at +this time he was lost. + +He nodded slowly. + +"Well, I guess you've got me," he said. "I don't see that it will +amount to much, anyway. Sooner or later you'll let me out." He raised +his arms high above his head and stretched. Under cover of this casual +move he swiftly raised one foot. + +Slade planted his boot on the edge of the light table and gave a +tremendous shove. The far edge caught the sheriff across the legs and +overthrew him. The lantern crashed to the floor and at the same +instant Morrow aimed a sidewise, sweeping kick at Carpenter's ankles. +As the marshal went down his head struck the corner post of a bunk and +he did not rise. + +With a single sweep Morrow caught the back of his chair and swung it +above his head for the spot which Waddles had occupied at the instant +the light went out. The weapon splintered in his hands as it found its +mark, and as the big man struck the dirt floor Morrow leaped for the +dim light which indicated the open door. + +A huge paw clamped on one ankle and a back-handed wrench sent him +flying across the room to the far wall. With a sweep of the other hand +Waddles slammed the door with a bang that jarred the cabin. + +"We've got 'em trapped," the big voice exulted. "We've got 'em sewed +in a sack." + +Harris made one long reach and swung the butt of his gun for Slade's +head as the table went down but Slade, with the same motion, vaulted +the prostrate sheriff. The force of the blow threw Harris off his +balance and as he tripped and reeled to his knees Slade's boot heel +scored a glancing blow on his skull and floored him. He regained his +feet, gripping a fragment of the chair Morrow had smashed over +Waddles's head, and struck at a dim form which loomed against the vague +light of the window. + +The shape closed with him and he went down in a corner with Slade. +Slade struck him twice in the face, writhed away and gained his feet, +back-slashing at Harris's head with his spurs. Harris caught a +hand-hold in the long fur of the other's chaps, wrapped both arms round +Slade above the knees and dragged him back. His hand found Slade's +throat and he squeezed down on it as the man raised both knees and +thrust them against his stomach to break the hold. Slade's arm swept a +circle on the floor in search of the gun Harris had dropped but he was +jerked a foot from the floor and Harris jammed his head against the log +wall,--jammed again and Slade crumpled into a limp heap. Harris held +him there, unwilling to take a chance lest the other might be feigning +unconsciousness. But Slade was out of the fight. + +The sheriff struggled to his feet as Waddles tossed Morrow back from +the door and slammed it shut. He closed with Morrow but the man eluded +him. He dared not shoot with friends and enemies struggling all about +the black pit of the little room. + +Morrow leaped one way, then the opposite, as the sheriff groped for +him. Alden turned toward a rattle at the stove as he heard Slade's +head crunch against the wall under Harris's savage thrust. + +"Down him!" Waddles roared. "Tear him down! Tear him down! I'm +holding the door." + +From the corner by the stove an iron pot hurtled across the room for +the sound of the voice and crashed against the wall a foot from his +head. A second kettle struck Alden in the chest and he went down. +Waddles saw the light vanish from the window, then reappear. Morrow +had made a headlong dive through the little opening. + +Waddles swung back the door and sprang outside as Morrow vaulted to the +saddle. The big man lunged and tackled both horse and man as a grizzly +would seek to batter down his prey. + +The frightened horse struck at him, numbing one leg with the blow of an +iron-shod forefoot, then reared and wheeled away from the thing which +sprang at him, but Waddles retained his grip in the animal's mane, his +other hand clamped on Morrow's ankle. + +The rider leaned and struck him in the head. The crazed horse shook +Waddles off but as he fell the other man fell with him, dragged from +the saddle by the jerk of one mighty hand. They rolled apart and +Morrow leaped to his feet but Waddles had wrenched the leg already +numbed by the striking horse and it buckled under him and let him back +to the ground as he put his weight on it. He reached for his gun. A +form loomed above him, a heavy rock upraised in both hands. The gun +barked just as a downward sweep of the arms started the rock for his +head. Morrow pitched down across him and Waddles swept him aside with +a single thrust. + +He rose and stirred the limp shape with his toe as the sheriff reached +his side. + +"Dead bird!" Waddles announced and turned to limp back to the cabin. + +A match flared inside as Harris lighted the lantern. Carpenter stirred +and sat up, moving one hand along the gash in his scalp. The sheriff +stooped and snapped a pair of handcuffs on Slade's wrists. They +splashed water on his face and he opened his eyes. He regarded the +steel bracelets at his wrists as he was helped to his feet and turned +to Harris. + +"Don't forget that I'll kill you for this," he said. It was a simple +statement, made without heat or bluster, and aside from this one remark +he failed to speak a syllable until the sheriff rode away with him. + +The sheriff waved the lantern outside the door and before he lowered it +two deputies rode up, leading his horse. + +"We started at that shot," one of them announced in explanation of +their prompt arrival. + +Alden motioned Slade to his horse and helped him up. + +"Shoot him out of the saddle if he makes a break," he ordered briefly. + +"Now you can move against those men I've sworn out complaints for," +Harris said to Alden. "Public sentiment has turned against them to +such an extent that they won't get any help--and there won't be any to +fill their places, once we've cleaned them up. Deputize the whole +Three Bar crew when you're ready to start." + +The sheriff nodded and led the way with the two deputies riding close +behind, one riding on either side of Slade. + + + + +XIV + +The freight wagons rattled away from the Three Bar as the first light +showed in the east, and the grind of wheels on gravel died out in the +distance as Harris and Billie finished their breakfast. + +They walked to the mouth of the lane and watched the light driving the +shadows from the valleys. A score of times they had stood so, never +tiring of the view afforded from this spot, a view which spoke of Three +Bar progress and future prosperity. The hands had come in from the +round-up the night before, prior to the return of Harris and Waddles +from their mysterious two-day trip in response to the sheriff's +message, and Evans had led them to Brill's for a night of play. They +were due back at the ranch in the early forenoon and Harris had allowed +the freighters to depart before the others arrived. + +"We'll be short of guards for the next hour or two," he said. "Till +the boys get back from Brill's--but they'll be rocking in most any time +now." + +"What did Alden want?" she asked, referring to the trip from which he +and Waddles had returned late the night before. + +"We made a call on Carp," he said. "He had some good news we've been +waiting for." + +"Then Carp is a Three Bar plant," she said. + +"He's a U. S. plant," Harris corrected. "But he's been working in with +us to get something on Slade--to gather proof that he's behind these +squatter raids of the last few years and the ones they've aimed at us +up to date. He couldn't get a shred that would hold in court. But +Slade is almost through. His claws are clipped." + +The girl started to question him as to Carp's activities but after the +first sentence she became aware that his attention was riveted on +something other than her words. He had thrown up his head like a +startled buck and was peering down the valley. + +Her range-bred ears caught and correctly interpreted the sound which +had roused him. A distant rumble reached her and the surface of the +earth seemed to vibrate faintly beneath her feet. She knew the jar for +the pounding of thousands of hoofs, the drone for the far-off bawling +of frightened cows. A low black line filled the valley from side to +side, rushing straight on up the gently-sloping bottoms for the Three +Bar flat. + +"They're on us," Harris said. "I might have known. Get back to the +house--quick!" + +As they ran she noticed that his eyes were not upon the surging mass of +cows in the valley but were trained on the broken slopes back of the +house. + +"Anyway, they don't want you," he said. "We'll do the best we can." + +Waddles stood in the door of the cookhouse, his big face flushed with +wrath as he gazed at the oncoming sea of cows. He reached up and took +the shotgun which reposed on two pegs above the door. + +He slammed the heavy door and dropped the bar as they sprang inside. + +"I made that prediction about clipping Slade's claws too soon," Harris +said. "What with Slade locked up and Morrow six feet underground, I +was overconfident. I might have known it was planned ahead." + +His face was lined with anxiety, an expression she had never before +seen him wear even in the face of emergency. She had no time to +question him about the assertions relative to Morrow and Slade. + +The front rank of the stampede was bearing down on the lower fence. +The barrier went down as so much spider web before the drive; posts +were broken short, wire was snapped and dragged, and three thousand +head of cows pounded on across the meadows. + +The girl had a sickening realization that the work of a year would be +blotted out in a space of seconds under those churning hoofs. It +seemed that she must die of sheer grief as she witnessed the complete +devastation of the fields she had watched day by day with such loving +care. The stampede swept the full length of the meadow and held on for +the house. The acute stab of her grief was dulled and replaced by a +mental lethargy. The worst had happened and she viewed the rest of the +scene with something akin to indifference. + +The foremost cows struck the corrals and they went down with a +splintering crash under the pressure from behind. She looked out on a +sea of tossing horns and heaving backs as the herd rushed through, the +heavy log buildings shaking from the mass of animals jammed against +them and squeezing past. + +The force of the run was spent on the steep slope back of the house and +the herd split into detachments and moved off through the hills. + +The west side of the house was windowless, a blank wall built against +the standing winds. Waddles was busily engaged in knocking out a patch +of chinking and endeavoring to work a loophole between the logs. +Harris was similarly engaged between two windows which overlooked the +blacksmith shop, storerooms and saddle room that formed a solid line of +buildings a hundred yards to the east. She reflected hazily that there +was little cause for such petty activity when the worst had happened +and the Three Bar had suffered an irreparable loss. + +Harris pointed down the valley to the south and she turned mechanically +and crossed to that window. A few riders showed on the ridges on +either flank of the valley. + +"They were cached up there to pick us off if we rode down to try and +turn the run," he said. "If it had been light they might have opened +on the wagons. But they knew the rest hadn't started the cows." + +She nodded without apparent interest. What might transpire now seemed +a matter to be viewed with indifference. + +"It's time for me to go," Harris said. "I'll hold the bunk house. +Good luck, Billie--we'll hold 'em off." + +He turned to Waddles who still worked to make a loophole through the +blank wall. + +"If it gets too hot put her outside and tell her to give herself up. +Even Lang would know that the whole country would be hunting them +to-morrow if they touched her. They won't if they can help it. But +this is their last hope--to trust in one final raid. They'll go +through with it. Make her go outside if it comes to that." + +He opened the door and leaped across the twenty yards of open space +which separated the main building from the bunk house. The fact that +no rifle balls searched for him as he sprang inside was sufficient +testimony that the raiders who might be posted in the hills back of the +house were not yet within easy range. He barred the door and looked +from the south window. The riders along the valley rims had descended +to the bottoms. Smoke was already rising from one homestead cabin and +they were riding toward the rest. Two men had dismounted by the head +gate. + +Harris cursed himself for not having anticipated this very thing. The +whole plan was clear to him. Slade would have known of the implements +at the railroad waiting to be freighted in. He would have known, too, +that when the cowhands came in from the round-up there would follow the +inevitable night at Brill's. Morrow had mapped out the raid long in +advance, engaging Lang to gather the cows throughout the first night +the round-up crew was in from the range and hold them a few miles from +the ranch. In case the freighters failed to leave before the others +came back from Brill's the raid would have been staged just the same; +men cached along the lip of the valley to pick off all those who should +attempt to ride down and turn the run; others ready to slip down from +behind and torch the buildings while the fight was going on in the +flat. Lang could not know that Slade was locked up and that Morrow was +dead so the raid had gone through as planned. + +Smoke was rising from two more cabins in the flats and Harris +reproached himself for another oversight in allowing the wagons to pull +out before the others arrived. The crop would have been ruined in any +event but with the hands at home they could have prevented the +destruction of the cabins. + +He turned to the opposite side and scanned the face of the hills for +signs of life. Not a sage quivered to show the position of bodies +crawling through the brush; no rattle of gravel indicated the presence +of men working down through any of the sheltered coulees behind; yet he +knew they were near. The silence was in sharp contrast to the rumble +and roar of the stampede just past. The only sounds which shattered +the quiet were the muffled thuds of Waddles's hand-axe as the cook +worked on a single idea and endeavored to gouge a loophole through the +cracks of the twelve-inch logs. Harris transferred his attention to +the long line of log buildings a hundred yards to the east. The row +afforded perfect cover for any who chose that route of approach. They +could walk up to them in absolute safety, screened both from himself +and those in the main house. + +As he watched the doors and windows for sign of movement within a voice +hailed them from the shop. + +"You might as well come out," it called. "We're going to fire the +plant." + +Harris stretched prone on the floor and rested the muzzle of his rifle +on a crack between the logs. It was hard shooting. He was forced to +shift the butt end of the gun, moving with it himself to line the +sights instead of swinging the free end of the barrel. He trained it +on a crack some two feet from the door of the shop. Behind the +aperture the light of a window on the far side showed faintly. + +"Come out!" the voice ordered. "Or we'll cook you inside. We've no +time to lose. Rush it!" + +The light disappeared from the crack and Harris pressed the trigger. +With the roar of his gun a shape pitched down across the door of the +shop. Some unseen hands caught the man by the feet and as he was +dragged back from sight Harris saw the red handkerchief which had +served as a mask. + +From all along the row of buildings a fire was opened on the bunk +house. Apparently one man was detailed to search out a certain crevice +between the logs. Harris threw himself flat against the lower log +which barely shielded him. One rifleman covered a crack breast-high, +another the one next below, drilling it at six-inch intervals. Shreds +of 'dobe chinking littered the room. The balls which found an entrance +splintered through the bunks and buried themselves in the logs of the +far wall. A third marksman worked on the lower crack. Puffs of 'dobe +pulverized before Harris's eyes as the systematic fire crept toward him +down the crack in six-inch steps. + +A flash of dust a few inches before his nose half blinded him. The +next shot drilled through an inch above his head, flattened sidewise on +the floor, and a fragment of shell-jacket, stripped in passing through, +scored his cheek and nicked his ear. The next fanned his shirt across +the shoulders and the biting scraps of 'dobe stung his back. + +The shooting suddenly ceased. Billie Warren, dazedly indifferent as to +what should happen to the Three Bar since the wreck of the lower field, +had roused to action the instant she saw the spurts of chinking fly +from the cracks of the bunk house before the fusillade sent after +Harris. She threw open the door and stepped out, holding up one hand. + +"Don't kill him!" she commanded. "If you fire another shot at him I'll +put up every dollar I own to hang every man that ever rode a foot with +Lang! Do you hear that, Lang?" + +"Lang's in Idaho," a voice growled surlily from the shop. "None of us +ever rode with Lang. We're from every brand on the range--and we're +going to burn you squatters out." + +"Draw off and let us ride away," she said. "You can have the Three +Bar." + +"All but Harris," the voice called back. "He stays!" + +She threw up the rifle she carried and touched it off at a crack near +the shop door. As the splinters flew from the edge of the log a figure +sprang past the door for the safety of the opposite side and she shot +again, then emptied the magazine at a crevice on the side where he had +taken refuge. + +"Get back inside, damn you!" a voice shouted. "We're going to wreck +the Three Bar--and you with it if you stand in the way. Get back out +of line!" + +Harris knew that the men would not be deterred in their purpose--would +sacrifice her along with the rest if necessary to accomplish their end. + +"Get back, Billie," he called from the bunk house. "You can't do us +any good out there. Take the little cabin and sit tight. We'll beat +them off." + +A haze of smoke showed through the storeroom door, a bright tongue of +flame leaping back of it. + +She turned to the door but Waddles had barred it behind her. + +"Take the little house, Pet," he urged. "Like Cal said. You'll be +safe enough. We'll give 'em hell." + +She walked to the little cabin that stood isolated and alone, the first +building ever erected on the Three Bar and which had sheltered the +Harrises before her father had taken over the brand. + +The smoke had spread all along the row of buildings and hung in an oily +black cloud above them, the hungry flames licking up the sides of the +dry logs. The men had withdrawn after putting the torch to the row in +a dozen spots. + +From her point of vantage she saw two masked men rise from the brush +and run swiftly down toward the main house, each carrying a can. She +divined their purpose instantly. + +"Watch the west side!" she called. "The west side--quick." + +The sound of Waddles's hand-axe ceased and an instant later the roar of +the shotgun sounded twice from within the house, followed by the cook's +lament. + +"Missed!" the big voice wailed. "Two minutes more and I'd have made a +real hole." + +The muffled crash of a rifle rolled steadily from the house as Waddles +fired at the chinking in an effort to reach the two men outside. But +they had accomplished their purpose and retreated, the house shielding +them from Harris's field of view; and they kept on the same line, out +of sight of the bunk house, till they reached a deep coulee which +afforded a safe route of retreat. + +The row of buildings was a seething mass of flames rolling up into the +black smoke. Flames hissed and licked up the blank wall of the main +House, traveling along the logs on which the two masked raiders had +thrown their cans of oil. The men outside had only to wait until the +occupants were roasted out. A stiff wind held from the west and once +the house was in flames they would be driven down upon the bunk house +and fire it in turn. She knew Waddles would come out when it grew too +hot. The raiders might let him go. It was Harris they waited for. + +The girl ran across and pounded on the bunkhouse door. + +"Run for it," she begged. "Make a run for the brush! I'll keep +between you and them. They won't shoot me. You can get to the brush. +There's a chance that way." + +"All right, old girl," Harris said. "In a minute now. But you go +back, Billie. Get back to the little house. As soon as it gets hot +I'll run for it. I've got ten minutes yet before I'm roasted out. +I'll start as soon as you're inside the house." + +"No. Start now!" she implored. The flames were sliding along one side +of the house and even now she could feel the heat of them fanned down +upon the bunk house by the wind. "Run, Cal," she entreated. "Run +while you've got a chance." She leaned upon the door and beat on it +with her fists. + +"All right, Billie," he said. "I'll go. You stay right where you are +as if you're talking to me." + +She heard him cross the floor. He dropped from the window on the far +side from the men. When he came in sight of them he was running in +long leaps for the brush, zigzagging in his flight. Their gaze had +been riveted on the girl and he gained a flying start of thirty yards +before a shot was fired. Then half a dozen rifles spurted from two +hundred yards up the slope, the balls passing him with nasty snaps. He +reached the edge of the sage and plunged headlong between two rocks. +Bullets reached for him, ripping through the tips of the sage above +him, tossing up spurts of gravel on all sides and singing in ricochets +from the rocks. + +One raider, in his eagerness to secure a better view, incautiously +exposed his head. He went down with a hole through his mask as a shot +sounded from the main house. From the window, his big face red and +dripping from the heat, Waddles pumped a rifle and covered Harris's +flight as best he could, drilling the center of every sage that shook +or quivered back of the house. + +Two men turned their attention to the one who handicapped their chances +of locating the crawling man and poured their fire through the window. +A soft-nose splintered the butt of the cook's rifle and tore a strip of +meat from his arm as another fanned his cheek. He dropped to the floor +and peered from a crack. The firing had suddenly ceased. He saw a hat +moving up a coulee, a mere flash here and there above the sage as the +owner of it ran. As he watched for the man to reappear, the roof of +the whole string of buildings to the east caved with a hissing roar and +belched sparks and debris high in the air. + +The fire was filtering through the cracks and circling its hungry +tongues inside. The smoke hurt his eyes and the heat seemed to crack +his skin. He crossed over to see if Harris was down; that would +account for the sudden cessation of shooting from the hills back of the +house. + +The raiders in the lower field were riding swiftly for the far side of +the valley. One man knelt near the head gate, then mounted and jumped +his horse off after the rest. Waddles put the whole force of his lungs +behind one mighty cheer. + +Fifty yards back in the brush Harris cautiously raised his head to +determine the cause of this triumphant peal. + +Far down along the rim of the valley, outlined against the sky, four +mules were running as so many startled deer under the bite of the lash +and six men swayed and clung in the wagon that lurched behind. High +above the crackle of the flames sounded Tiny's yelps, keen and clear, +as he urged on the flying mules. Three men unloaded from the wagon as +it came opposite the cluster of men riding far out across the flats. +They opened a long-range fire at a thousand yards while the others +stayed with the wagon as it rocked on toward the burning ranch. + +Billie was running to the brush at the spot where Harris had +disappeared. He rose to meet her. + +"Cal, you're not hurt?" she asked. + +"Not a scratch," he said. "Thanks to you." + +In her relief she grasped his arm and gave it a fierce little squeeze. + +"Then it's all right," she said. + +Waddles burst from the door of the burning house, his arms piled high +with salvage. + +"We'll save what we can," Harris said and started for the house. As he +ran the valley rocked with a concussion which nearly threw him flat and +a column of fragments and trash rose a hundred feet above the spot +where the head gate had been but a second past. + +A dozen running horses flipped over the edge of the hill and plunged +down toward the ranch. The men were back from Brill's. Tiny halted +the mules on the lip of the valley and the three men came down the +slope on foot. + +Harris held up his hand to halt the riders as they would have kept on +past the house. He knew that the raiders stationed behind the ranch +had long since reached their horses and were lost in the choppy hills. +He waved all hands toward the buildings and they swarmed inside, +carrying out load after load of such articles as could be moved and +piling them out of reach of the flames. + +The girl sat apart and watched them work. Her lethargy had returned. +It seemed a small matter to rescue these trinkets when the Three Bar +was a total wreck. The wind fanned the flames down on the bunk house +and one side was charred and smoking. The men drew back from the heat. +Tiny spurts of fire flickered along the charred side. Then it burst +into a sheet of flame. + +Harris spoke briefly to Evans and the tall man nodded as he itemized +the orders in his mind. + +"Now I'll get her away from here," Harris said. "It's hell for her to +just sit there and watch it burn." + +He caught two of the saddled horses that had carried the men from +Brill's and crossed over to where she sat. + +"Let's ride down to the field," he said. "And see what's got to be +done. I expect a week's work will repair that part of it all right." + +She gazed at him in amazement. He spoke of repairing the damage while +the Three Bar burned before his eyes. But she rose and mounted the +horse. He shortened her stirrup straps and they rode off down what had +once been the lane, the fence flattened by the rushing horde of cattle +that had swept through. + +The homestead cabins smoked but still stood intact. + +"Look!" he urged cheerfully. "Those logs were too green to burn. We +won't even have to rebuild. They'll look a little charred round the +edges maybe, but otherwise as good as new." + +Behind her sounded a gurgling roar as the roof of the main house fell +but Harris did not even look back. + +"We can restring that fence in a right short while," he asserted. +"We've lost one crop of oat-hay--which we didn't much need, anyhow. +That young alfalfa is too deep rooted to be much hurt. Next spring +it'll come out thick, a heavy stand of hay; and we'll cut a thousand +tons." + +They rode across fields trampled flat by thousands of churning hoofs +and reached the spot where the head gate had been, a yawning hole at +which the water sucked and tore. A section of the bank caved and was +washed away. And through it all he planned the work of reconstruction +and the transformation which would be effected inside a year,--while +behind them the home ranch was ablaze. + +"We're not bad hurt," he said. "They can't hurt our land. I'd rather +have this flat right now--the way it stands--than three thousand head +of cows on the range and no land at all. We can rebuild the place this +winter while work is slack. Build better than before. Those buildings +were pretty old, at best. There'll be enough hungry cowhands riding +grub-line at the Three Bar to rebuild it in two months. Every man that +feeds on us this winter will have to work." + +His enthusiasm failed to touch her. For her the Three Bar was wrecked, +the old home gone, and her gaze kept straying back to the eddying black +smoke-cloud at the foot of the hills. + + + + +XV + +They rode from the devastated fields and angled southwest across the +range. Harris pointed out the calves along their course. + +"Look at those chunky little youngsters," he said. "Nearly every one +is good red stock. Only a scattering few that threw back to off-color +shades. This grading-up process doesn't take long to show." + +When some ten miles from the Three Bar he dismounted on a ridge and she +joined him, listening with entire indifference to his optimistic plans. + +"We're only scratched," he said. "It won't matter in the end." + +"This is the end," she dissented. "The Three Bar is done." + +"It's just the start," he returned. "It's the end for them! Don't you +see? They staked everything on one big raid that would smash the Three +Bar and discourage the rest from duplicating our move. That would give +Slade a new lease of life--delay the inevitable for a few more years. +They made one final attempt and lost." + +"Did they lose?" she inquired. "I thought they'd won." + +"They're through!" he asserted positively. "Slade is locked up. +Inside of a week the sheriff would have cleaned out the Breaks. It was +my fault this happened. With Slade locked up and Morrow dead it didn't +occur to me that anything was planned ahead. If the albino had lived +he'd never have run his neck into a noose by a raid like this. But +Lang was born without brains. Slade could hire him for anything." + +"Can you prove this on Slade?" she demanded. It was the first sign of +interest she had shown. Deep under her numbed indifference a thought +persisted,--a hope that Slade, the man who had brought about the raid, +should be made to pay. Harris shook his head. + +"As usual, Slade's in the clear," he said. "There's been a rumor +afloat which would be considered sufficient cause for Lang's men to +raid the Three Bar without other incentive." + +He resumed his glowing plans for reconstruction. + +"That's their last shot," he said. "We're only delayed--that's all. +We lost a few fences. Posts are free for the cutting and most of the +wire can be restrung. New wire is cheap. The corral poles are +scattered right on the spot; only the posts broken off. We can set +more posts and throw up the new corrals in two days. The homestead +cabins are only charred. The old buildings at the ranch are gone. +I'll put a crew in the hills getting out new logs and there'll be +enough out-of-job peelers riding grub-line to rebuild the whole place. +We can put up a few tents for the hands till the new bunk house is +built. We've got our land. The hay is tramped flat right now but the +roots aren't hurt. Next spring will show the whole flat coming up with +a heavy stand of hay." + +"You're a good partner, Cal," she said. "You've done your best. But +the whole thing would only happen over again. Slade's too strong for +us." + +"Slade's through!" he asserted again. "He's locked up and when he gets +out his hands will be tied. Inside of a month the law will be in the +saddle for the first time in years. Public sentiment is running that +way. All it ever needed was a start. Once Alden gets a grip on +things, with folks behind him, he'll never lose it again. From now on +you'll see every wild one cut short in his career. Folks will be busy +pointing them out instead of helping them cover it up." + +He painted the future of the Three Bar as the foremost outfit within a +hundred miles, but her mind was busy with a future so entirely +different from the one he portrayed that she scarcely grasped his +words. She felt a vague sense of relief that there was no decision for +her to make. It had been made for her and against her will, but it was +done. Always she had heard her parents speak of the day when they +should go back home; and she had always felt that the day would come +when she too would live in the place from which they had come,--with +frequent trips back to the range. The love for the ranch had delayed +her departure from year to year. But now the old familiar buildings +were gone and there were no ties to hold her here, or even to call her +back once she was gone. + +Harris rose and pointed, rousing her from her abstraction. Down in the +valley below them filed a long line of dusty horsemen. Behind them +came two men wrangling a pack string carrying equipment for a long +campaign. + +"There is the law!" he said. "That's what I brought you here to see. +It's what we've been waiting for. That is the first outfit of its sort +ever to ride these hills. There have been gangs organized by one brand +or another that rode out and imposed justice of their own, according to +their own ideas--and the next day perpetrated some injustice against +men whose ideas were opposed to theirs. But that little procession +stands for organized law!" + +She turned and looked behind her as her ear caught the thud of hoofs +and jangle of equipment. The Three Bar men were just topping the ridge. + +They had caught up a number of the horses released from the pasture lot +by the stampede. Calico and her own little horse, Papoose, were among +them. Waddles and Moore brought up the rear with a pack train loaded +with the bed rolls saved from the bunk-house fire. + +Harris knew that action, not inaction was the best outlet for her +energies, temporarily smothered by the shock of the raid. It was not +in her nature to sit with folded hands among the ruins of the ranch and +patiently wait for news. + +"I thought maybe you'd like to go," he said. "The jaunt will do you +good." + +She showed the first sign of interest she had evidenced. + +"And we're going to the Breaks," she stated. + +"That's where," he said. "We'll order them to give up and stand trial. +They won't. Then we'll clean them out. Hunt them down like rats! +We've only been waiting for folks to wake up to the fact that they were +sick of having the country run by men like Slade and harassed by the +wild bunch--and till after we'd picked up Slade. The way it's +transpired we'd maybe have done better to ride over a week ago." + +The little band in the valley was drawing near. She recognized Carp, +Bentley and another Slade man riding with the sheriff at their head. + +"What's Bentley doing there?" she asked. + +"One of Carp's men," Harris said. "If any of them get away from us +Carp will hound them down. He wears the U. S. badge and won't be +stopped by any feeling about crossing the Utah or Idaho lines. +Rustling is of no interest to him. That's the sheriff's job. But Carp +will round them up for obstructing the homestead laws." + +The Three Bar men came up and halted. Harris and the girl changed +mounts and led their men down to join the file of riders below. As she +rode she speculated as to Carlos Deane's sensations if he could but +know that she rode at the head of thirty men to raid the stronghold +Harris had once pointed out to him from the rims. + +For hours they rode at a shuffling trot that covered the miles. It was +well after sundown when they halted in a sheltered valley. Waddles +cooked a meal over an open fire. Bed rolls were spread and the men +were instantly asleep. Three hours before sunup the cook was once more +busy round a fire. The men slept on, undisturbed by the sounds, but +when he issued the summons to rise they rolled out. In a space of five +minutes every man was eating his meal; for they were possessed of that +characteristic which marks only the men who live strenuously and much +in the open,--the ability to fall instantly asleep after a hard day and +to wake as abruptly, every faculty alert with the opening of their eyes. + +The meal was bolted. The men detailed to guard the horses hazed them +into a rope corral. Saddles were hastily cinched on and the men rode +off through the gloom, leaving Waddles and three others to pack and +follow later in the day. Each man lashed a generous lunch on his +saddle before riding off. + +They held a stiff trot and in an hour out from camp they struck rough +going, the choppy nature of the country announcing that they were in +the edge of the Breaks. The horses slid down into cut-bank washes and +bad-land cracks, following the bottoms to some feasible point of ascent +in the opposite wall. Daylight found them twenty miles from camp and +the horses were breathing hard. They turned into a coulee threaded by +a well-worn trail. Three miles along this Bentley turned to the right +up a branching gulch with eight men. Another mile and Carp led a +similar detachment off to the left. Billie rode with the sheriff and +Harris at the head of the rest, holding to the beaten trail. + +"They had hours the start of us," Harris said. "They'd catch up fresh +horses on the range and keep on till they got in sometime in the night." + +He motioned to Billie. + +"You fall back," he said. The men had drawn their rifles from the +scabbards. "They never did post a guard. It wouldn't occur to Lang +that such a force could be mustered and start out short of a month. If +he thought so they'd be out of here and scattered instead of having a +lookout along the trail. But there's just a chance. So for a little +piece you'd better bring up the rear." + +She started to dissent but the sheriff seconded Harris's advice. + +"You move along back, Billie," he said. He patted her shoulder and +smiled. "I'm a-running this layout and if you don't mind the old +sheriff he'll have to picket you." + +She nodded and pulled Papoose out of the trail till the others filed +by, riding with Horne in rear of the rest. + +The party halted while Harris dismounted to examine the trail. It was +hard-packed but the scant signs showed that shod horses had come in +since any had gone out. + +"At least, there's some of them back," he said. "Likely all." + +"Lang is busy gloating over the fact that the Three Bar is sacked," +Alden said. "Figuring that the whole country will be afraid of him now +and that his friends will stand by--without a thought that his neck +will maybe get stretched a foot long before night." + +Harris turned up a side pocket and the men waited while he and the +sheriff climbed a ridge on foot to investigate. Harris motioned to the +girl. + +"Come along up where you can see," he said and she followed them up the +ridge. Two hundred yards from the horses they came out on a crest +which afforded a view of the basin that sheltered Lang's stockade. + +From behind a sage-clump Harris trained his glasses on the group a mile +out across the shallow basin. Smoke rose from the chimney of the main +building. Two men stood before a teepee near the stockade. There were +two other tents inside the structure, with a number of men moving about +them. Three sat on the ground with their backs against the log walls +of the main house. Thirty or more horses fed in a pasture lot and a +little band of eight or ten stood huddled together inside the stockade +at the far end from the tents. + +He handed his glasses to the girl. + +"We'll be starting," he said. "By the time we get fixed the rest will +be closing in. You stay here and watch the whole thing." + +"I'm going along," she said. + +The sheriff demurred. + +"It will be dirty business down there--once we start," he said. +"Business for men; and you're a better man than most of us, girl; but +you surely didn't reckon that Cal and me would let you go careening +down in gunshot of that hornet's nest." + +"I'm as good a shot as there is in the hills," she said. "And it was +my ranch they burned." + +The sheriff shoved back his hat and pushed his fingers through his mop +of gray hair. + +"Fact," he confessed. "Every word. But there's swarms of men in this +country--and such a damn scattering few of girls that we just can't +take the risk. That's how it is. If you don't promise to stay out of +it we'll have to detail a couple of the boys to ride guard on you till +it's over with." + +She knew that the other men would back Harris and Alden in their +verdict. She nodded and watched them turn back toward the horses. She +wanted to lead her men down in a wild charge on the stockade, shooting +into it as she rode, avenging the sack of the Three Bar in a smashing +fight. + +But there was nothing spectacular in the attack of Harris and the +sheriff. They went about it as if hunting vermin, cautiously and +systematically, taking every possible advantage of the enemy with the +least possible risk to their men. + +An hour after the two men had left her she saw a figure off to the +right. She trained the glasses on it and saw that it was Alden moving +toward the buildings. She swept the glasses round the edge of the +circular basin. From all sides, from the mouth of every coulee that +opened into it, dark specks were converging upon the stockade. Some of +them stood erect, others crouched, while a few sprawled flat and +crawled for short distances before rising and moving on. + +From her point of vantage it seemed that those round the buildings must +see them as clearly as she did herself; but she knew they were keeping +well out of sight, taking advantage of every concealing wave of ground +and all inequalities of surface. The advance was slower as they closed +in on the stockade. There was a sudden commotion among the men at the +buildings. They were moving swiftly under cover. Some of the +attacking force had been seen. The majority of the rustlers took to +the stockade. Four ran into the main cabin. + +It was as if she gazed upon the activities of battling ants, the whole +game spread out in the field of her glasses. There came a lull in the +action and she knew that the sheriff had raised his voice to summon +them to come out without their guns and go back as prisoners to stand +trial for every crime under the sun. + +Not a shot had been fired. One after another she picked up the men +with her glasses. Occasionally one moved, hitching himself forward to +some point which afforded a better view. One or two knelt in the +bottom of shallow draws, peering from behind some sheltering bush. +Inside the stockade she could see Lang's men kneeling or flattened on +the ground as they gazed through cracks in the walls. + +She made out Harris, crouching in a draw. A thin haze of smoke spurted +from his position. Three similar puffs showed along the face of the +stockade. Then the sounds of the shots drifted to her,--faint, snappy +reports. Harris had dropped flat and shifted his position the instant +he fired. A dozen shots answered the smoke-puffs along the stockade. + +Throughout the next half-hour there was not a shot fired in the flat; +no general bombardment, no wild shooting, but guerilla warfare where +every man held his fire for a definite human target. A man shifted his +position in the stockade, raised to peer from a hole breast high, and +she saw him pitch down on the ground before the sound of the shot +reached her. One of her men had noted the darkening of the crack and +had searched him out with a rifle shot. Three shots answered it from +the main cabin. + +The thud of hoofs on the trail below drew her eyes that way. Waddles +was riding out into the basin. He had brought the pack string up to +some point near at hand and deserted it to the care of the others while +he rode on ahead to join in the fight. He was almost within gunshot of +the place before he dismounted and allowed the horse to graze. She +watched his progress as he covered the last half-mile on foot. He had +discarded his heavy chaps, his blue and white shirt and overalls giving +him the appearance of some great striped beetle as he crawled up a +shallow ravine. The figures were small from distance, even when viewed +through the glasses, thus lending her a feeling of detachment and +lessening the personal element and the grim reality of the scene. +Rather it was as if she gazed into some instrument which portrayed the +moves of mannikins; yet the scene wholly absorbed her interest. + +Waddles cautiously raised his head for a view of the stockade and she +could see his convulsive duck as a rifle ball tossed up a spurt of +gravel round it. The man who had fired the shot went down as the +sheriff drilled the spot where a faint haze of smoke had shown. + +She presently noted one of her men sitting under a sheltering bank and +eating his lunch. She looked at her watch; it was after three,--the +day more than half gone and less than a hundred shots had been fired. +Five men were down in the stockade. + +The sun was sinking and the higher points along the west edge of the +basin were sending long shadows out across the flats before there was +further action except for an occasional shifting of positions. Those +remaining alive in the stockade were saddling the bunch of horses kept +inside. These were led close under the fence on her side where she +could no longer see them. + +The shadows lengthened rapidly and her view through the glasses was +beginning to blur when the gates of the stockade swung back and five +horses dashed out, running at top speed under the urge of the spurs. A +rider leaned low upon the neck of each horse and they scattered wide as +they fanned out across the basin, a wild stampede for safety, every man +for himself. + +She saw one man lurch sidewise and slip to the ground; another +straightened in the saddle, swung for two jumps, and slid off backwards +across the rump of his mount. She saw the great striped bug which was +Waddles rise to his knees in the path of a third. The rider veered his +mount and swung from the saddle, clinging along the far side of the +running horse. Then man and horse went down together and neither rose. +Waddles had shot straight through the horse and reached the mark on the +other side. The shooting ceased when six shots had been fired. Four +riderless horses were careening round the basin. Five hits out of six, +she reflected; perhaps six straight hits. + +The stockade was empty, leaving only the four in the house to be +accounted for. The dark specks in the brush were working closer to the +house, effectually blocking escape. Then she could no longer make them +out. The building showed only as a darker blot in the obscurity. A +tiny point of light attracted her eye. It grew and spread. She knew +that one of her men had crawled up under cover of night and fired the +house. It was now but a question of minutes, but the sight oppressed +her. She thought of the burning buildings on the Three Bar and rose to +make her way back to the pocket where the horses had been left in the +care of a deputy. + +"It will be over in an hour," she told the horse guard. + +All through the day she had scarcely moved and she was tired. The +hours of inactivity had proved more wearing than a day in the saddle. +Harris and the sheriff came in with their detail. + +There were no prisoners. + +"So they wouldn't give up even when they was burnt out," the horse +guard commented. "I thought maybe a few would march out and surrender." + +"I'd sort of hoped we'd have one or two left over so we could put on a +trial," the sheriff said. "There was three come out. But the light +was poor and all. Maybe they did aim to surrender. It's hard to say. +But if they did--why, some of the Three Bar boys read the signs wrong. +Anyway, there won't be any trial." + +They rode to the sheltered box canyon where Waddles had left the pack +train. A little later Bentley's men rode up and five minutes behind +them came Carp with the rest. The bed rolls were spread among the +stunted cedars on the floor of the canyon and all hands turned in. At +daylight the long return journey to the Three Bar was commenced. The +horses were tired and the back trip was slow. They camped for the +night twenty miles out from the ranch and before noon of the next day +the sheriff and the marshals had split off with their men, leaving the +Three Bar crew to ride the short intervening space to the ranch alone. + +As she neared the edge of the Crazy Loop valley the girl dreaded the +first glimpse of the pillaged ranch. For the first time it occurred to +her to wonder at the speed with which Harris had planned and executed +the return raid while the Three Bar still burned. + +"How did you get word to them all?" she asked. "Did you have it all +planned before?" + +"It was Carp," he said. "One of Lang's men rode down to inquire for +Morrow and told Carp the cows were gathered for the run and held near +the Three Bar. They figured Carp was a pal of Morrow's and all right. +It was near morning then. Carp sent Bentley fanning for Coldriver to +see if the sheriff was back and to bring out the posse if he hadn't +turned up. He started out for the Three Bar himself. The run was +under way when he came in sight so he cut over and headed the mule +teams at the forks and turned them back, then kept on after the boys at +Brill's. Sent word to me by Evans to meet them where we did." + +She did not hear the latter part of his explanation for they had +reached the edge of the valley and she looked down upon the ruins of +her ranch. + +"Now I'm ready to go," she said. "I'll go and see what Judge Colton +wants." + +"He wanted you to get away before anything like this occurred," Harris +said. "I knew that maybe we'd have tough going for a while at some +critical time and wanted you to miss all of that--to come back and find +the Three Bar booming along without having been through all the grief. +So I wrote him to urge you to come." + +"Well, I'm going now," she said. "I don't need to be urged." + +Three of the homesteaders had been detailed to stay at the ranch. They +were putting up a temporary fence across the lower end to hold range +stock back from the trampled crops until a permanent one could be built +and linked up with the side fences which still stood intact. She +showed no interest in this. The sight below turned her weak and sick. +She wanted but to get away from it all. + +Harris pointed as they rode down the slope. The little cabin that old +Bill Harris had first erected on the Three Bar, and which had later +sheltered the Warrens when they came into possession of the brand, +stood solid and unharmed among the blackened ruins which hemmed it in +on all sides. + +"Look, girl!" he exclaimed triumphantly. + +"Look at that little house. The Three Bar was started with that! We +have as much as our folks started with--and more. They even had to +build that. We'll start where our folks did and grow." + + + + +XVI + +Harris sat on a baggage truck and regarded the heap of luggage +somberly. Way off in the distance a dark blot of smoke marked the +location of the onrushing train which would take the Three Bar girl +away. + +"Some day you'll be wanting to come back, old partner," he predicted +hopefully. + +Billie shook her head. There is a certain relief which floods the +heart when the worst has passed. Looking forward and anticipating the +possible ruin of the Three Bar, she had thought such a contingency +would end her interest in life and she had resolutely refused to look +beyond it into the future. Now that it was wrecked in reality she +found that she looked forward with a faint interest to what the future +held in store for her,--that it was the past in which her interest was +dead. + +"Not dead, girl; only dormant," Harris said, when she remarked upon +this fact. "Like a seed in frozen ground. In the spring it will come +to life and sprout. The Three Bar isn't hurt. We're in better shape +than ever before and a clear field out in front; for the country is +cleaned up and the law is clamped on top." + +She honestly tried to rouse a spark of interest deep within her, some +ray of enthusiasm for the future of the Three Bar. But there was no +response. She assured herself again that the old brand which had meant +so much to her meant less than nothing now. That part of her was dead. + +The trail of smoke was drawing near and there was a rhythmic clicking +along the rails. Harris leaned and kissed her. + +"Just once for luck," he said, and slipped from his seat on the truck +as the train roared in. It halted with a screech of brakes and he +handed her up the steps. + +"Good-by, little fellow," he said. "I'll see you next round-up time." + +As the train slid away from the station she looked from her window and +saw him riding up the single street on the big paint-horse. The train +cleared the edge of the little town and passed the cattle chute. A +long white line through the sage marked the course of the Coldriver +Trail. Three wagons, each drawn by four big mules, moved toward the +cluster of buildings which comprised the town, the freighters on their +way to haul out materials for the rebuilding of the ranch. + +The work was going on but she no longer had a share in it. She was +looking ahead and planning a future in which the Three Bar played no +part. + +Deane was with Judge Colton, her father's old friend, to meet her at +the station. The news of the Three Bar fight had preceded her and the +press had given it to the world, including her part of it. As they +rode toward the Colton home she told the Judge she had come to stay and +Deane was content. After the strenuous days she had just passed +through she needed a long period of rest, he reflected; but the older +man smiled when he suggested this. + +"What she needs now is action," he said. "And no rest at all. If it +was me I'd try to wear her down instead of resting her up--keep her +busy from first to last. Cal Warren's girl isn't the sit-around type." + +Deane acted on this and no day passed without his having planned a part +of it to help fill her time. Her interest in the new life was genuine +and she was conscious of no active regret at parting from the old. It +was so different as to seem part of another world. The people she met, +their mode of life, their manner of speech; all were foreign to the +customs of the range. And this very dissimilarity kept her interest +alive until she grew to feel that she belonged. + +All through the fall and early winter she had scarcely an idle hour. +Her days here were almost as fully occupied as they had been before. +And in the late winter, after having visited other school friends who +lived farther east, she found herself anticipating the return to the +Colton home as eagerly as always in the past she had looked forward to +seeing the Three Bar after a long period away from it. + +The grip of winter was receding and a few of the hardier trees were +putting out buds when she returned. Every evening Deane was with her +and together they planned the next, as once she and Harris had planned +before her fireplace in the old ranch house. For the first time in her +life she was glad to be sheltered and pampered as were other girls. +Gliding servants anticipated her wishes and carried them out. But with +it all there was a growing restlessness within her,--a vague +dissatisfaction for which she could not account. She groped for an +answer but the analysis could not be expressed or definitely cleared in +her mind. + +She sat in the Colton library waiting for Deane to come and take her to +a lakeside clubhouse for the evening. Tiny leaves showed on the trees +and the lawn was a smooth velvet green. + +Slade's words of the long ago recurred to her. + +"A soft front lawn to range in," she quoted aloud. The reason for her +restlessness came with the words. + +Deane planned with her of evenings but the planning was all of play. +No word of work crept into it. If only he would accept her as wholly +into that part of his life as he did into the rest. She suddenly felt +that he was excluding her from something it was her right to share. +Their planning together was not constructive but something which led +nowhere, a restless, hectic rush for amusements which she enjoyed but +which could not make up the whole of her life. Always she had said +that men went to extremes and made of their wives either drudges or +little tinsel queens. They never followed the middle course and made +them full partners through thick and thin. + +And suddenly she longed to sit for just one evening before the fire and +plan real work with Cal Harris. He had been the one man she had known +who had asked that she work with him, instead of insisting that she +work for him,--or that he should work for her. She had drifted along, +expecting that that same state of affairs would go on indefinitely, +believing that he filled the void left by old Cal Warren. But now she +knew he held that place he had created for himself. They had worked +together and she had deserted the sinking ship to play the part of the +tinsel queen. + +The men would be just in from the horse round-up and breaking out the +remuda, preparatory to starting after the calves. She pictured Waddles +bawling the summons to feed from the cook-house door. She was +conscious of a flare--half of resentment, half of apprehension--toward +Harris for not having sent a word of affairs at the ranch. + +"There's millions of miles of sage just outside," she quoted. "And +millions of cows--and girls." Perhaps he had gone in search of them. +Perhaps, after all, he had found that the road to the outside was not +really closed as he had once told her it was. + +Judge Colton entered the room and interrupted her reverie by handing +her a paper. In the first black headline she saw Slade's name and +Harris's; an announcement of the last chapter of the Three Bar war. + +The first line of the article stated that Slade, the cattle king, had +been released. There was insufficient proof to convict on any count. +She felt a curious little shiver of fear for Harris with Slade once +more at large. The article retold the old tale of the fight and +portrayed Slade, on his release, viewing the range which he had once +controlled and finding a squatter family on every available ranch site. + +She had a flash of sympathy for Slade as she thought his sensations +must have been similar to her own when she had looked upon the ruins of +the Three Bar. But this was blotted out by the knowledge that he had +only met the same treatment he had handed to so many others; that he +had dropped into the trap he had built for her. She found no real +sympathy for Slade,--only fear for Harris since Slade was freed. The +old sense of responsibility for her brand had been worn too long to be +shed at will. She knew that now. + +"I suppose you'll be surprised to hear that I'm going back," she said. + +Her father's old friend smiled across at her and puffed his pipe. + +"Surprised!" he said. "Why, I've known all along you'd be going back +before long. I could have told you that when you stepped off the +train." + +He left her alone with Deane when the younger man arrived. She plunged +into her subject at once. + +"I'm sorry," she said. "But I'm going home. I'm not cut out for +this--not for long at one time. In ten days they'll be rounding up the +calves and I'll have to be there. I want to smell the round-up fire +and slip my twine on a Three Bar calf; to throw my leg across a horse +and ride, and feel the wind tearing past. I'm longing to watch the +boys topping off bad ones in the big corral and jerking Three Bar +steers. It will always be like that with me. So this is good-by." + +Four days later, in the early evening, the stage pulled into Coldriver +with a single passenger. The boys were in from a hundred miles around +for one last spree before round-up time. As the stage rolled down the +single street the festivities were in full swing. From one lighted +doorway came the blare of a mechanical piano accompanied by the scrape +of feet; the sound of drunken voices raised in song issued from the +next; the shrill laughter of a dance-hall girl, the purr of the ivory +ball and the soft clatter of chips, the ponies drowsing at the hitch +rails the full length of the street, the pealing yelp of some +over-enthusiastic citizen whose night it was to howl; all these were +evidences of the wide difference between her present surroundings and +those of the last eight months. She gazed eagerly out of the stage +window. It was good to get back. + +Both the driver and the shotgun guard who rode beside him were new men +on the job since she had left and neither of them knew the identity of +their passenger. As the stage neared the rambling log hotel where she +would put up for the night a compact group of riders swung down the +street. Her heart seemed to stop as she recognized the big paint-horse +at their head. She had not fully realized how much she longed to see +Cal Harris. As they swept past she recognized man after man in the +light that streamed from the doorways and dimly illuminated the wide +street. + +Instead of dismounting in a group they suddenly split up, as if at a +given signal, scattering the length of the block and dismounting +singly. There was something purposeful in this act and a vague +apprehension superseded the rush of gladness she had experienced with +the first unexpected view of the Three Bar crew. Men who stood on the +board sidewalks turned hastily inside the open doors as they glimpsed +the riders, spreading the news that the Three Bar had come to town. +The driver pulled up in front of the one hotel. + +"It'll come off right now," he said. "Slade's in town." + +"Sure," the guard replied. "Why else would Harris ride in at night +like this unless in answer to Slade's threat to shoot him down on +sight? Get the girl inside." + +The reason for the scattering was now clear to her. Slade, on his +release, had announced that he would kill Harris on sight whenever he +appeared in town. Slade had many friends. The Three Bar men were +scattered the length of the street to enforce fair play. + +The guard opened the door and motioned her out but she shook her head. + +"I'm going to stay here," she asserted. + +Her answer informed him of the fact that she was no casual visitor but +one who knew the signs and would insist on seeing it through. He +nodded and shut the door. + +Harris had dismounted at the far end of the block and was strolling +slowly down the board sidewalk on the opposite side. Groups of men +packed the doorways, each one striving to appear unconcerned, as if his +presence there was an accident instead of being occasioned by knowledge +that something of interest would soon transpire. A man she knew for a +Slade rider moved out to the edge of the sidewalk across the street +from Harris. She saw the lumbering form of Waddles edging up beside +him. Other Three Bar boys were watching every man who showed a +disposition to detach himself from the groups in the doors. The blare +of the piano and all sounds of revelry had hushed. + +The girl felt the clutch of stark fear at her heart. She had come too +late. Harris was to meet Slade. It seemed that she must die with him +if he should pass out before she could speak to him again and tell him +she was back. She had a wild desire to run to him,--at least to lean +from the window and call out to him to mount Calico and ride away. But +she knew he would not. She was frontier bred. Even the knowledge that +she was in town might unsteady him now. She sat without a move and the +driver and guard outside supposed her merely a curious on-looker +interested in the scene. + +"A hundred on Harris," the driver offered. + +The guard grunted a refusal. + +"I'd bet that way myself," he said. + +From this she knew that the two men were hoping Harris would be the one +to survive; but the fact that their proffered bets backed their +sentiments was no proof that they felt the conviction of their desire. +She knew the men of their breed. No matter how small the chance, their +money would inevitably be laid on the side of their wishes, never +against them, as if the wagering of a long shot was proof of their +confidence and might in some way exercise a favorable influence on the +outcome. No man had ever stood against Slade. She noted Harris's gun. +He carried it with the same awkward sling as of old, on the left side +in front with the butt to the right. + +"Fifty on Slade," a voice offered from the doorway of the hotel. The +guard started for the spot but the bet was snapped up by another. Wild +fighting rage swept through her at the thought that to all these men it +was but a sporting event. + +Her eyes never once left Harris as he came down the street. When +almost abreast of the stage Slade stepped from a doorway twenty feet in +before him and stopped in his tracks. Harris turned on one heel and +stood with his left side quartering toward Slade,--the old pose she +remembered so well. There was a tense quiet the length of the street. + +"Those you hire do poor work from behind," Harris said. "Maybe you +sometimes take a chance yourself and work from in front." His thumb +was hooked in the opening of his shirt just above the butt of his gun. + +Slade held a cigarette in his right hand and raised it slowly to his +lips. He removed it and flicked the ash from the end, then inspected +the results and snapped it again,--and the downward move of his wrist +was carried through in a smooth sweep for his gun. It flashed into his +hand but his knees sagged under him as a forty-five slug struck him an +inch above the buckle of his belt. Even as he toppled forward he +fired, and Harris's gun barked again. Then the Three Bar men were +vaulting to their saddles. Evans careened down the street, leading the +paint-horse, and within thirty seconds after Slade's first move for his +gun a dozen riders were turning the corner on the run. Before the +spectators had time to realize that it was over, the Three Bar men were +gone. Slade had many friends in town. + +The girl had seen Harris's draw, merely a single pull from left to +right and by his quartering pose the gun had been trained on Slade at +the instant it cleared the holster; not one superfluous move, even to +the straightening of his wrist. The driver's voice reached her. + +"Fastest draw in the world for the few that can use it," he said. + +The guard opened the door. The girl was sitting with her head bowed in +her hands. + +"Don't take it that way, Ma'am," he counseled. "He was a hard +one--Slade." + +But he had misread his signs. She felt no regret for Slade, only a +wave of thankfulness, so powerful as almost to unnerve her, over +Harris's escape, untouched. She accused herself of callousness but the +spring of her sympathy, usually so ready, seemed dry as dust when she +would have wasted a few drops on Slade. + +The next day, in the late afternoon, Harris looked up and saw a +chap-clad rider on the edge of the valley. She had ridden over +unannounced on a horse she had borrowed from Brill. She answered the +wave of his hat and urged the horse down the slope. He met her at the +mouth of the lane and together they walked back to the new buildings of +the ranch. The men breaking horses in the new corrals were the same +old hands. The same old Waddles presided over the new cook shack. Her +old things, rescued from the fire, were arranged in the living room of +the new house. A row of new storerooms and the shop stood on the site +of the old. And in the midst of all the improvements the old cabin +first erected on the Three Bar stood protected by a picket fence on +which a few vines were already beginning to climb. + +"It didn't take long to throw them up, with all hands working, along in +the winter when there wasn't much else to do," he said. + +After the men had quit work to greet the returning Three Bar boss she +went over every detail of the new house. The big living room and +fireplace were modeled closely along the lines of her old quarters; +heads and furs were on the walls, pelts and Indian rugs on the floors. +Running water had been piped down from a sidehill spring. The new +house was modernized. Then Harris saddled Calico and Papoose and they +rode down to the fields. + +As they turned into the lane they heard the twang of Waddles's guitar +from the cook shack, the booming voice raised in song in mid-afternoon, +a thing heretofore unheard of in the annals of Three Bar life. + +"There'll be one real feast to-night," Harris prophesied. "Waddles +will spread himself." + +They rode past the meadow, covered with a knee-deep stand of alfalfa +hay. + +"It was only tramped down," he said. "She came up in fine shape this +spring. We'll put up a thousand tons of hay." + +He held straight on past the meadow, turned off below the lower fence +and angled southwest across the range. The calves and yearlings along +their route gave proof that the grading-up of the Three Bar herds was +already having its effect. Ninety per cent. were straight red stock +with only a few throwbacks to off-color strains. The two spoke but +little and near sunset they rode out and dismounted on the ridge from +which, almost a year before, they had viewed the first move of +organized law in the Coldriver strip. + +A white-topped wagon came toward them up the valley along the same +route followed by the file of dusty riders on that other day. A woman +held the reins over the team and a curly-haired youngster jostled about +on the seat by her side. A man wrangled a nondescript drove of horses +and cows in the rear. + +"That's the way we both came into this country first, you and I," +Harris said. "Just like that little shaver on the seat." + +"Will they find a place to settle?" she asked, with a sudden hope that +the newcomers would find a suitable site for a home. + +"Maybe not close around here," he said. "Most of the good sites you +can get water on are picked up. But they'll find a place either here +or somewhere else a little further on." + +He slipped an arm about her shoulders. + +"It's been right lonesome planning without a little partner to talk it +all over with at night," he said. "Have you come back for keeps to +help me make the Three Bar the best outfit in three States? I can't +hold down that job alone." + +She nodded and leaned against him. + +"That's what they wanted--old Bill and Cal," she said. "But it's nice +that we want it too. I've come for keeps; and the road to the outside +is closed." + +They stood and watched the sun pitch over the far edge of the world; +and down in the valley below them the hopeful squatters were looking +for a place to camp. + + + + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Settling of the Sage, by Hal G. Evarts + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SETTLING OF THE SAGE *** + +***** This file should be named 18856.txt or 18856.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/8/8/5/18856/ + +Produced by Al Haines + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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