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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d3b2425 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #63389 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/63389) diff --git a/old/63389-8.txt b/old/63389-8.txt deleted file mode 100644 index a048d28..0000000 --- a/old/63389-8.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,8957 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Homestead Ranch, by Elizabeth G. Young - -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/license - - -Title: Homestead Ranch - -Author: Elizabeth G. Young - -Release Date: October 6, 2020 [EBook #63389] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HOMESTEAD RANCH *** - - - - -Produced by D A Alexander, Martin Pettit and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This -file was produced from images generously made available -by The Internet Archive) - - - - - - -+-------------------------------------------------+ -|Transcriber's note: | -| | -|Obvious typographic errors have been corrected. | -| | -+-------------------------------------------------+ - - -HOMESTEAD RANCH - - -[Illustration: "TIRED?" HE ASKED. "IT'S TOUGH THE FIRST TIME YOU COME -OVER THIS TRAIL."] - - -HOMESTEAD RANCH - -BY -ELIZABETH G. YOUNG - -[Illustration: Logo] - -D. APPLETON AND COMPANY -NEW YORK : : LONDON : : MCMXXIII - - - - -COPYRIGHT, 1922, BY -D. APPLETON AND COMPANY - - -Copyright, 1915, 1919, by Perry Mason Company -PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA - - - - -TO - -MARY TRACY HORNE - -KINDEST OF CRITICS -AND -WISEST OF FRIENDS - - - - -HOMESTEAD RANCH - -CHAPTER I - - -Now that the train had crossed the Rocky Mountains, most of the -passengers in the tourist car were becoming bored and restless. The -scenery was less absorbing; there was so much of it that even its -magnificence had begun to pall! Yet Harriet Holliday was still deeply -interested in everything. There were now only a few hours between her -and her destination, and she had begun to look at the solitary ranches, -wondering whether her brother's would look like them. - -The train was passing across a seemingly endless desert, through ranges -of hills without a sign of life, without water, grass or trees to -break the monotony of sand and sagebrush. Once in a great while there -appeared a row of buildings that, Harriet decided, must be a town--a -few boxlike stores, a hotel with an imposing cement block front, a -straggling line of cabins, some turf-roofed huts, some tents--then -abruptly the gray solitude of the desert came into view once more. - -Harriet thought of the clustering villages along the Connecticut -shore--the white-and-green houses sheltered by elms, the church spire -on the hill. Home seemed suddenly unutterably far away. A queer ache -surged up in her throat. She felt not only endlessly far in miles from -home, but in time, too--as if she had left the year 1912 behind her and -come somehow into the vanished days of the first pioneers. To keep back -the tears she glanced hastily up and down the car at the people who for -several days had been her companions and nearly all of whom had given -her glowing accounts of "the West." - -A different promise had lured each, and each promise seemed golden. -One family had sold the railroad shares from which they had drawn an -income and had bought an apple orchard in Oregon. An old couple were on -their way to California to invest in an orange grove. A newly married -pair were on their way to a timber claim in Washington. A young public -school teacher had given up a good position in Chicago to take a -district school in Montana where she could homestead. Oddly enough, not -one of those to whom Harriet had spoken so far was expecting to settle -in Idaho. - -Her roving glance came back along the seats. Just in front of her sat -a broad-shouldered young fellow, staring out of the window. Harriet -could see the boyish curve of his tanned cheek, his freckled nose and -his light brown hair. Until this moment she had not set eyes on this -young man. He must have got on at Ogden. While she was looking at him -he turned and met her inquiring brown eyes with a pair of steady blue -ones. - -"This is Idaho," he said. - -Then he blushed all over his tanned face. He had spoken as if the -barren ranges had been mountains of gold, the gray sagebrush desert a -vista of lakes and forests and gardens. - -Harriet smiled. "Thank you," she said. "I'm glad to know." She was -silent a moment; then, curiosity overcoming her reserve, she asked, -"Have you any idea how much farther it is to Shoshone?" - -"Say! You getting off there? It's the next stop." His blue eyes flashed -when Harriet said she was, and he went on: "Homesteaders are coming in -like rabbits round a haystack. If you're going to take up land you're -wise to come now, before the best of it is all filed on." - -"Oh, I'm not going to settle," Harriet protested. "I've been teaching -but I have to rest my eyes so I've come out to visit my brother. He has -a ranch." - -"You'll stay though! I'm just back from Chicago. Took a bunch of -cattle. I stayed East two months. Thought I'd like it. Not much! I'm -glad I've hit the brush once more." His glance went to the window and -seemed to feast hungrily on the gray plains. - -Harriet looked out too, trying to see what he could find that lured him. - -"You don't know where your brother's homestead is, do you?" he asked. -"There are two districts that fellows are coming into; one south of -those foothills yonder, the other on Camas Prairie." - -"Yes. That's it, Camas Prairie. He sent me pictures of it. Here's one." -She had been looking at the photographs a few moments before and drew -it from her handbag. - -"Well, what do you know about that!" the young fellow exclaimed as he -glanced at the three pictures. "That's Sage Hen Springs, all right. -There's the big quakin' asp that marks the section line. It's a -landmark for all cattle men coming across the prairie." - -He laughed to himself as he handed back the pictures. "I was just -wondering what Joyce'll say when he finds some one has filed there. -He's a sheepman and he's used that glen there for a lambing place for -years. He's been meaning to put a man on there for two years anyhow. -Yes, sir, I'll bet he's mad when he finds he's lost it." - -"Isn't there some other place near by?" - -"No, ma'am. That's just it. Water is mighty scarce in these hills -anyhow, and Joyce knows the sheep have to have it." - -"It's funny that he never took a homestead, living out here so long." - -"Oh...." The young fellow hesitated. "He's got one," he said slowly, -"but he needs a whole lot more than that." - -"But I thought a man could only homestead once," Harriet said in -surprise. - -"That's right. But there's ways of crawling through the fence when the -gate's shut. I shouldn't wonder but he'll try to buy your brother out." - -"Oh, Rob would never sell! He's going to raise cattle!" - -"That's good money, all right; but if Joyce wants that water hole as -bad as I reckon he does, he'll put up a bunch of money for it. Well," -he added, glancing out, "we're pretty near there." - -Harriet began to collect her luggage and the young man rose. "My name's -Garnett," he said hesitatingly. "Maybe we'll meet up on the prairie." - -"Oh, I hope so," Harriet said smiling, and held out her hand. - -As the train pulled into the station she looked eagerly among the crowd -waiting on the platform, but did not see her brother. She had stepped -down upon the cindery track and was wondering what she had better do -when a voice exclaimed, "Hello, sis! Got here safely, did you?" - -"Bobs!" Harriet turned quickly and then faltered. She had expected to -find a slim, pale boy, wearing glasses and very fastidious about his -collars and neckties. She was facing a big, sunbrowned man without -glasses, who wore overalls, a gray flannel shirt, a sheepskin vest and -huge laced boots; but he was smiling and he gripped her arm and kissed -her. - -"Bobs!" she cried. "I didn't know you." - -"Don't worry," Rob told her. "You won't know yourself either in six -weeks. Let's see. Got your traps? We'll go right over to Kenny's. -Supper'll be ready as soon as you've washed the cinders out of your -eyes. I've been so busy loading up for the ranch that I almost forgot -to meet the train." - -"Kenny's," the old hotel of the cattle days before there had been a -town, stood just across the street, and every one who had left the -train appeared to be going there for supper. When Harriet and Rob went -in, a circle of miners, ranchers, sheep herders and cattle men had -already gathered around the big office stove. They were gossiping in a -cloud of tobacco smoke; another group hung over the clerk's desk. - -Among them moved a big, red-cheeked woman, the hotel-keeper's wife. She -nodded to Rob. "How do, Mr. Holliday? Your sister's come, I see." - -As Rob introduced Harriet to Mrs. Kenny, the good-hearted Irishwoman -held out her hand with words of welcome. - -The big dining room was rigorously clean; the oilclothed floor almost -reflected the electric lights; plates and glasses shone; two trim -young women waited on the guests. But the guests themselves! They -were all men, dressed in what Harriet mentally called "workmen's -clothes"--overalls, flannel shirts, corduroy trousers, vests, but no -coats. Unshaved, weatherbeaten, scarred and lined by hard experience, -these men seemed as rough and repellent to the dainty, carefully reared -girl as the mountains of this stranger land. As she was eating her -supper, taking furtive glances down the long table, she heard a voice -at her shoulder and saw Rob turn to speak to an old man. - -"Axcuse me, Holliday, but it's just a worrud I'm wantin' wit' yourself." - -Harriet saw beside her a little, bent old man; his legs were bowed from -a life in the saddle and his neck was tanned and wrinkled from years of -weathering. He wore a much mended flannel shirt, a drooping vest, and -short overalls that revealed gray socks and congress gaiters much run -down at heel. Harriet thought that, except for his merry, honest face, -he looked very much like a tramp. - -She was rather surprised when her brother introduced the old man to -her. After greeting her cordially he went on to explain to Rob that he -had not, after all, a fresh cow in the herd good enough to sell for a -milk cow, but that he would send out the heifers he had promised and a -cow that would be fresh in the fall. Then he turned to Harriet, wished -her "good luck" and moved away. - -"Rob, do all the cowboys dress in that--well, shabby sort of way?" -Harriet asked as she and her brother left the dining room together. - -"So that's what you didn't like!" said Rob. "Dan Brannan isn't a cowboy -though. He's one of the richest cattle men around here. Worth over a -hundred thousand, I've heard. That's why he can afford to wear old -clothes." - -"He might at least be neat." - -Rob laughed. "I'll remind you of that some day about two months from -now, when you've quit wearing starched shirtwaists." - -As they were to start for the ranch early in the morning, they went to -bed soon after supper. Harriet fell asleep at once and did not wake -until a sharp tattoo rattled on her door. - -"Roll out, sis," Rob was calling, "nearly six and we want to hit the -trail by seven." - -When Harriet came down into the office, she found it thronged, and -humming with suppressed excitement. - -"The sheriff has just come into town with two horse thieves," Rob -explained. "They rounded 'em up on the Malade river, just above here, -with a string of ponies. Another of the fellows got away after wounding -one of the sheriff's men. It must be cold hiding out in the foothills -this time of year. Well, let's eat and move on. We want to make the -Hyslop ranch before dark." - -As they stepped out into the street after breakfast Harriet shivered. -"It's cold at night in the mountains all right," Bob admitted, "but -it's hot enough as soon as the sun gets up. You'll see." - -Turning the corner to the livery stable he stopped and pointed to a new -farm wagon, ready loaded. "That's ours. You get up while I hitch and -we'll be off in a jiffy." - -Harriet stared at the wagon in dismay. The sloping roof of canvas -that was roped over the load looked to her as insurmountable as one -of the snow-covered peaks the train had passed. The wagon seat had -been lifted from the sockets and was balanced on top of a bale of hay. -Several reels of barbed wire, a plow and her trunk gave Harriet a hint -of what company she might find herself in if the wagon should roll into -the ditch. - -She managed, however, to get aboard. While she was watching her brother -hitch the team, a clatter of hoofs made them both look up. - -"Why, hello, Jones!" Rob exclaimed. "When did you get in?" - -"Oh, a day or two ago." - -The man on horseback was small, slim and dark. A felt hat shaded his -eyes. He glanced at Harriet and said quick and low to Rob: - -"Can I speak to you?" - -Rob went across the road. The man on horseback leaned forward and began -to talk rapidly. - -Harriet turned her face away, but now and then she caught a word, a -sentence: "if they get onto me," "my brand," "keep it quiet as you -can," "I wouldn't say anything at all." And then in a natural tone the -stranger said suddenly, "Well, see you later," and rode off. - -Rob came back, finished hitching, climbed into the wagon and they -started. Harriet expected her brother to say something about the -mysterious young man; but although Rob began almost at once to talk, -asking all about their father and mother and the life at home since he -had left and speaking freely about his own experiences through the past -four years, he said nothing at all about the stranger. Harriet was -unable to restrain her curiosity. - -"Was that a cowboy, Rob?" she asked. - -"Who?" - -"I mean that man on horseback who was talking to you." - -"Oh! That?" Rob hesitated. "Jones, you mean? He's a fellow I've met. He -has some horses he wants me to take care of for a while." He stopped, -then after a moment added, "If any one asks when I'm not home, just say -I'm boarding them for a fellow." He stopped and after a few moment's -silence began talking of other things. - -There was so much to see and so many questions to ask that Harriet soon -forgot about Jones. They were passing through one of the irrigation -tracts which marked the new development of the West. Wherever the -sagebrush had been cleared from a new piece of land, lay the smooth, -level acres: wheat, pasture, young orchard or stubble. The fields -were all of one size and were intersected squarely by the irrigation -ditches. The barns and dwellings of these ranches were always near the -road. Built of new unpainted boards, and unshielded by trees, they -glared crudely in the blazing sunshine. - -"Pretty good-looking ranches some of these fellows have," observed Rob, -nodding toward a forty-acre stretch of young rye, green and flat as a -billiard table. - -"But how ugly the houses are! And so small!" - -"You've got your ideas cut to fit the regulation New England colonial -mansion, that's all. When I can afford a shack like that,--" he pointed -to the two-room cabin they were passing, "I'll think I'm rich." - -"Bobby! The idea. Why, what do you live in now?" - -"A tent. I only filed on my homestead this spring, you know, and -haven't had time to build. All last winter I was working for wages, -feeding cattle for Dan Brannan, getting a line on feeding my own--and -ever since I came in on to my land this spring after the break-up I've -been so busy getting my springs fenced that I haven't had time to sleep -scarcely. You can live in a tent for a while, can't you?" - -"Why, of course!" Harriet hesitated, not wanting to hurt her brother's -feelings by being too critical. "But where do you keep the food and -such things? Is it safe to go away like this and leave it all open?" - -"Sure. Who'd steal a few blankets and grub? My nearest neighbor is -eight miles away and nobody much passes except cow punchers and -sheepmen and they're honest, generally speaking." - -Harriet was silent a moment, slowly putting this picture in place of -the one imagination had painted. "But won't the cows and sheep get into -the garden, spoil the hay or something?" - -Over Rob's sunburned face came an embarrassed smile. "Sorry to say -there isn't any garden--yet." - -"Oh!... Then you haven't a real farm?" - -"No, indeed. Not what Easterners would call a farm, but it's worth a -lot. It's this way. You see those hills we're climbing up to? Well, -my place is over on the other side of them, a quarter section of -government land that looks about like this; covered with sagebrush -and bunch grass, but I've got some good springs. That's what makes -my land worth something. There are thousands of acres of government -land like this open to homesteaders, but worthless because there's no -water. So the man who owns water, by fencing it, keeps stock away and -controls the range near him. All this government land is free pasture; -but it's no good without water. There is water--small springs and -streams--scattered through the hills, enough to keep a little place, -forty acres or so. Those are what people from the East keep coming in -and taking up. Men will homestead so long as they can find water, for -there's plenty of good land." - -"I see," Harriet said slowly, gazing ahead over the interminable miles -of gray-green brush and bright, new, wild grass to the jagged, black -lava summit of the foothills. "But why didn't you take some land down -here?" she asked, with a gesture toward the green-and-gold oasis made -by the irrigated land around them. - -"Oh, this costs more. The land is cheap but the irrigation water is -brought in and you have to pay a lot for that. Besides, this isn't a -stock country and that's what I'm after. A fellow ought to make good -with all that free range." - -Harriet made no answer and for several minutes they rode in silence, -the creak of the wagon suggesting many things. - -"I meant to tell you all this when I wrote to you," Rob began abruptly. -"But honestly, Harry, there was so much that was more important to -say that I forgot about the tent and how many miles to the next ranch -and so on. I'm so used to living that way that I didn't realize how -you might take it. As soon as mother wrote about your eyes, and how -discouraged you were at having to give up teaching, I sat down and -wrote right off the bat for you to come. It seemed as if it would be -the real thing to have you out here this first year on the place. -It'll be more like camping than farming. I can't raise a crop until -the land's cleared and we ought to get time for lots of fishing and -shooting trips up into the Sawtooth forest. The climate is great--not a -drop of rain for months at a time. You'll like it, I'm sure. Still, if -you don't you can go back any time." - -"Of course I'll like it," Harriet, or "Harry," as Rob had always called -her, said hurriedly, for she had caught the note of disappointment -in her brother's voice and felt a prick of self-reproach at being -so critical when Rob had thought only of the benefit to her and the -happiness it would be for both of them at being together again. - -Although Rob was five years older than his sister they had always been -chums through childhood, had written to each other regularly while they -were away at separate schools and had never lost interest in each -other's work. As soon as Rob had decided to stay in the West he had -looked forward to having Harry come out to live with him. - -As the morning passed the sun grew hot on their backs. Harry took off -her coat and wished for a parasol. Rob with his hat over his eyes -slouched forward comfortably and gave his attention to the team. "Rock! -Move up there," he ordered. "Get out of that, you! Hit the collar, -there, Rye! Keep in the road!" - -The last few days of travel had tired Harry more than she realized -and now the slow motion of the wagon and the unbroken silence of the -desert proved very restful to her. The green of budding sage, of buck -brush and rabbit brush and new bunch grass melted into a soft mantle -spreading over the world as far as she could see. At long intervals -they passed immense flocks of sheep scattered through the brush and -among the rocky buttes. - -"Who takes care of them?" Harry asked. "I should think their owners -would be afraid to leave so many alone." - -"They're being taken care of. See that tent up there?" Rob pointed to -a patch of white canvas a mile away. "The Mex brings the band out to -their feed ground early in the morning, leaves the dogs on guard and -then goes back to his tent and sleeps half the day. He won't have to -bother with the sheep until it's time to move them to their bedding -ground for the night." - -"What's a 'Mex'?" - -"Oh, short for Mexican. So many of the sheep herders are Mexicans and -Bascoes nowadays that people call them all 'Mexes.' That stick up -there with the rag on it marks the line between his range and the next -herder's and neither of them can cross it to feed. The sheep are all on -their way to the reserve now, in the mountains on the other side of the -prairie. They stay here in the foothills as long as the grass lasts, -then work north. That's when our trouble begins. I expect they'll -bother us a lot, since I haven't finished fencing." - -"Why, I thought you said you had fenced," Harry exclaimed. - -"Just the main springs. Not the whole hundred and sixty acres." - -"It must be hard to tell where your land begins and ends," Harry -laughed thoughtlessly. - -"Oh, I guess I know what's mine," Rob said rather dryly. "It takes -considerable wire and posts to get around that much land and money to -buy 'em. I had to work like a steer this winter so as to have some cash -to put into the place. To comply with the homestead law I've got to -have a house built before next winter and clear and plow just so much -land. Besides the glen that's fenced, there's two miles of fencing -and cross fencing for corral and garden. I'll have to work outside -for wages too, to get my feed for next winter; hay and grain for the -critters and groceries for you and me." - -As he told off the items slowly in a matter-of-course way, Harry -realized what a big thing it was he had undertaken. Although he had -joked about it, she knew he did not consider it a small one by any -means, and for a time she felt not only disappointed by the contrast to -what she had expected, but vaguely oppressed. - -There was too much else to think of, however, to brood over that. As -the day waned they climbed steadily higher. The road became rougher. -Often Harriet held her breath as the horses scrambled over a lava -ridge, lurched down into a wallow of mud and struggled out only to -strike a worse spot farther on. At the top of each rise Rob paused to -breathe the team. Several times he and Harriet got down and walked -beside the wagon. - -"Tired?" he asked. "It's tough the first time you come over this trail, -but you'll get used to it." - -"I don't mean to travel it often enough." - -"You may have to," Rob warned her. "When I'm too busy to go to town -I'll send you." - -Harry looked back at the rough trail and laughed. "As if I'd travel -this rough road alone!" - -It was after six o'clock when they topped the last rise and, saw -ahead in the shadow of the great caņon walls the string of buildings, -haystacks and corrals of the Hyslop ranch. - -"We'll camp here, outside the fence," Rob said, as he turned off into -the brush and pulled up beside the stream flowing from a fissure in the -caņon wall. - -It was growing colder now, a dry, clear cold that stirred Harriet's -blood and made her realize how hungry she was. While Rob unhitched and -fed the team she gathered dry sticks for the fire. - -Soon coffee, bacon, and canned beans were on the fire, and, with tin -plates in their hands, the two hungry travelers sat down with sighs -of anticipation. Harry had taken a first mouthful, when suddenly she -pointed. "Look! What is it?" - -Rob turned, and saw in the darkness the gleam of yellow eyes. "A -coyote!" he exclaimed, overturning his plate as he scrambled to his -feet. "If only I had my rifle with me now!" - -He snatched up a bit of blazing sagebrush to fling at the animal, -which, oddly enough, had not fled. - -"Why, it's a dog!" Harry cried suddenly. - -Trembling with fear, yet unable to resist the smell of food, the little -animal crawled forward until he was close to the fire. - -"It's starved, that's what's the matter," declared Harry, who had put -down her plate and was coaxing the dog close enough to pat it. "Just -feel his poor bones. And look at his foot, too. He's been beaten nearly -to death." - -"He's hardly more than a puppy. He must belong to some of these herders -round here. Brutes some of 'em are. I've heard they'll beat a dog to -death if they get mad at him. And they'd even tie up a horse without -food or water all day and night. You'd better turn him loose, Harry. If -he should belong to a 'Mex' the fellow'll be around after him." - -"I'll wait till he comes." - -She put down a plate of food for the dog who devoured it with mad -hunger. Then he crawled into the shelter of the canvas which Rob had -let down beside the wagon as a windbreak, and lay there until supper -was finished and the beds unrolled. When Harry lay down in her roll of -quilts, the little, black, sheep dog crept up beside her. - -"You dear thing," she murmured. "Whoever owned you didn't deserve to, -and I'm going to keep you." - -For a few moments she was conscious of her strange, new surroundings: -the caņon walls, thousands of stars above her, the monotone of the -stream. The next she knew daylight was pouring into the caņon, Rob was -cutting brush for the fire and the black puppy, shivering silently, was -watching her with one eye. - -Harry reached out and drew him up beside her. "I'm certainly going to -keep you, you little black rascal. You're as black as Othello. There! -That's your name." - -After breakfast when they were ready to start she lifted the dog up -into the wagon. "He can ride, can't he, Bobs?" - -Rob smiled but answered gravely: "Honestly, I'd turn him loose, Harry. -If you want a dog I'll get you one, in fact we'll have to have one to -work for us. But it's risky picking up one that may belong to some -crazy sheep herder. You don't realize what these fellows are. Nearly -every one of them is off his nut from living alone, and if they do get -a notion you're trying to do them out of anything, like as not they'll -have it in for you." - -"Oh, Bobs! Please don't make me leave him," Harry begged. "See him look -at me." - -"All right. But don't get scared when some 'Mex' begins to look at him." - -"Scared! Just refer any one that wants him to me." - - - - -CHAPTER II - - -After leaving the caņon where they had camped, Rob and Harriet drove -through a region of utter desolation. The road wound about among crags -and needles of granite that rose high into the air. Then came the -flats--a stretch of meadow that lay sunken between the north and south -watersheds--and after that a sharp plunge down a narrow trail cut in -the face of the mountain to the bottom of Spring Creek caņon. - -The snow-swollen stream filled most of the narrow floor of the caņon; -the road was a succession of mudholes through which Rob forced the -struggling horses. A thick wall of willows along the stream kept the -travelers from seeing more than a few feet ahead; the gray walls of -the gorge shut off the sunlight and echoed noisily to the shouting -creek. To Harry that ride up the caņon was a nightmare of terrifying -suspense. Then abruptly it ended; they were out on level ground, -sunshine streamed along the valley below them, and across the prairie -the Sawtooth Mountains stood shoulder to shoulder, with their summits -radiant in the snowy splendor. - -"At last!" sighed Harry. - -"Not quite," Rob answered. "We go up a little before we reach the -ranch. It's on the bench, close to the hills--not on the prairie down -there. It's only five miles more." - -Turning eastward presently, the road wound along the base of the hills, -which were very low here, with only an occasional steep butte jutting -out from the range. On the other side the ground fell away gradually to -the prairie floor, which was brilliant with its hundreds of acres of -young grain, plowed land, pasture, and sagebrush. Harriet was gazing -down at the plains, when Rob's voice made her look around sharply. - -"There! Now you can see the ranch." - -"Trees!" she exclaimed. - -"Yes, the only big grove of quaking asp left on this side of the -prairie. Every one round here knows that big fellow at the top. There's -a real stream, too. With those for a starter it won't take us long to -make a home." - -There was a new note in Rob's voice--something more than the boyish -kindness that had made him so lovable a chum. For a moment Harriet felt -very far from him. Then a wave of nobler feeling swept over her. Of -course Rob was absorbed in his homestead. Who would not be--owner of -160 acres, and master of his own toil? - -Soon Rob left the road and drove through the brush along the edge of -a wet, green meadow toward the caņon that opened out from the hills. -Along the steep slopes of the hill, trees meandered, and down the caņon -a mountain stream came gushing. At the upper edge of the meadow Rob -drew up, unhitched the horses, and pitched the tent in the shelter of -a spreading clump of willows. - - -Two weeks later, Harry was standing in the tent, deep in a struggle -with her first pie. The cookbook was propped open before her on the -plank table, on which cups, spoons, and plates were scattered in -profusion. - -"Bobs, is that you?" she called, as she heard footsteps outside. "Do -look here! This pie crust is such a mess!" - -She had arrived at a point where she needed encouragement. The morning -was passing; the tent was very hot; flies swarmed everywhere, and her -dough-covered hands could not grasp and tuck away the refractory curl -that was tickling the end of her nose. - -"If you want pies," she went on, "you'd better send for one of your -cowboy cooks to come and make them. I can't." - -"Excuse me, ma'am. Can I help?" - -At the sound of the strange voice Harriet turned, dismayed. In the -doorway of the tent stood a dark, slender man eying her questioningly. -In his khaki shirt, scarlet neckerchief, silver-trimmed leather "chaps" -and broad-brimmed hat he was all that Harry had imagined a cowboy -should be. There was something familiar to her in his dark-eyed face; -and when he said, "Is Mr. Holliday here? I'm fetching in a bunch of -colts--Jones is my name," she remembered at once. - -"Mr. Holliday is not here, but please come in, Mr. Jones," she said. "I -am his sister." - -Jones came into the tent and sat down on a cracker box near the door. - -"How do you like Idaho?" he asked. - -"I'd like it better if I'd learned to make pies before I came," Harry -replied, with a rueful glance at her sticky hands. "Rob has told me -how well all the men out in this country can cook. It makes me feel -so stupid not to be able to. Rob has tried to show me how to make -sour-dough bread and stew frijole beans--with red peppers and garlic, -you know. Aren't they awful? Rob likes them, though." - -"They ain't so bad," said Jones gravely, turning his hat in his hands -and glancing oddly at the girl from under his eyebrows. - -"Well, maybe not, when you're very, very hungry. I can manage to cook -_them_, but pie--look at it!" She viciously prodded the glistening, -sticky paste. "I guess I'll just throw it away and start fresh." - -"Oh, I wouldn't waste it! Ain't you got it a little wet, mebbe?" - -"Is that it? What must I do? I'm sure you are laughing in your sleeve -at me." - -"Not much. I remember what an all-fired mess I had layin' round when I -first waded into pie makin'. But now if I was you and you told me to -turn that there into hot bread and take a new layout for the pie, I -reckon I'd try it." - -"Thank you!" Harry laughed. "If I were you, Mr. Jones, and you were -I, and I saw you in this fix, do you know what I'd do? Offer to show -me--you--how to do it." - -With a smile, Jones laid his hat under the table, dipped some water -into the hand basin, washed his hands, and came over to the table. - -"I'll grease the pans," Harry said. "The apples are ready. And there! I -forgot all about the fire. This business of putting in wood every five -minutes----" - -She put wood into the stove, filled the kettle, stirred the beans, and -greased the pans; all the while she watched the new cook as he worked. - -"I'd rather organize a fresh batch of dough," he said apologetically. -"Makin' it over would be like tryin' to make a cow pony out of a cayuse -that's been half broke to a buggy." - -In a few minutes he had the pie pans lined, and looked about him for -the filling. "Apples, you said, didn't you?" - -Harry pointed to a basin overflowing with dried fruit that she had -soaked but had not cooked. "Those are the apples I meant to use." - -Jones hesitated and grinned. "You wasn't cal'latin' to make them into a -pie without bilin' 'em first? It'd be like chewin' on gun waddin! Ain't -you got no canned goods?" - -From the pile of groceries, dishes, chicken feed, and bedding that Rob -had dumped into a corner until he could find time to put up shelves, -Harry produced a can of peaches. "This place is in the worst mess," -she declared. "We've been here just about two weeks, and Rob is so busy -getting post holes dug while the ground is soft that he hasn't time -even to think how we live." - -"A homesteader has to think of his critters first. Did you say you had -the garlic in those beans? They'd ought to bile some smarter if they're -for dinner." - -When Rob came home at noon, tired, hungry, and expecting a meal of -soggy bread and experimental beans, he found dinner waiting for him; -the open oven door revealed delicious brown biscuits and an odorous -pie. Harry, cool and calm, was setting the table. - -"So you got here at last, did you?" Rob said in greeting to Jones. - -"Yes, but it's a wonder," Jones replied. "The road's so crooked comin' -through the hills that a fellow meets hisself comin' back three times -on the way over." - -"Did you bring in the horses?" - -"Sure. I've got 'em in those trees up yonder. Thought I'd better see -you before I put 'em in the corral." He shot a quick glance at Rob. - -"No, you don't want 'em there. I've got the glen fenced. There are so -many trees in there that it will be cool and protected for the colts, -too. Well, let's have dinner, sis; I'm hungry enough to chew nails." - -"You'll have just time to wash while I'm dishing up," Harry reminded -him. - -She had taken pains to set the table attractively--with clean napkins -from her little store of linen, with the butter on butter plates, and -with a glass of water at each place. - -After much splashing outside, Rob reappeared. "Now for grub!" he -exclaimed, slumping down on the cracker box. "Come along!" he cried to -Jones, who, standing before the looking-glass, was carefully parting -his glossy black hair. "Your top's all right." - -"You certainly didn't bother to brush yours," Harry said, with a glance -at Rob's wet and rumpled hair. - -"Oh, it'll do!" Rob hastily smacked his hair flat. "Come along, Jones. -That's the trouble with these Western financiers," he added in a loud -aside to Harry. "They think too much of their looks." He glanced round -the table. "This all the beans you've got, sis?" he asked, eying -apprehensively the small dish in which Harry had served the beans. - -"No." Harry pointed to the saucepan on the stove. - -"Ah! Good work. Beans, Jones? Sure." Rob ladled out huge platefuls for -Harry and Jones, swung the saucepan from the stove to the table, helped -himself generously, and then calmly set the saucepan down on his clean -napkin. "Now, a little condensed milk for the coffee," he said, "then -hoist anchor and away." - -"I'll have to open a fresh can," Harry said, jumping up. "I threw out -the other." - -As she went to get it, she failed to see her brother's eyebrows lift in -surprise. He said nothing, however, and devoured his dinner hungrily. - -"Sis couldn't even turn a flapjack when she first came out," he said to -Jones as between them they demolished beans and biscuits. "Never mind, -sis, you've earned your salt teaching, and if you keep on like this -you'll soon be worth your salt to _me_." - -He winked teasingly, cheerfully unconscious of the fact that Harry's -cheeks were flaming with annoyance. Just when Rob should have been -nicest, before a stranger, he was particularly horrid! - -In a very cold and dignified manner she disclaimed credit for the pie -and biscuits, but Rob was so busy eating that he did not notice the -reproof in her voice. As soon as dinner was over he got up, reached for -his hat, and said, "Come on, Jones, let's go up to the glen." - -They stepped outside the tent. Harry heard Rob say in a low voice, -"I've been looking for you this long while. Have any trouble getting -through?" - -"Not much. I didn't give any one a chance to ask questions." - -She heard no more and was soon thinking about other things--chiefly -about how Rob had changed since coming West. She washed the dishes, -straightened up the tent, and was just hanging up her apron, when she -heard the men coming back, still talking earnestly. - -"It's the only way," Rob was saying. "You can't be sure that these -fellows will not find out; and if you can say that--see?" - -The next moment they entered the tent. "Where's the ink, Harry?" he -asked. As she went to her trunk, he added, "Give us a sheet of paper, -too. That's it. Let's go outside, Jones; it's cooler there." - -They sat down on the shady side of the tent. Harry heard them talking -long and low. After a while Rob came inside, put down the pen and ink, -and went out again. Shortly afterward, Jones rode away. - -Harry waited, hoping that Rob would come in and tell her what they had -been talking about; but he did not. Going to the door, she saw him -driving along the fence line, unloading the posts that he had cut that -morning in Spring Creek caņon. - -Harry felt hurt and irritated. Slowly something hardened in her throat, -and setting her lips, she sat down with her mending. When, after a -while, Rob came up to get a fresh bag of water, she did not look up or -speak. - -But Rob was too full of his own thoughts to notice Harry's mood. He -drew a cracker box to the table, reached for a scrap of wrapping paper, -and was soon deep in figuring. "Twenty-four, six, thirty. Six tons of -alfalfa. How many hundred of barley and wheat and oats will it take to -winter the stock on, I wonder?" He thrust his legs out under the table, -ran his hands through his hair, and stared at the figuring before him. - -"Yes, I ought to have three hundred dollars at least, before snow -flies," he said. "I will, too, if I stick on the job and nothing -happens." - -"If nothing happens," Harry repeated, with a short laugh. "Does -anything ever happen out here, pleasant or otherwise?" - -"Eh? What's started you off? I mean, if the work goes well and we don't -get a setback of some kind. Three hundred dollars will see us through -the winter, all right." - -"'Us!' Don't count me in, please." - -"Well, you have got a grouch, sis," said Rob, in some surprise. "What's -the matter now? I thought you were here for a year. In fact, I was just -going to ask you if you don't want to homestead here." - -"Me? Homestead? Never!" - -"Why not? I didn't say anything about it before, because I wanted first -to see whether you liked it and whether it agreed with you. You're -taking hold fine, and I believe we'd make a big thing of it together. -There's a hundred and sixty on the coulee just east of the next butte. -You've been over it?" - -"Yes," Harry admitted. She remembered the swale, the strip of green -meadow, the springs breaking from the hillside; it did not compare in -value with Rob's land, but it was a good "hundred and sixty." - -For a moment Harry had a vision of herself as a ranch owner: riding a -cow pony, planting and selling crops, building up a herd of her own, -perhaps. Then came swiftly a picture of herself standing alone in the -doorway of the cabin, as she had seen the women standing in their -doorways watching the train pass their lonely prairie homes. Yes, it -would be that way with her, while Rob was off with Jones or some other -man. She shook her head. - -"I couldn't! I've no money. I can't make any out here. What should I do -for clothes and things? It took all I made at home, teaching, to keep -me properly dressed." - -"You wouldn't need such things here; you'd be a lot better off without -them, if you're going to wear yourself out getting them. In a few -years you'd have a farm worth something--you and I together could do a -lot. As it is, some old cow-puncher'll settle it up, or a sheepman'll -grubstake a Mex to prove up on it for him, and the sheep'll eat out -the whole range. It wouldn't take you long to commute, only fourteen -months, and then, if you didn't like it, you could hike back East. Of -course it would cost you two hundred dollars to prove up, but you could -make that easily by teaching a district school." - -Again Harry hesitated. She remembered suddenly the young school-teacher -whom she had met on the train, and who was giving up a good salary to -come out and homestead. - -"If I have to spend all I'd make teaching merely to prove up, I don't -see that I'd be any better off than if I went back home. If I could do -something to earn money to put into the ranch it might be worth while." - -"Quit throwing things out before they're half used; that would save -some money, anyway." - -Rob spoke brusquely. He hated to find fault with Harry, but he had -wanted to speak before this about her wastefulness, and now she was -giving him an excuse. - -"Really, Rob, I don't know what you mean." Her tone showed that her -pride was hurt. "I thought I was very economical." - -"It's not very economical to throw out a tin of milk that's only been -used twice--and to cut fresh bacon for fry fat, when there's an old -rind hanging on the wall. It's those little things that count up in -the long run. I'm not kicking, but since you said you'd like to help, -that's as good a way as any." - -"And yet you suggest my staying out here. Really, if I'm such a poor -manager as you say, I think I'd better go back at once." - -"What's the use of talking like that? I guess it's lonesomeness that -makes you grouchy. You ought to get out and see some of the other -ranchwomen. Why don't you go over to Robinson's. It's only three miles -from here, and she'd be tickled to death to have you go to see her." - -"Why doesn't she come first? She's been here longer than I have." - -"They don't pay much attention to that formal sort of nonsense out -here," said Rob. "If you were sick they'd come and nurse you for a -week; but most of them have a raft of children, and chores to do -besides." - -Whistling cheerfully, he went out to his work. Harriet flushed with -anger. How rude Rob was! But what could be expected when he had lived -so long among these rough Westerners? - -Yet under her mortification she felt that he was right and that she was -wrong. She had not realized it before. At home her mother and elder -sister had provided for the household; and what Harry earned she had, -quite as a matter of course, spent upon herself; of course she had had -to go without many things that other girls had, and so had thought -herself very economical. Rob's economy was not like that. She saw now -how often he saved money by fashioning something that she would have -thought it necessary to buy--or by getting further use out of something -that she would have thrown away. She knew that his was the real spirit -of economy. - -Nevertheless, she was angry with him, and began to write a homesick -letter to her mother. She was deep in a recital of her woes, when a -voice interrupted her. - -"This Holliday's ranch?" it inquired. - - - - -CHAPTER III - - -A stranger stood in the doorway of the tent. He was short and heavily -built, with a big, close-shaven head and small, bright eyes. As Harriet -rose and came forward, he smiled reassuringly. - -"My brother is not here just now," the girl said. "He has gone after a -load of fence posts. Won't you come in?" - -"Thanks. I'll sit down out here. It's cooler, I reckon. So you're -homesteadin', are you? How do you like it?" - -He spoke in such a cheery voice and smiled so pleasantly that Harriet's -fears vanished. "To tell the truth, I don't care much for it," she -admitted. "It's so very lonely." - -"You're right. Homesteadin's hard for a young lady, 'specially one that -ain't used to this country. You wa'n't raised out here, I judge, ma'am?" - -"Oh, no! We come from Connecticut." - -"Say! Connecticut! I'll bet you didn't cal'late to hit the hard pan -when you come, neither?" He cocked his head, smiled, and then burst -into a ringing laugh. - -Harry laughed, too. "If this is 'hard pan,' I certainly didn't expect -to hit it." - -"Yes, sir, and it'll be a heap harder before you've finished provin' -up, too. Summer's fine here in the hills, but when the winter sets in! -You goin' to stick it out the three years?" - -"Oh, no! I'm going back. I haven't taken a homestead myself; this is my -brother's. I'm only visiting him." - -"What's he goin' to do here, anyhow?" - -"Make a ranch, I guess." - -"A ranch? Why, it'll take twenty years for him to get the brush off -this and get it all into crops. 'Tain't fit for nothin' but grazing. -You know what he'd ought to have done? Took forty acres down in the -Twin Falls district. There's where they're makin' money. That's the -place for you young folks from back East to get in and make a strike. -You'd have easy sleddin' all the way, and make money, too. But this -here--" - -He stopped as if he did not care to say too much, and looked off across -the sagebrush. - -Harry had listened, interested at first, and then surprised and -disturbed. Poor Rob! He did not know what he had got into. And oh, how -thankful she was that she, too, had not filed a claim! - -At that moment Rob came around the corner of the tent. - -"How do!" he said, and stopped. - -"This Mr. Holliday?" asked the stranger. "My name's Joyce." - -"Glad to meet you, Mr. Joyce." Rob sat down on the grass and took off -his hat. "Got any fresh water there, Harry?" he asked. - -"Fencing's a big job," he said, as he drained the dipper. "The -ground's getting dry now, too, so I have to work fast." - -"Yes. It's a hard proposition all through," answered Joyce. He was -silent a moment, and then began abruptly, "I've been telling your -sister here what you could do over on the south side; how much better -off you would be with forty acres there than with a hundred and sixty -here." - -"You an agent for the Twin Falls' tract?" asked Rob, with a smile. - -"No, sir. I'm a sheepman; but I've got eighty acres down there, and I -know what it's going to be. A young fellow like you with brains and -spunk could make a fortune there in a few years. Here you'll spend a -lifetime gettin' a living." - -He went on to give a glowing account of the farming on the south side -of the Snake River--a tract that an irrigation company had lately -opened. - -"See here," he said suddenly, "I'll tell you what I'll do. I'll -exchange forty acres there, all proved up on, only a few payments left, -for your homestead, if you'll commute on it. And I'm offering you the -biggest price you'll ever get for it." - -"Why do you offer it if it's so big? Why don't you keep your forty?" - -"Well, it's just this way: I've got to have a water hole here for -lambing. I've been coming here on my way to the reserve for twenty -years. Never thought of filing on this land it's so poor, nothing but -the water here but that's what makes it valuable to us stockmen." - -"That's what makes it valuable to me. I'm going to run cattle." - -Joyce laughed loudly. "My boy, cattle would starve where sheep grow -fat. You'll be flat broke in five years." - -"Why haven't you taken it up before?" asked Rob. "It's been here a good -while." - -"Well, us stockmen have got so used to having all the wild land we -wanted that we haven't realized until too late that you fellows are -coming in here and taking it all up." - -"Then I'm not the only greenhorn from back East who thinks it's good -for something." - -"If you'll sell out to me, you'll never regret it." - -"If I ever decide to sell out, I'll give you first chance to bid on -it," Rob promised; and that was as much as Joyce could get out of him. - -When Joyce was leaving, he turned in his saddle and called: - -"Well, so long, Holliday! Mebbe you'll be sorry you didn't close with -me when the sheep begin coming in." - -A day or two after Joyce's visit, Harry called the dog--she had -shortened Othello to 'Thello by this time--and went down to the side -of the hundred and sixty where Rob was fencing. Having so little to -occupy her time, she frequently went out to walk in the afternoon, and -joined her brother on her way home; but this was the first time she had -gone down so early, and she found the brush, under the afternoon sun, -a very different place from what it had looked from the shade of the -quaking aspens. - -Out in the brush there was no shade; even the largest clumps of sage, -some as high as her head, gave little refuge from the glare of the -sun. The desert, lying silent in the sunshine and heat, seemed to fill -the visible universe, and to absorb all significance from the tiny -human motes that inhabited it. What, Harry asked herself, could Rob do -singlehanded against that inert opponent? - -As she watched him bore one hole after another, driving the post-hole -digger down through the gravel and earth, repeating monotonously the -same motions, never resting, seldom speaking, pausing only to pour a -drink of water down his throat or to wipe the sweat from his face with -his torn sleeve, he seemed to her to have become a helpless automaton -that had been wound up and set going for the amusement of some -invisible spectator. - -Harry was discovering that the West was very different from the -picturesque idea she had had of it. Her part in it, too, was not the -picturesque part she had thought to play. Harry saw the West only from -its unromantic exterior; not--as Rob was seeing it--as the foundation -for as great a romance as the world has ever seen: the transforming of -the waste places of the earth into a garden of plenty. - -If Rob had only told her of the dreams and plans that inspired -him--but Rob was no talker. Now, as Harry watched him, she felt only -the vague discomfort of pity for his overwhelming task. - -The heat made her sick, the glare tortured her eyes; she was afraid of -the lizards and horned toads that darted across the sand about her; -but if she went back to the tent she knew that she would soon become -lonely and homesick. She decided to take a short walk. Looking over her -shoulder toward the foothills, she frowned questioningly. - -"Rob, who is that up there?" - -"Hey?" Rob straightened himself laboriously and glanced in the -direction in which she pointed. - -As yet no sheep had bothered them. One or two flocks had come down from -the foothills on their way across to the reserve, but Rob had warned -them off. Seeing that their favorite bedding ground had been filed on, -the herders had pushed on to the "scab" land. - -"Aren't those sheep?" asked Harry. - -"They are," Rob said slowly. Resting on his shovel, he gazed up at the -point where the buttes divided to form a deep coulee. - -The leaders of the flock had come rather slowly over the crest of the -hill, but now the whole herd came pouring down the glen. The thousand -or more animals bleated crazily as they smelled the water and the deep, -rich grass below them. Two sheep dogs maneuvered them with short, sharp -yelps, glancing back for directions to the sheep herder who stood above -and with his hat signaled to them what to do. - -Walking toward the glen, Rob motioned to the sheep herder to come down. -At first the man paid no attention, but when Rob had whistled sharply -two or three times, he slowly began to descend the hill. - -"He doesn't want to hear me," Rob said. "You'll see. He'll pretend he -doesn't understand. Those Mexes are a coony lot; pretend to be stupid, -but are sharp as nails when it comes to hanging on to a good grazing -ground." - -Watching the sheep flow along, Rob and Harry waited. After a while the -herder came down the glen toward them. - -"Say, he's not a Mex at all!" Rob exclaimed. "He's an American! It must -be that herder of Joyce's." - -The herder, who was a good-looking, heavily built fellow about twenty -years old, stopped and looked at Rob without speaking. His felt hat was -drawn forward over his eyes. He carried a heavy stick that was thick -and knotted at the end. - -"How do!" he said, glancing inquiringly from brother to sister. - -"I suppose you know that this land has been filed on?" Rob began. "I'll -have to ask you not to herd your sheep in 'round here." - -"Who's filed on it?" - -"I have." - -"I don't see no fence." - -"I've just come on, and haven't got the fence up yet; but it's mine, -just the same." - -"Well, I don't know if it is," the young fellow replied insolently. -His eyes were fastened upon 'Thello, who, crouching at Harry's feet, -had been growling at him. - -"Where'd you get that pup?" he asked shortly. "He's mine." - -"Yours?" Rob's voice was quiet, but his blood was hot. "I don't see any -collar." - -An angry glint shot from the herder's eyes. "He's mine, just the same." - -"I don't know if he is." - -"Well, I'm going to have him!" the man muttered, and made a move toward -the dog. - -But Harry was quicker. Sweeping 'Thello into her arms, she stepped back. - -"Whoever owned him didn't deserve to!" she cried. "The poor little -thing had been starved and beaten nearly to death when we found him, -and I'm not going to let him go." - -The way in which Harry spoke the words, with her head thrown back and -her brown eyes shining, carried a challenge; the sheep herder's fist -tightened on his stick and his face darkened. Then, without a word, he -shrugged his shoulders and moved off. - -"Remember," called Rob, "you're to feed on the slopes. I want the -meadows for my own stock, and if you aren't careful, I'll have you -moved outside the two-mile limit." - -The fellow stopped, looked back at them, and then answered, "I reckon -you can't do just that. I've filed on the homestead just east of this -here one. My name's Boykin, if you want to look it up." Turning, he -went on. - -There was a minute of silence. Then Rob said slowly, "The homestead -east; the land I meant you to take." - -Harry could not answer. A queer, surprising shame and regret held her -silent. - -She and Rob walked down to the tent without speaking a word. Anything -that Rob might have said would have sounded like a reproach, and of -what use, he thought, would that have been now? Harry longed to have -him speak, nevertheless, to have him say something that would show how -he did feel. She was much relieved when at last he broke the silence. - -"Who's that coming?" he said abruptly. "I believe it's Brannan with the -cow and those heifers." - -A cloud of dust was puffing along the road toward the ranch, and -through it they saw a man on horseback, with the half-dozen head of -cattle which Rob had bought. When they came nearer Harry recognized the -little man as the same who had spoken to Rob in the hotel at Shoshone. - -They hurried across the meadow to the corral; without waiting for them -Dan had opened the gate and begun to drive in the cattle. - -Tired, suspicious and frightened, they refused to enter and started -off, each in a different direction, but they had reckoned without the -old "cow puncher." Harry had smiled to herself when first she saw the -wizened old man perched upon his big hay horse; but her amusement gave -way to wonder and admiration when he began to work the "critters" back -toward the corral. - -Bellowing and kicking they dodged and ran but Dan, with his dog and his -whip, steered them back and drove them finally through the gateway. - -Harry, Rob and Dan looked proudly at the cattle. - -"A nice bunch of critters," said Rob. - -"They are that," Dan assented gravely. "As good as any I have and I've -the best herd in the valley. Now ye've the last word whin some felly -picks on 'em." - -"A good start is half the journey," said Rob, "and I'm obliged to you. -Come up to the tent, Dan. It's hot work riding on a day like this, and -sis will make us some lemonade." - -"I see you've the sheep still wid ye." Dan nodded toward the hillside. - -"Got 'em for keeps." Rob went on to tell what he had just found out. -"The worst of it is," he said, "that that herder is a mean one, and -Joyce is a mean one, too; so between them I guess I'm in for trouble." - -Dan nodded. "Y'are. Niver did ye say truer worrud. Meanness is the cud -thim two niver swallys. But I'll be tellin' ye a thing, lad." - -He leaned forward and laid his hand on Rob's knee. "Ye don't want to -let thim think ye're beaten. That Joyce has half a dozen homesteads -a'ready that he's paid his herders to file on, for sure! But kape yer -eyes open, and might be you'd find a way to come up with him yet." - -"I'm afraid a tenderfoot like me hasn't much of a show against an -old-timer like him." - -"Niver say it. There niver was a rashcal yit that didn't lave wan -footprint at least in the mud, smart as he'd be, and it's mebbe you -that's the lad wit' the eyes to see it. Watch him, Rob, watch him." - -Rob shook his head, yet nevertheless he felt a glow of hope in his -heart. - -That evening, just before bedtime, Jones returned to the ranch, spread -his quilt on the dry grass under a tree and became one of the family. -He was good company, and Harry would have been glad to have him about, -except that he took so much of Rob's attention. Every morning at -sunrise the two began to work with the colts, breaking them one by one -to bit and bridle, and then to harness and wagon. - -As soon as the forenoon grew warm, they shut the colts in the meadow -at the head of the draw. This was a natural pasture lot, watered by a -spring that flowed from the rocks under the next lift in the foothills -and sheltered on all sides by trees. Here the horses were safe and the -boys paid no more attention to them throughout the day. Jones always -rode away through the valley while Rob plowed, went on with his task of -fencing, or did some work in the garden. After supper the boys resumed -their business of breaking the colts. - -Twice Jones had ridden away in the evening taking one or more of the -harness-broken horses with him and had returned some days later -without them. Harry supposed that he had sold them. Neither Rob nor -Jones ever talked about the horses in her presence and she had soon -understood that she was not expected to ask questions about them. - -One morning Rob asked his sister to put up some lunch for Jones and -himself because they were going down the valley on business. - -Harry put up the lunch and stood watching while they mounted and rode -off. Among the string of horses which Jones had brought in were two -well broken to saddle, a black and a sorrel, and to-day the boys each -rode one of them. These two horses had run loose for so long a time -that they were as frisky and spirited as the colts. As the little party -swept away across the wild prairie the girl longed ardently to be with -them. She liked to ride--Rob had been teaching her--and it did seem -hard that she should not be allowed to go along on such trips as these, -simply because she was not considered a proper person to share a secret. - -Hurt pride mingled with resentment struggled together in her breast. It -was hard to think that she was still outside Rob's deeper interests. -Her life had, for the moment, lost its zest. She finished tidying up -the tent, then went down to the garden determined to be interested in -her own tasks, for the planting and weeding of the vegetables that Rob, -overwhelmed in the press of work, had been forced to leave to her. - -She put in several rows of root vegetables, a second planting of peas -and beans and was trying to feel enthusiastic about planting corn when -a soft crooning call made her turn. - -At first nothing living was to be seen. Then a quiver amongst the tall -weeds and grass along the stream caught her eye, and there came into -sight a sage hen leading her brood of five chicks. Advancing sedately, -craning her long neck to keep watch on every side, pausing to strip the -seeds from various weeds, crooning her furtive call to her young, the -mother bird moved upstream toward the cool shade of the caņon. Suddenly -her black, inquiring eye met Harry's friendly but eager stare. For an -instant the hen stood motionless, her gray-brown coloring blending her -confusingly with the sand and sagebrush of the hillside behind her. -Then, with a short, whistling call she dropped low and Harry saw her -and the baby chickens slither off toward the willows. - -With a sudden determination to follow and have a closer look at these, -her nearest neighbors, Harry dropped her hoe in the fence corner, shut -'Thello inside the garden so he could not chase the birds, and slipped -quietly up the draw after them. - - - - -CHAPTER IV - - -For some minutes Harry walked along the stream without seeing or -hearing the sage hen. But this bit of discouragement only increased her -interest. How could they hide so quickly without flying? The chicks -were too young to fly and surely the hen would not desert them! No, -there they were now! - -Harry felt her blood quicken with interest as the covey of bark-gray -birds slid across a sun patch beyond the willows and vanished again -amongst the quaking asps higher up. So absorbed did she become in -this game of hide and seek that she never once thought of the meadow -pasture and it was only as she made a detour to avoid a great patch -of fire-weed that she came alongside the fence. At the same moment, -she saw a man come riding slowly across the shoulder of the hill. He -appeared to be watching for something, for he rode slowly and looked -about. - -Harry stood perfectly still, hoping he would not catch sight of her. -But her light dress at once caught the rider's eyes and before she -could move he was riding toward her. - -He was a tall, big-shouldered young fellow, dressed in cowboy fashion. - -"Seen any strays round here, ma'am?" he asked, lifting his hat. "I'm -looking for one." - -"Strays? Horses, you mean?" Harry stammered. - -The sound of the stranger's voice had recalled something to the girl's -mind. She had seen this man before. His voice, his smooth, freckled -face, his blue eyes--she knew them. She blushed with confusion, for the -young man was looking at her intently. - -"I don't believe there've been any strays here," she said. "My brother -might know." - -"Your brother down at the tent yonder?" - -"No, not now. He's gone off with--with another man." - -"You ain't got no horses of your own here that mine could ha' got in -with?" - -"No--yes--I mean we're boarding some horses, but they're colts and -inside the pasture, and I'm sure there are no strays among them." - -The stranger had dismounted and, leading his horse, was walking beside -her. - -"Excuse me, ma'am. Ain't I seen you before?" he asked. - -"That's what I was wondering," Harry laughed. "But I can't remember -your name. Mine is Harriet Holliday." - -"Sure thing! It was comin' up in the train, wasn't it? Mine's Chris -Garnett." - -At once Harry remembered. After telling each other that they were -glad to meet again, they walked on toward the tent. "Whose horses are -those?" Garnett asked, pointing at the big team in the corral. - -"Oh, that's the work team!" - -"I thought you said your brother was off." - -"Yes, he's riding one of the horses we're boarding." - -"A colt?" - -"No, you see there were two old--I mean good, broken horses in the -bunch. Rob and the fellow who owns the horses are riding them." - -Harry's explanation was somewhat jerky. The subject of Jones and his -horses still rankled in her, and she could not speak of them naturally. -Garnett looked at her gravely. She felt the color rush into her face -and her eyes fell. - -"You must stay and have some lunch," she said at last, trying to turn -the conversation away from the painful subject. "I haven't a hot -dinner, because the boys aren't going to be home, but I'd like to have -you stay." - -To her surprise Garnett readily accepted her invitation. While she -was setting the table, she kept stealing glances at him, and tried to -harmonize her memory of the very boyish person she had met on the train -with this quiet young man. He was the same big, friendly fellow, with -the same laughter-wrinkled eyes; but now there was something beneath -his reserve that she could not quite understand. Sitting cross-legged -on the grass outside the tent, he played with 'Thello, and talked -casually to Harry while she moved about inside. All the restraint of -the first moments had apparently passed; Garnett said nothing more -about the horses until he left, an hour later. - -"If that pony of mine should come in here," he said, turning in his -saddle, "I'd be a lot obliged to you if you'd send me a line. Soldier's -my post office. That horse of mine is about six years old, sorrel, -ring-and-arrow brand. You'd notice him in a bunch of cayuses." - -A sorrel! Harry's thoughts flashed to the sorrel horse which Rob had -ridden away that morning. She felt a pang of vague apprehension, and -wondered whether Garnett had noticed her startled look. - -When Garnett had gone, she tried to reassure herself. Of course -anything that Rob took an interest in was all right; but _why did he -keep it a secret from her_? Suppose that sorrel horse should prove to -have the ring-and-arrow brand? There might be many sorrels with that -brand, yet her heart beat more nervously and her lips grew dry. - -An idea came to her, and she ran up the glen toward the pasture where -the colts were hidden. She knew that the sorrel was not there, but she -wanted to see whether the colts were branded. - -When she reached the upper end of the glen she crawled through the -barbed wire, and was just emerging from the shelter of the trees when -she saw Garnett ride along the fence and look at the bunch of colts -inside. - -Harry stepped back, instinctively afraid of his seeing her. Why? She -demanded it of herself fiercely. Why should she feel guilty because -Rob was concealing something from her? She had done nothing wrong. But -Garnett suspected something; he had not believed her. - -Humiliation swept over her. Even after Garnett, satisfied that his -horse was not there, had ridden away, and after she had returned to the -tent, her cheeks burned at the thought, "He did not believe me." - -She determined to tell Rob about the whole affair and to make him -explain the mystery. Also, she would look at the brand on that sorrel -horse. - -But Rob and Jones did not get home until ten o'clock. They were very -tired and hungry, and Harry was so busy getting supper for them that -she did not have a chance to go into the matter. - -The next morning Jones rode away on the black horse. When Rob had gone -down to the brush to work on the fence, Harry ran out to the corral and -looked at the sorrel. The brand was perfectly plain--ring and arrow! - -Her first impulse was to go out to Rob and tell him all about Garnett's -visit; but when she thought of how completely Rob's work always -absorbed him, she hesitated. After all, what was the use of breaking -into his morning's toil with her story? She might just as well wait -until noon. - -As she stood, irresolute, her gaze wandered to the distant prairie. -Now, early in June, every minute of the day brought some new and -lovelier expression of nature's magic to view; the color that filled -the valley was slowly deepening with the unfolding year. Far down -the prairie spread the green wheat fields, the squares of alfalfa -and plowed land, the pale clouds of pink where the fruit trees were -in bloom. Through the crystalline air the curve of hill and hollow -shimmered resplendent. - -Harry's eyes grew vague while she pondered. For the first time her -heart went out to her new surroundings. She had been stupid to shut -herself out from partaking of this land. She turned restlessly back -into the tent. - -Regret for not having filed on the land next to Rob's and the thought -of Jones and the sorrel horse worried her. It was intolerable to think -of settling down to humdrum tasks of housework or garden. Calling -'Thello she set off up the draw in the dumb desire of "working it off" -outdoors. - -The narrow vale between the towering buttes was now at its loveliest. -Bees buzzed in the wild rose thickets; wild flowers of vivid -colors--scarlet, blue, violet and yellow--dappled the earth at her feet -and even splashed the sides of the barren buttes. Along the stream, -where the ground was always moist, a dense tangle of weeds and vines -had sprung up and, with the willows, made it difficult to get through -except in certain places. - -Harry followed the same course she had taken the day before when -following the sage hen. But this morning she noticed how differently -the ground appeared. The willows had been broken through; the vines -had been torn away; and the stream had been trodden into a slough by -countless hoofs. Some cattle had come through on their way to the -hills, but they had kept to the draw farther east. 'Thello sniffed -suspiciously and Harry wondered what had been there; but as she -crossed the brook for the last time and came out onto the meadow she -stopped short. A great flock of sheep were feeding. Spread out round -the verdant basin they were eating silently, steadily, greedily, with -short, close-cropping nibbles that would leave nothing but the bare -ground of the rich pasture before them. At sight of her, one or two -ewes "blatted" and moved on, but the others were too busy feeding to -notice her. - -Harry's first astonishment flared suddenly into sharp indignation. She -looked round and saw the herder watching her from a rocky knoll near -by. "Please come down here!" she called sharply, and then added to -herself, "It's that Boykin--the one Rob ordered off before. Miserable -creature!" - -He came down very slowly and stood before her much as he had stood -before Rob, with his eyes smouldering under his half-shut lids. - -"Well, come to fetch me my dog?" he drawled. - -"Your dog! Didn't my brother tell you not to feed down here? This is -our pasture." - -"Is it?" - -"Yes, you know it is. And you had better drive your sheep off right -away, too." - -"Had I?" - -"Yes, at once." Even as she spoke Harry felt how empty her words were. -"You know perfectly well that you have no right on our land. You're -spoiling the pasture, and the stream, too. I wondered what had made -the water taste so queer. It's because your sheep have been in it." - -"If you don't like it, I reckon you can dip out of another spring. -There's plenty in these hills." - -"How dare you talk so!" Harry was trembling nervously. "You shall see -whether we'll put up with such lawlessness!" - -She flew home, with her cheeks hot with anger, and with the sheep -herder's laugh echoing in her ears. When she entered the tent she found -Rob there. - -"Oh," she cried breathlessly, "you remember that herder you told not to -come in here? He's up in the glen now. I've just seen him. I told him -to go, but he won't. He laughed." - -Rob walked to the door. "Will dinner be ready by twelve, sis?" - -"I guess so. Why?" - -"I'm hungry," he said quietly. "It's eleven now." - -Harry stared at him. "You aren't going up there?" - -"Yes, after dinner. He'll be there until then, won't he? If I knew -where to find the camp tender, I'd tell him a thing or two about that -herder--make the whole outfit clear out. I don't care if Joyce has put -him on the next homestead, I filed here first, and he has no right to -put the man on there, anyway. I don't know whether there's any law in -this country, but if there is----" - -He left the tent abruptly. - -Harry began mechanically to get dinner. When it was ready, she blew -the horn and Rob came in. He said nothing about the sheep herder, but -ate his dinner calmly. At the end of the noon hour he rose, went to the -door, and stood looking out. - -"I don't know how I'm going to keep those fellows off," he said, half -to himself. "I can't let my work go, to be chasing them all the time." -He pushed up his hat and scratched his head dubiously. - -"Of course not; but if they're going to ruin our drinking water and eat -all the grass----" - -"Oh, I'm going to drive this outfit away!" he said, as he went out. - -In her anger and excitement over the sheep, Harry had completely -forgotten Garnett and his horse. She began to gather up the dishes, -and then, leaving everything, ran outside. A queer excitement filled -her. She wondered what Rob would do. He had disappeared beyond the -willows and for some minutes all was silent. From where she stood she -could see, above the top of the grove, the rocky slope of the hillside -running across the end of the caņon. Suddenly, from that hillside a -cloud of dust began to rise. Harry could hear nothing, but in a few -moments she saw the sheep spread up over the hill and scatter in all -directions. The dust rose in blinding clouds; the sheep, catching the -panic from their leaders, fled wildly, and finally disappeared round -the hilltop. Harry sighed contentedly and went back to her dishes. Rob -would soon come in and tell her what had happened. Absorbed in her -work, she quite forgot Rob. Not until some time later, when she had -hung up her apron and was putting on her hat with the idea of joining -him at his work, did she remember where he had gone. - -"Something must have happened!" she exclaimed. "He's been gone almost -an hour." She went outside and looked up toward the glen. All was -quiet; she could see no sheep or dust. "He's probably gone on over the -hills," she decided, "driving them off so far that they cannot come -back." - -Satisfying herself with that explanation, she went inside and sat down -to do some mending. In a few moments her brother came slowly into the -tent. - -"Rob!" she cried out. "What is it?" - -His face looked strange, and he stared at her without answering. She -took a quick step forward and drew a terrified breath. His hair was -matted with blood; blood oozed from a gash on his forehead; and as she -felt him over with trembling hands, she touched a bruise, swollen and -dark, at the base of his skull. - -"Oh, Bobs! What has happened to you, dear? Oh, he's fainting! Bobs, -don't! Oh, what shall I do!" - -Rob had turned very white; he swayed dizzily, and then caught himself. - -"I'll lie down a while!" he muttered. "Feel pretty mean. That fellow -beat me up. Jumped out on me from the bushes before I saw him. I'd -run the sheep up the hill--was waiting to see if they'd come back. He -knocked me over--kept beating me. Must have fainted." - -His words trailed away and his face grew moist with sweat. Stumbling -to the bed, he dropped down on it. - -Harry had never seen a person faint, and for a moment she hung over -Rob, staring at him. The sight of his familiar face, bloodless under -the tan, so solemn, quiet, and strange, filled her heart with a passion -of remorse. What ought she to do? - -The only restorative at hand was cold water. She bathed Rob's forehead, -rubbed his hands, and tried to force a drink between his teeth. - -Then unexpectedly Rob stirred, opened his eyes, drew a slow breath, and -smiled. - -"All right, sis," he murmured. "--Just rest a while." - -Harry smiled back; then she ran outside the tent and burst into tears. - -"I must get a doctor," she murmured, when she got control of herself. - -Returning to the tent, she bathed and bandaged her brother's wounds. -The cut on his scalp was bleeding steadily, though slowly; the bruise -at the base of his skull was swollen and throbbing. He was quite -conscious now, but very weak and dizzy from pain; and, although he -answered her when she spoke, he evidently wanted to rest and sleep. - -"How in the world am I ever to go after a doctor?" she thought -desperately. "I can't harness the team or even put a saddle on the -pony. If I had only, only learned! I suppose I shall have to walk to -Robinson's and get them to go to Soldier for me. It means leaving Rob -alone for hours. How can I ever do it?" - -Tears blinded her as she stared down at him. - -"And it's all my fault!" she groaned. "It would never have happened if -I hadn't been so hateful--hadn't made him go, had taken the homestead, -hadn't kept 'Thello in the first place!" - -She felt very remorseful and penitent. When she had made Rob as -comfortable as she could, and had put water close beside him, she set -out. The fear that Rob would die haunted her. Sometimes so sharp and -heavy was the pain of leaving him there alone, and so dreadful the fear -of what she might have to face on her return, that she wavered and -looked back. - -Only the knowledge that her brother's need of a doctor was greater and -more urgent than his need of her drove her on. Through the heat and the -dust and the white glare, she hurried, hurried, hurried. As she rounded -each butte in succession and saw the empty road curving far ahead round -another, she wondered passionately how much farther Robinson's was. - - - - -CHAPTER V - - -Harry was beginning to think that she had lost her way, when suddenly, -as she topped a rise in the road, she saw the Robinson ranch lying -below her beside the mouth of a coulee. Barns, sheds, corrals, pens, -haystacks, and ranch house lay scattered along the fence near the road. -The buildings, which were of unpainted boards, weathered to the gray of -the desert, reminded her of the houses she had seen from the train; but -the path from the gate to the door of the ranch house was bordered with -flowers, and the yard, which was separated from the farm fields by a -fence, was neatly planted with vegetables and fruit trees. - -A chorus of loud barks announced Harry's arrival. At once the door of -the house was opened a crack and several children, with yellow, tousled -heads, peered out. As Harry approached, the children promptly shut the -door, but at her knock a young woman with a fat, smiling baby on her -arm, opened it. - -"How do? Come in, won't you?" said the woman. - -"Is this Mrs. Robinson?" asked Harry, on the threshold. "I'm Miss -Holliday." - -"Glad to make your acquaintance. Set down. You look tired. Norma, -let the lady set in that chair." She drew a small girl from a plush -rocking-chair and dragged it forward. - -"Thank you, I can't stop. My brother has been hurt terribly. A sheep -herder attacked him and beat him almost to death. He must have a doctor -at once. Can you send to town for me?" - -Harry spoke rapidly. She was spent with weariness and heartache, and -the mention of Rob brought a strangling sob to her throat. - -"How about! Mr. Holliday hurt!" Mrs. Robinson set the baby on the -floor, and putting her hands on her hips, stared in mingled curiosity -and sympathy at her visitor, and poured out questions and exclamations. - -Wiping her forehead nervously with her handkerchief, Harry had turned -abruptly away. She shrank from the eager interest of a stranger, -and had to force herself to answer the woman's questions. "It's an -imposition, I know, to ask you to send to town for the doctor," she -said, "but I can't leave my brother alone long enough to go, and I -don't know how to ride very well, anyway." - -"Sakes alive, girlie! Nobody don't have to ride to git him. You kin -just phone over. There's the phone right there. P'r'aps I better ring -him up for you. Like's not he's at the hotel gassin', 'stead of in his -office." - -Harry was only too glad not to have to repeat her troubles to the -doctor; she sat limply in the rocking-chair and fanned herself with her -hat, while Mrs. Robinson hunted vocally among the front stoops in town -for "Doc" Bundy. - -"If a body was to wait for him to come to his office," declared Mrs. -Robinson, "we could all die of old age before ever seein' him. I got -him, though. He's to the drug store gittin' him some sody. Hello, that -you, Doc? Yep, Mrs. Robinson. 'Tain't for us. Listen while I tell you, -so's you can come on." - -When she had finished a lengthy description of Rob, his ranch, the -quarrel, and Rob's injuries, and had adjured the doctor to hurry and to -bring the sheriff with him, Mrs. Robinson dropped into her chair and -prepared to enjoy her visitor's call; but when she looked at Harry's -face, she exclaimed: - -"You pore thing! You're all beat out, 'ain't you? You're as white as -curdled milk. See here! You catch hold of the young one and I'll hook -up the rig and carry you back home. Vashti can look out for the others -and get her dad's supper. I'll call her now." - -Mrs. Robinson left the room followed by three or four tow-headed -youngsters, who were clamoring for bread and jam. Harry, with the baby -on her knee, leaned back in the plush rocking-chair and looked vaguely -about her. Evidently this was the room where the family lived, for -besides the big cookstove and the table covered with oilcloth, there -were a plush-covered lounge, a phonograph, and a very new, shiny bureau -with an immense plate-glass mirror. The Robinsons had money to spend -if not good taste in spending it, she decided; at the same time she -noticed the unpapered board walls, which were decorated with gaudy -calendars and advertising posters, and the china, which had evidently -been recruited from "prize package" cereal boxes. - -Although Mrs. Robinson might be ignorant and crude, Harry gratefully -admitted that she was kind-hearted to drive her home at that time of -day. Hearing the rumble of wheels and the voice of her hostess giving -swift and numerous orders, she went to the door and looked out. The -"rig," as Mrs. Robinson had called it, was a light, mud-spattered -mountain wagon, drawn by a team of half-broken ponies that laid their -ears back and showed the whites of their eyes alarmingly. Mrs. Robinson -sat in the front seat, with one foot on the brake. - -"Oughtn't the baby to have something more on?" asked Harry, glancing at -the child's bare feet and gingham slip. - -"How about! Vashti," Mrs. Robinson called to the big-boned girl of -twelve who watched them from the doorstep, "you fetch ma's shawl off -the bed. And remember now, the beans is all cooked; there's pie, and -your dad likes plenty of lard in his hot bread. And be sure to get them -young ones to bed early, or I'll warm their jackets for 'em when I get -back." - -As they drove out of the gate, Mrs. Robinson left an ever louder stream -of directions flowing behind her, until a drop in the road hid the -house from sight. Then she sighed abruptly and became silent. - -"It's very kind of you to drive me home," began Harry. "I appreciate it -immensely; but what will your husband think?" - -"Oh, he won't care. He can do for hisself as good as any woman. Men -folks in this country most always learn to housekeep when they're -bachin' it. Why, we were married when I was fifteen, and came out here -from Nebrasky, and there wasn't another woman in twenty miles to turn -to for help. But Robinson, he could show me hisself!" - -"At fifteen!" exclaimed Harry. "Why, you were just a child! Weren't you -lonely?" - -"I guess not! There was too much to do. I was likely to be called on -any day to finish seedin', or hayin', or help butcher, or what not, so -be he was short-handed." - -"But now, with all your little children to take care of," Harry began, -but she stopped short. - -She had been watching the little cayuse ponies, divided between fear -of their suddenly running away and admiration of the cool steadiness -with which Mrs. Robinson held them in check; but as they went down -the bank of a creek that had been dug out deep by the spring freshet, -the woman's foot slipped from the brake and the wagon rolled upon the -ponies' heels. Mrs. Robinson pulled up hard on the reins, but the -ponies plunged, clattered across the shallow ford, and, with their ears -back, dashed up the opposite bank. - -"Now, you ornery varmints! Quit it! Quit it! Yes, you will, too! Whoa, -you! If I don't beat the buttons off you for that!" - -Pouring a vivid flood of language upon the ponies, Mrs. Robinson threw -the brake and sawed sharply at their mouths. Suddenly there was a jerk -and a snap; the cheek strap of the off horse's bridle swung loose. - -Harry saw the leather strap fly back, and saw the pony shake its head -and shy; involuntarily she pressed the baby close to her. But Mrs. -Robinson was too quick for the cayuse. Pulling the ponies square across -the road, she faced them toward the boulders that marked the edge of -the "bench"; then, whipping the lines round the brake, she stepped over -the dashboard and out along the pole, and swung herself down at the -horses' heads. - -"Now, if that ain't the meanest team you ever saw, tell _me_!" she -drawled, as she wiped her face with her apron and looked contemptuously -at the ponies. "To bust up the harness when there ain't a thing handy -for me to mend it with! I suppose there ain't an inch of balin' wire in -the wagon. You couldn't look, could you, girlie? I don't want to leave -this fool pony." - -"Here's something! I don't know whether it's baling wire," Harry said, -after making a careful survey of the wagon box, "but there's a piece of -wire round the whip socket." - -"Sure thing, I'd forgot that. Lay the young one down and get it for me, -will you?" - -Harry obeyed, and Mrs. Robinson, cool and unconcerned, mended the -bridle. Then she climbed into the wagon, started the horses, and took -up the conversation as if it had never been broken off. - -Ashamed to reveal her fear, Harry forced herself to listen and to talk; -but when they drew near the ranch her thoughts rushed forward, and she -could think only of Rob. The moment they stopped at the corral she was -out of the wagon, and with an apology to Mrs. Robinson for leaving her -to unharness alone, she hurried across the slope. Her brother lay as -she had left him, with one arm up, shielding his face from the flies -that swarmed in the hot, sunny tent. He was awake, but feverish and in -pain. Bringing a basin of water, Harry began to change the bandages. -While she was busy, Mrs. Robinson appeared, with the baby in her arms. - -"How about feedin' the critters?" she asked, as she declared her -sympathy. "The pigs ain't been slopped nor the chickens fed, I expect. -I don't see the cow nowheres. Like's not she's feedin' up in one of -them draws along the hills. 'Slong's you ain't milkin' her it don't -matter. She'll get back when she's thirsty. Now, don't you move," she -added, as Rob tried to rise. "I'll see to the whole outfit." - -"I'd forgotten all about the critters!" muttered Rob. He tried to lift -himself, and then, sinking back with a gasp of pain, closed his eyes. -"I certainly feel mean." - -"You mustn't think of moving," protested Harry. "Mrs. Robinson is here. -She's looking after everything. She's been awfully kind; telephoned to -the doctor, drove me home, and everything." - -A look of relief crossed Rob's face. He smiled, and murmured, "That's -great!" and suddenly Harry realized that under their neighbor's -matter-of-fact manner there had been more genuine kindness and a -greater willingness to help than she had appreciated. - -Harry longed to drop down beside Rob and sleep; never had she been so -weary. But she realized that Mrs. Robinson must be hungry, for it was -almost eight o'clock. Harry had built the fire and was moving stiffly -about, trying to think what she could prepare from her meager supply of -groceries, when Mrs. Robinson returned. - -"Say now," the woman exclaimed, "you let me get supper! You're wore to -a feather edge. I'll knock up a pan of hot bread and fry a little fat -meat, and that'll do us, bein' as there's no men to cook for." - -After supper, Harry and Mrs. Robinson washed the dishes. The doctor had -not yet come, and the girl was worried. - -"Well," said Mrs. Robinson, "it's a twenty-mile drive out here, and it -was close on to six when I called him. There, now! Hear that? I guess -that's him this minute." - -Both women hurried outside. The silhouette of a horseman showed against -the sky, and a voice called, "This Holliday's?" - -"That's right," replied Mrs. Robinson. "We're waitin' for you, Doc." - -The next moment the doctor, a sallow-faced Kentuckian, swung from his -saddle and clumped into the tent; he had turned up a wrong trail, he -said, in apology for being late. - -Harry held the lamp for him while he cleansed the wound and took a -few stitches in it. He gave Harry directions for caring for it, and -left lint and antiseptics. There was, he said, nothing more that he -could do; fortunately all danger of concussion from the blow at the -base of the skull had passed, and the other injuries were only flesh -wounds. All Rob needed was to keep quiet for a few days. The sheriff, -he explained, had not been able to come, because he had gone to Scalp -Creek to investigate a shooting affair. While the doctor was getting -ready to leave, Mrs. Robinson wrapped the baby in her shawl. - -"If it's all the same to you, Doc," she said, "seein' as it's on your -road, I'd be mighty obliged if you'd drive me over. The ponies are that -mean to-night! You can hitch yours on behind the wagon." - -Harry went down to the corral with them and stood in the moonlight -holding the sleeping baby while Mrs. Robinson caught and harnessed -the horses. Harry felt a generous impulse of admiration for the -self-reliant, fearless ranchwoman, and when she said good night asked -her cordially to come again. - -"If she were only a little more civilized and congenial!" thought -Harry regretfully, looking after them until they had vanished amid the -moonlit ghosts of sagebrush, and the rattle of wheels had died away. - -"I guess it would be better, though, if I were more like her," she -suddenly confessed to herself. "Everything she does counts, while I -just rush round and waste my breath. Of course she's learned how, while -I have been learning civilized things; but if I'm to stay out here I'd -better learn how to live here." - -She took up her work the next morning with a fresh incentive and in -a happy spirit. Caring for the animals was not such a bore as she -thought it would be. She went first to the chickens and pigs; next she -attended to the horses and heifers in the corral. The cow was nowhere -in sight. - -"I wonder when Jones will get back?" she thought. "Now that he might -really be of some use, of course he's not here." - -She finished her work, made Rob comfortable, and then went to walk over -the ranch to see in which of the grassy coulees the cow had stayed to -feed. - -The hundred and sixty acres that the fence inclosed afforded plenty of -range and good pasture, and there was no apparent reason why the cow -should break out; but although Harry searched every gully and behind -every rock ledge, she could not find her. - - - - -CHAPTER VI - - -It was several days before Rob was able to get about as usual. His head -ached when he tried to walk and his muscles were stiff and sore. - -On waking the morning after he was hurt, he asked whether Jones had -come back again. He seemed a little troubled to learn that he had not -yet returned. When the next two days passed without bringing Jones, Rob -became plainly disturbed. - -"He might at least send me word if anything has gone wrong," he -declared. - -"Perhaps he's gone after more colts," Harry suggested. "He's sold a -good many of those he had here, hasn't he?" - -"About half of them; but he wouldn't bring in more--not now, anyhow." - -"Why not?" - -"Oh, because. He simply wouldn't." - -Harry kept silent, for she saw that Rob did not want to say any more -about the matter. He seemed so greatly worried over Jones's absence -that she restrained her impulse to tell him about Garnett and his -sorrel horse. - -On the third day Rob got up and announced that he was going to work. - -"The first thing you know the cattle will be coming in round here -to feed, and if I don't get that extra strand of wire round my fence -before they get here, my critters will be up and off with the others." - -Harry's heart thumped. "I might as well tell you, Bobs. The cow is gone -already." - -"Hey?" Rob turned quickly and stared at her. He looked pale and thin -now that he was standing. "When did the cow get out?" - -"I don't know--exactly. The day you got hurt, I guess." - -"She may be in Boise by this time. Did the heifers go, too?" - -"No, they are all here." - -"Thank goodness! Well, I'll get right out after the other beast. I've -heard Dan say a dry cow is a mean critter to keep tabs on. Put me up a -lunch, will you, sis, while I'm saddling the pony?" - -"Bobs! You aren't going to start out to-day? In this hot sun?" - -"The longer I wait the hotter it'll get and the farther I'll have to -ride." - -"Couldn't you send one of the Robinson boys?" - -"And pay him two dollars a day? They couldn't go, anyhow. The whole -family is busy irrigating and plowing for fall wheat. Don't worry, sis; -that scratch on my scalp looks worse than it feels. I may find the cow -right down along the creek." - -Rob went up the glen to the pasture to get his saddle horse. He was -gone a long time and came back looking much troubled. - -"I don't understand it" he said. "The gate is open up there and all the -colts are gone. My pony, too." - -"Rob--who could have done it? Do you think they were stolen?" - -"I don't think so. There's been no horse stealing round here since that -gang was rounded up last spring--just when you came, you remember? -No, I can't imagine what's happened unless Boykin opened the gate for -spite. Do you know when he went out?" - -"The day after he attacked you. I heard the sheep crossing the meadow -in the morning when I was getting fresh water for you." - -"Wait until I find Joyce! If he thinks I'm going to put up with such -work he's mistaken. I'll have to ride old Rock. What will Jones say -when he finds those colts are gone? And how can we ever round 'em up -again?" - -"It isn't your fault. Why doesn't he come and take care of his own -stock?" - -"Something's happened, I suppose. He wouldn't stay off like this for -nothing. I ought really to go after the colts instead of the cow." - -Rob went down to the corral, and soon Harry saw him riding back, not on -Rock, but on the sorrel with the ring-and-arrow brand. - -"I'd forgotten we'd left this horse down in the corral," he said, -looking much relieved. "Well, now I shan't be gone a week, as I -expected to if I rode old Rock." - -Harry started to speak and then changed her mind; there could be -nothing wrong in Jones's secrets about the horses if Rob did not -disapprove of them. Doubtless there were plenty of sorrels with the -ring-and-arrow brand, and after keeping this one so long for Jones, -there could be no harm in Rob's getting some service from it. - -So, instead of telling Rob about Garnett, she said, "That's a pretty -good pony, isn't it? About how old is he?" - -Rob had just mounted. "About six or seven years, I should think," he -said, as he rode off. - -He was gone all day, but he found neither the horses nor his cow. - -"I'll go out to-morrow," he said at supper, "and stay until I find some -of these strays." - -"You--you won't come back at night?" - -"Probably not. Why?" - -"Nothing--much. That is, I only thought you might be able to go to town -in a day or two. We need several things." - -Harry twisted her fingers together and tried to control her voice. To -have Rob stay away--to leave her all alone! She stood silent, looking -up at him. She must not let him see that she was afraid, for she had -determined never to complain again. - -Nevertheless, she waited almost breathlessly for him to answer. - -"All right, then," he said, after a moment. "I'll come back to-morrow -night, and we'll go to town the day after." - -As soon as Rob had ridden off the next morning, Harry began to put the -tent in order and to arrange for the journey to town. She prepared a -luncheon for the trip, washed a pair of overalls for Rob, got out a -clean flannel shirt for him, and sewed a button on his coat. She had by -this time learned to regard overalls as "dress-up" garments. - -In the afternoon she went out to irrigate the garden. While she was -cultivating at one end, a ditch broke at the other and let the water -rush down across half the rows. She had hard work repairing the damage, -and was so busy that she lost all track of time. In fact, she did not -realize that the sun had set until a long-drawn melancholy howl from -the butte, answered suddenly by a chorus from the "scab" land, told her -that the coyotes were out for the night. - -"Probably Bobs went farther than he realized," she decided, when at -nine o'clock she sat down alone to eat her supper. - -At ten o'clock Rob had not yet come. What could be keeping him? Had the -pony stumbled and thrown him? Could he have had a sunstroke? Suppose he -had fainted out there alone--without water---- - -Resolutely Harry turned from such thoughts. He had probably lost his -way and would get home very late. She would be foolish to sit up for -him. - -She undressed very slowly, listening, hoping to hear the sound of the -pony's hoofs; but soon she grew too sleepy to listen for them. - -When she awoke it was broad daylight; the clock had stopped and Rob -had not come. She went to the doorway and looked all round. The same -silence, the same blaze of sunlight, the same solitude. Was it really -another day? In the unbroken quiet everything seemed at a standstill. -She did the chores and worked in the garden; but all the time she -listened. And Rob did not come. - -The day passed, and another night. She slept fitfully. Several times -she thought she heard the beat of hoofs, and trembling with hope, -hurried out to look. When the third day passed without bringing Rob, -Harry knew that something had happened to him. - -She sat beside the table in the evening with her head in her hand. -She wished that it were not too late to go over and talk with Mrs. -Robinson. She felt the instinct to lay her troubles upon some one else. -Then she bethought herself and crushed down the impulse. The Robinsons -were all busy with the haying. She had no right to call upon them -for help, and moreover, she would be ashamed to do it. She must help -herself. She would drive the twenty miles to Soldier, and send some one -out to look for her brother. - -When her alarm clock rang the next morning she hopped resolutely out -into the chilly dawn, dressed, and got her breakfast. - -No one who is used to handling horses can understand Harry's feelings -as she lifted the heavy set of harness from the peg beside Rock's stall -and dragged it over his back. She had watched her brother often as -he harnessed the team, and remembered something about the way he had -done it; but it was mostly by luck that she got the various straps into -their proper places. Her heart beat nervously as she led the horses out -of the corral and backed them up before the wagon. Suppose they should -run away? But Rock and Rye were a steady team, and stood serenely while -Harry fastened the tugs. It was only half-past seven o'clock when she -left the ranch, but she felt as if she had already done a day's work. - -She drove slowly at first, afraid that something would go wrong with -the harness or that the horses would run away; but after the first few -miles her spirits rose above her worries, and by the time she reached -the Robinsons' ranch she was enjoying every moment of the ride. - -As she passed the house Vashti burst from the door and, waving a -letter, ran toward her. - -"You want me to post this?" Harry asked, as she pulled up the horses. - -"Oh, no! It's for you," Vashti said, and thrust the envelope into -Harry's hand. "Hank Miller fetched it out from Hailey yestiddy." - -"It's from Rob!" exclaimed Harry, and laughed with relief. Then, as her -eyes flew down the sheet, her face clouded. The note read: - - - DEAR HARRY. I'm in the jug at Hailey. It's about those horses of - Jones's. Bring that paper he gave me. It's a bill of sale. I stuck - it up behind the clock on the shelf, next to the coffee grinder. - Come over with it as soon as you can. Get one of the R. boys to - tend the stock while you're gone. - - ROB. - - -"'Tain't bad news, is it?" Vashti's voice broke Harry's dismayed -silence. - -"What? O Vashti, I must go to Hailey this minute. Can one of the boys -tend the stock while I'm gone? Thanks ever so much. Which is the -shortest way to Hailey? I suppose I must go by way of Soldier?" - -"No. Cross the river by the lower bridge and then strike for the pike -about Willow Creek." Vashti pointed eastward. "You'd ought to make it -before dark if you hustle." - -"How far is it? I don't know the road at all." - -"You don't! Say! You want to watch for the big pillar butte. It's on -the right where the road splits to go over the mountains. And say! Keep -to the east whenever you hit a fork. Where are you going?" she added, -as Harry turned the team homeward. - -"I've got to go back and get a paper Rob wants." - -"Say!" Vashti called after her suddenly. "Let me go for you. I can ride -over there on Geezer and back while you're gettin' turned round." - -Without waiting for an answer the little girl ran to the corral, led -out the pony, flung a saddle over his back, shoved the bridle over his -ears, and came back to Harry on the run. - -"Now, where's your paper?" Vashti asked. "You go on toward the bridge," -she continued, when Harry had told her where to find the bill of sale. -"I'll come across the scab land and meet you." - -With envy and admiration and gratitude in her heart Harry watched the -small figure in red calico speed away across the sagebrush. - -"If I could only go like that!" she thought with a sigh. "Well, I guess -I'm not too old to learn, and if Vashti will teach me, maybe I can -teach her something she'd like to know." - -She had scarcely five minutes to wait at the bridge before Vashti came -up with the precious paper. "You'll have to jack them there plugs up -some if you're goin' to make it," the little girl remarked. "Wait. I'll -get you a willer." - -Slipping off her horse, she went down the bank of the river. In a -minute she returned with a long, stout willow wand. "'Tain't so good as -a blacksnake, but it'll make 'em step along some." - -"Thank you, Vashti. If I do get there, it will be entirely owing to -you!" Harry's words made the small girl smile with pleasure. - -"It's just as Bobs said," Harry confessed to herself. "They're as -kind-hearted and friendly as can be when you once know them, and all -the 'education' in the world isn't as valuable out here as what they -know." - -As she drove along she kept thinking about the Robinsons, and of her -own life on the ranch, and of Rob's present trouble. She was so busy -with her thoughts that she did not notice the road, which meandered -across the prairies without even a tree or a butte for landmark. This -end of the prairie had never been laid off in ranches; it was too rough -and too much broken by waves of lava that had at one time poured down -through the valley. For miles there was no sign of human existence, no -fence, no house, no cattle. The girl did not realize that she ought to -be observing all the details that, in the desert, take the place of the -signposts of civilized regions. She had grown drowsy with the monotony -of the ride, but as the time passed, she glanced at the sun. It was -getting low, and the pillar butte had not yet come into view. Feeling -sure that she would see it after the next turn, she urged the horses -to a trot; then suddenly she drew a sharp breath of dismay. The road -had dipped into a small meadow sunk among the buttes, and ended. Harry -pulled up the team and stared. Before her lay a long wooden platform. -Tent pegs still stood in the ground, which was littered with camp -leavings and piles of refuse wool. It was a shearing floor. She had -taken the wrong road. - -She sat still a moment, wondering what she had better do. She had no -idea how far past the right turn she had come. The best plan would -be to feed and water the horses here and then turn back. She ate her -bread and bacon and drank from the canvas bag slung beneath the wagon; -she envied 'Thello, who had promptly laid himself down in the shallow -stream that oozed from the meadow. - -As she drove back, she watched ahead for the place where the road -branched, unaware that, on her way into the hills, she had passed not -one but two forks of the road. - -By degrees the ridges that inclosed the flats drew nearer. Great -chimneys of lava, pillars and obelisks of red granite and blocks of -iron-stained quartz crowded the road, which curved and swerved amongst -them. Sometimes she drove beneath a threatening stone bridge; sometimes -the wagon squeezed between tilted stone slabs; sometimes it bumped over -a sharp descent of ledges. The rocks ahead took on weird, fantastic -shapes that made them look like the ruins of a fire-swept city--long -streets of toppling houses, palaces, towers, dungeons--lighted by the -flames of the westering sun. - -So hideously real was it that Harry found herself listening for the -uproar of cries that would have been part of an actual fire. The -silence made it more horrible, and in that silence she began to be -afraid. She stopped the horses and sat still. She was lost. - -She did not know which way to turn; once astray in this labyrinth of -rocks, she might never be able to find her way out. The horses, thirsty -and tired, stood with drooping heads. 'Thello, who lay at the roadside -softly panting, glanced inquiringly up at her. - -"Yes," she said, as if answering his question, "I've got to get out of -here somehow. It's absurd. I _must_ get out." - -Keeping her eyes on the road, she slowly backed the horses. The sun was -setting, and on the hard, thin soil that covered the bed rock, wagon -tracks were hard to see. Watching the faint trail fixedly, leaning -forward and urging the team on, she wound in and out among the rocks, -until gradually they became more scattered, and lost their fantastic -shapes. - -When at last Harry saw the open road, she felt that the worst was -behind her; but, nevertheless, she pulled up and looked slowly about. -She was not sure in which direction she ought to turn, and she dreaded -the thought of going down the caņon alone in the dark. 'Thello pricked -up his ears, stared ahead, and growled. - -"What is it, boy?" Harry asked eagerly. "Run him out!" But the dog, -growling softly, merely continued to listen. - -With a sudden sharpening of her senses, Harry peered into the dusk. -Perhaps some one who could help her was passing near by. She listened -intently, with every nerve alert. - -Suddenly she stood up in the wagon and screamed: - -"Help! Help! Help!" - -A clamor of echoes answered her ringing cries, and 'Thello challenged -them furiously. The girl stood silent. As her voice struck back -mockingly at her from barren butte and rock, she realized that she was -helpless, and lonely, and afraid. Drawing a deep breath, she shut her -hands tight. She would not give up to fear! Steadying her voice, she -put all her strength into one more call: - -"Help!" - -"Coming!" A man's voice answered her. - -The shout echoed her cry, a rattle of hoofs swept suddenly near, and -Harry saw a horseman appear over the ridge. His figure rose and fell -in silhouette as he galloped toward her. "It's Garnett!" Harry thought -joyfully. - -"Hello, what's doing?" he asked, as he pulled up. "Any one hurt? Who is -it?" - -"It's Harriet Holliday. I'm lost. I got over into those queer rocks and -couldn't get out." - -Garnett caught the quaver in her laugh. "Lucky I was riding through -this way," he said. "That was the city of rocks you were in. How did -you get out? Even fellows that know the country have got balled up in -there and come pretty near cashing in before they struck the trail -again." - -Harry shivered. "I just made up my mind I _had_ to get out, and kept my -eyes on the wheel tracks until I found the open road again." - -"You've got grit and sense, and you did well. Where are you heading for -up here alone?" - -"Hailey." - -"Hailey! This time of night?" He dismounted and tied his horse to the -back of the wagon; then he got into the seat beside her, took up the -reins, and whistled to the team. - -"Oh, will you really drive me?" Harry sighed in relief. Every tired -muscle, every trembling nerve relaxed, and she leaned wearily back -against the wagon seat. - -"I started this morning," she explained. "I took the wrong turn -somewhere. But this is the first time I've been out this way, and so -it was easy to get lost." - -"The first time! And you're alone!" - -"Yes, my brother's in Hailey. That's why I'm going. He's in trouble. I -don't know just what, but he sent for me to come." - -Garnett made no answer, and they were both silent for some moments, -while the team jogged on. Harry was wondering whether she ought to tell -Garnett that Rob was in jail, when his voice made her start guiltily: - -"Your brother been gone long?" - -"Long? No; let's see. He started out after the cow--You didn't hear of -her, did you?" - -"Maybe it was yours some one was telling me about." - -"I wonder whether it was ours? Perhaps Rob tried to take it and got -into a squabble. And yet that isn't a bit like him." - -"Was he afoot?" Garnett asked suddenly. - -"Oh, no. On horseback. But it was a strange horse." She stopped. - -"One of those you were telling me he was keeping?" - -"Yes." In spite of herself her voice became self-conscious. - -"Well, maybe some one thought it was his." - -"Thought what?" - -"Maybe that horse your brother was riding belonged to another fellow, -and the other fellow pinched him for stealing it." - -"What nonsense!" She laughed faintly. - -"It's not nonsense to the fellow that thinks his critter was stolen," -he replied. - -"Of course not. I don't mean that, I mean the idea that my brother -would steal a horse. You don't for a moment think he would, do you?" - -"I don't pass judgment on people I don't know right well." - -"But you know what sort of people we are. Do you think I would steal?" - -"Maybe not." - -Harry gasped. "You might as well say yes." - -"If I saw you riding one of my horses, say, and I'd lost one, and you -couldn't tell me where you'd got it, and wouldn't give it up, perhaps -I'd think you stole it. Perhaps I'd run you into the jug until you -could tell where you got it." - -"And that's what you think has happened to Rob?" - -"M-h'm!" he assented. - -"What?" Harry's voice rang. She drew herself erect, and in the luminous -darkness of the summer night the two in the seat of the jolting wagon -stared at each other. - -"Tell me," she demanded sharply, "tell me what you know--what you -think!" And still staring at him, she waited for his reply. - -"I know that your brother was riding my horse. I saw him on it." - - - - -CHAPTER VII - - -For a minute they jogged on in silence. Then, in a voice that was clear -with scorn, Harry said: - -"So you sent my brother to jail just for riding your miserable old -horse!" - -But although her voice was cold and hard, there was a note of fatigue -and distress in it that Garnett was quick to understand. He flushed -hotly, and a wave of sympathy for the girl swept over him. Those few -indignant words of hers made him certain that she knew no more who -the real horse thief was than he did himself. She was just what she -had appeared that first time in the train--a sweet, gay, warm-hearted -little girl, amusingly ignorant of everything Western! - -"I reckon you think hanging's too good for me," he said. Harry did not -answer, and in a moment he went on. "It's like this. My job is up in -the reserve--keeping tabs on everything that goes on up there in the -timber, where the sheep and cattle men take their herds in summer. You -can see I wouldn't keep my job long if I was to believe everything -fellows tell me about how honorable and noble-minded they are. I'm -deputy sheriff, too--have to be in case of trouble, we're so far from -town. I was running down one of those Bascoes when that pony of mine -disappeared. I traced it out to the Boise base line,--this road we're -on now--when I met a fellow that saw him traveling this way in a string -of colts. I was on his trail when I struck your place. You see, I was -kind of suspicious about that 'boarding' yarn, and yet I didn't see, -honestly, how you could frame up a tale like that yourself." - -"Why didn't you come back the next day and ask my brother about your -horse?" - -"That's what I meant to do; but I got word to go back to the reserve -quick. The sheep were coming in, and I didn't have another chance to -get down here until the day I met your brother hunting his cow. He had -my horse, and I thought the best thing to do was to give him a chance -to explain to Judge Raeburn. That's the way of it." - -There was a long, strained silence. Garnett had never been so -uncomfortable and unhappy in his life. Here he was, showing himself in -the worst possible light to the nicest girl he had ever met. - -The road, which was cut out of the side of the cliff, was steep and -barely wide enough for the team. On one side was the frowning mountain -wall, on the other the black abyss. Harry felt the horror of it; but -when she looked up into the clear, serene sky she forgot her fear. -She felt round her the splendor and immensity of the night and the -wilderness, and her annoyances, her troubles and worries, slowly faded -away. A delightful sense of rest came upon her. She realized how much -she owed to Garnett for coming to her aid as he had done, and she was -trying to think of something friendly to say to him, when he spoke. - -"I hope you ain't a-cussing me still?" he said with gruff earnestness. -"I'm sorry." - -"No, indeed," Harry answered quickly. "You couldn't help it. But I wish -Rob had never gone in with that fellow Jones--the one he's boarding the -horses for. Sometimes I almost hate Jones. He's taken Rob away from me. -I meant to have such a good time out here, but one thing after another -has gone wrong. Part of it was my fault, I know." - -And she told him the whole story of the affair with the sheep herder, -how she had insisted upon keeping 'Thello and had refused to file on -the homestead, of the herder's attacking Rob, and of the mysterious -disappearance of the colts, and Rob's pony, and the cow. - -"And if I'd done as Bobs wanted me to, all these troubles would never -have happened." - -"Oh, now, you mustn't talk that way. Nobody lives that ain't meeting up -with something all along the trail. Might be you'll get you a homestead -somewhere that you'll like a whole heap better than the one you lost." - -"It isn't that. It's because Rob wanted us to have them together. The -sheep couldn't have come in then; and now, since Joyce has filed on -that place, his sheep will eat out all the grass and ruin the grazing -for our cattle. So you see it is all my fault." - -"I wouldn't say that, now. I might say it was mine, because I hadn't -any business to lose my horse; but I ain't saying it. Things happen, -that's all. And it's as likely to turn and happen right for you as it -did the other way. We ain't ready to call this job off yet. Looks now -as if your brother wasn't a horse thief, after all; and as he ain't, it -looks up to me to get him out of the jug." - -"I wish, when you have got him out, that you would put that sheep -herder in. Running the horses off! As if he hadn't already done enough -in beating Rob the way he did! I'd like to show that old Joyce, too, -that he can't have all the grass, even if his herder has filed on the -homestead next to ours." - -"I reckon there wouldn't be much trouble running in the herder. The -law's got a plain case against him--assault and trespass; but it's -Joyce that ought to get jugged first." - -"Joyce!" - -"Sure. He's got fifty more homesteads than he has any right to." - -"Yes, that's what Dan Brannan told us," Harry said slowly. "But no one -can prove anything against him, and you _could_ make his herder have -some regard for our rights." - -"I'll do that, anyhow. I'll hunt him out as soon as I get back to the -range. What sort of a looking fellow is he?" - -"Big and heavy-looking, yet rather handsome, in a way. Looks like a -spoilt, sulky child. - -"Not a Mex?" - -"Oh, no. That's what makes it seem so much worse." - -"Name Hunter?" - -"No, Boykin." - -"Boykin? Are you dead certain? There's one of Joyce's herder's that's -this fellow's twin brother, if he ain't closer still--the meanest man -that ever followed a bunch of woollies--but his name's Hunter. I've got -him in the jug right now, too." - -"Oh, if it only were Boykin!" - -"I'll look him up," Garnett said. He was silent for a moment, and then -he exclaimed: - -"Say, I want you or your brother to take a look at that fellow Hunter -to-morrow! It's got into my head that he and your man Boykin favor each -other a whole lot more than they'd ought to." - -"I don't see that it makes any difference how much alike they look," -Harry said. - -Garnett chuckled. "It might make a whole lot of difference to you." - -"How?" - -He was silent a moment. "If you'll excuse me ma'am, I reckon I'd better -not say too much until you've had a peek at Hunter." - -Harry did not urge him to explain, and when they began to talk again it -was of other things. Harry told Garnett about her life back East, and -about her comradeship with Rob in the old days: she told him, too, how -disappointed Rob was because she did not like the West as he had hoped -she would. She admitted that she had not tried very hard to like it. - -As they drove on through the darkness they chatted freely, and -exchanged the simple confidences that lay the foundation for a true -friendship. - -At last they left the caņon and rumbled over the hard, smooth road -toward town. Little by little the lights of Hailey grew brighter, and -at last the wagon drove under the big blue arc light on the edge of the -town. It was Saturday night, and all the stores were open; the streets -were crowded with people. - -Garnett proposed that they should go first to the hotel and have some -supper; but Harry was almost nervously eager to give Rob the paper she -had brought to him, and so Garnett acquiesced. - -"I reckon I'd better go along," he said. "It's after hours for -visitors, but as deputy sheriff I can fix it up. And I'd like to see -your brother myself. If he'll give me the straight story of this -affair, I reckon I can straighten things out pretty quick." - -Harry's heart beat unevenly as she followed Garnett up the steps of -the jail and into the office. The dreary room, lighted by the glaring -electric light, meant something indescribably mean and shameful to -her. Her heart sank as she waited for Garnett to attend to certain -necessary formalities. When Pedersen, the big Swede jailer, stared at -her in smiling, stupid curiosity, she was thankful for the protection -of Garnett's presence. - -Garnett let Harry go to her brother's cell alone. As the door clicked, -the light flashed up and flooded the narrow, whitewashed room. Rob -turned from the window where he had been standing. - -"Hello, sis!" he said listlessly. "Just get in?" - -"Bobs, dear! You poor thing! Isn't this horrible?" She ran to him, slid -her hand through his arm and kissed him. - -"You look as if you had been ill!" she exclaimed, looking up at him -anxiously. - -"I do feel seedy." He passed a hand over his unshaven cheek and glanced -down at his rumpled clothes. "Being shut up here without a change of -clothes for several days is the limit. Did you bring that bill of sale?" - -"Yes, here it is." She handed him the paper. Rob glanced at it, and -then put it into his pocket. "If I'd only had that along the other day -when that chump pinched me! Smarty! I'd like to have him fined for -false arrest--putting me in here!" - -"Why, Bobs! He didn't know you were all right. He'd never seen you -before. He had to do it; but he's awfully sorry." - -"He is? How do you know?" - -"He told me so. He drove me over here. If it hadn't been for him, I'd -probably be wandering round in the hills or lying at the bottom of that -awful caņon on the edge of the road." She went on to tell him about her -journey and her talk with Garnett. "He's outside now, Bob," she said, a -little timidly, for Rob's face had darkened. "He wants to see you and -have you tell him who Jones is and where he got those horses." - -"I don't want to see him. And I've nothing to say about Jones." - -"But, Bobs, if you don't tell how Jones came to have Garnett's horse, -they'll simply hunt up Jones and _make_ him tell. Won't you see -Garnett? I've already convinced him that you were only boarding the -colts for Jones, and Garnett's really our friend now, only of course he -wants to clear this matter up. I wish you'd talk frankly with him, Rob, -dear." - -"I like that! Maybe he's forgotten I tried to explain things the day he -ran me in." - -"But you didn't tell him where Jones got his horse. He's going out -to-morrow to hunt up Jones and bring him here to prove that those -horses are his." - -"But they're not. They're mine." - -"Yours!" Harry cried, falling back a step. - -"That's what this bill of sale is. I bought every one of those colts -from Jones." - -"But, Rob, where _did_ Jones get Garnett's horse? He never sold it." - -"Don't ask me. There comes Pedersen. You'll have to go now." - -"And you won't see Garnett? Please, Rob! He's really our friend. Oh, -yes, and another thing. I was telling him about that herder, Boykin, -and he says my description of him exactly fits a herder of Joyce's -named Hunter, who is in jail here. I think Garnett suspects that they -are the same man, and he seems to think it may make a lot of difference -to us. I don't quite see how, do you?" - -Rob's expression changed. "It would make a lot of difference to me to -know that Boykin was in the jug." - -"Oh, it was some bigger difference than that. He didn't want to tell me -about it until he was sure, but maybe he would tell you." - -Rob laughed. "Aren't you ingenious, miss? Not till morning, anyway. -Maybe I'll talk to him then, unless Raeburn gets home first. If I can -only see the judge for five minutes, he'll probably dismiss the case -against me without another word." - -Garnett looked up eagerly when Harry entered the office. "He didn't -want to see me?" he asked. - -"He will in the morning." She blushed faintly, but still faced him with -frank eyes. - -"Well, let's go. You're all in. It's nearly midnight, do you know it? -And you haven't had a square meal all day." - -"I'm not a bit hungry, but I am sleepy, most horribly sleepy." - -She yawned and laughed at the same time. - -As they went out into the street, Harry drew a deep breath and lifted -her face. How sweet the fresh air was! And to think of Rob's being shut -up in that horrible prison! - -"I'm sorry for all the trouble I've caused you," said Garnett, when -they stopped at the foot of the hotel steps. "But I won't leave this -game until it's played through." - -He held out his hand to her, raised his hat and looked at her; in his -steady blue eyes was an expression of sincere friendliness that put -courage into Harry's heart. - -The confidence which that assurance of good will inspired in her sent -Harry to a dreamless sleep. - -When she came down to breakfast the next morning, the hotel clerk -handed her a note. - - - _Miss Holliday_, - - DEAR FRIEND, Am sorry not to drive you across the prairie to-day, - but have gone to hunt up that Jones. Saw your brother early, and - gave him a look at Hunter. He says it's the same herder that beat - him up. Your brother ain't talking about Jones, but I'll camp on - his trail until I find him, or what was him, and fetch him along - back to straighten this business out. Resp. - - CHRISTOPHER GARNETT. - - -The letter was like the warm handclasp he had given her last night. -She hurried off to see Rob, hoping that now he would feel differently -toward Garnett. - -But Rob returned her cheery greeting without much enthusiasm. -"Garnett's all right," he said, in answer to her eager question. "He -admits he thinks I didn't steal his horse, but some one did, and Jones -looks like a good one to put it on. I promised to keep Jones's affairs -quiet until he gets ready to talk himself. If Garnett finds him, he may -get what he can from him; that's no affair of mine. When I see Judge -Raeburn, he'll put the whole business straight in five minutes." - -"Well." Harry's voice was colorless, and she stared past Rob at the -window. Then, with a quick change of manner, she turned to him. "In his -note Garnett said that Boykin _is_ Hunter. What will that mean, Rob?" - -Rob's face lighted up. "If we can prove that he is, we can contest his -filing on that land." - -"O Rob! How perfectly splendid! But how soon can we find out?" - -"When court opens. As soon as Boykin comes up for trial, Garnett -will appear as a witness against him in this case of assault that he -arrested him for." - -"He attacked another man?" - -"Yes, he got into a fight up on the way to the reserve; ran his sheep -under the fence onto Rudy Batt's land, and when Rudy set his dogs on -the sheep, Boykin, or Hunter, leaped on him with a stick, just as he -did on me, and beat him up." - -"Mercy! What a murderous creature! I'm glad some one arrested him at -last." - -"Yes, that's another thing I want to stay over here for: to appear -against him in court. He may get six months in the pen." - -"I hope he will. I wonder what he changed his name for? What a funny -thing to do!" - -"That's not so uncommon. A man often skips the country and changes his -name when he's done something and is afraid of the law. Garnett says -that Hunter was herding cattle for the same outfit he was with, and -that he was always quarreling with some one. Then one night he pulled a -gun on one of the boys, and lit out without waiting to see whether he'd -killed him or not." - -"Had he killed him?" - -"No, lucky for him. But you see he had filed on a homestead out there, -and so he's got no right to this one." - -"Then we can surely get it." - -"Not so sure. As soon as Joyce sees what's going to happen, he may jump -in and put another man on there." - -"O Bob! Could he? Would it be possible?" - -"Why not? If he's slick enough to have done it so often, it won't -bother him to do it once more. But there's time enough to think about -that later. You must hit for home now, if you're to make it before -dark. Let's see. You need groceries, don't you?" - -"Yes. I forgot that to-day was Sunday." - -"Well, see here. Go to the hotel and ask the clerk, Dougherty, to -telephone down to his brother at the mercantile company store. Jack -Dougherty is bookkeeper there, and he's usually down at the store early -Sunday morning; he'll let you in to get what you want. When you get -home, better round up the heifers every night to be sure they're all -there. I may hear of the cow over this way." - -Before Rob's calm, matter-of-fact attitude Harry's reluctance at going -back to the ranch alone appeared childish. So she said good-by cheerily -and started out. - -The sun was high and the morning breeze dead when at last she left the -poplar-shaded streets of the old mining town and struck the long road -up the caņon to the top of the divide. She met only one person on the -road, and that was Joyce. He was driving his motor car toward Hailey. -When he came in sight the team began to prance nervously. Joyce got -out and came up to them. He looked curiously at Harry, but did not -recognize her until she spoke to thank him for quieting the horses. - -"Say!" he exclaimed. "Ain't you the lady from Connecticut? Sure. What -you doin' out here alone? Where's your brother at?" - -"He had to stay in Hailey on business," she answered, smiling a little. -Soon enough Joyce would know what the business was. - - - - -CHAPTER VIII - - -Harry did not come into view of the Robinson ranch until nine o'clock. -It had been a long, hard drive from Hailey, and three miles yet lay -between her and the homestead. Fortunately, it was not quite dark. -Behind the mountains the after-glow still burned, dull orange and rose, -and the tops of the buttes reflected a pale saffron gleam. But dark -shadows filled the caņons, and objects near by had an odd trick of -disappearing in the darkness just as Harry looked at them. - -The ranch house lay dark and silent. Thinking that the family had gone -to bed, Harry was going on without stopping. She was really too tired -to stop and talk. As she came nearer, however, she saw a light in the -kitchen; then the door opened and some one came down the path toward -the gate. - -"Hello there!" Robinson called. "That you, Holliday? Don't get down; -I'll open the gate." - -"It's I, Harry!" the girl answered. "I won't come in, thank you. But -please tell Jimmy that he needn't ride over in the morning; I'll take -care of the animals now." - -"Say, you ain't alone, are you? Where's Rob at? Anything happened to -him?" Robinson had swung back the gate and was peering at the girl -perched on the wagon seat. "Vashti told us something was wrong." - -"Yes. There's been some trouble over a horse Rob was boarding for a -man, and he had to stay in Hailey." She broke off. How could she go -into the story here, at this time of night? - -"A hoss, eh? Well, them things do take quite some time to straighten -up. But you can stop here with us until he gets home." - -"Oh, thank you! Really, though, I guess I'd better go on. It's so late, -and----" - -"Sure thing. Too late for you to be chasin' back there alone to-night, -ain't it, ma?" - -"That's what." Mrs. Robinson, with her arms wrapped in her apron, -had joined them, and stood listening while Harry told again what had -happened to Rob. As the girl gazed down through the clear darkness the -scent of the wild bean floated down to her from the hillsides. The -hurrying patter of water in the irrigation ditches soothed her tired -brain with the magic of a spell; her head nodded and her words became -indistinct. - -"Say, Johnny, she's droppin' in her tracks, she's so tired!" cried Mrs. -Robinson. "Take them lines and hand her down 'fore she takes a header -into the ditch." - -Mrs. Robinson spoke in a tone of command, and "Johnny" obeyed. Yielding -the lines with honest relief that she need go no farther that night, -Harry climbed down and walked stiffly to the kitchen with her hostess. - -The big, half-furnished room was neat and orderly from Saturday's -scrubbing. Vashti, in her Sunday starched lawn frock and new scarlet -hair ribbons, smiled bashfully. Mrs. Robinson, too, with "rats" in her -hair and wearing a new purple gingham dress, seemed ten years younger. -As she pulled forward a chair, Harry noticed that her right hand was -swathed in a bandage. - -"Yes, I burnt me, like a stupid," Mrs. Robinson explained. "Everything -gets in a mill at once, seems like, and I burnt up a cake and busted -a plate and put my hand out of business all at once. I got kind of -behind Sat'day, havin' them extry hands to feed--we've got three here -irrigatin' the alfalfy. We allus feed 'em good; it gives you a name -outside, and you get the pick of hands when the rush of work brings 'em -into the valley. Now, here's your tea warm; come and have a snack. It -ain't much, but it'll hold you till morning, anyhow." - -While she was talking, Mrs. Robinson had been setting out dishes at -one end of the table. Harry sat down before a bewildering array of -pickles, jelly, jam, cold meat, and hot fried "side meat," cake, pie, -and some warmed-over vegetables from supper. If this was a "snack," -Harry wondered what a "square meal" was. She was hungry from her day -in the open air; but more compelling than her need of food was her -need of sleep. Even while she drank her tea and tried to tell of -her experiences on the trip to Hailey, her eyelids sank leadenly. -Presently, in the middle of a sentence, she saw Mrs. Robinson smiling. - -"You poor young one! You're that sleepy you don't know what you're -sayin'. Vashti, run get some sheets and comfortables and we'll make up -the davenport in the front room." - -"It's good of you to keep me overnight when I know you have a houseful -already," said Harry. - -"Don't you worry. Nobody but comp'ny ever sleeps in the front room." - -Mrs. Robinson led the way proudly into the room. Exhausted as Harry -was, she knew what was expected of her, and managed to say something -about the gorgeous carpet, the dazzling wall paper, and the vivid table -cover. - -The air in the room was lifeless, and as soon as Harry was alone she -carefully drew aside the lace curtains and opened the window wide. -Then, after taking a long breath of the fragrant night air, she -undressed and dropped into bed. For a second she was conscious of sweet -comfort; she gave a great sigh of content--and knew no more until she -opened her eyes to the dawn and heard the clatter of stove lids in the -kitchen. - -"Well! You up?" exclaimed Mrs. Robinson in surprise, when Harry walked -into the kitchen. "You could ha' laid another hour yet; breakfast ain't -till six." - -"I hoped you'd let me help. How is your hand this morning?" - -"It hurts still, but I don't know what more I can do; it's covered good -with flour and lard." - -"If you would try it, I have some salve over in the tent. It's really -wonderful stuff. Mother made me bring a big jar of it. I'll bring it -over this afternoon." - -"Land sakes, girlie, go all that distance just to fetch me some salve? -Not much! There ain't no need of you goin' over to your place nohow. -Jimmy can easy ride over and feed until your brother gets back." - -But Harry was firm. She not only thought it her duty to stay on the -homestead, but she felt a sort of pride in staying there alone. Her -solitary drive, her adventure in the city of rocks, had waked a new -spirit within her, and that spirit was struggling to express itself. -She was, however, quite unconscious of that. - -"Please let me cook breakfast," she said suddenly. "I'm sure I can if -you'll just tell me how you have things. I can fry the potatoes and -make good coffee, anyhow." - -"Well, I b'lieve I will let you. 'Tain't real good manners to set your -comp'ny to work, but you'll excuse me this once, I guess. I couldn't -even dress the baby this morning--had to leave that to Vashti. Say," -she added, "you couldn't stay a week and cook for me while these boys -are here, could you?" - -Harry grew rather pink and stammered a polite refusal. - -"Well," said Mrs. Robinson, "I know you ain't used to this kind of -work, but any one can see you're smart. You'd get the hang of things in -half a day." - -"I'd stay in a minute," Harry assured her, "just because you were so -kind to us when Rob got hurt. But you know how it is, with all these -cattle round, and ours just new to the place. If they should get out, -they might get way across the river before Rob comes home." - -"Yes, that's right. And you two have got to work together if you're -goin' to make anything of homesteadin'. Pity you didn't take up a claim -of your own while you were at it. A girl that's got a hundred and sixty -in her own name is as independent as anyone." - -"Yes, I'm sorry I didn't; but there's plenty to do, even on Rob's land." - -"Ain't that the truth! Just wait until you get a crop in, though, and -are lookin' for harvest hands--" - -"We shan't have that trouble for a year or two, anyhow. Rob expects to -go out to work, haying and harvesting for other people, and I suppose I -shall stay at home and look after things." - -"Say! Why couldn't you come over and help me at haying and harvesting? -I'd pay you five a week and your board, and it'd keep the traces stiff -here. Seems like the wagon is allus on my heels, as you might say, in -the rush season." - -"I'll come if I can," Harry promised. - -She turned out the crisp, brown potatoes, poured the gravy into a bowl, -and set the coffee back while she fried the eggs. Mrs. Robinson went -out to pull the bell rope. The big iron bell hanging from the gable -clanged its call, and a shout answered from the corral. - -While Mrs. Robinson was overseeing the morning ablutions of the smaller -children, who had come tumbling into the room at the sound of the bell, -Harry went to the door to get a breath of fresh air after the heat and -smoke of the kitchen. - -The sun was just rising over the end of the foothills, and its rays -shot up into the blue sky like altar flames; its red-gold beams made -the trunks of the quaking asps up the caņon look like the pillars -of a church. Unseen among the leaves a robin was chanting, rapt and -blissful as a cloistered saint. That solitary voice of joy seemed all -at once the voice of the morning--of the desert morning--monotonous, -yet thrillingly significant to one who could see what the desert might -mean. For an instant the girl's spirit flamed up in the knowledge -of things yet to come. Then Mrs. Robinson called her, and she heard -once more in the room behind her the homely clatter of the household -assembling to breakfast. - -"Them men folks comin'?" Mrs. Robinson called. "It's on the tap of six -now." - -As she looked at the clock, she filled the oatmeal bowls and ordered -the children to their places at the table. Mrs. Robinson prided herself -on serving her meals piping hot, without keeping the men waiting. While -the men were coming in, the ranchwoman quickly filled the cups from -the big blue enamel coffeepot, and set platters of eggs, plates of hot -biscuits, and dishes of bacon at intervals on the table. Wondering and -admiring, Harry watched her. - -Mrs. Robinson motioned the girl to a place distinguished by a clean -napkin, and at the same time introduced her to the young men. - -"Let me make you acquainted with Miss Holliday; boys. This here's Pete -Mosher, and Con Gardner, and Lance Fitch--Miss Harriet Holliday. She -and her brother have homesteaded just east of here." - -The young men bowed and murmured, "Pleased to meet you, ma'am." - -Mrs. Robinson herself did not come to the table, but standing near by -with her hands on her hips, watched to see that every one had all he -wanted. Harry felt she had learned more this morning about how to do a -great deal rapidly and efficiently than a month of solitary struggle on -the homestead would have taught her. It made her feel as if she must -get back there as soon as possible and "do things." - -Mr. Robinson was telling the men about Rob's trouble with the sheep -herder; all of them, it seemed, had had trouble with Joyce's men. - -"Joyce is the meanest of all the sheepmen who come through here," said -Lance Fitch. "Never gives a homesteader a bit of mutton, and grabs -every blade of grass in sight." - -"That's how he got so rich," remarked Pete Mosher; "by hoggin' the -pasture and stealin' homesteads. I bet he's never hired a herder that -he didn't make at least one homestead off him." - -"Can't something be done to stop him?" asked Harry. "Couldn't some one -go and ask him for a job herding, and then, when Joyce tried to get him -to file on a homestead, have him arrested and prove him guilty?" - -"Say, you catch Joyce and we'll send you to the legislature," promised -Robinson, with a laugh. - -Harry stayed long enough to help wash the dishes; then, in spite of the -family's vigorous remonstrances, she drove over to the ranch. The heat -of the day came on before she reached home, and she was glad that she -had started early. Although there was not a great deal for her to do -on the homestead, she did not finish her various tasks until noon. Hot -and hungry, she went up to the tent to get herself some luncheon and to -look for the jar of salve. She had just started to build a fire when -she heard a horse's tread outside, and thinking that it was Rob, flew -to the doorway. But it was a stranger that faced her--a big man, with -keen, friendly eyes and a low, drawling voice. - -"Robert Holliday live here?" he asked. - -"Yes," Harry answered, "this is his homestead, but he's not here now. -I'm his sister. Is there any message you wish to leave?" - -"Pleased to meet you; Miss Holliday. I'm the sheriff of Lincoln -County--Mason is my name. I've got a bunch of horses down in Shoshone -that I understand Mr. Holliday can tell me something about. Do you know -when he'll be home?" - -"No, I don't. To tell you the truth, he's over in Hailey now, in jail, -on a false charge of having stolen one of those horses." - -"A false charge?" The sheriff looked at her searchingly. - -"Yes." Harry colored under his keen inspection. "Chris Garnett, the -deputy sheriff for this county, found my brother riding a horse that -Garnett claimed as his. As Rob refused to tell him where he got it, -Garnett took him to jail. But he admits now that he doesn't think Rob -stole his horse. Rob could come home if he wanted to, but he's waiting -over there to see Judge Raeburn and explain the whole matter to him." - -"H'm! Well, maybe you can tell me where your brother got that horse." - -"No, I can't. It was in the bunch of colts that a fellow named Jones -brought in here, but I don't know where they came from." - -"What were they doing here?" - -"The colts? Why, Jones and Rob had some sort of a partnership in them. -They broke them together, and Jones drove them out and sold them, I -guess, for he had taken more than half of them when he disappeared -about a week ago. We haven't any idea where he went, or whether he came -up and took the rest of the horses without telling Rob." - -"I see. And Garnett? Where's he at?" - -"Gone to find Jones and see what he can get out of him." - -Mason laughed. "Well, I'll be going on. You say your brother is staying -over in Hailey to talk things over with Judge Raeburn? Court opens in -Hailey to-day; so your brother ought to get back here to-morrow. I'm on -my way to Soldier and I'll stop over here on my way back--in a couple -of days or so." - -"I wonder if you'll do me a favor?" Harry exclaimed, as Mason turned -his horse. "Will you leave a little package at the Robinsons' for me? -It's some salve for Mrs. Robinson's hand." - -"Sure I will. I haven't seen the family for quite some time." - -"What a stupid I am!" Harry exclaimed, as she watched the man ride away -in the distance. "I didn't remember to ask him where Jones was, or -where he found the colts, or anything. I wonder whether anything can be -wrong--whether he arrested Jones?" - -She turned away. A swarm of new, strange fears had suddenly sprung to -life to torment her. - - - - -CHAPTER IX - - -Standing in the door of the tent, Harry stared out over the desert -where the Sheriff had disappeared. - -"Dear me!" she exclaimed. "It seems that out here in the desert you -have to know more and think quicker and be generally all-around smarter -to be good for anything than you do back East, where every one is -supposed to know everything that's worth while." - -All during the afternoon, no matter what she happened to be doing, her -thoughts returned to that curious and not very flattering conclusion. -She recalled to mind the different people she had met in the short time -she had been in Idaho. They had all been "onto their job," as they -would have said. Even when they were not naturally qualified for their -work, they were self-reliant and resourceful. - -Harry's great desire now was to find a way to help Rob. She looked -round the vast expanse of untilled acres; neither her hand nor her -brain was yet capable of attacking that work. She turned and surveyed -the inside of the tent, and the spirit of all her New England ancestors -rose up in protest within her. Gazing helplessly at the dishes of -half-eaten food, the piles of canned goods, the eggs and butter -heaped under the table because there was no other place for them, she -saw in her mind her New England home, with its cellars, cupboards, -storerooms, and pantries. Of all the housekeeping necessities for which -this chaotic tent cried to her, it cried loudest for a pantry. Who -could keep house without a pantry? - -What, she wondered, had Mrs. Robinson done for a pantry when she had -started housekeeping in her one-room "shack"? Harry's thoughts shifted -to the ranch house, and the Robinsons' cheerful slapdash way of doing -the day's work. She remembered helping Vashti bring in the butter and -milk from the side-hill cellar. - -A cellar! Laughing, Harry ran down to the garden. She came back with -the shovel and grub hoe, and went on to the stream where the bank rose -steeply on the other side into the slope of the hill. - -At first her enthusiasm made the work seem easy. It was fun to drag the -stones from the bank, to tear out roots and bushes, and gradually to -see a cave shape itself. Of course it would be only a miniature cave, -just large enough to hold a wooden packing box on end; but she could -keep there butter and eggs and milk, and perhaps a few dishes. - -Before she realized it the sun was low, the pigs were squealing for -their supper, and her hands were badly blistered. - -Well along in the afternoon of the next day, Harry was still digging -bravely at her cellar. It was not enthusiasm now, but determination, -that kept her at her task. She stood in the water and chopped doggedly -at the roots. Sometimes she stopped to wipe her hot face on her sleeve, -or to give her hair another twist. - -"About a dozen shovelfuls," she said suddenly aloud, "and it will be -finished." - -"What'll be finished?" - -"Oh!" With a cry Harry whirled round and faced Rob, who stood on the -opposite bank grinning with amusement at the muddy, disheveled young -person before him. - -"Rob! You mean thing! How you scared me! When did you come? I didn't -hear you." - -"No wonder, making such a racket yourself. What's that? A playhouse?" - -"A playhouse! That's a cellar." She dropped her work and walked back to -the tent with him. "Well, it's good to see you. What has happened? What -did Raeburn say?" - -"Oh, not much. Gave me some good advice." - -"What about Jones? Oh, yes, I forgot. The sheriff was here from -Shoshone. He stopped here to ask you about those colts. He has them -down in town." - -"Yes, I know. I saw them last night." - -"Well, then, you know more than I do." - -"I know you've thought I was pretty mean, sis," Rob said, after a -moment's silence, "not to tell you all about this business at the -start. It wasn't because I didn't trust you; it was simply to save -you from having to answer questions that you couldn't have answered -honestly without giving everything away. But now it's all settled and -you can know what we've been doing. - -"First, I suppose you'd like to know who Jones is. I met him winter -before last when we were both working on the new railway out of -Shoshone. Jones had taken a subcontract under Grant, the man who had -the whole job from the company, and from the start everything was -against him: he struck rock, lost a team, and was laid up sick for a -couple of weeks. He just lost out all around. - -"Well, when he came to quit he hadn't a cent and was about five hundred -dollars in debt besides. Grant got out a judgment against him for -supplies, and there Jones was, with his whole winter's work shot to -nothing. - -"He worked at odd jobs during the summer. Then when he heard of that -government ditch up in the northern part of the state, he hiked up -there. He worked there all winter, got good pay, and saved some money. -He'd written to me, off and on, and I saw he was worried about that -money he owed. He wanted to pay it, but if he came back and paid up -everything, he'd be cleaned out. If he could only invest it and make a -little profit on it, he could pay his debts just the same and have a -little left over to start on. He'd had such hard luck and worried so -hard it seemed only fair. - -"I happened to think of bringing horses in to sell. A work team fetches -a good price down round Jerome and Twin Falls, where the new settlers -are coming in. So we went into partnership on a bunch of horses. Jones -went across into Oregon and got some colts cheap and brought 'em down -here." - -"But why did you have to keep it a secret?" - -"Why, because, if his creditors had found out that he had a bunch of -horses, they'd have attached the whole lot of them and sold them in -auction for whatever they could get." - -"But if he had sold them to you----" - -"Yes, that's exactly why he did sell them to me; 'consideration one -dollar.' Of course, he and I understood that they were really his, but -legally they were mine, and no one could take them from me to settle -his debts; but to be on the safe side we kept the colts up in the draw -and worked with them only in the early morning and late afternoon, when -there wasn't much danger of cattle men coming through. Well, everything -was going fine, until one day when Jones was off looking up business -he met a fellow he'd known on the railway that winter. Of course the -fellow wanted to know how Jones was doing. Jones forgot himself and -told more than he meant to. The other fellow was on his way to Shoshone -then, and _he_ said more than he should have. Grant heard about it, and -by the time Jones had got back from Jerome, Grant had sent the sheriff -after the horses." - -"But why didn't Mason come down to see you?" exclaimed Harry. "What a -strange thing to do--come and drive the horses off your land without a -word!" - -"But he didn't know that they were mine, or that they were on my land." - -"Well, how did they know where to find them? Jones didn't tell that -fellow exactly where they were, did he?" - -"Of course not. It was through Joyce they found out. He was in town, -at Mason's office, when Grant came in to send the sheriff after the -colts, and Joyce remembered seeing them up there in the draw near the -big quaking asp. Every one knows that tree, so it was easy for Mason to -find the horses. It was dusk when he got there, and so I don't suppose -he even thought of looking round to see whether any one lived down -below in the caņon." - -"Well, anyhow, if they're yours legally, why can't you go down and -prevent Grant from selling them?" - -"I thought of that. But Jones said not to--I talked with him on the -telephone last night. We've sold half the bunch already, and the market -is as good now as it ever will be, and rather than have any mix-up he -thinks it's better to let Grant sell off the rest as quick as he can. -We've made a good profit already, and so long as Jones is satisfied, I -am. I got him into the scheme, so I felt that I had to stand by him to -the finish." - -"You certainly did!" exclaimed Harry. "It isn't every one who would go -to jail for a man who is almost a stranger. Lose all that time and gain -nothing by it!" - -"Didn't I gain anything?" Rob looked at her oddly. "Didn't we, rather?" - -"Didn't we?" she repeated, puzzled. - -"Sure. Wasn't it by coming over to bring me that bill that you found -out all about Boykin Hunter and the chance to contest his filing?" - -"Sure enough. I'd forgotten. How did his case come out? Did he get the -six months he deserved?" - -"Not yet. Joyce was there, and he made a big powpow; said he could -bring witnesses to prove that Boykin was a noble character, that he -wouldn't hurt a fly, and so on. Asked for a stay until next court. -Garnett says that's to give him time to chase round and find another -man to put on that land. He's going to keep an eye on him,--Garnett on -Joyce, I mean,--and if anything suspicious seems to be brewing, he'll -chase down here and warn us." - -"That's nice of him, isn't it? You aren't mad at him any longer?" - -"At Garnett? Of course not. I was sore at him for being so bull-headed -about his horse; but of course he was right to hang on to his -suspicions until they were proved wrong. He was there this morning in -court. He saw Mason last night, too, and learned the whole story about -this horse deal. Yes, Garnett's a good fellow. It's fellows like him -and old Dan Brannan that show a fellow what the West really is--the -place where the man himself counts every time." - -He got up and stretched himself. "I think I'll drive over to Soldier -to-morrow and get a load of lumber. It's too dry to plow, and it won't -be long before I'll be going haying and harvesting. If I get the lumber -in now, we'll be ready to start building the house early in September." - -"Where shall we put the house? I wish we could have it farther up the -glen, near the trees." - -"Let's go look round," suggested Rob. - -As they walked up the slope, Harry said suddenly, "Oh, yes, I've meant -to ask you a dozen times: how did Garnett's horse happen to be in that -bunch of colts? I never told you how Garnett came here one day to look -for his horse." She went on to relate what had happened, and why she -had always put off telling him of it. - -"Isn't that queer, the way a little incident can twist everything!" -Rob exclaimed. "If I'd known that, I'd probably never have ridden the -horse; never have got pinched anyhow, for refusing to tell where he -came from. The way Jones happened to have him was this: You remember -Garnett said he'd lost him? Well, a half-breed up in the reserve had -stolen him, along with another, and was on his way to Boise when he met -Jones coming this way, and got him to give him a colt in exchange for -the two saddle horses." - -"Goodness me! What a tangle, and yet how simple when once you know what -caused it all! And where is Jones now? They didn't keep him a prisoner -in Shoshone----" - -"Oh, no, he's at liberty, but he had to stay and see how the matter -was coming out. He said that after he pays his debts he's going into -Oregon again to buy more colts." - -They had been walking up the slope at a leisurely gait, and had just -stopped beside a big rock to look round when the thud! thud! of a -horse's hoofs came up from the trail, and they saw a buggy and team -approaching. Rob shouted, and as the answering call came back, Harry -giggled excitedly. - -"It's Garnett! I'd know that voice anywhere." - -They ran down to meet him, and reached the tent just as he climbed out -of the dust-covered buggy. - -"Hello, young fellow! What's the complaint now?" asked Rob. "I speak -for one night's sleep before you drag me to jail again." - -"Oh, don't worry," Garnett replied calmly. "It ain't you I'm after this -time; it's your sister." - -"Me!" Harry exclaimed. "Why, what do you mean?" - -"Oh, say now! You're easy, ain't you?" Garnett apologized, with -mischief gleaming in his eyes. "I didn't tell Bob the whole story, but -didn't he tell you that I promised to come after you any time to go and -file a contest on that homestead you're wanting?" - -"What do you know about that!" Rob exclaimed in delight. "Has Boykin -admitted he is Hunter, after all, or what?" - -"No, it's Joyce that's given himself away; given the whole thing into -my hand the way you'd shove a bottle at a baby." - -"Oh, how?" Harry cried. - -"It was yesterday, down at the livery stable in Soldier," began -Garnett, as they all sat down on the grass. "I was in the stall way at -the end of the shed fixing up my horse, and Joyce and another fellow -came in along the alley beside me. Joyce never dreamed any one was -listening, and he gave the whole thing up. He's going away to-morrow -morning to show this new herder the land he's to make entry on, and -then they're going to hike back to Shoshone in his automobile and file -a contest over Boykin's filing." - -"To-morrow!" repeated Rob. - -"You're guessing. That gives us to-night to get ready; we'll make one -first-class early start for Shoshone in the morning." - -"To-morrow!" - -"Say," said Garnett, turning to Rob, who sat as if he were dreaming, -"don't use so many words. It sort of confuses me." - -"You think we can do it?" asked Rob. It seemed too good to be true, and -he was afraid that he should show his feeling. - -"Can we! Well, I guess we can! You wait until you get in the rig behind -that team of cayuses. You'll do it, hands down." - -Rob looked at Garnett. He did not speak, but in his mute, eloquent -gaze Garnett saw that what he had wished for had at last come to pass: -Holliday was ready to be his friend! - -"Isn't it queer," Harry said, after a moment's silence, "the way some -people can take other people's mistakes and blunders and turn them -into other people's good fortune!" - -"Ain't you got an awful lot of folks mixed up in that?" asked Garnett. - -"Not so many as you might guess, if you wanted to," said Harry, -laughing, as she rose and went inside to her work. - -Supper was a merry meal. Rob and Garnett laughed and talked and joked -freely. Harry did not say much, but the sparkle in her eyes showed that -she was very happy. - -"And now, Harry, how early in the morning can you be ready to start for -Shoshone?" asked Rob, as he and Garnett prepared to leave the tent for -their beds in the hay. "I don't mean ready to begin to get ready; I -mean ready to hit the trail." - -"Oh, I can start now, if you say so," returned Harry, with a smile. - -"Say. Let's take a ten-minute nap first," Garnett pleaded. "I feel like -I was a living moving-picture show these days--I keep moving so much up -and down the big road." - -"Shall we make it eight o'clock in the morning, then?" said Rob. "By -the way, Garnett, how are we going? We can't all three squeeze into -that buggy." - -"We could, but there's no use of it. You'll take the team and I'll ride -your horse." - -"You can't. He's down in Shoshone in that bunch of colts." - -"Shucks! Well, I'll go as far as Robinson's with you and borrow a -horse. Then I'll ride in ahead and meet you there. No use of me milling -round in the dust behind you for thirty miles." - - -"I wish there were a short cut to town," said Harry to Rob, as they -climbed out of Spring Creek caņon the following morning and started -across the flats. Garnett had borrowed a horse at the Robinsons' and -had ridden on ahead. "If Joyce sees us on the road, won't he suspect -where we're going?" - -"Why should he? He hasn't the faintest idea that we know his plans." - -"But he knows that we wanted that homestead, and that we know Boykin -is under suspicion of being some one else. If he hadn't been afraid, I -don't believe he'd have rushed off like this to put a new man on the -land." - -"No, I don't suppose he would. Still, I'm not worrying. Even if he knew -everything, he's got to go up on the land before he comes through by -the road, and he's got to go slow a lot of the way. A buzz wagon is all -right on a boulevard, but in a race like this give me a good team and a -light rig and I'll lay my money on that." - -As they drove along they laughed and talked, picturing Joyce's disgust -at finding himself beaten, and feeling, in truth, as if they had -already run and won the race. It was not until Rob looked at his watch -and found that it was half-past twelve o'clock that they realized how -much still lay between them and victory. - -"I guess we'd better not stop at the Hyslop ranch for lunch," he said. -"I'll let the horses drink, but we won't feed them. They would have to -rest an hour if I did, and we've got to take the next fifteen miles on -the run." - -"Yes, yes," Harry agreed earnestly. "We mustn't stop for anything. We -can't lose that homestead, Bobs, we can't." - -Leaning forward, with her hands clasped tensely, she watched one after -another the landmarks that Rob had pointed out to her on their first -ride across the hills. How different she felt now! - -They stopped to water the horses and to give them a few minutes' rest; -then they pushed on again. Always listening and looking back, they kept -the horses up to their work, and at the same time saved them for the -last spurt. - -"We're doing about eight miles an hour now," Rob said some time later. -"We've about an hour and a half before the land office closes, and we -ought to be able to do the rest of the trip in that time. That is, -unless Joyce gets in and does it quicker." - -He had hardly spoken when they heard behind them the faint blare of a -horn. - -"There he is now!" They said it in one breath, and their eyes met. - -Rob slid forward in his seat. "We'll do it or bust." - -"How can we?" asked Harry despairingly. - -"I don't know. But I'm not going to give up now, would you?" - -"Oh, no, no! Let's keep going to the very last. Something may happen -for us." - -Although the horses did their best, the motor car gained on them -rapidly. Knowing that the car could pass them even if he held the -middle of the road, Rob drew to the roadside. As the lumbering -automobile went swiftly by it lunged down into a mudhole and spattered -them freely. - -"Thanks," said Rob placidly as Joyce glanced back over his shoulder. -"That's one we owe you. Never mind, sis. You want to hold on, for -wherever there's a stretch of good road I'll hit up the pace." - -"Yes, that's right. He might break down or strike a snag at the last -moment." - -"Snakes and siwash!" Rob cried a few moments later. "He's done it! He's -stuck!" - -"O Bobs," Harry cried, giggling hysterically, "please be careful! The -horses might run away." - -"O my, O my, O my great-grandmother!" Rob shouted with delight as he -pointed ahead. - -They could now see the whole of the road between them and town. It -wound downhill through the sagebrush, and then crossed the main ditch -of the irrigation company; from there it ran in a straight line between -the fenced fields until it entered the town. - -About a mile ahead, just after crossing the bridge, the automobile -stood motionless. The three men had climbed out, and were moving -distractedly about it. Apparently their efforts to start it were -proving futile. - -"What did I tell you?" chuckled Rob. "He's struck a mudhole and bogged -down. Look! There's a big break in the ditch somewhere above and the -road is flooded a foot deep. Get up, you Derby winners, get up!" - - - - -CHAPTER X - - -As Rob and Harry drew near the disabled automobile, Joyce stepped out -into the muddy road and hailed them. - -"You couldn't stop long enough to hitch on here and haul us out, could -you, Mr. Holliday?" he asked ingratiatingly, as Rob stopped. "We can't -get her started neither way. It's kind of mean to ask a fellow to -onhitch, but there's accidents happen to all of us, ain't there?" - -Rob glanced at the car. Its front wheels were stuck fast in the -mudhole; moreover, the bank of the slough was so soft and deep that -Joyce could not get power enough into the wheels to force the machine -either forward or backward. Rob watched him twice crank the engine and -throw open the lever. The car shook violently, but refused to move. It -was safe where it was for some time. - -"You ought to get a couple of heavy rails or fence-posts to pry up the -front wheels and run her across." - -"That's all right, but I don't see any lying round here, do you?" Joyce -snapped angrily. Then he added in a more pleasant tone, "I'll make it -worth your while to put your team in here. I've got business in town -that can't wait." - -"I'm sorry; so have I," answered Rob. - -"Wouldn't twenty-five make it up to you? Here it is." Joyce pulled the -gold pieces from his pocket. - -Rob shook his head. "Business first, pleasure afterward," he said, as -the team started ahead. "I'm late as it is. You can get a couple of -planks over at the ranch yonder." - -A little way down the road Rob glanced back. "Now for the last lap," -he said. "If that motor will only be kind enough to sulk for half an -hour longer, I think we can just about beat him, her or it by a neck. -Hurray!" - -"He hasn't started yet," Harry announced from time to time, looking -back to see what progress their rival was making. "Why can't he stick -where he is until we get there? The moment he manages to get his -machine out of the mud he'll simply open everything and rush past us, -and we'll not be in the race at all." - -"Not much. He'd bust the whole machine wide open if he struck one of -these sharp rocks going fast. No, he'll wait until he gets pretty near -town, where the roads are smooth, before he hits her up to top speed. -So here is where we whirl in and do our level best." - -Rob merely touched one of the ponies with the whip, and it was enough. -Both ponies started on a run. - -"O Rob! They're running away!" gasped Harry. - -"Don't worry. I'd hate to see them drop, but I'm going to get there -first, or bust. Where's Joyce now?" - -Harry turned and knelt on the seat of the swaying buggy. "I don't -see him. Yes, there he is! He's started! O Bobs! If we could only go -faster!" - -Rob did not answer. All his attention was on the team. How they could -run! With ears back and tails stretched out, they dashed on; behind -them swung the buggy, bounding over mudholes and across stones and -ruts. Faster and faster the ponies flew. - -Not daring to look back, Harry clung to the seat with both hands. -Behind them came the continual blare of the horn as the motor car crept -up on them, drew nearer and nearer, until, as they scrambled up the -last hill, the mad clatter of the engine seemed almost in their ears. -At the top of the slope, with the main street stretching before them, -Rob showed no mercy. With the reins wrapped round his hands, he sat -forward on the edge of the seat and urged the horses on. - -Down the main street they went, missing a wagon, swerving past men who -ran out to stop the runaway team, and who then, seeing the motor car -behind, understood, and shouted applause. In a moment the quiet street -was in an uproar of excitement. Shopkeepers and customers, corner -idlers and school children, old men and women, ran pell-mell after the -galloping team and the motor car. - -Of three men on horseback who joined in the chase, one was Garnett. He -had reached town about an hour before, but had not wished to put up -his horse until Harry and Rob should come in. As soon as he saw them -flying down the street, he rode up, and, by keeping close to the side -of the buggy, helped to block the way to those behind. - -As Rob pulled over to the side of the street toward the land office, -Garnett shouted to Harry, "Jump for the door! Jump!" - -Quick as thought, he reached down from his saddle, caught the girl -round the waist as she leaned forward, and swung her from the buggy. -He swung himself after her, and sprang up the steps to the office door -just time to get between Harry and the sheepman, who reached for the -doorknob at the same moment. But instead of all three piling into the -room together, they merely fell against the door. For the door was -locked. - -Trembling with exhaustion and excitement, Harry felt her hand slip as -Joyce tried to push her out of the way. - -"No, you don't, Joyce!" Garnett said roughly, thrusting his arm in -front of the sheepman. "You didn't get here first." - -"This is a put-up job!" began Joyce angrily. - -"I bet!" was Garnett's grim answer, which brought a laugh from the -crowd that had gathered about the steps to see what would happen. - -"Let me into this office!" Joyce ordered. - -"The clerk didn't leave the key with me." - -"This isn't your affair. Get away from that door!" - -"Get away yourself." - -"Perhaps I had better go," Harry said in a low tone to Garnett. "I can -come back in the morning." - -"Not early enough to get what you're after," said Garnett, glancing -down at her. "You can hang on a while, can't you, until Rob gets back? -He's gone to find out about opening this place. You don't want to have -to stand here all night." - -"All night?" - -She turned a dismayed face on him. Garnett gazed into it a moment -without answering. Never had he seen any girl look as Harry looked now. -She was spattered with mud from hair to shoes. She had lost both hat -and hairpins on that wild drive, and her brown curls lay in disorder -about her neck. Her cheeks were white; even her lips were pale with -excitement and weariness. But in her eyes shone the exultation of -victory and on her lips was a smile. - -"I can stand here a week if I have to," she said. "But I hope I shan't -have to." - -"You've got to get into this place first if you want that homestead. -Here comes Rob now. Perhaps he's corralled the clerk." - -Rob elbowed his way through the crowd that was pressing up to stare -at Harry. "No use," he said. "The office won't be opened until nine -o'clock to-morrow morning. I saw the clerk just as he was leaving town -to go to a wedding, and wild horses couldn't have held him. Are you -onto your job, sis?" - -"I guess so. Listen. What is he saying?" - -Joyce had retreated to the sidewalk. He was not afraid of a fight or -unused to one, but for various reasons he hesitated to try to get -possession of the door by force. - -The jokes of the crowd were becoming more and more irritating to him, -however, and suddenly he called out, "I'll give twenty-five dollars to -any one who'll break that girl's hold on the door there!" - -"And I'll give fifty swift kicks to any one who tries it!" cried -Garnett. - -"Wouldn't the young lady like a chair?" a voice said at Harry's elbow. - -Turning, Harry saw Smoot, the hotel clerk, leaning over the railing of -the porch with a chair in his hand. - -"That's good of you!" she exclaimed gratefully. "I didn't realize how -tired I am." - -"Hungry, too, I guess," suggested Smoot. "If you're going to stick it -out all night, you'll need some good chuck to hold you." - -"I expect I shall," agreed Harry with a tired little laugh. - -"Say, Smoot," suggested Rob, "can't you go over to Kenny's and tell 'em -to send round a tray of grub?" - -"All right. Anything in particular you'd like, Miss Holliday?" - -"A gallon or two of water; I'm so thirsty! But don't you want to eat -your own suppers?" she said, turning to Rob and Garnett. - -"Shucks! We don't care when we eat," Garnett assured her. "We'll starve -out this bunch first, anyhow." Then, in a lower tone, he added, "When -Joyce sees you're game, he'll let up." - -"I guess I'm game." - -"Of course you are. I saw it that first time I spoke to you. Remember?" - -"On the train?" She laughed. "Indeed I do. And you told me I'd stay. -Honestly, I didn't expect to then." - -"No, you didn't. But you stick to what you tackle. I kind of felt that -once you'd camped in Idaho it'd get a strangle hold on you somehow." - -"Well, it has. Any one seeing me hanging to a doorknob all night must -realize that I like Idaho pretty well." She shivered involuntarily as -she spoke. - -"You're half froze. As soon as they come with that grub we'll send for -a blanket." - -"There comes the food now. And Mrs. Kenny. Isn't she the best, though? -And I look like--I don't know what." - -"Like a sure-enough fighter, and that's just what Mrs. Kenny likes." - -The sun had set and it was beginning to grow chilly. Most of the crowd -were drifting away. With a pot of coffee in one hand, a basket of food -in the other, and a big shawl over her arm, Mrs. Kenny came sailing -down the street, exchanging pungent remarks with the townsfolk as she -passed; she was much like a frigate going to the rescue with guns -unmasked. - -"For the land sakes, girlie," she exclaimed, "is it really you? Well, -you're the right stuff! Howdy, Joyce? Looks like you wasn't in this -deal. How about it?" - -"It's early yet," answered Joyce sourly. "Wait till four o'clock -to-morrow morning." - -"And if I ain't a heap sight duller than I think, you'll be some tired -yourself by that time, settin' all night on the hard side of that -stair-step. Better go git you some supper, you and the new herder you -got there." - -Joyce growled something unintelligible in reply. He held a low-toned -conversation with the herder, and after a moment they walked away. - -The minute they were out of sight, Mrs. Kenny caught Harry's arm. "Come -on, now," she said quickly. "This is your time. You come round to the -hotel the back way and get cleaned up and rested. Joyce won't dream -you'll go like this, first dash out of the box. And if he did come -back, why, Garnett here ain't never filed, and he can hold the door -like it's for himself until you come back. Come on, now." - -"That's right," insisted Garnett. "Mrs. Kenny is sure right." - -When Harry came back, washed, brushed, fed, and rested, she felt -prepared for anything. Joyce had not returned, and the three, Harry, -Rob, and Garnett, felt certain that he had accepted defeat. Still, it -would not do to run any chances, and they prepared to watch through the -night. - -Rob had brought some old boxes from the grocery store, and with them -he built a little fire in the road; there, as the long, chilly hours -passed, it glowed cheeringly. He and Garnett took turns watching the -door and the fire. - -But toward morning they unconsciously relaxed. Rob with his head on -his knees, dozed beside the smouldering fire; Garnett, stretched near -the door, nodded; and Harry, wrapped in the warm shawl, leaned her -head against the back of her chair and tried to realize that morning -was very near. Then suddenly she started, cried out, and clutched the -doorknob just as Joyce, in stocking feet, slid swiftly across the porch. - -Even as her call broke from her lips, Garnett threw himself forward, -caught Joyce by the leg, and brought him to the floor. Then, dropping -his hold, he sprang to his feet and stood in front of Harry, ready for -what might come. Rob, too, had waked at the first sound of trouble, and -had easily frustrated the herder's somewhat faint-hearted attempt to -help out the sheepman. - -Harry, Rob, and Garnett stood with their backs against the door, -prepared for anything. But Joyce had wrenched his knee in falling and, -unable to put up a good fight, limped away with angry threats. - -At seven o'clock Mrs. Kenny appeared with breakfast. With her came "Old -Man" Kenny and Smoot to take the place of Rob and Garnett while they -went to the hotel to eat. - -At nine o'clock the clerk opened the office door and the little party -passed inside. After all the excitement and suspense, the mingled hope -and fear through which she had lived in the last twenty-four hours, -Harry was surprised at the calmness with which she went through the -necessary business of signing the papers and taking the oath. - -She was in a way, the calmest of all the little crowd which had -collected to see the end of this exciting race and to take a good look -at the girl who had "put one over hog-dollar Joyce." Every new settler -means much to those already at work building homes in a new territory -and almost every one who traded in town knew Rob Holliday and had heard -of the hard work he and "the girl" were doing on his homestead. - -The news of the race had of course run through the town and when the -land office opened for Harry's filing both windows were full of heads -and the porch held a crowd of complimentary size. - -A low but constant whisper of explanation accompanied the gray-haired -registrar's voice as he ran through the forms with Harry. When she had -signed her name for the last time he carefully took off his spectacles, -looked into her flushed and happy face with a kindly quizzical smile -and held out his hand. "I don't know when I've filed anybody that -pleased me like this has," he said; "If you keep a going on your -hundred'n sixty like you came after it, young lady, you're liable to -have a pretty first class ranch by time you prove up." - -A laugh of appreciation from the listening group approved this remark -and the many hands that shook hers as she passed down to the street -assured Harry of the good will that went with her to the work before -her. - -They spent the forenoon in town, doing errands and, visiting with the -acquaintances who had heard the story of Joyce's defeat and came around -to hear the particulars. Mrs. Kenny gave them an early lunch and after -thanking her for her share in the victorious siege, they started back -to the ranch, Garnett going with them in order to take the team and -buggy back to Hailey. - -They were tired from lack of sleep and the long nervous strain, yet -they were too elated with the sense of the victory they had won to let -it go at that. They must talk it over and laugh at the fears they had -endured, even if now and then an irrepressible yawn would sandwich in -between the jokes. - -"I bet I could stretch a mile if I didn't haff to walk back to meet my -horse," Garnett confessed. - -"And I'd drop out at the Hyslop ranch and sleep all the afternoon -if I didn't hate to ask you two to wait and take me home." Harry's -infectious laughter drew a smile from two riders who passed them -coming in from the hills. Their felt hats pulled low over their eyes, -their sunburned faces powdered with white dust, no one recognized them -at first as they drew off the trail to let the buggy pass. But they -touched their hats to Harry and glanced back. - -"Why, hello Lance," Bob exclaimed. "I didn't recognize you and Rudy for -the dust that's choked us." - -The two dust-covered riders smiled. "Ain't you gettin' back from town -early?" Lance inquired. - -"Not so early as you fellas are gettin' in late." Garnett interposed. -"The show's over." - -"It sounded like you'd been seein' something pretty good," Lance -admitted; "There warn't no notice over to Soldier of any show." - -"Oh it warn't that sort. Just one of these here amytoor doin's. -Charades. You know. Nobody knowed what he was going to say 'til he was -sayin' it----" - -"Or doing it," Rob added. - -"Must of been some show," Rudy Batts ventured gravely, his hazel eyes -very quiet and watchful for the joke behind all this banter. - -"Some! A whole lot," Garnett said warmly. "More 'specially when that -there Joyce, him bein' the villyan, crope up and thought he'd put one -over the lady there." - -"Sounds like it might be interesting if we was to hear it," said Lance. -"We got the vilyan, but who's the hero?" - -"There were two," Harry put in quickly. "Two heroes and a damsel in -distress, men at arms, a throng of brave retainers, a noble dame who -came to the rescue. Oh, it was wonderful. You tell them, boys!" - -As the story was told there were nods and growls of approval from the -two young men, homesteaders themselves, who had suffered more than once -from inroads of sheep and cattle owned by certain high-handed stockmen. - -"It's a big wedge you druv in between Joyce and his land grabbin', Miss -Holliday," Lance told her; "and luck was sure with you when you took -out after him." - -"Spunk, I'd say," Garnett suggested as they all prepared to move along. - -"Spunk! That's right." Rudy declared. "If there was a little more of -that up our way mebbe we'd get busy and pull something that'd dehorn -animals like Joyce for good and give the rest of us a chance to feed -and water." - -"This'll be the best news on the prairie this year," was Lance's -farewell word. - -"Any chance to board at your place for a while, Holliday?" Garnett -asked, and, as Rob and Harry looked at him questioningly, he explained. -"Why, your sister there will be cookin' and makin' cake for a month now -to entertain the committee on congratulations that'll be hikin' over." - -"I certainly owe you a cake, Garnett," said Harry. "You can order any -kind you like." - -So they talked as the day waned and they climbed steadily higher until -Harry, gazing forward along the line of the road as it wound through -flowering rabbit brush and summer's grass across the foothills, saw -again the snowy peaks of the Sawtooth looking down at her. - -Was it only two months ago that she had followed the same road into the -unknown, curious and interested as a child? To-day she went where it -led, happy and content, and ambitious too. She realized that it was not -child's play that awaited her this time at the end of the road; it was -woman's work--But she welcomed it for she had become a woman. - - - - -CHAPTER XI - - -The glow of success at having gained the victory over Joyce in such an -unexpected way, the realization of being herself a homesteader, with -all the responsibilities and opportunities which that title conferred -gave Harry a new interest in the hard work of the succeeding months. -Winter came early and stayed late up there in the foothills and before -the snow began to fall in November a great deal must be done. - -Most important of all was the building of the house. Within six months -after filing on land each homesteader must, in the language of the law, -"establish a residence." Fortunately the section line between Harry's -hundred and sixty and Rob's ran just east of the stream and so, by -placing the two fourteen-foot cabins together with this line between -them, a very fair-sized house would result. - -Rob had figured that, with Harry's help, he could get the house up in -a month. He had planned to build it during October between harvesting -and threshing. He had already engaged to work for the ranchers down on -the flat with their hay and grain, and furthermore he had taken a job -feeding stock for the winter at Stone Bridge, a new settlement up the -river. - -But now Harry must be included in the winter's plans. A few months -earlier this would have been a serious consideration, as the only -thing she could do by which she could earn her living sufficiently well -was teaching, and, as has been said, she had had to give up that work -because of eyestrain. But six months of desert life had, in addition to -broadening her ideas, restored the natural vigor of her eyesight. The -complete rest from school work, the change from living in close rooms, -from narrow, close-built streets, and moving crowds, to working out of -doors with the wide horizon and silent spaces of the hills around her -had, in fact, given her more vigor than she had ever had and she felt -more fit than ever to teach. - -Here, of course, another difficulty arose. Teachers would have been -engaged for all district schools by the time Rob and Harry should be -ready to leave the ranch. They talked the situation over and decided -that an advertisement in the _Prairie Despatch_ would reach the most -remote hamlets; those where lay the probable chances of finding a -vacancy. If this failed, Harry could go out with Rob to cook for the -threshing crews and, when that work ended, board in Stone Bridge -through the winter. - -Having settled this, Rob went down to help Robinson put up his second -cutting of alfalfa and Harry spent the week irrigating their alfalfa -and the garden. They had put in a quarter of an acre of potatoes with -the intention of having enough both for their own use the following -spring and summer and for selling to the ranchers down on the flat -where late frosts usually nipped the garden patches. - -Harry's advertisement was to appear in that Saturday's _Despatch_, -so naturally there was no report from it when Rob came up to spend -Sunday. But the following week he brought a letter from the trustees -of a mountain hamlet and, more important, word from Mrs. Robinson that -her husband's sister living up at Stone Bridge, had written that their -teacher was going to be married and they were wondering where to find -another. - -Harry, of course, rode out with Rob on Monday, taking her diploma and a -letter of recommendation from the principal of the school in the East -where she had taught. She was obliged to pass an examination before -being allowed to teach in Idaho, but she did that satisfactorily and -it was not difficult for the school board to believe in her general -fitness for the work--if "work" it could be called--she reflected after -seeing the textbooks and the fifteen children who were to be her pupils. - -The winter's work being thus happily settled for them, Harry and Rob -gave their attention to the new house. He hauled the lumber at odd -times between haying and harvesting and on the first of October came -home with a last load of nails, shingles, windows and building paper, -ready to begin work. - -The building of that "prove-up shack," as Rob would call it, was, -next to Harry's coming into Idaho, the most significant event in her -life. All her traditions had built the conviction that a home must be -something more than a weatherproof box containing the number of cubic -feet required by the homestead law and lighted by one window two and a -half feet square. - -"I can't, I won't live in a--a shack like some I've seen," she -protested; "board walls so full of splinters you could curry a horse -against them and nothing but a row of nails for a closet. Why isn't it -just as cheap to make a pretty cottage of the same amount of wood?" - -"Why, isn't it just as cheap to make a lace veil as a flour sack? -They're both made of cotton thread. I've figured on spending one -month's time and about two hundred dollars cash on this dwelling. Now -if you can show me where any style can be worked in for that sum of -money and labor--don't forget the labor--go ahead and make your plan." - -This somewhat discouraging permission was quite enough for Harry. A -flood of sketches including dormer windows, pergolas, verandas and -colonial chimneys was the result offered for Rob's consideration. - -"Now if I were an architect and you had a million dollars to spend we'd -show these old timers, wouldn't we?" he laughed. But nevertheless, he -did try to adapt his material to the spirit of Harry's wishes. - -The eaves of the steep, gabled roof hung low; there were windows -wherever a free wall space allowed--big windows that gave the plain -rooms a set of ever-changing pictures of prairie and mountains. There -was even a little porch before the door--that door built of planks, -studded with nail-heads and twice the width of the ordinary mill-work -door, "so that when we get our piano, it will be easy to bring it -inside," explained Harry. - -"You must be figuring on making money, real money," Rob teased. - -Harry could not tell him how the slow raising of that house had lifted -her to the sight of still wider horizons. But every board she helped -to lay in place, every nail she drove fastened her more firmly to this -new land, strengthened her will to succeed. As she and Rob worked -they talked, planning endless improvements to be made as they should -prosper. The desire for those things stirred them to toil happier than -many pleasures. - -Rob did not finish the house, there was too much else to be done; a -horse shed to be run up, firewood to be cut and hauled in readiness for -the following spring, the channel of the stream that ran close to the -house to be deepened and widened with the slip, so that when the snow -water came down in the spring break-up it would not overflow into their -new cellar, or swirl a pile of stones from the hillside into the garden. - -They left the gathering of the stove wood to the last; freezing ground -would not make sagebrush any harder to cut and haul. They were getting -the wood in a coulee about a mile east of Harry's hundred and sixty -where there were plenty of willows and the sagebrush grew big and thick. - -It was a cold November afternoon when, as they were loading the last -wagonful, they saw coming in along the trail a team hauling lumber and -a mountain wagon. - -"Well! What do you know about that," Rob exclaimed; "looks like some -one's filed here. I'd better go over and see." - -Harry watched in a stir of eager curiosity. Homesteaders! That would -mean neighbors. A procession of possibilities swept through her mind. - -The three men talked for five minutes or so, then Rob came back. - -"Homesteaders all right," he announced, "an old man named Eldredge and -his wife. The young fellow is a real estate man from Shoshone who's -locating them. Eldredge is only going to put up his shack this fall and -then go back east--he's from Missouri--and came out in the spring with -his wife." - -"How jolly to have neighbors," Harry beamed. "I hope they've some -children?" - -"Nary one. Just Darby and Joan. But she'll be another woman for you to -exchange flower seeds with and have a tryout as to which can make the -best cake. Isn't that what you've been wanting?" - -"You seem to be pleased yourself. It'll give you fresh material to -tease me with." - -"Fine! I didn't expect you'd see that so quickly. Too bad we'll have to -wait until next spring to start the fun." - -"Oh, I don't know. By the time you've helped feed a hundred head of -cattle and cleaned the corral for a month you'll forget there is such -a thing as a joke or me to be tormented." - -Harry's prediction hit the mark. - -All through the winter she and Rob did not talk together once a week. -He was at work in the morning before she left for school and in the -evening after nodding a few moments over the paper he rolled off to bed. - -Harry, herself, gave little thought to anything beyond her work. As -soon as she began teaching, all the interest and pleasure which she had -taken in it before revived with an ardor to kindle the most indifferent -child. She had been cut off so abruptly from her companionship with -girls that her heart was still a little bit sore from the tearing -loose of old bonds. Also, she had been in her new environment just -long enough to feel, beneath the material interests and excitement of -new work and prospects, the ache of loneliness for friends. In her -six months of wilderness life she had made the acquaintance of enough -people to realize with startling emphasis how frankly dishonest and -also what crudely and unassumingly good pioneers men and women are. -With senses alert for such things she saw what school life--all too -short for these sturdy workers--might be made to mean. - -That flow of warm good will helped to carry her far over the difficult -beginning, for it was hard at the start. Her pupils were of all ages -from six to fifteen and of as many dispositions. All, of course, were -suspicious of the new teacher who had supplanted the one they knew. - -"They look at me," Harry reflected, inwardly amused, "as I might view -a boa constrictor coiled in a college professor's chair. If they only -knew how much that is interesting a boa constrictor could tell them! -Well, I'll show them how I'm not like one--Attention, please!" - -She smiled at them as they turned, surprised, on their way to the door. -(It was Friday afternoon and they were in a hurry to be off.) "You -are all invited to meet me here to-morrow evening at seven o'clock," -she went on, "girls please wear aprons as we are going to make candy. -That'll show them I'm half human," she added to herself, watching the -faint start of surprise that went through them, followed by smiles and -murmured thanks. - -That was a good beginning even though between beginning and finishing -may be a hilly road. But it was Harry's belief that every one loved -adventure, every one dreamed of romantic deeds with himself the hero. -From this she had decided that every one would work and study with -gusto if the task were skillfully presented to the imagination as a -living, pulsing part of the great romance--life. But the theories which -she had evolved while teaching carefully reared girls from well-to-do -families was not certain to fit all cases. The first month at Stone -Bridge district school was destructive to all theories and nearly -baffled her. - -Such unexpected work she had: to make children wash their faces and -hands; to make and enforce the rule that handkerchiefs were to be -universally carried; to watch those who came in thin shoes through the -snow and rain and make them dry their feet; to see that certain big -boys did not filch the lunches from certain small, timid ones; and to -watch that pencils, erasers, colored crayons and other small belongings -were not carried off by those to whom they did not belong. Also, she -bought mittens and scarfs for two small children of a hard-drinking -sawyer at the lumber mill, and acquired the habit of carrying something -extra with her lunch every day for the little girl who never had enough. - -"And all the time I'm learning a lot from them," she realized when she -saw them settle things for themselves. When red-headed Katie Riordan -jumped out and slapped "Portagee Joe" Biane, the worst boy in school, -for sticking his foot out and tripping little Lon Fisher, it took -Harry's breath away. She hadn't been intended to see it because she was -working at the board. Not knowing what to do, she waited to think it -over. In the meanwhile, Joe let Lon alone and Katie was as sweet as new -milk to every one. - -Every day she saw things which made her bubble with laughter, ache with -pity and burn with indignation: the blacksmith's three children who -came to school on one horse, their feet tied up in sacks full of straw -to keep them from freezing; Knute Sundstron, who wore neither socks -nor undershirt and swallowed a spoonful of sand to cure indigestion, -asking to sit by the door where his feet might not get warm and make -his chilblains itch; Charlie Martin, an only child who loved books with -a ruling passion but was not allowed to carry them home from the school -library because they "littered up the house," slipping them inside the -lining of his overcoat in order to smuggle them into his room; and -Isita Biane, the sister of "Portagee Joe," pretending that she didn't -want to go out to play at noontime, when the reason was that she had no -jacket and couldn't run or play in the man's overcoat in which she rode -to school. - -Of all these, amongst all the children in school Isita most appealed -to Harry. She was a puzzle, too. She said she was fourteen but looked -small for her age and was far behind the class she should have been in. -She stumbled hopelessly over her arithmetic, could scarcely write her -name legibly and yet spoke good English and could read remarkably well. - -She studied earnestly, but at times Harry would look up and find the -girl's gentle, black eyes on her with a timid steadfastness that stayed -with her after school. "I wonder if she isn't badly treated at home," -she pondered. "I'm sure I've seen bruises on her face and she seems to -be utterly submissive to that hulking brother of hers. I must try to -make friends with her." - -But oddly enough this was something which she could not quite bring -about. She knew Isita liked her; the faint flush which brightened her -face when Harry spoke to her, the shy answering smile, were not to be -mistaken. But there was a reserve which met Harry's attempts at active -friendliness and which she was too well bred to force. "I'm a stranger -and she isn't quite sure of me," she decided. "If I wait she'll come -round." And then, the very next day she yielded to a kindly impulse -which had strange consequences. - -It was one of those cloudless days in January when the sun, so hot -at midday in that altitude, shone with a terrible brilliance over -the snow-draped mountains and the white valley. But a freezing wind -contested the sun's warmth and Harry was walking up and down during the -noon recess in the shelter of the building while the schoolroom aired. - -Most of the children were playing shadow-tag, shouting and laughing, -their faces scarlet with their exertions and the bite of the air. Harry -paused, smiling at them, and suddenly noticed Isita, standing alone in -her clumsy sheepskin coat, watching the others. - -As at a hand on her wrist Harry stiffened. "Isita," she called lightly. -"Oh, Isita. Come here a minute." - -The girl had started at the sound of her name, and seeing Harry's eyes -on her, a little flush passed over her thin olive cheeks. She came -toward her teacher, moving awkwardly in the heavy coat. - -"Don't you want to do something for me," Harry began in her quick, -easy-going way. "There's a book, a new book just come from New York -that I want to read to you this afternoon. It's up in my room over at -Mrs. McCullon's. I want you to go over and get it for me. Will you, -dear? I can't leave these children and go myself. You'll find the book -on the table beside the bed. It's blue with gold letters. Tell Mrs. -'Mac' I sent you. Here! Put on my sweater. You don't need that heavy -jacket to run up the street." - -While she talked Harry had unbuttoned her sweater, slipped it off, -then, still smiling into Isita's wondering eyes, she unfastened with -quick, sure hands the sheepskin coat and drew it easily from the girl's -shoulders. Isita had made a weak effort of resistance, drawing back a -little, an odd look of fear in her face; but Harry was so quick, so -sure of herself, that the change was made before there was time to -remonstrate. She had the thick, warm sweater on and buttoned round -Isita's chin and was walking with her to the road. "You've plenty of -time," she encouraged. "Don't run." - -With the girl's coat on her arm she stood a moment watching Isita hurry -away, skip a few steps, then abruptly break into running. - -"Of course!" Harry said. "She likes to run as much as anybody. No -wonder she can't play with this thing on." She looked disapprovingly at -the heavy, much-worn canvas "sourdough" coat on her arm. "She's going -to keep my sweater! No reason on earth why I shouldn't wear my new one -every day. What queer people the Bianes must be to let their child -wear such clothes. It's not because they're poor, either. Biane's a -sheep shearer and makes good wages. I must get up the creek to see Mrs. -Biane. Teaching children satisfactorily without knowing their parents -is like trying to furnish a house by guessing at it from the outside." - -It was getting near one o'clock and she went in, shut the windows, -stirred up the fire and came out to look up the road for Isita before -ringing the hell. Isita was almost at the gate, the book under her arm -and a real rose-color in her cheeks. Harry watched her, not noticing -that Joe Biane was coming from the opposite direction. He had been with -the other boys to skate on the river and he, too, had seen his sister -coming. He reached the gate before her and stood waiting. - -Harry, standing in the porch, saw him speak to his sister, saw the girl -draw back, warding him off--"Why what is he doing!" Harry exclaimed, -and ran sharply down the steps just as he snatched the book from Isita, -threw it on the ground and began pulling off the jacket she was wearing. - -"Stop! Joe Biane--" Quick as thought the remembrance of what Katie -Riordan had done to this bully flashed back to Harry. She caught him by -the shoulder, gave him a shake and pushed him back. Her face was white, -her eyes sparkled. Taken utterly by surprise Joe made no attempt to -resist. "Pick up that book," Harry ordered, her eyes steadily on his. - -His scowl deepened. "My sister ain't here to work for you, nor nobody," -he growled. "She ain't wearing nobody's rags, neither. You take that -off, 'Sita, d'you hear?" - -"Pick up that book or stay after school for an hour every day this -month," Harry interrupted. "Isita, leave that sweater on. I am in -charge here, Joe Biane. If your sister goes on an errand for me, that -is my affair and hers. Go inside and take your seat and don't say -another word. Thank you, Isita, for going after this. That little run -did you good. I'll have to think up excuses to get you out every day." -She smiled as she said it, gave a little pat to the girl's shoulder and -went back to the door to order the children who had all been watching -and listening to this interlude, back to work. - -In no way did she refer again to what had happened. She kept them all -smartly at work during the afternoon session and read them the first -chapter of _Robin Hood and His Merry Men_ from the blue book with gold -letters. When she dismissed school at three o'clock she asked Isita and -Joe to stay. - -"Now," she said when they were alone, she, in a chair before the stove, -the brother and sister facing her from the nearest bench. "Now, Joe, -I want first to know whether you are acting on the authority of your -parents to control Isita during school hours?" - -Joe, his hands in his pockets, his feet stuck out in front of him, slid -a narrow half-glance at Harry and down again. "What's that to you?" he -demanded in a barely articulate grumble. "You're here to teach." - -"Exactly. And one of my first duties is to see that you children learn -the lessons and advance in your classes. To do this you must obey the -rules--" - -"Who's breaking your rules," Joe interrupted. "What rules give you the -claim on any of us to go your errands?" - -"--Must obey the rules," Harry continued mildly, "and one of the rules -is that you must go out every fair day and exercise. If you don't get -the fresh air you can't study. You know as well as I do that Isita -can't play, or even walk well in that big heavy coat. And she is too -thinly dressed to go out without it. I sent her for that book just for -an excuse to make her run, and gave her my sweater so she could run. -It's a very nice jacket; fits her and is pretty and warm. It is my -privilege to give it to her if she will accept it, if her mother has no -objections. You don't think she would object, do you, Isita?" - -With all the encouragement and kindness she could put into voice and -look Harry turned to the girl. To her surprise Isita, very pale, looked -down at her hands and said: "I guess I'd better not take it, Miss -Holliday. Thank you, just the same." - -Harry felt her blood quicken indignantly at this, to her, unreasoning -suspicion of a friendly deed. "Just as you think best," she acquiesced; -"but you must wear something suitable to go out in during recess." - -Joe laughed. "You needn't worry about her," he said. "She's used to a -whole lot you couldn't stand." - -In thinking over the affair that night Harry wondered whether she -had not made a big mistake. Ought she not to have ignored everything -outside of Isita's actual school work? "Anyhow," she reminded herself, -"she knows that I want to help her. It may be that something will come -up later that will send her to me." - -But such a hoped-for occasion was not to happen for a long time. Before -the spring term ended Isita and Joe both stopped coming to school, and -when the truant officer hunted for them the family had moved away. -Harry could get no news of them from the other pupils and went back to -the ranch for the summer without a prospect of seeing Isita again. - -In the rush of summer work, concern for her school naturally waned. -Moreover, she soon began to look forward with interest to the arrival -of the Eldredges. Several times she went up to the little shack to see -if they had come. But there were no signs of any one having been there -and the summer passed without bringing them--Rob inquired at the land -office whether their filing had been withdrawn, but nothing of that -kind had happened. - -"Too bad," said the clerk, "for somebody else'll sure file over them -if they let the time go over. Good land's getting mighty scarce around -here." - -"I shouldn't wonder but what we'd better file on additional -homesteads," Rob said, as he was telling Harry what he had heard; "I -could take that long strip to the west and you could file on that swale -on top of the hills; you know that long meadow just back of those -buttes? With a fence around that we shouldn't be bothered so much with -cattle coming in to water here when it gets dry. As soon as I can -get time I believe I'll go over that land and look for section-line -corners." - -"Are we going to have money enough for all that," Harry asked: "take up -more land before we've got this planted?" - -"I shouldn't plant all of this anyway; haven't water enough to irrigate -it all. But I'll need more grazing some day for my stock. If nothing -happens we'll have money enough from this next winter's work to fence -it." - -Rob had made several hundred dollars by his winter's work at Stone -Bridge and he had also gained valuable experience in handling and -feeding cattle. Harry, too, had saved more than half her salary and was -able to invest in a good cow, pony and saddle. It seemed to both of -them that they could not do better than go back to Stone Bridge for the -next two winters. They could do a lot of work on the place in the six -months of the dry season and the money they made working out would help -them to get ahead much faster than two or three extra months on the -ranch. - -Stone Bridge had, of course, grown during the summer absences. It was -good wheat land and settlers were flowing in. The school naturally -grew as well, and the third winter there were thirty pupils instead of -fifteen, and a second teacher. - -As Harry sat listening to a class recite, as she watched the children -studying, she studied them: the white-headed Swedes, the olive-skinned -Indians, the Austrians, Swiss, Scotch, Americans, all so different, -all so worth while if one knew how to reach them. Teaching of this sort -was a bigger thing than ever it had seemed. The mere copiousness of the -so-called practical jokes that they played on each other was evidence -of the locked-up energy within them--energy so soon to be harnessed to -the plow, the mill, the mine, to follow the trail from ranch to forest -reserve, to go wherever the market called for workers. She had the -feeling of wanting to shut the doors and say: "Stay here! You haven't -begun to learn. Think of the books you ought to read--" She stopped -herself. "Literature! Why they're the stuff it's made of, aren't they? -and history, too. They've already had hold of life as they'd grab a -half-broken cayuse and no more afraid of it. - -"There's just one child I would like to see go on studying, though: -that little Isita Biane. I could tell by the look in her eyes that -she wanted to learn. She loved it. I wish I knew where she is. If I -could find her father and mother I wouldn't rest until I'd made them -understand that Isita isn't the sort to do things with her muscles. She -could do more with her brains, if it's money they want her to earn." - -This was to be her last winter teaching, at least for a time, as she -and Rob had decided to stay the next winter on the ranch and feed their -own cattle there. So she quite gave up hope of seeing Isita again. But -before school closed she asked the other teacher who was coming back -in the fall to look out for the girl, if she did turn up, and make an -effort to keep her in school through the grades at least. - -And then, almost the first person she saw when they went back to the -ranch was Joe Biane. They met him coming across their land as they -drove in. He had a gun over his shoulder and was carrying several -grouse. - -"Who's that?" Rob asked, as Harry nodded and Joe touched his hat and -grunted as he passed. - -"That boy I told you gave me so much trouble in school. I wonder what -he's doing up here. Shooting on our land, too." - -They looked after him as he went over the hill, the sunset light a -dusky red glow on his gun barrel. - -"Nobody living out that way," Rob said. "He must be with some outfit -camping at those east springs for the night." - -"I wonder where the family is--following the old man on his rounds to -the shearing pens. I suppose." - -"More likely shacked up in these hills somewhere, so Biane can come -home easy when he gets through at the nearest shearing corral." - -"I believe I'll ride up east in the morning and see if they're around -here," Harry decided. - - -There they were. As Harry rounded the rocky butte she saw smoke coming -from the Eldredge's abandoned cabin and a woman, gathering an armful of -sagebrush, retreated hastily into the house at sight of the stranger. - -"Mrs. Eldredge!" Harry thought instantly. "But why haven't they let us -know they were here?" The smile of expectancy was on her face as she -got down from her saddle and knocked at the door. The smile stiffened -with surprise as the door opened narrowly and Joe Biane looked out at -her. - -"Why, Joe! How--I thought--Don't the Eldredges live here?" - -"Never heard of 'em." Joe was older, heavier, as lounging and covertly -impertinent as ever. - -"Why, they are the people who filed on this land, built this house." - -"Never been here, anyhow." - -"How long have you been here, if I may ask? Is Isita here?" -involuntarily, she glanced behind him into the house. - -"She ain't in now," Joe slowly began to close the door. "Her'n the old -lady's went off hunting greens." - -"I see." Harry thought of the woman gathering wood. "Well, I wish you'd -tell Isita to come over and see me." - -"Sure." There was an odd gleam in Joe's eye as he closed the door. - -"I wonder what it is that makes them so unfriendly," Harry thought as -she rode home. "But if they think I'm going to give up Isita just for -the snubs of a surly creature like Joe they're mistaken." - - - - -CHAPTER XII - - -That more than Joe's surliness stood between Isita and Harry, the -latter was not long in discovering. She was not easily discouraged -from attempting anything she had set her heart on, and at first she -made all sorts of pretexts for going up to the Biane's. Sometimes it -was to carry eggs or new pieplant or lettuce; "We have so much," she -explained to the silent, haggard-faced woman who came to the door; or -it was a bundle of illustrated papers that had been sent her from home, -and she thought Isita might be interested in them. Once or twice she -asked boldly if Isita might not come down and stay with her for a few -days to help with the chores, while she was working outside with Rob. -But Biane himself made it plain that Isita was expected to work for her -own family, and Mrs. Biane avoided seeing or talking to their neighbor. -To be sure, Isita came down to the Holliday's, but it was to "borrow" -soap, salt, tools and various other small necessities of which the -shiftless Biane family stood in need, and she was always in a nervous -hurry to get back home and never accepted Harry's friendliest urging -to stay awhile. Harry felt sure that the younger girl wanted to be -friends, that in this lonely land of vast distances each of them needed -the other. But she saw that Isita was very much afraid of her quiet, -smiling tyrannical father and, in spite of her unmistakable attachment -to Harry, she was too shy to talk of home troubles. - -As the spring days lengthened there was, too, less time for visiting. -To the sagebrush homesteader the sixty days of May and June are the -heart of the year's labor and a man must keep things moving from dawn -to dark, if he means to get ahead. No sooner is the frost out of the -ground, no sooner have the break-up floods of snow water run off, the -quaking morass of meadow-lands grown solid earth once more, than the -plow must be started. - -Harry had learned to handle the four-horse disk plow and the harrow as -well, so, while Rob worked one team she handled the other. They now had -four heavy work horses, besides three colts that could be used off and -on, and quite a bunch of half-broke and young stuff belonging to Owens, -which they worked as payment for their feed; thus there were few idle -hours while the spring drive lasted. - -To Harry each new morning was a fresh adventure and whenever Rob did -not need her for an hour or so, she explored the steep sides of the -rocky buttes, the narrow caņons separating them, and the tree-filled -"draw" behind the house. Nor was it altogether careless amusement which -led her to this. She had discovered that a good many other people -went to and fro through the caņons and across the foothills near by: -surveyors, sheepherders, looking for strayed stock, and men who were -just "going through." Often these various wayfarers carried "guns" -that were sometimes rifles but oftener, especially late in summer, -shotguns. And it had not taken Harry long to discover that the men with -shot guns were after grouse and sage hen. - -From the time of her arrival on the ranch she had been interested in -the wild birds and had soon begun trying to protect them. Rob had hung -"no shooting" signs along all the fences and already the birds seemed -to know that they were protected in that spot and came fearlessly to -feed in the alfalfa and close to the house. - -But even signs and outspoken orders would not keep a certain class of -game butchers away. They came even before the season opened, shooting -early in the morning and trusting to the lack of settlers to escape -arrest. Harry had several times driven off these poachers, but there -was one who persisted in defying her. That was Joe Biane. He was so -sly, so sharp, so indifferent to all remonstrance or warning that Harry -realized it was useless to threaten with words only; if he would shoot -on her land he should be punished. - -She came to this decision one morning in May when she had run out to -try and get a snapshot of a grouse cock strutting on the edge of the -alfalfa. She had moved cautiously along behind the currant bushes until -just within the right distance to get a good picture and was adjusting -the camera when a shotgun cracked in the draw above her. - -"After my birds again!" Harry exclaimed indignantly. "If it's Joe I -declare I'll go straight to town and fetch the game warden up here to -arrest him. Of course he's spoiled my picture, too!" For the grouse -had folded his wings and scuttled out of sight into the willows. - -"I'll just go right along and see who that was," Harry decided, closing -her camera and starting up the cow path through the glen. - -At this time of the year the steep sides of the ravine were masked in -the leafage of quaking asp, thorn apple, willow and choke cherry, and -it was next to impossible to see whether the person shooting was there -or not. - -Harry did not stop to explore. She knew by experience that it was -farther up in the high meadow, a favorite nesting place of grouse and -sage hen that she was most likely to find the poachers. Now, in her -excitement she had started running (Joe should not evade her!) but the -path was steep, the sun ardent, and before she could reach the meadow -she was out of breath, hot, and not any calmer. In a final, desperate -effort to cut across Joe's path toward home she swerved through the -trees and almost ran over Joe himself. - -He was moving stealthily through the willows, but startled by Harry's -unexpected appearance, he stopped short. - -"Joe!" she exclaimed; "I thought so." - -"You did!" He laughed mischievously. "I ain't the only fella that takes -a short cut through here, am I?" - -"You take it oftenest. Outsiders don't get here quite so early in the -morning, as a rule. I see I'm too late to save my birds, though." - -She pointed indignantly to the grouse hen that hung from Joe's left -hand. - -Joe looked at it too. "Pretty nice one, ain't it," he observed. "Want I -should get you one?" - -"I should say not!" she exclaimed angrily. "And what's more, you may -put that one down. I've told you not to shoot on my land, and I don't -intend to have you carry off the birds under my nose, even though they -are dead. Give that to me, please." - -She reached out her hand, but Joe stepped alertly back. "This ain't -yours," he said. He was no longer smiling; instead he eyed her -sullenly, a cruel expression on his handsome face. Harry remembered -that he had looked at her just so the day he had tried to pull her -sweater from Isita. "Everybody's got a right to the wild critters," -he added. "Besides," glancing covertly at Harry, "I was gettin' this -because Isita likes 'em." - -For a second Harry faltered. The picture of the younger girl, thin, -tired-looking, unmistakably underfed came before her. But even as she -started to yield, her indignation flamed again. "Oh, well, if it's for -Isita," she answered with affected surprise, "give it to me. I'll take -it home and cook it, and you tell your sister I've invited her down to -dinner." - -"Not much," Joe answered shortly. "We don't beg a meal off'n any one." - -"An invitation isn't begging; but never mind. If you're as anxious -as you say to please your sister, go put your time into plowing and -planting; then you won't have to depend on a tough grouse hen for -dinner." - -Her eyes went again to the limp, feathered form, the bloodstained -breast. - -"Such stupid cruelty!" she exclaimed. "To shoot the hens at this season -when it means a nestful of young ones left to starve." - -"Aw!" Joe growled contemptuously and began to walk away. "What's that -to you? You ain't running this country, so far's I know, and you ain't -a goin' to stop me gettin' a sage hen. I'll shoot when I like." - -"Not on my land," she warned him. "Remember, Joe, I've told you to -keep out. Next time I'll bring the game warden up here and have you -arrested." - -He laughed mockingly, his face darkening. "You'll do a whole lot," he -sneered; "just like you tried down at the school. But Isita didn't run -any more of your errands and she didn't wear your sweater. Did she?" - -"Because your father took her out of school and moved out of that -district is no proof that what I did was wrong." - -"What do I care for your 'methods'? I'll get even with you if you try -any of your bossing on me. Better watch out, Miss Schoolmarm." - -Harry looked after him as he disappeared in the willows. "Such people!" -she exclaimed with sparkling eyes and clenched hands. "They are a -menace to the country." - -She broke off with a start and turned. While she had been talking with -Joe a man on horseback had come over the ridge and crossed the meadow. -As she turned, the rider, who had drawn rein and was looking down at -her with interest, touched his hat. Harry's cheeks reddened as she -explained what had happened. - -"Get the law on him, like you threatened," the stranger advised. -"That'll learn him. It ain't good business not to stick up for your -rights." - -"It's not only my rights, it's the birds' rights I'm fighting for, and -unfortunately Joe is not the only one who needs teaching. In spite of -signs all round our fence the hunters come right inside and shoot. I -did think Westerners were more honorable." - -At her warmth the man laughed quietly. It was a sort of laughter that -fitted his comfortable appearance; middle-aged, bearded, with the -mildly decisive manner of a person used to giving orders. His fine -saddle horse and saddle, yet plain dress, showed him to be a man -familiar with the ways of that country. He made an instant impression -upon the girl. She was too frank and guileless to recognize that under -the smoothness of his manner were hard purpose and a hidden threat for -any one who crossed him. - -"You're from the East, then?" he asked. - -"From Connecticut. I came out three years ago to stay with my brother, -Robert Holliday." - -"Yes. Of course. Joyce told me that Holliday had a ranch up this way. -Ludlum's my name. I live down in the lower country at the siding." - -Harry knew who Ludlum was--the stockman who shipped twice as many -cattle as any other man living on the railway line. A new town had -grown up around the station that had been put in to accommodate him. - -"Don't you get lonesome up in these hills, young lady?" Ludlum inquired. - -"Not very. There's too much to do. All summer there's work on the place -and every winter I've taught school down on the flat." - -"Saving up to get you an auto?" asked the stockman with a laugh. - -"Saving up for cattle," Harry replied. - -"So! You're going into stock, are you? I thought all the ranchers up -here on the prairie were grain crazy." - -"Most of them are; but my brother says the money is in feeding what you -raise. 'Ship it on the hoof, not in the sack' is his motto." - -"And a mighty good one, too. Those your cows down yonder?" - -He was leaning on his saddle horn, pointing down the draw. From where -they stood they could look between the steep, rocky walls of the buttes -upon a wonderful picture of the ranch, narrow, but immensely long. -Beginning with the garden on the upper end of the slope below the glen, -it widened as it descended, taking in the green-blinded white cottage -with its porch and young shade trees, the corral with its long stock -sheds, the deep-green alfalfa, the emerald of winter wheat, the shaded -browns of fall-plowed earth and, across the creek, the tossing sea of -scab land, the flat of Camas Prairie and the mountains. To complete -it, strung out along the creek, was Rob's bunch of cattle. Harry -felt very proud of them. On the very day of her arrival in Idaho Rob -had bargained for a little bunch of heifers. They were now cows with -their calves beside them, and in her mind's eye Harry always saw them -multiplied a hundred-fold, into the herd they were working for. - -"That ain't all you've got, is it?" asked Ludlum. - -"That's all," admitted Harry, and felt suddenly how small a herd of -forty head must look to the stockman. In a country where everything ran -in big numbers, from the miles that you lived from the post office to -the feet of snow and degrees below zero, it sounded "small farmerish" -to have so few heads of stock. - -"You've got the right sort of place for a stock ranch," Ludlum told -her. "Have you proved up yet?" - -"We have on the original hundred and sixties; but we've filed on -additional homesteads. We'll prove up on those next spring. That will -give us six hundred and forty acres; about half of it seeded--pasture -and hay. We plan to stay in here this winter. We've both saved up some -money, and it looks as if we were going to have plenty of hay." - -"You've thought it all out ahead, I see," Ludlum said, with a sort of -surprised admiration. For "tenderfoot" Easterners Holliday and his -sister seemed very practical and businesslike. - -An idea swung slowly round into his thoughts. He was silent for a -moment as he gazed down at the ranch. - -"Why don't you get a bigger herd to start with?" he asked presently. -"There's lots of money in cattle nowadays, but it's slow making it when -you start so small." - -"Of course; but we haven't the capital to start a big herd, and my -brother doesn't believe in mortgaging." - -"That's a good principle, generally; but taking cattle on time is -different. Your herd increases so fast that you're making fifteen or -twenty per cent, instead of four or five. Supposing, say, you were -to borrow off a stockman like me. Say I make over a hundred head of -stock--white-face, good beef critters, you understand--and you have hay -to feed up into the spring. Then you could figure like this." - -Fascinated, convinced in spite of herself, Harry listened while Ludlum -rapidly sketched the problem, the profit and loss, the complete -working, so it seemed to the girl, of a stock ranch. He made Rob's -little bunch of cows appear almost contemptibly unimportant. After -all, it appeared to be just as she had believed: if you had energy, -confidence and common sense, you were virtually sure of succeeding. -Rob's idea of poking along for years, collecting a heifer here and -there on the way, was hopelessly wrong and unnecessary. - -An impulse moved her to speak. "Won't you come down to the house now -and talk to Rob?" she begged. "He's off plowing, but he'll be in for -dinner. I'm sure you could convince him that your plan is a sound one -for us." - -"I'd be glad to," Ludlum answered, gathering up his reins, "but I'm on -my way to the reserve to look at the pasture. If it'll be agreeable, -I'll stop a few days later on my way back." - -"We'll always be glad to see you," Harry responded cordially. -"Meanwhile I'll tell my brother what you've told me about making money -with cattle." - -"So that's Holliday's," Ludlum said to himself as he rode on. "Joyce -told me it was the best location round here. Funny how these-here -suckers think they can come along any time they like and shut us -old-timers out of every good water hole in the country! H'm! Well," -he remarked presently as if finishing a silent argument, "the way it -stands suits me first-rate. A year from July, say, I'd be able to feed -a big bunch of stock in there." - - - - -CHAPTER XIII - - -After her talk with Ludlum, Harry went back to the house exulting. At -last some one who could speak with authority had come to advise them; -yes, and to help them, too. In her happy optimism she regarded Ludlum's -brief array of facts and figures as the formula for turning their labor -into a stream of gold. - -She spent the forenoon in bursts of energetic housework and in watching -for Rob. She was wild with impatience to tell him of Ludlum's plan -for them. Even the little house where they had heretofore lived so -contentedly seemed suddenly cramped and outgrown. Yet it was a far -better house than many wealthier ranchers owned, a better one than Rob -himself had expected to build. - -Absorbed in her plans for the future, Harry forgot to watch the clock -and was surprised to hear feet thumping up the steps and to hear Rob's -voice saying: - -"Come ahead in, Garnett." - -"Garnett! You don't mean it!" With an exclamation of delight Harry -turned. - -"Looks like I never did get the chance to send and ask you would it -be agreeable to have me call in." Garnett, tall, sandy-haired with -freckles across his nose, looked at Harry with a twinkle in his blue -eyes that laughed even when his face was serious. - -"I'll forgive you this time," said Harry, smiling back at him. "It's -months since we've seen you. We'd begun to wonder what we'd done." - -"You've done a heap," said Garnett, with an admiring glance at the sink -and pump, which Rob had added when he piped the water from the spring. -"You don't charge for drinks now, account of the new fixings, do you?" -he asked, picking up a cup. - -"Yessir. Forty cents the _demitasse_," said Rob, returning from his -refreshing splash at the wash bench. "Freight rates are high west of -the Rockies, remember." - -"Can't you hang me up this time? I'm so dry I can't tell you the news." - -"Depends on what it is," said Rob. "We got the mail two weeks ago, so -you can't fool us with anything stale." - -"I reckon I might's well move on, then. Like I told you, I'm due up in -the timber right now. Prob'ly scrappin' up there already 'long of those -cattle." - -Harry turned quickly from the stove where she was "dishing up." "What -cattle?" - -"Why, the stranger cattle that have been shipped in. I thought you knew -about them. What's the use of Rob's goin' for the mail so often if he -don't pick up the home-brewed news that's layin' out in the street over -to Soldier?" - -"Garnett, stop teasing, do!" Harry pleaded, as they drew up to the -table. "Whose cattle are they?" - -"I don't know," Garnett said. "Everybody's got it different. To hear -Rudy Batts talk you'd think a thousand devils had been turned loose on -his land; but then, they cleaned up Rudy's winter wheat, just about, so -it's natural he's feelin' disturbed." - -"But Rudy Batts' ranch is up Soldier Creek," Harry interrupted, "and I -thought you said these cattle were in the forest." - -"They are by now, but the varmints were shipped in by rail to Soldier, -to the 'Idaho Cattle Company,' whoever that is; and their riders drove -'em up through the creek caņon on the way to the forest. Bein' what -they are, scrubs mostly, starved to death all winter and breachy from -the start, they didn't stop to ask for the wire nippers when they came -to fenced grain; just went right through or over and cleaned up inside. -That's how I got to hear about it. Everybody in Soldier's askin' who -owns the critters. Some think it's a bunch of bankers down round -Shoshone that saw beef was goin' up and wanted to get in on the profit. -And say! I wish I had a little bunch of beef critters to be eatin' the -pasture off these hills. Wouldn't I make all kinds of money?" - -Harry's heart leaped. Now was her chance. "Do you really think there -would be money in it?" she asked eagerly. "For Rob and me for instance?" - -"Do I! There's so much in it that I know I'm a fool not to give up -my job in the service and get me a herd. I would, too, if I hadn't -rented my eighty down on the South Side on shares to Pablo Carriero, -a Portagee. He's got it up to November, and you bet I'm not going to -lease again." - -"But you could buy a few head, couldn't you?" Harry asked quickly. -"You'll have one third of your hay." - -"Not this year. I told Carriero to sell it if he could, and he's given -an option on it to that fellow Biane. But for you two! Why, it's as -easy as counting your fingers to coin money this year." - -"It is!" said Rob skeptically. "With steers selling at thirty and -calves at fifteen, and me with only three hundred cash in the bank? -Guess again, Christopher Garnett." - -"He isn't guessing at all," Harry said quickly. "I heard--some one told -me the very same thing this morning. If we bought only a hundred head -now, part cash, part time----" - -"Oh, time!" Rob echoed. "None of that for me, thank you." - -"Wait, please. You haven't heard it all," Harry broke in, and then -hurried on to give him the gist of what Ludlum had said. "With the -eight hundred cash we have between us," she ended, "there's no reason -why we should not borrow the rest, buy cattle and succeed, just as -thousands of men have done before us." - -"Yes, and other men who didn't know any more about it than we do have -gone into cattle and been ruined." - -"Say, Rob," Garnett drawled, "ain't you ever heard of a man with one -pet cow havin' her die on him?" - -"Oh, sure! But the chances are ninety per cent in his favor, and if he -does lose he loses less." - -"Loses less when he loses all he's got! That's the first time I ever -heard that argyment. A man can drudge along and be safe while he never -owns more than he can carry to bed in his two hands; but that ain't -the way to figure in this country. Round up all you can and make 'em -rustle for their livin' while you busy yourself seein' that some other -feller's critters ain't swipin' the feed. That's the way to get rich. -It beats the pet cow all hollow." - -"Of course," Harry added earnestly. "And as for not borrowing, every -one knows that big business is done on credit." - -"Credit!" Rob fairly groaned. "I shouldn't care for any, as they say. -It sounds good as a topic for conversation, but I'll bet that's just -the kind of argument the old-timers got happy drunk on before the -winter of '89. Ever hear the Robinsons tell about that winter, you two?" - -The silence answered him. Yes, they had heard and also remembered. -Who that had heard could forget? First had come the June freeze and -then a dry summer with a shortage of grazing. But no one had worried; -probably, after such a cold summer there would be an open winter. When -all the grazing was gone they would drive the stock out to Shoshone -and buy hay. So they planned. Alas! Before the grazing was quite gone -the snow came--and stayed. And while they waited for a break in the -bad weather in which to move out, the "big snow" came and shut them -in--shut their cattle in to slow starvation. - -As Mrs. Robinson related it twenty-five years afterward the tears -streamed down her cheeks. "It like to broke pa's heart," she said; "him -havin' to set inside and watch them pore dumb critters waitin' to be -fed and finally layin' down to die. Time and again we tried to drive -'em across the foothills into the hay country, but 'twa'n't no use. Out -of two hundred head all we saved was one cow. Every stockman on the -prairie lost his herd, and some was ruined for good and all. We never -went into another winter without hay, I tell ye." - -It was a cruel experience, but Harry was not a person to let another's -misfortune shake her faith in her own enterprise. As she looked toward -her brother a characteristic expression came across her face: the -expression that meant obstinate, good-natured determination. She was -saying to herself: "We're not going to fail. We're not. I think we can -make cattle pay on borrowed money, and I'm going to borrow it." - -But she said no more to Rob, for she felt that it was best to let him -think the matter over by himself. That he was doing so during the next -few days was evident from the tension in the air whenever cattle were -mentioned. - -She hoped that Ludlum would come before the effect of Garnett's advice -had worn off, and, as the days passed, she grew uneasy. It was a relief -from the constant suspense when one morning Rob asked her to help him -round up his cows. Half a dozen starved-looking steers had come down -the draw during the night, and when he dogged them off his own herd -had followed them. - -Harry needed no urging. With Rob and Garnett to teach her she had -learned to ride well, and could even, with the help of 'Thello, round -up their own cattle very creditably. There was nothing that she enjoyed -more than to be out on a June morning, with a lively horse beneath her, -the sage-scented breeze sweeping past, the meadow larks calling across -the sky, the miles of blue swale and the cloud shadows racing ahead of -her. At such moments the horizon was hers; hers, too, the splendor and -greatness of life. - -To-day the work was all play. They had only to follow the fresh traces -of the herd going south across the hills, and half an hour of sharp -riding brought them up with the bunch. It took another half hour to cut -out their animals and turn them toward home, but that was what Harry -enjoyed. To wheel to and fro, spur after a creature that was dodging -to one side, dash ahead and turn the leaders, and finally send the -whole string galloping away with the thunder of hoofs and the chorus of -bellowings--that was the best sport yet. - -As Harry and Rob rode slowly home they discussed the coming of strange -cattle into their hills, and wondered whether they could be some of -those that Garnett had spoken of. - -"If they are," Rob said, "the riders will be along in a few days to -drive them back." - -When they were halfway down the draw 'Thello growled warningly, and -they saw a saddle horse standing at the corral gate. - -"Ludlum!" flashed into Harry's mind, and she was silent when Rob said -he would ride ahead and see who their visitor was. - -"I'll leave them alone for a while," she said to herself, "and give -Ludlum a chance to talk." - -She drove the cows inside the pasture, then rode slowly to the corral -and, putting up her pony, came to the house. Ludlum was talking in a -tone of calm assurance, of conviction won by thorough knowledge of the -subject. Rob, sitting on the porch step, smoothed the back of his head -and listened in silence. Harry wondered whether that silence meant that -he was yielding or merely resisting. - -Stocky, big-muscled, tanned to a smooth, healthy brown, Robert Holliday -was at first glance merely one of the many young fellows who have gone -out to the Far West to have a try at fortune. But three years of hard -wrestling with a sagebrush ranch had cleared and solidified his boyish -visions and made them a working force. Harry knew that Rob's opinions -carried weight in the community. - -At her approach Ludlum rose and held out his hand. "Wherever I see -folks as willing to work as you and your brother, Miss Holliday, I'm -willing to bet they'll succeed against any odds. Yes, ma'am." - -"How about the fellow that is working against us?" asked Rob quietly. -"Does he win, too?" - -"O Bobby! You do think up such objections!" Harry said, with a laugh. - -But Ludlum nodded approvingly. "Quite right, Holliday. A man's got -to be cautious, especially in the cattle business. You'd ought to be -thankful, young lady, that you've got such a level-headed partner to -work with." - -Ludlum commended impartially the opinions of both Rob and Harry. "Come -down to the ranch and look things over," he said as he rose to go, "and -get acquainted with the missus and our girls and boys. Pick out a bunch -of critters, and make your own terms. You'll make twenty per cent on -your money, all right." - -"Hard work to come down to earth again after sailing round in Ludlum's -airship," Rob commented as they watched their visitor ride away. "He'd -make a fellow think that merely driving his critters on our land would -start providence coining money to pay for them and making hay to feed -them." - -"I don't see that we need trust especially in providence for hay and -cash!" Harry exclaimed. "We're sure of fifty tons of alfalfa of our own -this year, besides the wheat straw from fifty acres for roughage; and -as for the cash payment on a hundred head, haven't I five hundred in -the bank and you have almost three hundred? And we can always buy extra -hay on the flat." - -"We're not _sure_ we can buy hay; we're not sure we'll put up fifty -tons of our own. It's a dry year, and the grazing may go early; and -we're not past the chance of a late frost. It's pure gambling to take -on a hundred head of cattle now." - -"No more than taking the dozen you bought that first year was. We'll -simply never make a real cleanup, Rob, if we never take a chance. -I'd rather do it and maybe lose something--lose my five hundred -dollars--than mosey along forever on the safe side." - -"Go ahead. If you think you can clear the moon in one jump, I won't put -the hobbles on you. But be satisfied with the moon; don't try to take -in the Dipper and the Milky Way, too. Take thirty head if you like, -from Ludlum, but no more. We agreed to run the ranch together; and if -you want to invest your earnings in cattle, all right. I'll ride after -the critters when I'm not working the land, and if you put in half -your money you can take thirty head at a thousand dollars, paying down -a quarter cash and giving a mortgage on your land. That'll leave you -two hundred and fifty dollars and me three hundred to get through the -season with." - -"Five hundred and fifty dollars!" Harry exclaimed. "Why, Bobby, we -could take more than thirty easy!" - -"Well, we're not going to. We'll risk something, but we'll not risk -everything. The first of December there'll be interest to pay--ten per -cent on seven hundred and fifty for six months; that's thirty-seven and -a half dollars. And we'll have to pay something on the principal, or -Ludlum won't be likely to renew the note, but I figure that the sale -from beef critters we already have and from this new bunch should pay -off another two hundred and fifty on the mortgage. That is, if we have -good luck." - -A flash of resentment passed over Harry. Thirty head were so few! Could -he not take even that small number without saying "if"? Her feeling of -annoyance, however, was soon swept away in the discussion of details -that Rob, with his usual foresight, insisted upon before they should -start the following morning to settle the business with Ludlum. - -They had finished talking and were sitting at the table, silent, each -thinking what this big change might mean to them. Harry turned the lamp -wick slowly up and down; her eyes were very deep and shining in the -flare of light. Rob stared absently at the paper on which he had been -figuring. Out in the falling night a whippoorwill called plaintively, -then stopped, and in the silence they heard timid steps on the porch. - -"Who's that?" Rob exclaimed, going to the door. - -Harry followed him with the lamp. Its light fell upon the frightened -face of a young girl. - -"Why, it's Isita!" Harry said, in surprise. "Come in." - -But Isita shook her head. Small-boned and slender for her age, -clutching a boy's jacket over her chest and glancing timidly from -brother to sister, she looked like a little lost child. - -"What's happened, Isita?" Harry asked. "Anything we can do? Come in, -dear." - -"Oh, I can't!" The words came in a faint, frightened gasp. "Mother sent -me to ask you--have you got something for a--a cut? Joe--that is, he -was cutting up a chicken, and the knife slipped--" She stopped abruptly. - -"That's bad; but we've got something for it. Come in and rest a minute -while I get the things, and I'll go back with you," Rob began; but the -girl raised her hands entreatingly. - -"Please don't!" she besought. "That is, I mean, thank you; but you -couldn't do nothing. It ain't so dangerous. All we need is something to -put on it." - -Rob went across the room to where Harry was busily putting together -lint, disinfectant and sticking plaster. - -"I think I ought to go over, don't you?" he said. "He may have cut an -artery." - -"No, no!" Isita's voice called out desperately. "It ain't so bad. Ma -said for you not to come. It--it would make dad so mad. He'd 'a' killed -me if he'd knowed I was coming over here. Never mind, Miss Holliday. I -reckon I'd better be getting back." - -"Wait! Here's your bandaging!" Harry called cheerily, coming out at -the same moment with the package and with her sweater on. "I'm only -going to the gate with you," she said soothingly, and, slipping her arm -through Isita's, led her down the steps. - -Harry was back in ten minutes. "I thought I might calm her," she -explained to Rob. "The poor child was either scared to death at sight -of a bad cut, or else frightened by that brute of a father. What a -shame she has to live with such a family." - -"I wonder how Joe did cut his hand," Rob said thoughtfully. "I -shouldn't wonder if there had been a family scrap and the old man gave -him one." - -"Rob Holliday! The idea! Go on to bed, or we'll never get started in -the morning." - - - - -CHAPTER XIV - - -Of all her journeyings about Idaho that ride to Ludlum's was the -one that Harry remembered most vividly. The start before dawn, the -ponies fresh and eager, the morning star ahead, white and dazzling -in the east, the familiar road at that unfamiliar hour so strangely -beautiful--above all, the realization that this day was to make -her actually the owner of a herd--all filled her with a wonderful, -exhilarating joy. - -She and Rob were riding fast, scarcely speaking to each other. They -had rounded the foot of the butte that separated Harry's land from -the Bianes' and were almost in front of the Biane house when, as they -galloped along the fence, Rob's horse leaped and gave a snort of fright. - -"Take care, there!" Rob called back as he regained his seat. - -Instinctively Harry reined in and glanced fearfully over her shoulder. -There was nothing much to be seen--only the elder Biane loading -something into the wagon that stood in front of the door. - -"I wonder whether Joe was hurt worse than they wanted to say," Rob -remarked to Harry, and then called out, "Hi, there, Biane; need any -help? Joe all right this morning?" - -"All right, all right! We need not'ting at all." As Rob halted, -the Portuguese started forward and waved his arm with a threatening -gesture. "Not'ting is the mattare here! Go on!" - -"Polite beggar," Rob commented, laughing as they set spurs to their -horses and rode on. - -It was nine o'clock when, after crossing the foothills, they -sighted, far to the south, the oasis of shadow that indicated the -poplar trees of Ludlum's siding. The railway crosses the Snake River -there, full forty miles south of Camas Prairie, in the heart of the -sand-and-sagebrush desert. When a new irrigation tract was opened, and -a rush of settlers came in the siding began to gather a settlement -round itself. Their ranches lay below the big ditch along the base of -the foothill rise, and their scattered forties and eighties of alfalfa -were the first verdure that the travelers from the hills had seen. - -As Harry gazed forward along the road winding through the sagebrush -toward Ludlum's, she saw in fancy the slow-moving string of cattle that -would soon be coming back over that road to her. Her herd! Already she -thought of them as hers; for when she had made the second payment in -December it would be no time at all until the increase from the herd -would pay the rest of the debt. - -"Things are getting pretty dry already," Rob remarked, as he gazed at -the passing country. "If the irrigation water fails these fellows, and -it may easy enough, there was so little snow last winter, they won't -get much late hay." - -"Why, I think the crops look fine," Harry answered gayly; "and as for -us, we have all the water we need. Our springs were never known to -fail, now, were they? We've miles of free range that should last into -October, and we can certainly buy all the hay we need down on the flat." - -"I hope you're right," Rob answered. "Just the same, I'm going to stop -at some of the ranches along here and see what they're asking for the -first crop of alfalfa." - -The next ranch was an eighty-acre square of silk-green, rippling -verdure, with a small unpainted frame house at the edge of it, like a -raft anchored on the border of turbulent water. Unfortunately, there -was only a woman at home, and she explained that the men from that -and the next two ranches on the road had gone to put up hay on the -Constable place across the river. - -"If we can get through with Ludlum in time, I believe I'd better ride -across to Constable's," Rob said as they turned the last corner and -rode along Ludlum's fence. - -Harry assented vaguely. She was absorbed in admiring the splendid ranch -before them. The house grounds of the thousand-acre farm lay facing -the road; the railway ran along the other side of the place where the -new town had been laid out. For half a mile behind the house extended -a double row of immense Lombardy poplars, making a windbreak against -the violent west winds; and in their shelter were ranged the orchard, -garden and the group of barns, sheds, bunk houses, cookhouse and other -out-buildings that pertained to an old-time ranch. - -Water was running in the irrigation ditches, a windmill whirred with -its pleasant sound of industry, miles of alfalfa and pasture shimmered -in the morning sunshine, and in other fields cows with young calves -were feeding. The scene gave a feeling of long-settled prosperity, of -solid wealth that no "bad year," no "dull market," could affect. - -"And all this has been done with cattle!" Harry exclaimed, as she -looked around her. "How thankful I am I've started a herd!" - -"I wonder, though, how he got his start," Rob remarked. "With one cow -or with credit?" - -"I dare you to ask him," said Harry. - -Rob only laughed and swung out of his saddle in front of the door. -Several children ran out and surrounded them with friendly curiosity, -and a pretty, smiling little woman followed close behind. - -"I thought I recognized Mr. Holliday," Mrs. Ludlum said when Rob had -introduced his sister. "The minute I laid eyes on him I knew I'd seen -him here before." - -"No use trying to fool a real Westerner," Rob answered laughing. "Once -you're seen in this country you're a marked man." - -"Oh, now, I wouldn't call you that, yet. You ain't never done nothing -worse, so far's I know, than turn in here once for the night when your -team ran away from you, and then offer to pay for your bed and board." - -"You'll never forgive that, will you?" said Rob. "Well, this time we've -come to carry off several square meals at once without paying--except -with promises. In other words, we're here for cattle. Is Mr. Ludlum -round?" - -"Well, there! He just ain't," said Mrs. Ludlum, who had seated her -guests in the big veranda rocking-chairs. "Ludlum's went out to the -South Side to look up his hay, but he'll be back for dinner. You'll -stay overnight anyhow. Oh, yes, now! It ain't so often you come this -way, and we've always wanted to get acquainted with your sister. We've -heard how smart she is; teaching school and milking and doing chores -like she was born to it." - -"Yes, sis keeps the traces stiff pretty well," Rob assured her. - -"Our ranch isn't much after seeing this one," Harry said quickly, -pleased yet embarrassed by her brother's praise. - -"Well, now. Don't let that give you a set-back," said Mrs. Ludlum. -"Why, when we come here, twenty-five years ago, we had the same layout -as you. Raw sagebrush and no water, except the river. You've got us -beat there. Didn't I live in the sheep wagon, too, for a year, until we -got ahead enough to build us a shack? All this you see now didn't come -in one jump." - -Such words were food and drink to Harry. As she listened to the -accounts of the Ludlums' trials, mistakes and bad luck, she saw that -she and Rob were not the only ones who had made blunders. By dinner -time they were exchanging experiences as if they had known one another -for years. Harry was almost sorry when Ludlum came in and the topic of -conversation changed. - -Rob, on the contrary, was glad to see the stockman. "It may save me a -trip over to the South Side," he said, "if you can tell me what sort of -hay crop they've got over there." - -"It's a good crop, all right, but it's about all contracted for." - -"Already!" Rob exclaimed. "What's the hurry?" - -"Nothing. The sheepmen always buy early, and this year there's some -extra cattle in the country, and some of 'em'll have to be fed this -winter--those that ain't fat enough to ship by fall." - -"From what we've heard of them they won't ever be fat enough," said -Rob, and he went on to tell what Garnett had reported. - -"I've seen 'em worse than that and come off the range fat," Ludlum -said, laughing. "You needn't worry about them taking all the hay." - -Nevertheless, Rob decided to ride out. "If we can get this business of -ours settled up early," he suggested, "I'll leave Harry here for the -night and go over there." - -"Sure," Ludlum answered promptly. "We'll go and take a look at the -stock on pasture, and you can pick what you like. Yes, come along," -he said to his wife, and added, grinning, to the others, "That woman -has to have a finger in everything; you'd think she'd raised the whole -outfit herself." - -"Well, I guess I did raise the start of it!" his wife exclaimed. "I -fed a dozen calves by hand until they could eat grass, and it's from -them he got his real start of a herd. Come on, Miss Holliday. I'll tell -you which ones to pick." And, putting her arm through Harry's she led -the way down the path. - -It was done at last. Rob and Harry had chosen thirty Durham cows, -calves, yearlings and two "coming two's." The price was to be one -thousand dollars, one fourth down, one fourth on December 1, when, if -all went well, the loan would be renewed. The afternoon was only half -gone when they came out of the notary public's office. - -"I'll leave you here," Rob said, mounting his horse as the others got -into Ludlum's automobile. "Don't forget, sis, if I'm not back to-night, -that you are to start on in the morning and meet me up the road near -that ranch we stopped at on our way down." - -"I've half a mind not to let you go inside a week," Mrs. Ludlum -declared as they started back to the house. "Men folks always take it -for granted that a woman's got to be home every minute, whether she's -needed or not. I'll bet you haven't slept away from home two nights -running since you filed on your homestead. Have you, now?" - -"Plenty of times," said Harry gayly. "You forget that I taught school -on the flat for three winters." - -"She caught you that time, Ma," said Ludlum, grinning. - -"A lot that worries me! Any one that can catch me is welcome to his -pay. My dad tried to make a school-teacher out of me, but he gave it -up as a bad job. Said he guessed I'd make a better cow puncher. He'd -have been some surprised to know a girl could be smart at both." - -The way Mrs. Ludlum's brown eyes beamed at Harry warmed the girl's -heart. - -"I'd rather ride than teach," Harry declared, "but the only way I could -save money to go into cattle was by teaching. You see, Rob insisted -that besides the money for the first payment I should have something -for running expenses." - -"You don't mean to say you saved for that! How much, child?" - -"Two hundred and fifty." - -"Two hundred fifty! Whoopee! Did you hear that, Ludlum? Why, you don't -no more need that than a rattlesnake needs two tails! Instead of -saltin' that down, you'd ought to have put it into a decent-sized bunch -of beef." - -"We thought it safer to save something," said Harry, feeling her cheeks -redden. - -"There, now. She's mad with me." Mrs. Ludlum's arm went round Harry's -waist in a conciliatory hug. "You're the same sort I was myself--full -of spunk as an apple is of cider. That's the sort of thing that makes -success. I'll bet right now you wanted to put that extra cash into -beef, didn't you? Of course! See her smile! And that's what you're -going to do. Pa and I'll fix you up all right." - -"But two hundred and fifty dollars won't buy many cows," Harry began. - -"It won't buy blooded white-face, but you've got a plenty of them. -What you need is some scrub stock; the sort we started with. They'll -rustle better for feed, stand harder weather and come through where -your high-class critters will knock under. You take thirty scrubs at -six hundred, pay two hundred fifty cash for 'em and let the other three -fifty go on time, and I'll lay you even money they'll make more for you -than your 'ristocrats that cost you twice as much. Ain't that right, -Pa?" - -"What you say goes, I guess," the stockman agreed, with a whimsical -glance at Harry as they got out of the car in front of the house. "You -always were the boss, you know." - -"Sure. I have to be. The men would just mill round in a peck measure -till kingdom come if the women didn't drag 'em into the road to -success. That's what the girl here is going to show her brother. Show -him she can do all the rounding up and cutting out this fall. Then -she'll sell off enough to buy her some hay. Pa here'll pick you a good -bunch, deary. They're all out on range now, but he'll see you get -what's comin' to you." - -As Harry listened to this lively mixture of plans for her and praise -of her, Rob's decision that they should take only thirty head suddenly -lost its finality. These people knew much more than Rob did about the -cattle business. Besides, Rob had not put a cent of his own into the -white-face; why should she not do as she liked with her own money--put -what she had left into thirty more? That, with Rob's bunch, would give -them an even hundred. - -Abruptly she stopped in the path. "I've decided," she said. "I'm going -to take the scrubs. Thirty head. I guess I'll come out all right. Why -not?" - -Her confidence remained as long as she stayed with the Ludlums. It -was only after she had bidden them good-by the next morning that she -began to wonder what Rob would say. At first he might disapprove. The -likelihood that he would do so grew upon her as she drew near their -meeting place; the arguments that had appeared so sound while Mrs. -Ludlum talked now sounded very flimsy. - -At last she heard the pound of hoofs behind her and, turning, saw Rob. - -"I came near not getting here this morning, after all," he began. -"Nobody'll sell hay now, or even set a price on it. They're all waiting -to see how the second cutting turns out. This pest of outside cattle -has sent every one on the stampede for high-priced hay. My, but I'm -thankful you've got that two hundred and fifty in reserve! We'll need -it, all right." - -He looked at her sharply. She was facing him with a smile on her lips, -eyes unflinching, but without a word. - -"What is it?" he asked quietly. "You haven't heard the bank's busted?" - -"No. But I've nothing in it. I bought thirty more cattle, scrubs, at -six hundred, and paid down my other two hundred and fifty." - -It was told! With the relief, her nervous shakiness vanished, and -she rushed into the account of what she had done. She watched Rob's -face for the slow smile that would reluctantly acknowledge her good -judgment; but it did not come. Instead, Rob stared straight ahead, and -deep lines appeared in his face, as if he were very tired. Harry tried -to interest him by quoting Mrs. Ludlum, her experience and advice, but -Rob answered colorlessly or not at all. - -"No doubt it was easy enough twenty-five years ago," he said at last, -"but there are too many people in here now that have got something to -say about who's going to make all the money in cattle. If the ranchers -won't sell their hay, we'll have to do without. That's all." - -"I guess we can get all we need on the flat," Harry said quickly. "They -aren't short of water up there, thank goodness." - -"Yes, plenty of water so far; but don't forget it isn't too late for -the June freeze." - -The June freeze! Harry had forgotten that yearly menace. Only the year -before it had hit the prairie and had wiped out every little "truck -patch," blackened every acre of potatoes, and seared thousands of acres -of alfalfa. As if the thin fingers of that very June frost had folded -round her wrist, Harry felt her warm blood chill. - -Fear, however, was not natural to her. The reaction came, and through -the following week, while waiting for the new cattle to arrive, her -confidence in ultimate victory renewed itself. - -Ludlum had told her that he would send the white-face bunch up by -riders who would round up the scrubs on the way and bring the whole lot -in at once. Daily Harry expected to see them come down the draw. At the -same time she was waiting for Rob, who had been gone for several days -hunting hay on the flat. By sunset on Saturday she had given up hope -of seeing any one that week; but as she was feeding the calves, in the -corral, a hostile growl from 'Thello made her turn quickly to see a -slow-moving string of cattle wind down the draw. - -"My herd!" she exclaimed, and dropped her empty bucket. "They've come." - -There they were, shuffling the dust into an obscuring cloud and -beginning to bellow at the sight of the cows in the barnyard. - -"Where do you want 'em?" one of the riders called to the girl, as she -hurried to meet them. - -"Right there, until we can cut out the calves and bring them inside. -Just move them along the fence so I can count them, will you?" - -"Oh, you'll be able to count 'em without their millin' round none," the -rider answered; "they're tired enough to set for their photos without -stirrin' a hair." - -Was it only because they were tired that they looked so queer, Harry -wondered as she moved about among them. A puzzled look replaced -her pleased smile. The Durhams were right enough: big, solid, beefy -creatures. But the scrubs--was that the way scrubs always looked? She -had seen plenty of them on the range, but never had she noticed that -they were like these thirty strange odd-come-shorts: here a cow no -bigger than a good-sized calf, but carrying the horns of a Texas steer; -over there a Jersey-colored steer with a head as big as a buffalo's; -calves of every mixture of breed and of no breed at all. She was still -standing studying them when she heard the soft thump of hoofs and the -voices of two men, and saw Rob and Garnett riding toward her. - -"He roped me a couple of miles back and fetched me along," said the -forest ranger, pretending as usual that he was there only through -necessity. "Told me you were going to have beef stew and dumplings, and -he was afeared he couldn't eat it all himself." - -He had dropped from his saddle and come up beside her, stepping stiffly -on his high-heeled boots as he looked fixedly down at her. - -"Beef stew?" She made an effort at a lively reply. "I guess there are -some critters in that bunch that won't be good for much else." - -"What did you really expect?" Rob inquired mildly. - -"I hoped they'd develop enough beef to pay us to ship them for stew," -she retorted. "Of course I knew scrubs weren't like blooded stock, but -Ludlum said he'd pick mine out." - -"The word scrubs," Rob reminded her as they began to work the calves -inside the gate, "is like charity: it covers a multitude of sins. And -when you're dealing with the Ludlums--well, what fat there might be in -the herd is generally in the fire; as at present." - -"What _is_ he talking about?" Harry asked. - -"Aw! Nothin' much. Some of the critters that were over the other side -of the river have been driven in here on the range and----" - -"Those wild, starved things from outside? But they can't! This range -belongs to us ranchers." The significance of the thing was coming to -her. "What right have outsiders to ship stock in here? We'll drive them -into the river! They shan't clean up the grazing." - -"I guess you wouldn't want to run 'em into the river," Garnett said -reflectively, "not if you're buying cattle from Ludlum on time." - -"Ludlum? What has he to do with it?" - -"Nothing much," answered Garnett, slowly, "except that about five -hundred of the scrubs are his, and if he knew that you were running 'em -off he might take it kind of bad." - - - - -CHAPTER XV - - -"Guess I'd better lend a hand," Rob said to himself. He had been -repairing an irrigation ditch on the west side of the ranch and for -some time had been watching a cloud of dust to the east; it seemed to -indicate fresh trouble from Ludlum's hungry horde. - -Although scarcely ten days had passed since those scrub cattle had -appeared in the hills, the famished animals had already broken fences, -trampled growing wheat, horned last season's stacks and broken down -banks of the irrigation ditches. And what was worse, if possible, than -all that mischief, they were taking a great deal of Rob's time, every -moment of which was worth money. - -"We're helpless to prevent it, too, I guess!" Rob muttered as he -started toward the scene of trouble; "helpless because there's no herd -law in these hills. Ludlum's got just as good right to the free range -as we have, and, with his mortgage on Harry's land, he can make it -mighty bad for us if he finds us dogging his stock off. I'll get even -with him for his meanness, though." - -He glowered at the scattered bands of cattle that trailed along the -fence, seeking an opening into the rich feed inside. How shortsighted -he and the other foothill ranchers were not to have demanded a herd -law long before! - -As the law stood now the "cattle baron" had the advantage. He could -run his hundreds of head of stock on the open range from April to -September, or take them up into the reserve until that was eaten clean; -then after shipping his beef "critters" he could drive the rest down on -the South Side to winter on the hay that he had bought from the farmers -there. The man with fifty or a hundred head had no chance at all -against him. If the big stockman's cattle, grazing unherded, got inside -the rancher's fence and bloated on his alfalfa or grain, the stockman -could collect heavy damages from the farmer, who had no redress for -his damaged crops; it was the farmer's business to keep the stockman's -cattle out. - -It was a just law for the wilderness, but not at all the law for a -region that was going under the fence. The men who were reclaiming -the desert, who were turning the north slope of the foothills and the -prairie into farms, who were raising grain and hay and building up -small herds of cattle and sheep, were now the men to be protected by -law. That protection a herd law would give them, for it would forbid -stockmen to run their herds into the hills without riders to watch -them, and it would make the stockmen liable for damages to fences or -crops. That would mean, of course, that the big herds would not be -turned into the hills at all; for it was only because they could be -left there without herders that they had piled up the profits for their -owners. - -"Pity sis couldn't have known what Ludlum was planning to do up here -himself," Rob went on to himself. "She mightn't have fallen for the old -lady's get-rich-easy talk. Not that Mrs. Ludlum meant to gouge Harry. -She's square, and thinks he is, too, I guess. Ludlum's sharp, that's -all. Drives a hard bargain. If we'd known how many of their scrubs -we were going to ride after and feed for nothing, Harry'd have been -satisfied with thirty of her own, all right, especially now that the -range is going dry." - -As he stumbled along under the hot sun he saw Harry coming on -horseback. In her khaki jumper, divided skirt and riding boots she -looked like a boy of sixteen. - -"I'm awfully sorry to ask you to help," she began. "I can't get those -critters of Ludlum's out unless ours go, too. My! But I hate them!" She -stopped abruptly, with a telltale quiver in her voice, and looked away. -Then quickly she braced herself. "If I could once get them outside, I'd -take 'em so far they'd never find themselves, let alone find the road -back here." - -Rob's eyes softened. Poor old girl! She was doing her best, anyhow. - -"I guess they won't bother us much more, Harry," he said. "I have -decided that I'll put on another wire. They can't jump four." - -"Another wire!" she exclaimed. "But, Rob, have you thought of the -expense!" - -"Not half so expensive as wasting time running them off. Well, let's -get busy. If you'll fetch Jeff, I'll change these wet shoes." - -Obediently, Harry went up the draw to the corral among the trees where -they kept the work horses in summer. Her head ached, and there was a -lump in her throat. How considerate of her Rob was! She had added just -double to their difficulties, had added to their expenses, yet not one -word of reproach did he give her. Instead he was always ready to help -whenever she came to him--and that was pretty often. Handling cattle, -she realized, was not to be learned by any "fifteen minutes a day" of -study. - -"Cowboys certainly earn their wages," Harry admitted with a weary -sigh, when, after several hours of weary work they had at last got the -strangers outside the fence and had driven back inside several of their -own cattle that had gone out with the others. - -It was six o'clock. They were both choked with dust, thirsty, -saddle-sore and tired. Harry, aching from head to foot, longed to get -into a bath and put on some clean clothes; instead, she must wash a -panful of dishes and cook supper. - -"You're dead right," Rob agreed. "A buckaroo earns every cent he gets, -and its almost impossible to run cattle without them." - -Every word was a blow to Harry's careless faith in herself. She -listened in humble silence while Rob went on: - -"You can understand why I can't afford to ride cattle for nothing. I've -simply got to disk that summer fallow and start work on the dam for -the freshet-water reservoir. Every day I spend like this means a big -loss, not only to me, but to the ranch as an investment." - -"Of course. I can see that," Harry answered quickly, "and I expect to -pay you; but I haven't a cent of money now, as you know. I shall sell -some steers in the fall, anyhow, and I can pay you then." - -"I'd rather you paid me in cattle. After I've hired out harvesting, I -ought to have enough cash to buy all the winter hay I'll need for my -own stock, and maybe some for yours. I'll go to town to-morrow for that -wire. Maybe I can get it on time. That'll give me a little more cash to -buy hay with." - -Harry wondered what she should do if the scrubs broke in while he was -away. While Mrs. Ludlum had been talking, Harry had been ready to -believe that she could do anything; now the time had come for her to -show what she was actually good for. - -As soon as Rob had left the next morning, therefore, she made a circuit -outside the fence and ran off all the cattle in sight. To her relief, -that kept them away until the afternoon feeding began; then, making a -second tour, she dispersed the lines that were headed for the alfalfa. - -"If I'd dogged them that way from the first," she thought, "they'd -never have got inside at all." - -Rob did not get home that night, rather to Harry's satisfaction. "It -gives me another day to see what I can do with these critters." - -Dawn comes early in the foothills at the end of June. Long before four -o'clock the sky was pink, the grouse were whistling in the alfalfa, the -morning breeze had begun to flutter the quaking asps, a cool, fresh -smell of juicy grass had risen from the earth, and the world of animals -had begun to feed. - -The cattle were the first to move. Almost before dawn they leave -their bedding ground and follow the scent of the nearest pasture. For -Ludlum's stock Rob's wheat and alfalfa were the lure. - -As they snuffed the sweetness of growing grass, the leaders of the herd -broke into hungry bawling, set off at a gallop, and, as they reached -the fence, plunged at it and went over. - -Harry woke to 'Thello's furious barking. She woke with a start, got to -her elbow and peered out. In the dim light she could make out forms -moving across the field. With a sigh she climbed out of bed and, still -nodding with sleep, dressed and stumbled off to saddle her pony, Hike. - -Of the two gates to the alfalfa meadow, one led into the lane at the -barn and the other into the east pasture. It was in that pasture that -Rob and Harry were holding the new herd until the animals became -accustomed to their home. Now, as Harry rode slowly down the lane, she -wondered what would be her best plan of action. - -If she ran the intruders out over the broken-down fence, they would -merely turn round and come in again; but if she took them through the -lane, up the draw and across the flat on top of the hills and ran them -south a good way, they might continue down that side of the divide. "It -would serve Ludlum right," she said to herself, "to have his starved -creatures break into his own alfalfa some morning!" - -As she rode slowly toward the feeding animals the blood sprang to her -temples and she drew a fierce breath. The sight of the starving beasts, -fifteen, twenty, twenty-five of them, tearing away greedily at the -tender alfalfa, roused in Harry an indescribable ire. - -"Miserable beasts!" she exclaimed. "Take 'em out, 'Thello! That's it! -Get 'em, boy!" - -Obedient to training, the collie had kept close to the pony. Now, at -the sound of Harry's voice, he was off--a vicious whirlwind of black -fur. As he dashed upon the herd, snapping at heels here, there and -everywhere, a stream of yelps rent the air. - -Shouting "Hi yi! Hi yi!" Harry set spurs to the pony and came close -behind. - -Away they all went, steers, cows, calves, dog and girl, plunging, -bawling, barking and galloping across the field and into the lane. Once -actually in the lane, with the gate shut behind them, Harry felt safe. -To be sure, some of the bunch were ugly and tried to turn back; but she -was on the lookout for those and, pushing her pony close, gave each -laggard a welt with her rawhide whip that sent the sullen one ahead -with a jump. - -She forgot her annoyance at being routed out early, forgot the time she -was wasting, almost forgot the trampled alfalfa. Her sense of mastery -blotted out the vexations. This was the work she really loved. Even -after they had got up into the hills, the feeling of power stayed with -her and helped her to prevent the hungry scrubs from turning back. It -was not easy work. Though she was wet with sweat and smothered in dust, -she determined to keep after them until they had turned the shoulder of -the divide. - -She had just given one sulky brute a sounding thwack, when a shout -behind her made her wheel in surprise. - -"Hey! What's doin' here?" - -Over the ridge came a "cow puncher" riding at a lope. "Ain't you -herdin' them critters the wrong way, ma'am?" he inquired, with a queer -smile. - -"Wrong for them, maybe, not for us," Harry answered briefly. To herself -she added, "Who are you, anyhow?" - -He certainly was the oddest-looking _vaquero_ she had met on the range. -He was plump and short, tow-haired and with no visible eyebrows; his -skin was burned rose pink, and his pale-blue eyes were scorched by the -desert sunlight. He looked like an overgrown fat baby; but a second -glance showed her that his scowling eyes and smiling lips were only -caused by the "sheepherder's grin" carved on his face by years of -riding in blinding sunshine. - -"I don't know whose cows you think you're rounding up," the "cow -puncher" went on, "but the real owner wouldn't now--want 'em druv off. -What I chiefly mean is, not right now." - -"I'm sorry to disoblige the real owner," Harry said, with a laugh, -"but if you're a friend of his you can tell him that the 'real owner' -of a bunch of cattle on the ranch below here claims the grazing on -these hills, and that if he--that is to say, Mr. Ludlum--doesn't want -his scrubs dogged, he can send a rider up here to keep them where they -belong." - -As always with Harry, when her temper was up, she smiled, held her nose -in the air and eyed her opponent with fine disdain. - -The _vaquero_ did not wither perceptibly. His grin merely became -sarcastic. "You personally acquainted--that is, you know Ludlum?" he -inquired. - -"I've made a beginning that way," Harry said. - -"Beggin' your pardon," the man went on, "and speakin' like I was givin' -a hint, I'd say that if this here owner of these-here scrubs gits on to -what you're doin' you're likely to find you ain't got anything of your -own to round up this fall. Not that he'd run 'em off; that is, now. And -you couldn't find 'em in his herd; no, not if you was to have every -blamed critter up before a judge and jury to be sworn to. Like's not -Ludlum'd try to help you locate your stock; he's right helpful, mebbe -you've noticed? I'm ridin' for him now myself, and I've got my orders -to keep these five hundred head in these-here hills--where they kin git -to water on the north slope, is what I chiefly mean." - -"But all the water on the north slope belongs to us," Harry remarked, -trying to control her indignation. "There isn't a spring outside, -except where the stream runs beyond our fence, until you get to -Robinson's. And before I'll let Ludlum water on my land, or on my -brother's, I'll shoot every one of his miserable scrubs. You can tell -him so, if you like; tell him I intend to keep right on dogging them -off, too. Please repeat every word of this to him. Thank you. Good -morning." - -With a jab of the spur into Hike's side she was off. - -"Of all the hateful, mean, dishonorable creatures!" she whispered to -herself. Her eyes were hot with tears; she felt tricked, cheated, -helpless. For the moment she did not realize that the "cow-puncher" had -perhaps not meant all he said, had merely tried to frighten her. - -She raced along, not noticing where she was going, and only came -to herself when the pony, which had naturally turned toward home, -slackened his gallop at the head of the draw. It was then about -eight o'clock by the sun, still and hot, and the cattle flies were -intolerable. The vision of the cold, deep spring under the wall of rock -brought sudden relief to her vexed heart. Sliding out of the saddle, -she took the bridle over her arm and walked across the mountain grass -toward the spring. - -Suddenly she came upon a grouse hen that had been wounded and had -escaped to die, and she realized that the hunters were abroad once -more. She kept looking to and fro on either side as she walked, and -suddenly a strange sound, almost under her feet, made her jump. - -"Well, of all things!" she said slowly. - -There lay a month-old heifer calf bleeding from a wound in its leg. The -creature made no effort to escape as Harry examined it; only gave a -mournful _moo!_ and rolled its eyes. - -"You're not one of my calves," she said presently; "at least I think -mine are all in the corral. You must be one of Ludlum's; but you can't -lie here and die, even if you are his. I'll get you down to the house -somehow, and maybe when the cows come in your mother will come with -them." - -But no strange cow turned up lowing for a lost calf, and when Rob -returned he said that the only thing to do was to keep it until some -range rider came looking for strays. They cleaned out the wound, which -had been made by a shotgun, fed the calf on skimmed milk, and kept it -in a dark corner of the barn where the flies would not torment it. - -"That's Joe Biane's work," Harry said emphatically. "It shows what may -happen to our own calves at any time. He doesn't care what he hits when -he's after birds. I think we should speak to the game warden about him." - -"The trouble is that we didn't see Joe shoot the calf, so we can't -swear he did it. Unless you can do that, you've got no case. It's not -worth while, anyhow. You'd only get Joe's ill will, and he'd make us -more trouble than we've got already, which would be considerable. Let's -put all our time into getting a herd law through. We'll have to have -all the ranchers in with us, and that includes the Bianes. So don't rub -Joe the wrong way until we've got his vote. Joe is nothing compared -with the trouble Ludlum may give us." - -"He certainly may," she admitted, thinking of what the pink-faced rider -had told her. - -She decided to say nothing to Rob about that incident. She reflected -that there was no use bothering him with every little matter that came -up between her and Ludlum's herders over the question of the grazing. - - - - -CHAPTER XVI - - -For a week after the new wire was put on, Rob and Harry had a respite -from fighting off Ludlum's herd. Once a day Harry made a circuit of the -place and drove the outside cattle back into the hills; but the rest -of the time she and Rob were virtually free from them. It was a great -relief, for besides the fact that Rob had turned water on the wheat, -which was beginning to look pretty dry, and that the time had come to -cut the alfalfa, two of their steers had gone off with the range cattle -and had not come back. - -Coming up from the barn with the last of the milk, Harry paused to look -once more through their cattle which had come down to the fence with -the milk cows and which now stood in the draw, nibbling the alfalfa -that pushed through the fence. Rob was coming across the meadow, a -hip-deep green expanse, and several times he stopped, pulled a blossom, -and glanced critically over the field. - -The late frost that Rob had dreaded had struck the flat only the week -before, and a general lack of water for the second crop would make hay -very scarce and high. The foothill ranches, being on the slope, had -more or less escaped the frost, and Rob's alfalfa had not been touched. -Looking at it now, swaying quietly as the sea at full tide and crested -with its foam of purple bloom, it was hard to realize that there -were miles of parched foothill range near by, where cattle wandered, -searching every mouthful of grass. - -"That hay will be just right to cut on the Fourth," he said, when at -last he dropped wearily on the porch step. - -"On the Fourth! The prairie's supreme holiday! I thought the entire -valley went fishing on the Fourth," said Harry. - -"I don't believe it will this year. Every one that's got any hay at all -will cut it the minute it's ready. Robinson intends to cut a few days -later than I do, and he's going to let me have his mower first, so I've -got to work anyhow." - -"Well, if we've got to work, let's celebrate with a big dinner. How -would that appeal to a haying crew? Ice cream, chicken fricassee, -cherry pie. I thought so!" - -Rob smacked his lips and grinned broadly. "Doesn't sound as if you'd -get much fun out of it, though," he said, "cooking for a bunch of -haymakers." - -"Don't worry. The prospect of company well repays the cookery. I mean -to have the women folks, too, and the children." - -The dinner party now became their chief interest. First Harry, then -Rob, thought of some detail that would contribute to its perfecting, -and the two worked like a couple of children building a sand castle. -On counting the number of expected guests, they found that they could -scarcely seat them all at table at once in the house; but Rob had -lumber on hand for extra cattle sheds, and from that he built under the -balm trees a table of goodly size and two benches. - -The day that Rob went over for the mower Harry cleaned the house. Even -if they did dine outside, the house must be flawlessly neat. It was -nearly five o'clock when at last Harry scrubbed her way out of the door -and down the porch steps. Behind her the cabin twinkled like a new pan, -and, when she had shaken out the mop, she stretched her arms and sighed -with satisfaction. - -Then suddenly she wheeled round and listened. Somewhere down toward the -creek a gun had spoken faintly. - -Instantly Harry was another creature. Her languor vanished; she drew -up, keen and alert; her eyes moved back and forth along the line of -willow bushes that screened the stream. For half a minute she watched, -scarcely breathing; the immense silence was broken only by the far, -faint bell note of a mourning dove. Had she only imagined that other -sound? No. There it was again. - -Suddenly two figures crept into view, moving cautiously, with shotguns -held ready. She put two fingers in her mouth, drew a deep breath, and -then a screaming whistle split the evening calm. - -The sportsmen heard it. Harry saw them stop and look her way; but, -seeing only a girl, they evidently felt safe, for they started forward -again, with guns cocked, and when Harry whistled the second time they -paid no attention. - -"I guess I know what'll make you go!" cried the girl, and she ran into -the house. She came out again with the big .32 rifle under her arm and -started down the path. - -She had gone scarcely a hundred feet when she saw a flock of sage -hens rise. At the same instant there was a rattle of shots, and two -birds fell. Harry threw the rifle to her shoulder, aimed high and -fired. Instantly one of the men jumped back, shook his fist toward her -and shouted. She did not catch the words, but it made no difference, -anyhow. He knew he had no business inside the fence, for there was a -plainly printed sign warning hunters off. She moved forward slowly, -expecting to see the sportsmen get over the fence; but just then -another covey of birds rose, and simultaneously both men fired. - -That was too much. Harry raised the rifle and fired six deliberate -shots. She aimed high over the heads and well to either side of the -trespassers, so that there was no chance of hitting them. Nevertheless, -when an automobile rolled out from the willows and she saw how easily -she might have hit the driver, she felt a thrill of horror. - -She stood watching while, the men made a run for the car, scrambled -aboard and went swinging out of sight up the road. Then slowly she -turned back home. Her knees felt shaky; she drew a long, unsteady -breath and, to her surprise, had to sit down on the ground for a -moment. - -When Rob got home with the mower he brought a general acceptance of the -invitation to the Fourth of July dinner. "They fell for it as if they'd -been expecting it any time in the last three years," he reported. - -"It's just as well, then, that I planned to have Isita come down and -help me," Harry answered. She had decided to say nothing about shooting -at the hunters. She had realized by this time what a terrible risk she -had taken, and she knew it would worry Rob to think that she had been -so reckless. - -"What on earth do you want Biane's girl here for?" he asked. "I should -think Mrs. Robinson could help you out." - -"She would, of course; but I want an excuse to talk with Isita and -persuade her to go to school this winter." - -"But if we're feeding cattle here this winter, you won't be teaching -down on the flat." - -"Isita can go to school just the same, can't she? Besides, I want to -advise her to find a place where she can work for her board while she's -going to school. Her mother would send her if she weren't afraid of old -Biane." - -"Better go slow. If you're too friendly, we'll have their hogs down -here in the wheat every day instead of twice a week." - -But Harry insisted on having Isita. The one drawback to her life on the -ranch had been the lack of girl friends, and her interest in Isita had -taken the place of other interests. - -As she rode over to the Bianes' two days before the dinner party, she -tried to frame a tactful speech in which to offer the other girl a -dress to wear; for probably she had nothing suitable, and Harry did not -want her to refuse to come, merely because she lacked a dress. - -The Biane cabin was still not much more than the "prove-up shack" that -the original owner had quitted. It was of unpainted boards with only -two half windows to break its blank walls, and seemed scarcely to -deserve the name of "home." And still, some one had tried to improve -the place. A woven-wire fence enclosed a small garden patch in which, -among the cabbages, Harry recognized bachelor's-buttons and poppies -grown from seed she had given Isita. Some packing boxes had been fitted -together for a chicken house, and an attempt had even been made to -fence in a few acres of wheat; but the live stock--Joe's hogs, half -a dozen sheep and several thin cows--wandered loose, rather to the -detriment of the crops of neighboring ranchers. - -As Harry rode up, the morning sunshine was beaming over all; on the -chickens scratching in front of the cow shed, on the scarlet poppies -beside the path. Yet to Harry the clutch of poverty seemed actually -visible. What a place for a young girl to grow up in! Chopping wood, -plowing, herding sheep; while the good-for-nothing father and brother -went fishing and hunting! - -"I'd like to take her to stay with me all winter," Harry thought -in sympathetic indignation. "If she had half a chance, she'd make -something worth while of herself. How thankful I am for my life!" - -No one was visible about the place, and Harry knocked twice before she -got any response. Then halting steps came across the room within, the -door was unlocked, and Isita's mother stood in the narrow opening. - -"Oh! It's Miss Holliday. The hogs down bothering you again? I told that -Joe----" - -"No, indeed. The hogs haven't bothered us lately. I came to ask Isita -to help me with my Fourth of July dinner." - -Harry put all the friendly warmth possible into her voice. She -remembered that this work-worn woman who faced her there with a sort of -defiant anxiety had been a New England farmer's daughter, and that many -a time in her girlhood she must have helped with a big company dinner -in honor of the national holiday. - -But Mrs. Biane merely drew back a little and raised her hand in abrupt -refusal. "No, thank you. It's kind of you to ask Isita, but I wouldn't -want her to go." - -She began to close the door. - -"Oh, please don't refuse!" Harry begged. She had no intention of -yielding so easily. "It would be doing me a real favor to let her come. -It's so hard to do everything alone, and Isita is the only young girl I -know well enough to ask to help me." - -She used all her eloquence, her most persuasive warmth, but even while -she talked she was aware of something in the woman's silence, a sort -of dread, that made her unwilling to let Isita go; but at last, won -over by Harry's friendliness, Mrs. Biane yielded, saying only that -Isita must be home before dark. - -"Why didn't her mother want her to come?" Harry asked herself as she -rode away. "Why are they so unfriendly? There's something wrong there. -No wonder Isita looks scared and unhappy. I wonder where she was. Off -herding the sheep, probably. That looks like one of them now--near our -fence, as usual." - -A glimpse of something white moving in the sagebrush had caught her -eye. She rode toward it, and discovered, not a sheep, but a young calf. - -"What's happened to these scrub cows?" Harry exclaimed. "I never saw -anything like the way they desert their calves. This is the second I've -found left to starve. If rustlers were busy, they'd shoot the cows and -carry the calves off." - -Too young to graze, the calf was gaunt from lack of food and made no -effort to escape when Harry began to drive it. Instead, it merely -stumbled forward a few steps and stopped. - -"Go on," she ordered. "I couldn't let you lie out here and starve, even -if Ludlum can. How any man can turn a herd of cattle into the hills and -not know or care what happens to them for weeks and months is more than -I can comprehend. Come! Move along there." - -Thus adjured, and helped by an occasional flick of the rawhide, the -calf moved ahead until within sight of the gate. Harry was just about -to get down and open it, when the pony gave a jerk and looked sidewise, -and Harry had a glimpse of an old felt hat moving behind a ledge of -lava that had jutted from the scab land. Riding forward, she came face -to face with Joe Biane. He had climbed up through one of the fissures -and stood leaning carelessly against the rocks, with his hands behind -him. A mischievous smile curled his lips. - -"Morning, Joe!" she said. "Will you open the gate for me?" - -Joe did not move. Astonished, she waited a moment. Then she noticed -that he was hiding his hands. Her lips curved in a comprehending smile. - -"You needn't be afraid!" she exclaimed. "I won't look at the birds -you're hiding. I realize it's useless to try to protect them from you." - -Joe neither answered nor moved. His derisive grin widened; he looked at -the calf and inquired, "Lost another critter, have you?" - -"Another calf? This isn't ours that I know of. I found it starving -outside, and I'm bringing it in to feed it." - -"Sure. Of course you want to save it." Joe snickered, and then, to her -astonishment, he burst into a rude laugh and moved back among the lava -ridges out of sight. - -Harry watched him. He had shifted his hands quickly; nevertheless, -she had caught a gleam of something. "His shotgun, of course," she -decided. She felt oddly irritated by his impudent stare and laughter. -What did he mean by saying "of course" she wanted to save the calf? - -"It's just his fresh way of talking," Rob said at noon, when she had -described the incident to him. "He may think you expect a reward from -Ludlum for feeding it. It may be ours, of course, though I don't see -where the cow can be. We'll have to wait until to-night when the milk -cows come in to see if any of them claim this one. It looks too poor to -be ours, I think. Any time Ludlum's riders come looking for strays, we -can show them these two and let them decide." - -"Don't you think we should round our critters up and count them?" Harry -suggested. "It's a long time since we've been over the yearlings and -steers, and we may be losing more of them. Those two haven't turned up -yet." - -"I know," said Rob, with a sigh. "I've been meaning to; but there's -so everlasting much to do. I ought to be working on that fill for the -reservoir right now. And yet, if we want the wheat to make anything, -I've got to get more water on it before it's too late. We want to save -every bit of feed inside, too, so we can't bring all the stock in until -they've cleaned up the range. Once haying's over, you bet I'm going to -dog off Ludlum's scrubs and give our cattle a fair chance at the range. -It's a little too much to have him grab everything outside and hold a -mortgage on our land, too." - -As Rob, sitting flat on the porch, with his back against the house and -his feet out before him, talked of his plans, Harry suddenly noticed -two men who were riding toward the gate. - -"Now what can they want?" she said as they came inside. "I haven't a -thing left to offer them for dinner." - -"They're not coming to the house," Rob said. "They're going west. -Riders hunting strays, I guess." They watched in silence as the two men -rode slowly through the herd, taking note of the cows and calves there; -then the riders disappeared round the butte. - -"They'll probably go up on top and look through the cattle there and -then drop in to supper," Rob suggested as he got up to go to work. - -But they did not come. It was not until the Fourth of July that the men -appeared again, and then they came on an unexpected errand. - - - - -CHAPTER XVII - - -"I hope Isita comes early," said Harry on the morning of the Fourth as -she dried the breakfast dishes. "The nearer dinner time it gets the -more things there are to be done at once." - -"I've seen you turn out pretty good feed all by yourself, when a bunch -of people have come in unexpectedly," said Rob, who, in honor of the -holiday, was dawdling about for fully ten minutes instead of hurrying -back to the field. "Those surveyors, now, that lost their way and -stayed overnight. Pretty good grub, I say, was what you gave them." - -"This is a different matter," said Harry, trying not to show her -pleasure at Rob's praise. "This is a dinner party, you no savvy?" - -"I see. In other words, you want the grub fit to eat off that -hundred-and-sixty-l'even-piece semiporcelain, rose-sprigged, -twelve-dollar-ninety-cents et cetery, et cetery, dinner set that we -bought out of the mail-order catalogue,--how long ago?--and that's been -settin' in the cupboard ever since." - -Rob dodged the flapping dishcloth with which Harry chased him outdoors. -"All right!" he called back. "I'm going to tell 'em about that first -pie you tried to make!" - -"You'll be sorry if you do," she warned him. - -She was still smiling at the remembrance of those first days in the new -country when she saw the calico-clad figure of Isita coming along the -ditch bank. - -"It's awfully good of you to help me out to-day!" Harry exclaimed as -the girl came up the path. "I couldn't possibly have done it all alone." - -"I wanted to come," Isita answered quickly. - -Something unfamiliar in her voice made Harry look closer at her. -Ordinarily Isita's color was a clear, pale olive. Now her cheeks were -flushed, her eyes heavy, and she breathed quickly. - -"I don't believe you're well!" Harry exclaimed. - -"Sure, I'm well. I hurried up here too fast, that's all," Isita -insisted, and asked what work she should do first. - -She was evidently eager to do her very best, and after a little Harry -felt encouraged to bring out the flowered lawn she had wanted to give -Isita. She brought it from her room where it had been lying, freshly -ironed. - -"See here," she said. "Wouldn't you like to put this on? It's too small -for me, and yet it's so pretty I can't bear to throw it away. It will -be nice and cool, too, this hot day." - -Without a word the other girl took the dress; but, though her lips -were dumb, she looked up at Harry, and over her quiet face came an -expression so vivid, so glowing, that Harry felt as if a dull-covered -book had been unexpectedly flashed open at a splendid picture. The -book was instantly closed again, but that one glimpse satisfied her. -She felt as happy as a child dressing a new doll as she slipped the -dress over Isita's thin shoulders, buttoned it and then stood off to -admire the result. Isita dropped her eyelids shyly and smoothed the -bright lawn with caressing fingers. - -"Now, if you'll shell the peas," Harry went on as if nothing unusual -had happened, "I'll freeze the ice cream. Here; slip on this big apron. -You want to look fresh when the company arrives." - -She ran down cellar, where the cream was waiting, together with a tub -of ice that Rob had cracked for her; but she had scarcely begun to turn -the freezer when Isita called: - -"There's something that looks like comp'ny coming up the road!" - -"Not already!" groaned Harry, and rushed up to look. - -A mile away a cloud of dust marched forward round a slow-moving light -wagon, and Harry caught glimpses now and then of white-frocked children -on the back seat. - -"It's the Robinsons," said Harry with conviction. "They live nearest. -Well, shell peas for all you're worth, and I'll go twirl the freezer. -Be sure to call me when they get to the gate." - -And down she dived into the cellar again. - -"They're just pullin' up to the gate," came the summons from Isita at -last, "and it is the Robinsons. There's a raft of young ones." - -As Harry ran down the path to meet them, Mrs. Robinson, crimpy-headed, -tall, angular, as vividly alive as ever, waved her hand in greeting. - -"Bully for you, girlie!" she cried. "You've got the flag up. As I says -to pa as we come round the butte," she went on without a pause as she -clambered from the wagon, shook her skirts, pushed back her hat and -fanned her face with her handkerchief, "and seen that flag floatin' up -top the pole there, I says, 'Well, there's two real Americans in this -country, anyhow.' For a hull lot of us Fourth of July has got to mean a -big feed and sleepin' it off." - -"Mother put the flag in my trunk when I was leaving home. She said we'd -need it to remind us of--well, days like this, when we were too busy to -observe them any other way. I'm afraid if she hadn't we'd have had the -big dinner and nothing else." - -"That's something to have, these hard times, lemme tell you," put in -Pa Robinson from the rear of the wagon, where he was unloading small -Robinsons. "Too late to look for rain now, and there's no more snow -water to come down into the river. Looks to me like we'd all be glad to -get red beans and side meat next winter." - -"Say! That's true, too," his wife chimed in. "What's more, pretty near -every truck patch on the flat got froze down that last freeze. I tell -you, I'm glad us folks live up here on the bench; even if they do -laugh at us for campin' on the rim rock." - -"It don't look like you had any June freeze up here," said Robinson, -turning to Rob, who had come up from the barn. "I ain't seen no finer -stand of alfalfa on the prairie." - -"It would be a long sight better if the cattle that are running loose -in these hills hadn't broken in so often," Rob told him. - -"Them scabby critters!" Robinson exclaimed in deep disgust. "I tell you -right now, there's got to be something done to get rid of them scrubs." - -"Well, that's certainly so! We've come to the end of our patience." - -"It's time!" Mrs. Robinson exclaimed. "I'm to the end of mine long ago, -watchin' you men folks pomper up yours and string it out to the last -breath before you'll git a move on." - -"Oh, we know you," said Pa Robinson. "You'd be for pullin' the fuse out -by the tail just as she's goin' off." - -"Let them have it out alone," Harry begged Mrs. Robinson. "I want you -to come and look at my wool. I've washed and picked it, but it doesn't -begin to look so nice as yours." - -When the older woman had felt the creamy strands that Harry had kept -tied in a sheet, she said, "It ain't the same sort of fleece. Mine's -that long, wavy Merino, and this is Southdown. Goin' to card and quilt -it yourself?" - -"I did want to. I wanted to have a quilting bee this fall and have my -quilts made up in the old-time patterns--sun flower or morning star. -Like our grandmothers.' You remember, don't you?" - -"Do I! Ain't I seen 'em back home on the spare-room bed? But it seems -we ain't got the time to do that sort of work out here." - -"Let's make the time, then. Start the fashion, you and I." - -"That's right, girlie. All we need's some one to give us a shove up -the right trail and we'll keep to it. Like you startin' the girls last -winter in that camp-wagon--no, camp-fire club at school. Vashti, she's -a different young one since--quit thinkin' about her hair ribbons -and how to git to the dances downtown every week and took to washin' -the young one's faces and readin' the receipt book instead. And that -reminds me. She sent you up a cake she made herself; red, white and -blue frosting--and a jar of jell. I'll run git 'em out the hack before -the dogs smell 'em." At the door she stopped to call back, "Here comes -Con Gardner and Lance Fitch! Oh, yes! And I forgot to tell you"--her -voice fell--"Zip Miller won't be over. He's got the spotted fever." - -"Oh, how dreadful!" Harry turned from a survey of the cooking with -distress in her eyes. The spotted fever was the perpetual menace in the -country where sheep grazed. The worst of it was that no one knew the -exact cause or cure; the sufferers died or recovered without apparent -reason. - -"The doctor's went over every day," Mrs. Robinson went on, then broke -off with, "I'll tell you later; you ain't got time now." - -Harry slipped off her apron to go to meet the latest guests. "Keep up -the fire, won't you?" she said to Isita in passing. "That chicken is -cooking just right." - -"Don't you worry, Miss Harry," was her prompt answer. "I'll watch -everything as careful as can be." - -All day, while engaged in the exciting task of having everything ready -at once, in seeing that Mrs. Mosher's baby had its warm milk and nap at -the proper time, in managing so that the dinner should fall between two -loads of hay, Harry found Isita always on hand, alert and responsive. -The younger girl was deeply interested in Harry's way of setting the -table: with eyes full of wonder she gazed at the white tablecloth -spread symmetrically, the bowl of nasturtiums in the center, the fresh -rolls laid inside the neatly folded napkins. When all was complete and -they stood off to take a final view of the table, Isita said quietly, -"That's the way it looks for Thanksgiving, ain't it? Ma's told me about -that big time." - -Harry looked at the girl with pity in her eyes. Never to have known -Thanksgiving except through hearing about it! - -"You'll go back some day," Harry said. "Every one must eat at least one -Thanksgiving dinner with grandmother and grandfather." - -She stopped, for Isita's eyes were fixed upon her with a bright, -far-off gaze, and the girl was breathing quickly through her parted -scarlet lips. - -"She can't be well," Harry thought again but before she could speak, -Rob came in to ask how soon dinner would be ready. - -"It's ten minutes of one now," he said, as his eyes roved eagerly over -the table, so cool in the shade of the trees. "Is there time to put up -another load before we eat?" - -"That depends on how fast you work," she reminded him. "It won't take -up more than ten minutes to dish up." - -Rob promptly disappeared toward the corral and they heard him bawling, -"Come on, all you workin' stiffs! She's set!" - -At last they were all gathered round the table, and Harry's reward had -begun to come in the form of murmurs of approval from the men, and in -more outspoken compliments from the women. - -"Why on earth didn't you send some of these things to the county fair -last fall?" Sally Gardner demanded wonderingly as she tasted one dish -after another. - -"Yes! You'd have some of them year-in and year-out blue-ribbon grabbers -askin' you for receipts, all right," said Mrs. Robinson as she reached -for a third helping of salad. - -"That's right," echoed Lance Fitch. "'Tain't every lady can teach -school 'n' cook good, too. You could be makin' your sixty a month right -along in summer, cookin' for the hay and harvester crews." - -"Sure!" exclaimed Pa Robinson. "What do ye mean, Holliday, by keepin' -this sister of yours hid out in these here hills all summer?" - -"How do you expect me to ranch without her to ride the fences for me, -I'd like to know?" - -"Better look out, or some fancy cow puncher'll ride off with her for -keeps. Then whar'll you be?" - -"He kin do like Kit McCarty done," Lance said; "write to a mail-order -house and tell 'em, they'd send him everything to fit up house with. -Couldn't they send him a wife to keep his house along with the rest of -it?" - -"Nothing stirring," declared Rob. "She might be like this company -dinner set that spends most of the year sitting up in the closet, -looking pretty and doing nothing else." - -"If he ain't as mean as a Scotchman," began Mrs. Robinson, when a voice -from outside made them all jump. - -"What's that about Scotchmen?" it asked. "My mother was Scotch, and -I'm thinkin' of goin' into sheep myself along with all the other canny -Scotch laddies in Idyho, if the cowmen get any meaner." - -It was Chris Garnett. He had ridden up unheard and was peering at the -company through the screen of branches. - -"Sorry to be late," he said apologetically, when he was seated and the -women were filling his plate. "Some folks'll tell you, 'Them forest -rangers don't have a thing to do but ride to keep from gettin' too -fat, and go fishin'.' Fact is, there's a movin-picture mix-up on the -reserve most of the time. Right now it's these scrubs. Can't keep 'em -out. There's scrappin' every day along of the men that own pastur' -in the reserve and the riders for the Idyho Cattle Comp'ny and the -rustlers that's tryin' to pick up a few head between times." - -"It's a cinch somebody's rustling calves," Rob said. "We've lost two -yearlings ourselves." - -"I'll rustle a few myself pretty soon," said Lance Fitch, scowling at -the mound of potpie and mashed potatoes submerged in a lava stream of -gravy that he was demolishing. "If these outside capitalists are going -to shove their starved critters in and steal our range, I'll wise 'em -some." - -"Now you're talkin'," Pete Mosher broke in eagerly. "Them rich fellers -went into cattle just for a notion; becus beef's goin' up. Us ranchers -live in these hills, and our livin' depends on the grazin' in 'em. -Who's got the best right to it--them capitalists, or us? Hey?" - -As he asked it, his sunburned blue eyes darted from one guest to -another. Rob was the first to answer him. "There's one way to get rid -of these scrubs--put the herd law through." - -"Herd law!" And now every one talked at once. "In a free range country? -Where'd we be ourselves?" "The stockmen'd fight it while the world -stands." "You'd have the whole of Camas Prairie goin' to law." - -"Wait a second," Rob broke in; "let me explain. There's not a section -of land along the north side of these hills that isn't homesteaded, -is there, at least up to where the hills get too steep for cattle -to graze? And if all of us ranchers along here made an agreement not -to fight one another if our cattle made trouble, but to settle it -peaceably, then we could keep the range for ourselves and keep out the -big fellows, Ludlum and the rest that couldn't afford to herd their -stock all summer." - -He talked on fast and eagerly, making mistakes and correcting himself, -not saying half that he wanted to; but he put the idea before them -convincingly, and before the discussion ended they had decided to take -action toward getting a herd law through for that district. - -While the argument was at its hottest, Mrs. Robinson leaned over and -whispered hoarsely: "Say, girlie, if you say so, I'll go pick me some -of them peas you said I could have. The sun's wearin' west, and fust -you know it'll be milkin' time and us havin' to hit the trail." - -"Go ahead," urged Harry. "I'll go see where Isita is and start the -dishes." - -"Is that the Portugee girl you're talking about?" asked Sally Gardner. -"I saw her go off across the meadow yonder while you and Mrs. Robinson -were fetchin' on the ice cream." - -Isita had, in fact, slipped away home without a word to any one. - -"Never mind, girlie," Ma Robinson consoled her; "here's four of us -women that's been broke to dishwater and the clatter of pans long -enough not to shy or balk at 'em. That so, Sally Gardner? Come on, -then?" - -When, shortly after six o'clock, Harry, Rob and Garnett stood at the -corral gate and watched the visitors out of sight, Harry laughed and -sighed together. - -"I've had the best time in years," she said. "I only wish we lived -nearer folks, so I could give a party oftener." - -"Looks like you're goin' to have some more comp'ny to-day," Garnett -remarked and nodded toward the lane. - -Harry turned and saw two riders coming toward the barn. "They're -welcome to what there is. There's at least a chicken wing left." - -"I'll see what they want," Rob said as he went to meet them. - -Garnett and Harry looked after him carelessly, and then went on with -their pleasant chatter. But a sudden burst of angry voices from the -barn silenced them abruptly. Garnett unconsciously tautened. - -"Guess I'd better step down there," he said. "Looks to me like the -buckaroos I met huntin' strays. Might be I could set 'em straight." - -"I might as well go, too," Harry decided. She had heard her brother -say, "Prove it if you can. It's absurd on the face of it." - -"Do they think we've been stealing their critters?" she asked in a low -voice as they hurried forward, and she thought of the calf she had -brought inside to feed. "It's more likely some one has been stealing -ours. The last time we went through the herd two were missing, and that -was quite a while ago." - -"Don't tell them so," Garnett cautioned her; "let them do the talkin'." - -At sound of their steps Rob turned to them. "See here, Harry. These -fellows say you've shot one of their cows and run in her calf. They say -they've had positive information from a fellow who saw you shoot." - -Harry turned white. For a second there was no sound except the -creaking of a saddle as the ponies breathed. The two _vaqueros_, one -a half-breed Indian, the other the pink-faced man whom Harry had met -on the range, stared at her fixedly. Garnett apparently kept his eyes -fixed on space, but he missed nothing. - -Fear had not blanched Harry's cheeks. Anger had, and the next instant -they flushed scarlet. "Who saw me shooting?" she cried. "I haven't had -a gun in my hands this summer except to warn poachers off our land." - -"Poachers?" the pink-faced rider echoed inquiringly. - -"Yes; hunters who come inside our fence to steal sage hen and grouse. -They won't stop merely for being asked. You have to fire a rifle over -their heads to frighten them. Then they understand that 'no-shooting' -signs mean what they say." - -Her voice trembled a little, but she held her head defiantly and faced -the "cow-puncher" with steady eyes. He merely shook his head and smiled -incredulously. - -"You shore are brave, ma'am. Tother day you was doggin' off Ludlum's -stock like you owned the hull range, and you told me you'd shoot every -one of 'em now--that is, if it suited ye; and now you're gunnin' for -white men becus they're pickin' up a few birds what ain't yours nohow. -I guess you wouldn't find no trouble pluggin' a cow critter if you -thought you could rustle her calf." - -"Is that so, Harry?" Rob asked quietly. "Did you threaten to shoot -Ludlum's stock?" - -"I did. After what this rider threatened," she admitted, and related -the whole occurrence. "As for bringing in a deserted calf," she added. -"I'm perfectly willing to acknowledge I did it. I wasn't going to leave -it to starve, no matter whose it was. When you take it back, you might -ask Ludlum to return our steers that his scrubs have taken off with -them; but when it comes to shooting a cow, his or anybody's, well, I -didn't. That's all." - -"Looks like you'd have to hunt your critters further on." Garnett's -words showed his relief, and Rob's sudden smile told how great his -suspense had been; but that relief lasted only a moment. - -"I'd like to believe you, ma'am," the "cow-puncher" said brusquely, -"but we done seen the cow with our own eyes. Yes. She's layin' out -yonder and her hind quarters cut off and the hide clean gone, so we -can't prove nothin' by the brand; but I know her turned-down horns and -her slit ears. She's got a bullet hole through her neck, too, sure's -I'm livin'." - -"Say!" Garnett broke in, and his voice was short and hard. "Who's the -scissorbill you fellows been listenin' to? Why didn't you bring him -along to prove all this?" - -"Oh, it's easy enough to fetch him when we want him," Pink-face -retorted tranquilly. "You know him, all right. Portugee Joe? Just east -of you? Sure." - -"Joe Biane!" Harry exclaimed. "Are you going to take his word against -mine? You can't know him very well." - -"'Tain't a case of knowin' nor trustin'," Pink-face answered. "Not -chiefly, is what I mean to say. We ast Joe had he seen any cow critters -off by theirselves, alive or dead, that is chiefly; and he said as how -he seen you shoot this here one. You was shootin' at some bird hunters -inside your fence, and he, that is, Joe now, he was footin' it acrost -the scab land and seen you plunk that there cow we're tollin' you -about. Yes." - -There was a queer silence. Then Pink-face continued: "There ain't no -use gassin' here. We got a warrant for the lady's arrest and we might's -well be movin' to town is what I would say chiefly. Portugee Joe said -he'd be there to witness for us in the morning." - - - - -CHAPTER XVIII - - -Rob refused flatly to let Harry start that evening for Soldier, where -the warrant summoned her to appear before the justice of the peace, and -the "cow-punchers" finally agreed to sleep at the ranch. After they had -taken their saddle blankets out to the haystack for the night, Harry -described to Rob and Garnett exactly what had happened to bring about -the shooting. It was hard to tell. The more she explained to those -two boys sitting silently on the opposite side of the table the more -complete did her disgrace seem to her. At the end Rob laughed a little -and said: - -"Looks like it wouldn't be safe to leave any firearms round after this." - -Even Garnett, Harry realized with a sore heart, had nothing to say -except a growl about, "Better men have hung than them cheap skates -that call theirselves sportsmen. Sportsmen! I'd shoot a few pinheads -like them some day myself, and it wouldn't be no accidental shootin', -neither." - -By Rob's advice Harry gave as brief an account of the affair as -possible to the justice of the peace; she emphasized the fact that -she had brought two of Ludlum's deserted calves inside to feed, and -that, because Ludlum kept no cowboys to look after the herds in their -vicinity, there was always a bunch of cattle trailing round the fence, -trying to get in. - -All that, unfortunately, failed to impress the justice. He eyed the -girl with mild, expressionless eyes, sentenced her to pay for the cow, -and, with curt humor, advised her next time to "Look before she shot -and then not shoot." - -Rob, of course, had to pay her fine and costs. He did it without a -word, but Harry knew only too well that every one of those forty -dollars meant just so much less money for hay when winter came. Garnett -left them and returned to the reserve. For the first time since they -had known him, Harry felt relieved to have him go. It was hard enough -to face the long ride in her brother's company, so desperately did she -want to be alone in her depression. Beneath Rob's talk of the other -things, she could feel his disappointment in her. - -When they reached Robinson's, Rob's voice broke in on these dreary -musings. "If you don't mind stopping, I believe I'll go in and see -Robinson about that herd law. Old man Saltus says he thinks that we can -put it through." - -Harry assented wearily. "I'd be glad of a rest." - -"Of course!" Rob looked at her quickly. "I ought to have known you were -dog-tired. Why not stay overnight?" he urged. "You've had two mighty -hard days and need a good rest. I can get along all right." - -Mrs. Robinson welcomed them with unfailing hospitality. Almost without -their knowing how it was done, their horses had been led away to -water, and they themselves were seated on the shady back porch. Mrs. -Robinson took it as entirely a matter of course that they should stay -to supper. - -"You must of went by right smart early this morning." Her voice soared -from the kitchen above the clatter of dishes and the surflike hiss of -frying pans, while she tacked back and forth from stove to table. "Pa -sent Denny over to git Rob to come help with the hayin'; he reckoned -he'd begin to cut to-day 'stead of waitin'. And say! Isita has got -the spotted fever. You know you said she was poorly yestiddy. How do -I know? Becus Denny went on up there huntin' Rob; thought he might of -druv Joe's hogs home or some such. Come along in, everybody. She's all -set." - -Isita sick! For the moment at least that news diverted Harry's thoughts -from her own troubles. "Have they had the doctor, do you know?" she -asked. - -"None of us ain't seen him, if they have." - -Harry felt pretty sure that the Bianes had not sent for any assistance. -If it had not been for the ride to Soldier, she would probably have -gone up to see how Isita was and have insisted on having the doctor -at once. The spotted fever was short and sharp, sometimes a matter of -hours only. - -Like most buoyant people, Harry's spirits went correspondingly low when -she was depressed, and now, morbidly self-conscious over one blunder, -she felt herself largely to blame for Isita's neglected condition. - -"I declare," Mrs. Robinson said suddenly, "you ain't eatin' a thing, -girlie. You'd oughten't to of took that long ride this hot weather; -and after workin' so hard yestiddy and all. You're clean drilled down. -That's right, go along out on the porch and I'll bring your tea to you. -It's hot enough in here to fry fat out of an iceberg." - -Stammering an excuse, Harry pushed away from the table, furious with -herself for the tears that had suddenly blinded her. In another moment, -she felt, she would have disgraced herself by sobbing aloud. Mrs. -Robinson's sympathy was the one thing that her aching heart could not -resist. - -Rob had an instinctive idea that under the pressure of kindly -solicitude, Harry would relate the whole affair to their neighbor; and -he knew that if she did she would get pungent advice and wholesome -consolation from that sagacious friend. He rode home after supper, -satisfied that Harry would be herself in another twenty-four hours. - -It turned out as he hoped. Mrs. Robinson had divined that something -more than fatigue had affected the girl. As she was showing Harry to -her room she put her hand on the girl's shoulder and said gently, -"Yestiddy was just one lick too much for you, wa'n't it, child?" - -"It wasn't that. Oh, it wasn't!" Harry began: and then, dropping her -face on her hands, she sobbed miserably. - -But oh, the relief of having it out! Of telling some one who could and -would say exactly what she thought of it all--why Harry's firing a -rifle merely in warning had been so reprehensible. That was exactly -what Mrs. Robinson did tell her. - -"It took the Almighty consid'able time to make dirt enough out of -these lava buttes to grow crops on, and you'll learn, if you live in -this country, that you've got to have some of the Almighty's patience -to wear down these here varmints that call themselves men into the -dust ordinary humans are made of. I know how you feel about your sage -hens gettin' shot out. Didn't I ride clear to Shoshone once behind a -wagonload of them 'sportsmen,' a gun in my fist ready to drop the first -guy that lifted his eyebrow? I did. - -"They'd cut our fence and druv in onto the wheat and was wadin' round -in it like it was wash water. They laughed at me when I ordered 'em -out--that is, until they seen I had the drop on 'em. I run 'em all into -court in Shoshone and seen 'em pay their fines good and proper. Wasn't -that all right, you'll say? Looks so. But them four men has spent their -lives, you may say, gettin' even with us. Nothin' you could catch 'em -in, just sneaky things; like stealin' our range, cuttin' our fences, -runnin' off our stock with theirs in the round-up, scatterin' dope with -the salt where our stock would get it. I wisht I had two bits right now -for every dollar they lost us. I tell you, you never get nowhere in -this country tryin' to bust up a lava butte with a sulphur match." - -"But surely we should do something to protect the birds--and -ourselves!" Harry protested. "I think it's our duty to fight the -poachers. Indeed, I do!" - -The old spirit rang in her voice, shone in her eyes, still dim from -crying. The comers of Mrs. Robinson's mouth twitched in fellow feeling. -She saw that Harry had come to the place every one comes to in the -splendid morning ride of youth; the place where the fight is waging -between right and wrong, and into which every one in his turn wants to -plunge with a shout and a hailstorm of blows. - -"You can't never save the birds with bullets," she said, "not if you -was to plug every game hog in the land full of lead." - -"But what are we to do?" cried Harry. "They laugh at mere words." - -"There's one they won't laugh at more than twice: law." - -"Law! Isn't there a law against trespassing now, and against shooting -out of season?" - -"That's right; but once all the folks stand together and show they mean -to have sure-enough law, there'll be an end to poachin' and game hogs -and all the rest of the pizen-mean lawlessness that makes the rancher's -life a burden." - -"Just as the herd law would rid us of the big stockmen," added Harry. -"With their herds gone off these hills, there would be plenty of feed -for all our cattle." - -"That's what! It's got to come same's the spring break-up. It'll be -some satisfaction to know we give her the first shove, too." - -As Mrs. Robinson in her droll way made everything clear to the girl, -Harry felt her soul being smoothed out like a piece of crumpled paper. -When Mrs. Robinson said good night, she reached out impulsively, put -her arms round her and exclaimed, "You're so good to me!" - -Her mind was still tranquil when she rode home the next day. It made -her feel that, in spite of Ludlum's methods she was going to come out -ahead in the end. - -Unfortunately, her confidence received a setback the moment she reached -home. Rob was just unsaddling and looked as if he had been up all night. - -"What's happened?" she inquired quickly. "Aren't you going over to help -Robinson?" - -"I've got to get things straightened out here first. I don't know what -happened last night but something scared the critters up in the hills. -They sure were stampeded--such a bellowing and pounding of hoofs when -they went down the lane and through the fence you never heard. There -wasn't any use getting up. Nothing short of a rifle bullet in each one -of their crazy heads would have stopped them. Somebody else must have -thought as I did, though, for I heard a shot." - -"But Rob! What would any one start shooting up a herd at night for? -Could it have been hunters camping up above?" - -"More likely somebody with orders to get our critters on the run, and -they made a mess of it and scared the other fellow's." - -"But there's no one round us that we know of; except Ludlum." - -"Did I say there was? All I do say is that I'm going to find out who -stampeded our critters and scattered 'em all over the county. Every one -of them went out last night. Some of 'em came back this morning, and -I rounded up a lot in the hills over east; but there's three or four -steers clean gone." - -He threw the saddle over the peg and led the tired pony off to water. - -For half a minute Harry stared after him, overcome. The chaos of the -last two days seemed about to boil up once more and engulf her. No! -That it should not. She stiffened resolutely. It was the very time when -she needed every bit of calmness that she could muster. Pulling Hike -round, she trotted after Rob. - -"See here, Bobby," she began briskly, "you must get back to help with -Robinson's haying, and I'm going out to hunt those steers. Yes, I am -now," as he began objecting. "There's nothing to be done here that -can't wait, and I shall thoroughly enjoy getting our critters out -of Ludlum's clutches before he's had a chance to ship them to the -stockyards." - -"Oh, he wouldn't do that! He wouldn't risk getting into trouble. What -he can do is to keep them moving until there's not much chance of our -finding them again. If we lose our stock we can't pay his loan and he -takes your land. That's what he's after. A water hole and green meadow -like this is a gold mine to a man with so much stock. Ludlum's strictly -'honest,' but business is business with him, and he's waiting for the -chance to close down on us." - -"He'll never get the chance, never!" cried Harry. - -"I'm afraid you'll be disappointed if you think telling him so will -stop him. If you don't want to lose your land, you'd better have the -cash handy when our friend comes round this fall to see how things are -getting on." - -Harry made no answer. She knew that Rob was right. Power, not arguments -about right and wrong, was what Ludlum respected. What she must do was -to see to it that they lost not another head of stock and that the -herd got all the grazing that belonged to it. Then she could sell at a -better price and renew the loan without having to sacrifice her entire -herd. - -"I'll start out this very afternoon," she said once more as Rob was -leaving for Robinson's, "and get the census, as you may say, of every -critter hereabouts. I'm going over first to see how Isita is; and by -the way, Bobby, if any one is going to town while you're over yonder, -have them bring back some oranges for Isita, and also telephone in -to the doctor. If they haven't sent for him, tell him to come over, -anyhow. I'll pay him myself, if they won't." - -Rob promised without comment. How like Harry it was to offer to pay the -doctor, and quite ignore the fact that she had not a cent in the bank. -It amused him, even while he was glad that she could so quickly rise -from her depression. - -Harry herself realized what she had done only when she was on her -way to the Bianes'. "What must Bobby think of me?" she exclaimed. "I -forgot, of course, that I hadn't a cent. Never mind. I will pay, as -soon as I sell my beef critters. O me! It begins to look as if I'd -have to sell them all to pay the four hundred and twenty-two dollars, -interest and capital, I'll owe on the stock in December, besides what -I'll have to have for hay for them. Well, I've 'til December first to -raise the money, and that's nearly four months yet." - -All along the two miles of road to the Biane cabin she was on the watch -for grazing cattle, hoping to see their curly white-face and red-polled -steers among them. All the good feed had been eaten off close by, -however, and what stock she did see was up in the narrow draws where -there was still a little green. Evidently she was to have plenty of -work rounding up those steers. Why, no! She pulled up short. That -looked like some of them now. - -She had just turned the ridge in the lava beyond which lay Biane's, -when she saw below her, feeding on the fine grass round the edge of -a pothole, Biane's sorry-looking bunch, and with them a big, curly -white-face and two red--polls, theirs of course. She rode over to look -at the brand, but as she approached, the cattle moved round to the -other side of the water. Harry paused and looked across. She wanted to -ride through, but the water was black and sinister. Out in the lava, it -was not safe to go where you could not see your footing. She had better -wait until she was coming home and then drive the steers with her. - -No one, as usual, was visible round the house, but the front window -was open and a blanket was fastened up to keep out the light. Isita -must be in that room. Harry knocked lightly, then listened. Some one -inside was talking. She knocked again and, when no one answered, opened -the door and entered. - -At first the sudden change from the blaze of sunshine outside to the -darkness of the room obscured everything. The voice she had heard was -still hurrying on in a low monotone. She turned toward it and, as -her eyes grew accustomed to the half light, saw a cot bed and on it, -murmuring in the delirium of fever, Isita. - -Going swiftly to the bed Harry bent over the unconscious girl. "What do -you want, Isita, dear?" she asked gently, then drew back in dismay. - -The small face, usually so clear and pale, was swollen out of -recognition and disfigured under a veil of crimson flecks; the lips -were parched and brown. At the sound of Harry's voice the sick girl -moved nervously, was silent an instant, then began to mutter afresh in -broken, hurried words. - -"Isita, dear! You poor little thing!" Harry exclaimed. "What is it, -Isita?" - -Perhaps the repetition of her name or the sound of the familiar voice -broke through the sick girl's stupor, for she shivered, opened her -eyes, reached out an imploring hand and stammered weakly, "Don't kill -him! Don't! I can't--Don't let him! She--she--" The words died away -into an unintelligible whisper. - -One of Harry's arms was round Isita; her cool hand was on the hot -forehead, when suddenly there was the sound of a harsh voice at the -entrance of the room. - -"Say, there! What's doin'?" - -It was Mrs. Biane. Almost running she came from the kitchen. "Oh! It's -you, Miss Holliday! I couldn't think. Put her down. Quick! It's the -spotted fever." - -Almost roughly the woman pushed between the bed and Harry. - -"I know. That's why I came," Harry explained. "But what is she saying? -What does it all mean? What is she afraid of?" - -"Nothing." Mrs. Biane faced Harry defiantly. "The fever's got her. -Biane killed one of her lambs the other night. She was comin' down with -the fever then, I guess, for it's laid on her mind ever since." - -Mrs. Biane was evidently agitated. Leaning over the bed, she smoothed -the tossed sheets and straightened the pillow. "You had better come -outside," she said to Harry. "Hearin' you talk upsets her. Anyhow, it -ain't safe. Like's not you might catch it." - -"It's not contagious. The danger is all to the one who has it. What -does the doctor say?" - -"The doctor? We ain't had him. We don't need him. What can he do?" - -"A great deal. He might tell you what Isita should have to eat. Perhaps -then you needn't kill her lambs." - -"Why not kill them?" The woman turned almost violently. "We ain't a -thing to eat else. You kin see the truck patch is dead dry. There ain't -no grain to feed the chickens, no hay for the stock. We might's well -quit this God-forsaken desert. A man can't make nothin' here; the frost -or the drought'll catch him every time." - -In the hoarse, whispered outburst there was a strangled sob that sent -a thrill down Harry's spine. As she stared into those sunken eyes in -which shone suddenly the flame of unendurable miseries, she felt that -this strange woman needed pity more than blame. - -"Listen, Mrs. Biane," she said with gentle determination; "you must -have the doctor. I've already sent for him. It shan't cost you a cent. -I had to do it for Isita. People sometimes die of spotted fever, and I -couldn't--I'm too fond of her--she's terribly sick. Just listen." - -For the voice had suddenly risen to a cry: "Not that one, Joe! Not that -one! No--no!" - -"She hears you. She's frightened. You'd best go on." Mrs. Biane turned -hurriedly to the bed. "Wake up, Isita," she said and laid her hand on -her daughter's shoulder. - -"Oh, don't do that! You don't want her to die, do you?" Harry -exclaimed, hardly knowing what she said. - -"She might almost as well--better, too, I guess." - -The words came in a despairing sob as Mrs. Biane threw her apron over -her face and sank on her knees beside the bed. - -"Don't cry!" Harry begged, with her own eyes full of tears. "Isita's -going to get well. Don't you worry." - -The burden of her own inability to help lay sore on Harry's heart as -she rode home. Poverty and sickness and the shadow of famine beyond! -She would save Isita, anyhow! Whatever happened, while she herself had -bread, the other girl should have half of it. - -To her relief the doctor's automobile passed just after she had turned -in at the home gate. Knowing that her friend was in his care she could -take up her housework and the chores with real interest. Not until the -cows began coming in to be milked did she remember the white-face steer. - -"What a stupid I am!" she said to herself with sinking heart. "How can -I tell Rob and what will he think--that I'm no good, I guess. I can't -leave the milking and go, and afterwards it'll be too late. I'll go the -first thing in the morning." - -But she rode nearly all the next day without getting a glimpse of the -steers. Nor, when she stopped to inquire for Isita, could Mrs. Biane -give her any information about them. No strange animals had come in -with theirs at milking time. - - - - -CHAPTER XIX - - -On Saturday Rob returned from haying. Because of the shortage of water -for irrigating, Robinson's hundred acres had cut very much less than -usual. Every one, Rob said, was complaining of the way in which the -stockmen from outside had "hogged" the grazing. - -"So far," Rob told Harry, "every one I've talked with is willing to -sign for the herd law. It's too late to do us any good this season, but -we'll have it ready by the time the beef barons start coming north next -spring. Biane is the only man down this way I haven't talked to. When -you go up there with these oranges, I wish you'd find out if he's going -to be home this evening and I'll go up then." - -Immediately after dinner Harry set out with the oranges. She walked, -because Rob's saddle horse had a sore foot and he wanted to use Hike. -So far Harry had not missed a day in going to see Isita. The fever had -broken, leaving the girl weak and wasted, and now especially was the -time when she needed the nourishing and dainty food that Harry took to -her. - -The exhausting languor that follows the spotted fever made it a painful -effort for Isita to move. Yet at sight of Harry in the doorway with her -basket on her arm, the girl tried to raise herself on her elbow. - -"None of that, Miss," Harry warned her, pretending to look stern, "or -I'll go straight back home, and you'll never know whether I had soup or -a sermon in this basket." - -"It's all one to me," Isita answered, with a faint laugh. "I like -whatever you bring; just so's _you_ bring it." - -Harry's daily visits had been literally a life-giving happiness to the -poor child. Even Mrs. Biane's strange bitterness had softened before -Harry's irrepressibly sunny nature. To-day she came in from the kitchen -to set a chair beside the bed. - -"While you're here, Miss Holliday," she said, "if you don't mind taking -charge, I'll go up the road a piece after the hogs. Both the men are -away." - -"That's all right. I'll be here for a good hour. I've brought a book; -if Isita eats her orange nicely, without making a face, I'll read to -her." - -"Why you're so good to my girl, Miss Holliday, I can't see. You've no -reason to be." Mrs. Biane spoke abruptly, as if the words had kept back -more than they expressed. - -"I think I've the best reason in the world!" Harry exclaimed. "Isita -and I are what they call 'side pardners.' And 'side pardners' always -stand by each other in trouble." - -Mrs. Biane opened her lips to speak, then closed them and went into the -kitchen, shutting the door. - -Harry pulled her chair close to the bed, took up an orange and spread -under Isita's chin the smooth white napkin she had brought. The other -girl said not a word, but drew Harry's warm brown hand into her two -thin ones and carried it to her lips. - -"Silly child!" Harry said, drawing her hand away, but her throat -tightened with emotion. - -She began in a most businesslike manner to prepare the orange. As she -sat there in the quiet, shaded room, something of the deep serenity of -the summer day filled her. It was the realization that the other girl -understood--was at last her friend. - -When Isita had finished the orange, Harry took the chair over to the -window, lifted one corner of the blanket that served as curtain and -began to read. She had brought _The Lady of the Lake_, feeling that its -simple language and its rhythmic flow would soothe Isita as much as -the magic of the tale would delight her. As she read, she knew without -really looking that Isita was watching her. By and by, at the end of -a long description, Harry glanced over and saw that the sick girl was -asleep. - -Harry drew a deep breath of relaxation. Her shoulders ached a little -from sitting so long. She stood up, thinking she would go outside and -walk about; but the loose boards in the floor creaked so loudly that, -fearing to wake Isita, she sat down again. It was so dark and still in -the room that presently she found herself nodding. She closed her eyes -and leaned her head against the wall, then sat up with a jerk. A man's -voice directly outside the window was speaking. - -"Don't you ranchers make any mistake about this. Once let a fellow -like him get control here, and you'll be ruined before you know it." - -It was Ludlum. She could not mistake that voice. Harry sat rigid, -wondering how to get out of the place. Before she could think what to -do, Ludlum went on: "Let Holliday put that herd law through, and you'll -have all the sheep in southern Idaho cleaning up the feed round you." - -"What's the reason they will?" It was Joe Biane who answered, ready as -usual to suspect every one and combat all statements. "What's the herd -law got to do with lettin' the sheep in? It's to keep critters out." - -"Cow critters," Ludlum corrected. "Once you get a herd law in here -it'll nullify the two-mile limit that keeps the sheep off now. Holliday -didn't tell you that, did he? He's spread the notion that us stockmen -are the ranchers' enemies, when the fact is, we're your best friends. -You never see one that ain't ready to give you homesteaders a lift, -sell you cattle on time. Holliday's sister is buying her a herd on -time right now, though mebbe you wouldn't think it from the way she's -threatened to shoot up mine. I guess it was them two stampeded the -critters here a few nights ago. Nobody but a tenderfoot would 'a' -done it. Soon's they've been in this country a month they think it's -the proper thing to pull a gun on everything. Why, didn't she go to -shootin' at me with a rifle the other day because I'd clumb over their -fence to pick up a grouse I'd winged? No, I tell you, Holliday ain't -the kind you want to advise you. They ain't neither of 'em the kind -anybody wants round. Well, I'll be moving. Let me know any time you -want any help." - -"Wait, please!" - -At the sharp call both men started guiltily. The front door stood open, -and Harry was coming down the path straight toward them. - -"I heard you, Mr. Ludlum," she said. "Every word. Some of them weren't -true." - -At the ugly insinuation the stockman's bland face stiffened. "You heard -me, eh? Well, then, young lady, you heard what's good for you. A few -hard facts." - -"Facts!" Harry's eyes snapped scornfully, and she flung up her head. -Joe Biane, who had been edging quietly out of notice, understood this -sign and halted, grinning expectantly. - -"I don't know what you call facts," Harry went on. "It certainly isn't -true that you came inside our fence 'merely to pick up a grouse,' as -you say. You and another man were shooting on my land, and even when -you heard me warn you, you kept on shooting. I had to fetch the rifle -to frighten you off." - -As Ludlum pretended to laugh, she hurried on: - -"And we didn't stampede your cattle. I wasn't at home when it happened, -and my brother was waked up in the middle of the night by hearing our -own stock bellowing and running wild. When he had rounded them up next -day four of our best steers were gone; it would be hard to prove it, -but I think they've been stolen." - -"Stolen. That's bad, too." Ludlum was apparently at his ease once more, -amused and tolerant. "Stealing branded cattle in this country is a kind -of risky business. Ain't you putting it pretty strong?" - -"Not so strong as I'd like to put it, when I've been told by a buckaroo -right in these hills that if I dogged a certain stockman's scrubs off -our range I was liable to have all my own cattle disappear; without one -chance in a hundred of knowing who'd run them off, too." - -"Well. You heard that, did you?" Ludlum spoke in a tone of soft -surprise, but his eyes gleamed cruelly. "It's going to be pretty hard -for you to make anything on your cattle this year, then, ain't it? -Can't even make a payment on your mortgage, mebbe." - -"You needn't worry about my not paying you, Mr. Ludlum. If we can't do -anything else we can bring the stock inside the fence until yours and -these other outsiders' cattle have been rounded up. I'll have enough -to sell this fall to pay off something by December. There won't be any -danger of losing them next year, when the herd law goes through. - -"You tell Joe, here, that you're our best friend, yet you try to set -him against us. You tell him the herd law will put an end to the -two-mile limit, which isn't so. That's not the kind of friend we're -used to, Mr. Ludlum. And if we're not the kind of people you want -round here, if you don't like us, why do you come up here? We've got -along all right without you." - -The moment she said that, she knew that she had made a mistake. -Ludlum's eyes narrowed. "Oh," he said slowly, "so you got along all -right, did you? Ain't it kind of sudden that you've found that out? -Seemed to me you were pretty well pleased to have the old man put up -cattle for you on time." - -"It was your suggestion that I should buy of you. You weren't doing it -because you were a friend. You said it was good business." - -"That's right, little lady," Ludlum laughed, "you've hit it. Business -it was and business it's to stay. Eh? It'll take more'n losing a bunch -of stock to make you knock under, won't it? Well, here's luck to you." - -And with a malignant chuckle he kicked spurs into his horse and went -up the road at a gallop. As Harry, with throbbing pulse and clenched -hands, stared after him she became suddenly aware that Joe Biane was -watching her with covert intentness. - -"Whatever you do, Joe," she said abruptly, "don't go to outsiders to -help you get a start. You see what you're likely to run against." - -"Aw! What difference does that make?" Joe mumbled, walking away. "Beat -'em at their own game, I say." - -Harry scarcely heard him. She did not know, really, what she had said -herself. Her thoughts came rushing down like a river that leaps a -precipice and turns to helpless spray. She had spoken as she did to -Ludlum on impulse; she had said too much and angered him. - -As she went into the house to get her things, Mrs. Biane softly opened -the kitchen door. Harry nodded, put her finger on her lips to indicate -that Isita still slept, and then quietly went out. The walk home -quieted her, and by the time Rob had come in to supper she was able to -relate the affair calmly. - -Her brother laughed a little. "You shouldn't let that sort of talk -disturb you. We know Ludlum is out for himself, same as we are, though -our methods are a little different. But I don't believe he can break up -the herd law. The other ranchers round here know him a lot better than -we do, and his bluff about the sheep isn't going to scare them." - -Just to make sure that Ludlum had not turned any of the farmers against -the herd law, Rob took time to ride out and talk with them--especially -with those who, too busy or too indifferent to go into the matter -thoroughly, had not given it very enthusiastic support. It was a -discouraging ride; though most of the ranchers were still with Rob, -Ludlum had won over enough men to defeat the chance of sending the -petition through. - -"The farmers up here aren't strong enough yet, or maybe they haven't -suffered enough from the outside stockmen to carry any concerted move -like the herd law through," he said gloomily to Harry on his return. -"They're working so hard to make a living that they don't take time -to think how much more easily they could make it. As for us, if I can -buy enough hay to take us through the winter, I'll be well enough -satisfied." - -"Well, I won't!" was Harry's vehement and unexpected reply. "The idea -of our all standing weakly aside and letting Ludlum or any one like him -come in here next spring with perhaps twice as many scrubs! It's too -humiliating. We might as well get out of the cattle business at once. -What's the use of buying hay, of getting in any deeper, if we're not -sure of our grazing every year? Don't you see? We've got to get it, and -we're going to talk to every rancher in these hills once more and make -them see what they're up against. Aren't we?" - -Rob, in his favorite attitude on the porch floor, with his legs -stretched out, his hands behind his head, was silent for a long moment. -Then he gave Harry a reflective, questioning look. "Do we dare?" he -asked. - -"Dare! What do you mean, Rob Holliday? Dare!" - -"Exactly what I say," replied Rob. "We sailed into this cattle -proposition pretty bumptiously at first, but it looks to me as if we'd -got another think coming. We've locked horns with Ludlum already and -a false move on our part may finish us. Still, it's your land that's -mortgaged. Do you dare?" - -Harry stiffened up defiantly. "This isn't a childish 'stunt,'" she -answered with dignity. "I've reasoned this all out as coolly as you -have. A dozen steers will be enough to pay the principal and interest -due December first." - -"Will they! Four hundred and twenty-two dollars! And the chances are -that beef will go down as feed goes up. And you don't reckon on what -the other fellow may do. Ludlum is after your land; never-failing -water like ours is a gold mine to a stockman. If we put that herd law -through, he'll be so mad he'll move heaven and earth to ruin us. He's -got a lot of power in this country and he's hard as nails." - -"Then I'll sell every animal in my herd, pay off everything I owe and -be free of him. You'll have your cattle, and with them and the range -cleared of Ludlum's stuff, we'll soon make up the loss and sail ahead; -beat Ludlum to a fare-thee-well." - -"So be it then," Rob acquiesced; "but if we're going to push the herd -law we'll have to do it now, before harvesting begins. We'll start with -Biane. We may find out from him what made the other fellows back out." - -But the Portuguese was reticent. On Rob's arguing that the summer -grazing was the backbone of the cattle business and that it belonged -by rights to the foothill ranchers, Biane shrugged his shoulders and -smiled. - -"Yes. As you say, us fellows have not any show. We ar-re poor and the -poor must always stand back; give the fat man the road. Eh?" - -"Not if we'd hang together the way the big men do," Harry answered -promptly. - -Suddenly she felt a repulsion for that short, swarthy man with his -smooth, ingratiating manner, his slow, narrow glance that moved so -calculatingly over her and Rob. - -"Before this," she went on, "we ranchers have struggled on alone, not -worrying about our neighbors' troubles; but now we're up against it, -and we must work together or go clean broke." - -"Why, look here, Biane," Rob put in earnestly; "you've a bunch of stock -yourself, and you've had to buy hay down on the South Side. What good -is Ludlum's good will going to do you? Can't you see that your profit -is in standing with us? Every acre of grazing we save is money in your -pocket." - -Biane, chewing a straw, smiled. "I have no ill-feeling for you, -Meestore Rob. I like be freendly wit' my neighbors; but so I like keep -freendly wit' Ludlum. The range is free. I have no right to drive heem -off. Eh?" - -"But he is driving us off!" Rob exclaimed. "He talks about keeping it -free, and he's taking every spear of grass on it. Isn't he?" - -"I get enough," Biane said gently, with a shrug and a smile. "What more -I need? If it is hay that you want, I sell you some." - -"You? Why, how's that? You'll need all you bought for your own stock, -won't you?" - -"I spare you some. How much you need?" - -"Well, after we've sold our beef this fall, we'll have about seventy -head to winter." - -"I could let you have feefty ton." - -"That's fine. At how much?" - -"Oh, twenty-five dollare. Yes." - -Rob laughed ironically. "Only twenty-five a ton? How can you let it go -so cheap?" - -"Hay is now feefteen and----" - -"Sure. And may go to fifteen hundred, so I wouldn't think of robbing -you. No doubt you can get fifty from some one you don't want to keep -friendly with." - -"You ar-re mistaken. I rather not to quarrel wit' nobody." - -"The hill ranchers may not understand," Rob said as he turned his -horse. "Trying to keep in with us and our enemy, too, doesn't look so -friendly as you imagine." - -As he and Harry, riding home, talked over the visit, Rob said, "There -must be something more than sweet neutrality back of all that. How do -we know that Ludlum isn't paying that fellow to stand out against the -herd law?" - -"He can't bribe every one," Harry answered, "and there are enough of us -to carry it through, once we all get together." - -The evidence that Rob was able to give of Ludlum's dishonesty, and of -his outspoken animosity toward Harry and himself, was a strong argument -with those farmers who had listened favorably to Ludlum's talk. Rob -was able to convince them that unless they wished to be ruined they -must protect themselves against such plunderers as Ludlum. The more -progressive farmers added their arguments to Rob's with such effect -that, when the petition for a herd law came up in the county court, -very few among the hill ranchers' names were missing. - -"There she is," Rob said, throwing on the table the Camas _Prairie -Courier_, containing the announcement that their district was to go -under the herd law. "I'd like to see old Ludlum's mug when he reads -that. I bet he'll try to start something even now." - -"Let him," Harry answered tranquilly. "This will see his finish up -here." - -"It may see our finish, too, round December first," Rob said to -himself, "that is, if hay goes any higher and cattle any lower." - - - - -CHAPTER XX - - -Now that the herd law was a fact, the next task Rob and Harry had to -undertake was getting hay for the winter. Yet it was almost impossible -for them to find time to look for it. Every day was crowded with work. -The herd law would not take effect until the following spring, and -the cattle at present in the hills would remain there until the fall -round-up. Until then one or the other of the young people must always -ride the fence to look for breaks, to push the range cattle back and to -keep their own animals near home in an effort to stop the losses that -continued with baffling persistence. - -With the patience of an old hand Harry performed that part of the work. -Early and late she rode to all the water holes not already gone dry, to -all the favorite midday haunts of the herds, constantly hoping to find -one or all of the six creatures that had disappeared. She found none of -them; and, while she searched, two more steers, a yearling, and a cow -and a calf vanished one by one. - -Ludlum's "cow-punchers," with growing insolence, came repeatedly inside -the fence to look through the milk cows and calves on pasture; and they -never lost a chance to make threatening remarks to Harry about rustlers -and what they were doing. Harry never repeated their remarks to Rob, -for she was anxious to shield him from any additional annoyance. - -Slowly she had waked up to the fact that behind her brother's -undemonstrative calm there was deep anxiety and worry. Never given to -talking much, he now scarcely spoke a word. His appetite vanished; when -Harry begged him to eat, he said that he had a headache or that he had -not slept very well the night before, which soon began to mean that he -was not sleeping well any of the time. - -"Poor Bobby is killing himself over the business, and there isn't a -thing I can do to help him," she said to herself. "I can't even sell -out until this fall, and by that time----" - -But she could not say what she thought might happen by that time. The -last cutting of hay would soon be made now, and Rob must surely be able -to get some then. - -By the middle of August the range was stripped of feed. The foothills, -browsed over by thousands of sheep and cattle, burned by the dry winds -and endless days of bright sunshine, stretched their dreary length of -black lava and yellow sandstone buttes, gray sagebrush and trodden -dust. Water holes and springs finally succumbed to the long drought, -and from all sides the herds came down round the ranches. Trailing -along the fences, they disturbed the silent nights with their uneasy -bellowings. - -About the first of September Rob and Harry brought all their cattle -inside, in relays. Their wheat was not going to pay for harvesting it, -and it was better to feed it now as pasture and save the alfalfa. They -had, intended, of course, to ship their best steers to the stockyards, -but the lack of feed had flooded the markets both East and West with -half-starved and young creatures; and even fat beef was bringing a -ruinously low price. - -"Better to hold on as long as we can," Rob decided; "the price should -go up as soon as this low grade is cleaned out." - -"I should think that with so many hundreds being shipped there would be -plenty of hay for all that are left," Harry suggested. - -"I haven't found a man who's got more than enough for his own stock--if -he has that. Even grain hay is being held for winter feed." - -Harry had no answer. Slowly, distinctly, before her unwilling mind -rose the vision of the famine winter. Against her wish she recalled -the stories to which in the unmeaning time of plenty she and Rob had -listened, shudderingly thankful that they had been spared such distress -and anguish of mind. - -Early in November she had asked Rob a question that she had been -pondering. They had finally sold sixteen steers at the ruinous price -of thirty dollars a head, and with hay at fifteen dollars it was clear -they would not have enough money to pull through. Yet while they were -suffering this famine here, down on the South Side a great harvest was -being gathered. Why was there no way of getting part of that feed on -the prairie? "What's the reason they can't ship baled hay in here?" she -said. - -"Baled hay? Forty miles by wagon? It couldn't be done. No, the ranchers -on this side of the hills have to take their chances, and they know it. -If they haven't enough hay, they'll sell half their stock and put the -rest on short rations and pull through somehow." - -"Why couldn't they drive their cattle down there? Other men bring their -stock up here in summer and go back to the South Side for the winter." - -"Sure. That's where they live. These fellows here would have to take -all their belongings--a raft of children, chickens, pigs--why, they'd -rather let their cattle starve." - -"Well, we haven't a raft of children to hold us here. If you can't find -hay on the prairie, we'll go down on the South Side and buy hay and -feed the stock there." - -"Don't you know that we'd have to have a house to live in and a well? -The stock's got to be watered, and the ditches don't run all winter. -You seem to think we can move round anywhere we take a fancy. In the -West there aren't any obligingly abandoned farms waiting at the end of -shady lanes, with pasture attached. Every house and shed and shack in -this country was built for some special bunch of folks, and every acre -of pasture is carrying just so much stock, and the rest is desert." - -"But you'll go down there and try to find something, won't you?" Harry -urged. "Some one is going to get the last hay for sale there, and you -may be that one. I'll see to things here." - -"Well, seeing as I haven't got any advice of my own to follow, I may as -well take yours." - -When he set out, two days later, Harry walked down to the big gate with -him. - -"Now don't hurry back," was her warning as he left her. "You must find -hay. It means the beginning of our everlasting fortune if we bring the -herd through this winter. And if," she added to herself as he rounded -the butte, "if we can't get hay--what then?" - -At the end of a week she received a post card from Rob. - - - "No luck yet. Plenty of feed, but mostly contracted for in big - lots; small stacks not for sale. Am going farther on next week, so - don't expect me until you see me." - - -As Harry read this she felt a pang of terror such as she had felt -when, as a child playing "I spy" and wildly seeking a hiding place at -the last minute, she had heard the warning shout, "Ready or not you -shall be caught." Were they going to be caught now? Not only must they -get hay, but they must get it before the first big snowstorm should -imprison the herd in the hills. Would Rob, down in the Snake River -country where the weather was still warm, remember that up in the hills -winter was very near? - -To Harry, waiting, watching, the suspense became almost unendurable. As -November glided away with its pale, clear skies and its short, windless -days, the desert grew lonelier, vaster. The forsaken fields, the sear -hillsides on which not one of the animals that had fed there was left, -even the empty skies where only a single hawk floated--all were dumb -witnesses that the harvest was ended. - -If Harry had been idle, the suspense would have been worse; but there -was plenty for her to do, whether they stayed where they were for the -winter or departed. The root vegetables must be dug and stored, the -weeds burned, the dry wood hauled down from the grove and stacked, the -asparagus bed mulched and the young trees tied in tar paper to keep -off rabbits. When she had done all that and had cleaned the house, -Harry felt that she could afford to take an afternoon off and go to see -Isita. Though the girl had been out of her sick bed for more than three -months, she was not yet strong, and for that reason Harry was doubly -set on getting her away to school. - -She found Isita sitting on an old box in the sunshine, picking wool -for a quilt. She was working slowly, steadily, but all too evidently -without interest. At sight of Harry her face lighted with pleasure. - -"I was so afraid you'd gone for the winter!" she exclaimed. "It's such -a long time since you've been up." - -"As if I'd go without saying good-by! I don't want to go at all until -you're settled down on the flat, going to school. Has your mother -persuaded your father?" - -Isita's head drooped. "I don't believe he's going to let me go. He -wants me to work." She half glanced up and smiled rather wanly. "I -can't explain. You wouldn't understand." - -"No, I don't understand," Harry answered. "I'd like to ask, too. Is -your father here?" - -The words were still on her lips when Biane turned the corner of the -house at a leisurely walk. - -"Good afternoon, miss!" he said. "You wish to speak to me?" - -"If you please, Mr. Biane. Isita seems to think that you can't spare -her to go to school this winter. I wondered if you realized how much -she wanted to go; how much she needed the rest from farm drudgery after -being so sick." - -"Oh, she's well now, I think. So, 'Sita?" He moved his eyes to Isita -and smiled the smile of a drowsy tiger. Involuntarily his daughter -straightened, and a spot of color deepened in her cheeks. - -"Even if she is well enough to be doing chores," Harry pursued, -determined to finish her argument, "she will never be fit for anything -better if she doesn't go to school. She could make so much of herself -if she were trained." - -"Trained?" The Portuguese smiled slowly, with his head on one side. "I -train my girl, Miss Holliday; she need no more of that." - -Harry shivered. "I'm afraid we don't mean the same sort of training," -she said coldly. - -Biane gave a profound nod. "I raise my family to make a living. I -train them to mind. You onderstand? Books! Chatter! Seenging! Puah! -'Sita likes work. Better than books. Sure!" His glance leaped to his -daughter. "Why you not tell miss how much you like to work, eh?" he -inquired in a purring tone. - -Isita watched him with fascinated eyes. She was white as tallow. -Nevertheless, she smiled, and her dry lips shaped the words: "Yes. I -like to work. Truly." - -Biane turned back to Harry. "You see? I t'ank you all same for your -politeness." - -Harry went home heavy-hearted. She was bitterly disappointed in herself -that she had failed so miserably in helping her little friend. Her pony -fell into a walk. She did not notice it. 'Thello, exploring on either -side of the road, veered off into the scab land after a squirrel, and -Harry did not miss him. Only at the sound of his excited yelping did -she wake and look about her. - -"'Thello!" she called. "Here, boy!" - -But the clamor only grew more violent, and, after waiting for several -moments, Harry turned back to the place where the dog was digging -furiously at the bottom of the dry pot hole. Harry's indifference -warmed to curiosity as she saw the dog tearing away at something hidden -under the crust of the soil that had been mud--something that was -weighted down with stones. Curiosity became suddenly amazed conviction -that she was at last to know what had become of some, at least, of -their lost steers. For there at her feet, plainly visible under the -dried clay and stone, lay many hides of cattle. Some were shriveled -and rotted beyond identification; some looked fresh. One, with curly -white hair still clinging to the skull, Harry could have sworn was the -hide of poor Curly Face. - -She was down on her knees by now, working away with 'Thello in a flame -of determination to make sure of her suspicions, when a voice behind -her demanded: - -"What you think you're doin'?" - -"Finding my lost steers!" she answered triumphantly. "And next I'll -find who stole them." - -"Oh, you will!" Joe sneered. "How you know they're yours?" - -"There are two red polls, out of Rob's bunch. There's the black -shorthorn. Oh, I know well enough! And some one killed 'em, skinned -'em, hid the hides. I'll find who did it, too." She laughed rather -wildly. It was such a mean, cruel thing for any one to do! - -"Three hundred dollars worth of stock we've lost this year!" she cried. -"Just wait until Rob hears where I found them! Then we'll see something -doing." - -Without another glance at the boy who stood watching her in silence, -she swung up into the saddle and raced for home. She must write at once -to Rob of her discovery. - -As she set down on paper the details of her find, her indignation -flamed anew. The person who had stolen those animals had perhaps -ruined them; for the loss of a dozen creatures might mean just the -difference between having enough to pay the money due Ludlum on the 1st -of December and not having it. And if she could not make the payment -Ludlum would certainly refuse to renew the loan. But she would not -think of it. She would find some way to pay him. - -When she had finished the letter she threw on her hat and sweater and -went out to do the chores. With 'Thello at her heels she raced across -the garden to the stock yard. The cattle stood close to the fence, -basking in the faint sunshine, waiting their ration of hay. Harry had -left the hayrack full, ready for the evening feeding. Now she harnessed -the team to it, drove the load on the feeding ground and forked off the -hay as she moved slowly forward. - -At sight of her the cattle had begun to low, and now they followed the -wagon, stopping one after another to feed. Harry knew each one of them: -the quiet cows, the solid-built steers, the fat calves and yearlings -in their furry winter suits. How big and strong they looked; how -well-cared-for--even the scrubs that at first had looked so hopelessly -poor! And she might have to sell them all to save her land! Fiercely -she jabbed the fork into the flakes of solidly packed hay. - -When she had scattered the hay, she fed the chickens and milked. As she -was beginning on the last cow, 'Thello, on guard at the corral gate, -sprang up with a threatening growl. - -"Who's that?" Harry said to him. "If it's a cow-puncher, tear him limb -from limb." - -"Who you hatin' so hard?" inquired a mild voice and Garnett made a -long-legged step over the board fence of the barn yard. "Rob ain't to -home?" - -"No. He's down on the South Side trying to find hay. I'm surprised you -haven't seen him. What are you doing up here at this time of year, -anyhow? Your renters have quit, haven't they? I thought you were on -your ranch over there for the winter." - -"Had to go to Soldier to witness against a rustler." - -"Didn't happen to be Ludlum, did it?" Harry asked sardonically. - -Garnett grinned, and Harry said quickly, "I guess if you had lost a -dozen critters and suddenly had found evidence of their having been -killed right near home, you'd hate all cattle men and cow punchers, -too." - -As they walked to the house together she told Garnett of the increasing -trouble they had had with Ludlum's men toward the end of the season, -and of her finding the hides. - -"You see," she concluded, "it's perfectly plain that Ludlum planned at -the start to work things so I'd have to let my land go. That's what he -was after. But if he thinks killing my cattle is going to put me out of -the game, he'll be disappointed." - -"Say, now," Garnett put in, "I wouldn't pull my gun on Ludlum yet -awhile. Don't look to me like a stockman would bother himself with -such a job. He'd run off a hundred head mebbe into the mountains, but -not this. I reckon I'd better ride over there and take a look at those -hides. I could mebbe get a line on something." - -While Garnett was gone, Harry started the supper fire and set the -table; then in a clean blue apron, she waited expectantly for his -report. - -"I'd never say Ludlum done that job," he announced decisively the -moment he returned. "I'd swear to his brand on one hide there at any -rate, and mebbe more. There's a good twenty-five skins in the bunch, -and you didn't lose more'n a dozen critters all told, did you?" - -"Just a dozen," she answered, "one of them only lately. It's hide -wasn't there." - -"And Ludlum's been gone out of here six weeks?" - -"Two months. But if he didn't do it, who did? Who?" - -"That's your next job, I reckon, finding out. If one of your critters -has turned up missin' this last month, then I'd sure count Ludlum out -and smell a fresh trail for the thief. I'd quit frettin' myself right -now, anyhow. Rob'll be along soon and mebbe he can fit this puzzle game -together." - -His kind heart was distressed at the thought of leaving the girl alone -with her gloomy thoughts, but he knew that she would scorn the idea -of his staying. Being left alone was one of the things that the women -of the cattle country took for granted, and Harry, he knew, was not a -"quitter." - -But when he was leaving he held her hand in his hard grasp a second or -two longer than usual, and his blue eyes tried to say more than his -tongue ever had. Perhaps Harry understood their meaning, for she tilted -her head and smiled. - -"Run on, now," she said. "The moon sets early, and you'll be late -getting home. If you see Bobby down yonder, tell him to find a buyer -for my herd instead of hay for them. Tell him, in fact, that he must -sell them. I have worked it out, and I know we haven't money enough to -make our payment in December. Now, don't forget." - -"You bet! I'll see that they're sold if I have to peddle 'em back to -Ludlum himself," promised Garnett as he went off into the twilight. As -Harry watched the dusk close round him she felt, for the first time in -all her happy, courageous young life, absolutely alone. - - - - -CHAPTER XXI - - -During the following days Harry, with her mind on the mystery of her -slaughtered animals, spent all her spare time looking for the recently -lost scrub and keeping an eye open for suspicious-looking or stranger -cowboys. She was putting up her pony one evening after a fruitless -search when footsteps approaching through the twilight made her turn -sharply, with every sense on guard. As she did so Joe Biane emerged -from the shadows. - -"Why, Joe!" she exclaimed. "How you startled me! What do you want?" - -Joe laughed awkwardly. "Is Rob to home?" - -"No. Did you want anything special?" - -"Only to ask him could we borrow the team to-morrow to pack our traps -to Shoshone. We're pullin' out." - -"Pulling out! For the winter, you mean?" - -"No. Quittin'. For good." - -"Why, Joe! What on earth for? Why didn't Isita tell me before? What -will you do with your stock? And your hay? Where are you going?" - -"Aw, anywheres, I guess, to get out of this country. Ain't we starved -all summer? And now they tell us we're in for a hard winter. Besides, -dad mortgaged everything last year, and now it's been took: the team, -wagon, stock everything. Dad's going back East, for all I know." - -"Back East! And Isita never said a word of it!" - -"She didn't know nothin' about it until yesterday." - -"Oh! Well, I'll lend you the team of course. That is, I'll drive you -in. What time did you want to start?" - -"In the mornin', if it's all the same to you--so's we'll sure catch -that night train." - -"I see. I'll be over early." - -"You needn't go," Joe insisted awkwardly. "I can fetch the team back -next day. I ain't goin' out with the folks." - -"I'd rather drive myself. It will give me a chance to visit with Isita." - -For several minutes she stared after Joe when he had melted into the -shadows. Was it really fear of the coming winter that was driving the -Bianes away? Slowly she glanced round her. There in the caņon the -darkness was deep as a sea, with only here and there, like a pale face, -a gleam of rocky butte facing the west. Not a cricket chirped, not a -breeze whispered. In profound silence the earth waited; for what? - -Without warning, overwhelmingly, like a great sea risen swiftly in the -night, homesickness drowned her. How safe it was back there in that New -England village! - -Suddenly she shook herself. "I'm as bad as the Bianes," she said to -herself, with a shaky laugh, "letting myself get scared by what people -say. My job's here, snow or no snow." - -But the cruelty of having Isita snatched away from her was not so -easily ignored; the happy friendship that she had so patiently worked -and waited for, torn up like a flower at the very moment of its -blossoming! - -But Harry was not the sort who, in the clutch of trouble, weeps or -sulks or melts into flabby inertness. She finished her tasks for the -night, rose an hour earlier than usual the next morning and went -briskly about her work. After milking, she turned the calves into the -pasture with the cows so that she need not milk that night, left a load -of hay on the wagon in the corral so that the stock could feed out of -the rack, and scattered plenty of wheat for the chickens. Her lips were -set; there was a steady gaze in her eyes that meant unshaken purpose. -Some time, somehow, she would have Isita back for "keeps." - -With characteristic kindness she filled a basket with the best she had -for the travelers' luncheon--a loaf of bread, some butter, a jar of -jam, a cake, some home-made cheese--anything that might make the long -journey easier for the two women. - -If Isita were going back East she would need some clothes. In Harry's -trunk there lay some that she had not worn since she had come to -Idaho--clothes for all seasons and occasions, useless to her, yet too -good to throw away. Harry selected some that she thought suitable and -wrapped them in a bundle. - -"Why couldn't I have kept her here?" she said to herself almost -fiercely. "I'd have clothed and fed her as long as she needed. We'd -have been so happy. At least," she consoled herself, "if they're really -going East, Isita will have to go to school. She can tell me everything -on our drive to Shoshone." - -But Biane had other ideas. "They can tell you not'ing. They know -not'ing," he interrupted blandly the moment Harry began to ask -questions. "I myself decide to quit her-re. Where do we go?" He raised -his eyebrows, smiling fatuously. "Aha! Perhaps even to Sout' Amer-rica. -A fine cattle country that. Mebbe you hear from us one day. Eh?" He -raised a shoulder, turned to walk away, then glanced back with a wise -smile that made poor Harry wish she were a man and could say what she -thought. - -It took only a short time to stow the few boxes and bundles in the -wagon. When all was ready, Harry hastened to help Isita into the front -seat beside her, before any other arrangement could be suggested. She -was determined to have some sort of talk with her friend before they -were separated. But she was soon made to realize that Biane controlled -his family absolutely. At every attempt she made to talk confidently -with Isita, Biane leaned across the back of the seat and broke into -their talk with other subjects until she gave up in despair. - -The conviction that this abrupt departure was caused by other reasons -than those that Joe and his father had offered, grew steadily in her, -and the uneasy suspense that she noticed in the whole Biane family -strengthened her belief. By the time they reached Shoshone she was so -tired, so nervously on edge, that she drove at once to Kinney's Hotel, -got out there, and left Biane to take his family on to the station. - -"When you've finished with the team," she said to him, "bring them back -here to the livery stable. I'll leave orders for feeding them. What -time does your train leave?" - -"Our train?" he repeated, darting a suspicious glance at her. - -"Yes. I want to come down and say good-by to Isita." - -"Sur-rely. I was forgetting. We go at ten o'clock." And with his cold -smile that showed his teeth and half closed his yellow eyes, the -Portuguese drove off. Isita turned to give Harry one entreating look -before the dusk hid her. - -"If I'd had the least chance to talk to her," Harry said to herself, -with a sigh, "we could have fixed up a plan of escape. She could have -slipped off the train at the next station, or something. I could see -that her mother was nearly scared to death, or she'd have explained -this journey to me." - -Well, it was too late now to think of what might have been done. Harry -could only have faith in Isita's courage and ambition to free herself -from this hateful bondage. - -In the hotel office she stopped to chat with the clerk, who was an -old-time friend of hers and Rob's. "I'm going up to my room to rest -now," she said, "but I want to be called in plenty of time to meet -that ten-o'clock train going East." - -She was so tired that the moment her head touched the pillow she was -off to sleep. When some time later there came a pounding on the door, -she stumbled up, forgetting where she was. - -"It's a girl to see you, Miss Holliday!" the clerk called. "Says its -awful pertickler and to come a-hurryin'!" - -"Coming, coming!" Harry cried, as she hunted for her shoes under the -edge of the bed. "Isita, of course," she told herself. "What can have -happened? Has she actually escaped?" Her heart was thumping with -suspense and hope as she snatched hat and coat and ran out. Isita was -waiting at the foot of the stairs. - -Harry saw that Isita's black eyes were actually glassy with fear, and -that beads of sweat glistened on her forehead. - -"Isita, dear!" she exclaimed. "What is it? Come upstairs and----" - -"No! no! Not a moment! Come!" the girl cried in a rasping voice and, -catching Harry's arm, pulled her toward the door. "Come. I'll tell you." - -Too much astonished to dispute or question, Harry followed her to the -street. No one in the office had seen them, and the street was empty. -After a frightened glance up and down, Isita looked at Harry and opened -her lips to speak. But twice she made an effort before a sound came. At -last, hoarsely, came the words, "They're going to steal your team!" - -"Steal my team!" Harry almost smiled with relief and stopped short, but -Isita clasped her hands imploringly. - -"Don't wait," she entreated; "there's not a moment to lose! I ran the -second they left me and mother, but they'll be back soon." - -"But wait. The horses are here. In Kinney's barn," Harry protested. - -"No, they're not. Oh, you don't understand! Please trust me; I'll -explain." - -Her words came quick and broken, and Harry realized that the girl must -have run a great way. No longer questioning or waiting, Harry followed -her obediently. Turning down a side street, they came after a while -to a place where the pavement ended and an old road curved off. A -little beyond this stood a group of old buildings, stone and brick, the -deserted roundhouse and shops of a past era. Into one of these Isita -led the way, and Harry heard from the darkness the familiar nicker of -Rock and Rye. - -"All right, boys," she began reassuringly, when a voice said: - -"Please be quiet. You might be overheard." - -Mrs. Biane stood beside her. - -"No, don't ask me! I can't say a word!" she exclaimed in a low voice of -distress. "'Sita here'll tell you the hull of it by and by. Only hurry -and git off, you two. I want you should take my gurl with you, Miss -Holliday. I'll be more grateful to you than I can tell. She can come -back to me some day when it's safer, happier. There, deary, I know," -she said soothingly as the young girl threw herself, weeping, upon her -mother's breast. - -For a minute Mrs. Biane held Isita to her; then, with a last kiss, she -unlocked her child's arms and put her gently aside. - -"I know she's safe with you, Miss Holliday," she said as she tucked -Isita into the wagon beside Harry. "You're a good girl and you've been -a real friend to her--to me; and you can help her to grow up good. -There, go! Don't drive past the station. He's liable to be round there. -And hurry!" - -She led the way to the road, stared toward the town, listening for a -moment, and then walked swiftly away without a backward glance. - -New and rude emotions surged through Harry as whipping up the horses, -she drove quickly out from the town. Sympathy for Isita, sympathy for -that stricken mother, and humbly grateful joy for herself mingled in -almost painful force. It relieved her to put her arm round Isita and -draw the frail body close against her own. - -"After all, they couldn't separate us, could they?" she said. - -"Looks not." Isita tried to answer cheerfully, but her voice broke into -a sob. "It's so hard to give up mother. She could have stayed. It was -them two men made a mess of things." - -"But why did they have to rush off so suddenly?" Harry asked. "Haven't -they been doing pretty much the same, year after year?" - -"Oh, sure, ever since I can remember; but they never got caught before." - -"Caught? They seemed to be going off quite freely." - -"They wouldn't of been free long. Not--not now since you--you found -your hides." - -"My hides!" Harry repeated slowly. "You think--they knew--who----" - -"You needn't mind saying it." Isita gave a hard, hurt laugh. "Not if -they didn't mind doing it. Oh, how often I've prayed you'd come on them -driving one of your steers down home or burying a hide in the pothole!" - -"But why did they skin them?" Harry asked. "I thought rustlers stole -live stock and drove them out of the country." - -"They wasn't brave enough, even for that! It was much easier to butcher -and haul them out at night to Shoshone. Nobody could trace it that -way, without any hide or brand. That's why they didn't want the herd -law; with all them cattle grazing in the hills, yours and Ludlum's and -stray brands out of other herds, they could pick up one most every -day; work a little bunch down our way and, when night come, shoot one. -That's what Joe was doing when he was on your land. He seen you wasn't -suspicious; your critters were the best of all, big and fat. That's why -he killed your cows, too; so's he could steal their calves. Oh, they -knew how to do it, all right! It was a regular business." - -She stopped abruptly; the hard note in her young voice was like an echo -of those cruel days. Harry was silent. How simple it all was now; Joe's -mysterious cut; Mrs. Biane's suspicion of strangers or even of friends; -Joe's poaching; Isita's terror, and the never-explained stampeding of -the herds that night. - -With a new, less bitter, accent in her voice, the younger girl went on: -"Before, it hadn't seemed so bad to me. But after I knew you, when you -were so generous, so kind, things were different. Oh, I wanted to be -friends! You never guessed. But, of course, they wouldn't let me. I had -to be round home to keep watch. You know. And then they knew I'd have -warned you, put you on your guard. You know I would of, don't you?" - -"Dear Isita," Harry said, much moved, "of course I know you would -have." The realization of what this mere child had suffered made her -own loss insignificant. "There's one thing I should like to know, -though," she said. "Your father must have made money selling beef to -the butcher. Why were you always so poor? You had scarcely enough to -eat." - -"He gambled it all away as fast as he made it. Mother and I never saw a -penny." - -"I understand. Well, don't let's think of it any more!" Harry -exclaimed. "All that is past and gone. I've lost a few cattle, but I've -gained a real friend. I'm satisfied, and I think we're going to have -no end of good times together." Her ringing voice, her beaming face, -would have reassured the most troubled heart, and in fact, for the -first time in many days Isita smiled happily. - -There was only one shadow to mar Harry's satisfaction. This was the -knowledge that in taking Isita home she was adding another burden of -expense to Rob's already heavy load. Of course, if he succeeded in -finding a buyer for her herd there would not be the debt to Ludlum -to reckon with, and if they did go down to the South Side she could -probably find work in the large towns there. - -When, after resting for the night at a ranch house, they started on -again the next morning, her mind was busy with plans. Even if her herd -were sold, they would need more money for part payment on hay to feed -Rob's stock. And if she did go to work for wages, it would not be hard -to place Isita with some good family who would give her her board in -exchange for help with the housework while she went to school. Yes, it -seemed that all would arrange itself; that is, if only Rob had managed -to sell her herd and to find hay for his own. - -"If only! if only!" The monotonous _clip-clop!_ of the horses feet -repeated those significant little words--significant because upon them -hinged all that had gone before. If only she had been satisfied with -thirty head! If she had not been in such a hurry to own a big herd! If -only she had not lost her temper and in doing so shot one of Ludlum's -cows! If only she had herded her own cattle more understandingly! As -she looked back over the year she saw that from the very start she had -done things that meant spending money, had got herself and her brother -into predicaments, while Rob had plodded behind straightening out the -difficulties, and finding the money to pay for her mistakes. - -And now here she was bringing home Isita! Not that she could have -refused the responsibility. Rob would not have wanted her to do that. -Only somehow, Isita seemed to be the last straw that she was adding to -his load. A sudden vision rose up before her of Rob traveling endless -miles up and down the South Side hunting for hay, hunting for a buyer -of her herd. - - - - -CHAPTER XXII - - -Sunset comes early in the foothills in November, and it was dark by the -time the girls reached home. As Harry was opening the big gate at the -foot of the lane, Isita exclaimed: - -"There's a light at the house!" - -"O goody! Then Rob is here." Harry sent a halloo to give word of her -arrival. "You go right inside, Isita," she said when they reached the -garden gate, "and I'll take the team to the barn." - -As she passed the back yard she saw a figure moving there in the dark. - -"So you got here first?" she called gayly. - -"Time some one was gettin' here," Garnett's voice answered unexpectedly -from the hay that he was forking out to the impatient herd. - -"Yes. I thought I left you in charge." Rob had come up and was speaking -with assumed sternness. "I'd pretty near decided you'd left the country -with the Bianes." - -"How on earth did you know they'd gone?" - -"As we were coming in we met the sheriff going out. He'd been over -there with half a dozen warrants for the old man and Joe. Seems they've -been stealing sheep and cattle for a good while. That's where our -stock went, of course. Garnett told me about finding the hides. Fine -neighbors, weren't they? Well, I'm glad we're rid of them." - -"Rob," Harry began and stopped. It was hard to tell him. "Rob, they -didn't all go. Isita is here." - -"Isita here! Well, of all things! Where is she?" - -"Up at the house. I wanted to explain to you before you saw her. She's -here to stay, you see. I ought not to have kept her without asking you, -but there was no time. And it seemed so dreadful to leave her with that -father. I know I'm adding another burden to you, but----" - -"Yes, it's terrible. I know she'll ruin us; big strapping creature like -that. She'll eat as much as two cow-punchers. I'll harness right up -again and ship her on the next train." - -Harry was relieved that he took it so lightly, but she was still more -relieved by the new life in his voice. - -"Bobby! What is it? You've had good luck?" she said as they started -toward the barn. "You sold my herd." She felt an immense relief and at -the same time her heart sank at having to let them go. "Who took them? -Did you get enough to pay Ludlum?" - -"A thousand." Bob ignored the first question. - -"A thousand! But we'll need more than that." - -"Of course, I know. But haven't I been making wages haying and -harvesting, besides what I had in the bank?" - -"But you'll need that and more, too, for hay. Did you get hay?" - -"A hundred tons of the finest, and we're going there to feed." - -"O Bobby!" she could not go on. She leaned against the end of the stall -and stared after him as he poured oats into the mangers for the horses. -No matter what went wrong, he always found a way out and pulled her -out, too. "If it weren't for you," she began. - -"Of course, I know. It's an endless tug of war between us to see which -one can get along without the other." - -"Say!" cried Garnett, coming across the stable yard toward them. "Can't -you folks sandwich those argyments in between the supper food? Little -lady up at the house says she has boiled water enough to scald a hog -and yet supper ain't real ready neither. Says she's waitin' on the boss -for orders." - -"Never mind. When I went off yesterday I left things so that five -minutes with a frying pan would finish them." - -It was a very little more than that before the food was sizzling. The -two girls were busy setting the table, when heavy steps thumped across -the porch, and some one knocked sharply. - -"Come in!" Rob called and moved toward the door, while the three others -watched. Every one gave a start of surprise as it was shoved open from -without and Ludlum faced them. - -Red-faced and scowling with fatigue and annoyance, with his eyes -gleaming maliciously upon the cheery scene before him, he stood -against the blackness of the night like a messenger of evil. - -"Come in, won't you?" Harry said politely. "Sit down." With a mutter -the stockman dropped heavily into the nearest chair, took off his hat -and mopped his face. - -"Dusty riding round here now," said Rob. - -"Yep. We need rain." - -"I hope it holds off until we've pulled out of here." - -"What's that? You're not wintering here? Haven't sold out, have you?" -Chagrin was in Ludlum's face and voice as he glanced from Rob to Harry. - -"Oh, no," Rob replied, with a smile. "We couldn't get hay enough up -here to carry us through, that's all." - -"It'll be different next year," Harry said with a note of triumph in -her tone. - -"Different, eh?" Ludlum sneered. "Because you've got the herd law -through, you think you're fixed. I daresay that's the argyment you used -to push the thing; told the rest of these rim-rock squatters that, -if it wasn't for that confounded 'millionaire cattle trust' that was -stealin' the grazing, you'd all get to be millionaires yourselves in no -time." - -"We told 'em it was the only thing to do to keep from being busted up -and driven out entirely by fellows like you and Joyce," said Rob. - -"And you think that because you ain't gettin' all you want it gives you -the right to drive us out; hog all the free range yourselves. You're -kinda mean, too, ain't you?" - -"If you hadn't been so grasping in the first place," said Harry, "we -shouldn't have had to fight you. We've taken only what we deserve to -have." - -"And I suppose you think you're going to keep it!" Ludlum sneered. -"Why, my little lady, do you think your herd law is going to keep us -stockmen, with thousands of critters to feed, out of these hills? Not -much. We've grazed here long before you ever come in, and we'll be -grazing long after you've dropped back where you come from. You think -you can keep tabs on the stock that comes in here! Why, you couldn't -begin to. How'll you know whether there's herders with 'em or not?" - -"We'll know whether your cattle bother us," Rob warned him; "and if -they do break in and spoil our crops, it's you that pay the damages -now, not us fellows who have to pay you for your bloated critters. You -don't get hurt, you know, unless you break the law. You big fellows are -trying to push us off the earth. Maybe this'll show you that you don't -own it all yet." - -"And I guess," said Ludlum, "the only way to teach you smart Alecks -that you can't run everything is to clean you out of this country right -now." - -"Yes?" - -"Yes!" Ludlum shouted, pounding the table with a knotted fist "And -according to that idea I've decided not to extend your time on them -cattle. You've showed you're a tender-foot at the business, you and the -girl there losin' stock right along. You're a joke, and there ain't -room for jokes in the beef business. So you just take your little -bunch of stuff and run on. The time on your mortgage expires next -Monday, December first, and it'll be foreclosed to the minute. See?" He -grinned with savage satisfaction. - -"Foreclosed?" Rob said calmly. "Of course you mean unless we can pay -back your loan." - -"Oh, certainly," Ludlum replied with savage irony, "if you can pay me -that thousand----" - -"One thousand one hundred and fifty-five dollars," Rob said. "I -intended to send you a check for the amount as soon as we got to town, -but I can give it to you right now. Saves me a stamp, too." - -Without glancing at Ludlum, who, smothering in his astonishment and -fury, stared motionless, Rob pulled his check book from his hip pocket -and wrote the check. He laid it on the table before the stockman. - -"Now if you will write a receipt, which Mr. Garnett will witness, -everything will be straight between us. You can send me a discharge of -the mortgage when you get back to town." Ludlum bent over the check, -looked at it hard and muttered under his breath. When Harry silently -handed him the pen he took it with a scowl and wrote a receipt. Then he -pocketed the check, picked up his hat, glared venomously at the four -who were watching him and without another word flung himself through -the doorway and slammed the door after him. - -"It's mighty good to know, just the same, that _you_ can't make us -suffer any longer," Rob said, with a deep bow toward the door. - -"I kind of thought a while back there he wasn't going to trouble nobody -any more," Garnett said, with a sigh, of relief; "he acted like he'd -swallered the torpedo he meant for us, and it wasn't agreein' so well." - -"Our supper won't agree with us, either, if it sits on the stove any -longer," said Harry. "And now you can tell me all about where we're -going this winter and who bought the cattle. Was it a regular stock -buyer or a rancher?" - -"A rancher." - -"And where did you find, the hay? At the ends of the earth, I suppose." - -"No. Not so far out. Same fellow that is going to take the cattle sold -me the hay. He'll take part pay in work; I'm going to feed the whole -outfit together." - -"That sounds pretty fine. Is there a shack near by where we can live?" - -"Oh, sort of a shack!" Rob admitted reluctantly, while Garnett threw -his head back and shook with soundless laughter. - -"What's the matter?" Harry inquired. "Is there a house there or not, -Garnett?" - -"Sure. Didn't he tell you?" - -"I'll bet it's nothing but a barn," Harry declared, whereat both boys -tittered again. "If I had time I'd write down to the man and find out -what sort of house he's giving us," she added. "By the way, you haven't -told me his name." - -"Let's see. What was the name of that old skinflint?" Rob asked, -scratching his head and turning to Garnett. - -"Say! If you can't remember, how do you expect me to?" the forest -ranger exclaimed, grinning. - -"You two certainly are silly to-night," Harry said loftily. But at the -same moment she was thinking how good it was to see Rob his old self -once more. And what a thing it was to have a friend like Garnett--so -full of fun and yet, underneath it all, as solid as a rock. If his -ranch were anywhere near the place they were going to, what good times -the four of them could have that winter! - -And how near she had come to losing it all;--to giving up and going -back East in that first summer of discouragement! In a flash of memory -she saw again Chris Garnett's steady eyes as he had looked down at her -that day on the train, heard the conviction in his voice as he told -her: "You'll stay!" - -Was it his standing by them in all their difficulties that had helped -his prophetic words come true? - -Suddenly, with a strange surprise she felt her cheeks burn and she bent -low over her work. - -"How soon are we going, Bobby?" she asked abruptly. - -"As soon as we can get ready. I suppose there's a week's work to do up -here first. Fortunately, Robinson says he'll take the pigs, butcher and -cure the meat and make the lard for one third. But we'll have to dig -vegetables, haul wood----" - -Harry merely smiled, but her turn came in the morning, when Rob found -that during his absence she had done virtually everything to get the -ranch ready for winter. "Great work, sis," he acknowledged, with a -broad smile. "Thanks to you we can get off to-morrow. That kind of help -is worth money." - -"Good! I'll take my pay in cattle," she answered gleefully. - -"Let me choose 'em back for you out of the herd before old skinflint's -starved 'em to death," Garnett suggested, whereat Rob exploded into -noisy laughter. - -Never had Harry seen Rob in such a mood. All through the day she heard -him and Garnett talking as they worked and every now and then breaking -into peals of laughter. - -Harry would not let herself dwell on the loss of her herd. It hurt her -to see them file out through the gate for the last time, to realize -that she must begin all over again, this time in the slow, plodding -way, to gather a bunch of stock. But, after all, she had had a valuable -experience and she had saved her land. - -She and Rob took turns driving the loaded wagon; for to her the best -of the trip was being in the saddle, helping to move the cattle. When -Harry was driving Isita rode Hike. So happy was the young girl in her -shy way, so naturally did she fit in with the plans and duties and -pleasures of the family, that Harry was deeply thankful for the chance -that had given this friend to her. - -Cattle travel slowly, and it was late on the third day when they got -down to the South Side. As they left behind the wild splendor of the -Snake River gorge and came into the level richness of the irrigation -country beyond, Harry grew silent. She was noticing everything: -the magnificent ranches one after another, the haystacks as big as -churches, the silos and the orchards, the grain elevators and the -handsome houses. They all meant wealth. Yet at the same time she was -missing their own mountains, their groves and streams, the wild and -solitary beauty that at first had seemed so harsh and unfriendly, but -which, by insensible degrees, while the rough homestead had grown into -the cherished Homestead Ranch she had learned to love and to think of -as "home." - -"You ain't likin' it real well, are you?" Garnett said suddenly as he -rode beside her. - -"That isn't what I was thinking," she answered slowly. "When I looked -at this I wondered how I had ever imagined that we could make a herd -pay up in the hills." - -"But that's exactly the place to make 'em pay. Didn't Ludlum prove -it when he tried to sneak your homestead away from you? That's the -grandest grazing country in Idaho. But no one ought to winter there. -You've got to come down here and feed your stock in this hay country. -That's the combination that makes these stockmen so disgustingly rich. -Sure." - -Harry laughed a little. "It wasn't so much the money," she said slowly. -"I wanted to do something worth while, something that counted. Oh, you -know: raise the finest beef; have everybody want my calves. I couldn't -bear the idea of farm drudgery and housework with nothing to look -forward to. Instead of that I made an awful mess of it, and no end of -trouble for Rob. And, after all, I've had to come round to his way in -the end." - -"Well, now, not just exactly that," Garnett objected, as he watched -the slow-moving line of cattle and tried to gauge the distance to the -gate of the ranch ahead of them. "It takes years to build up beef into -what you've planned, but you took a start, and there's a heap to that. -Your mistakes weren't wasted, either. They kept Rob movin' up front, -thinkin' quick, like he'd swallered pepper. Would he go back to raisin' -one calf on a bottle? Honest, now? And besides that look here. Didn't -you start me sittin' up and takin' notice of how I was lettin' the -grass grow under other fellows' feet for them to make hay of while I -was wastin' my time makin' it safe for them up in the reserve? Sure, -you did. But I'll tell you the rest and some more, too, after we get -these critters inside here. Hold 'em back, now, while I open the gate." - -"So this is the place," Harry said, when at last the cattle were inside -the pasture, the team put up, and the four of them, Rob, Garnett, Isita -and herself, were looking at everything. "I suppose the owner is no -more a skinflint, as you pretended, than that house is the tumble-down -cabin you tried to scare me with." - -She pointed to the roomy, well-built white cottage set in a little lawn -and fenced away from the farm by a neat paling. - -"Now that I've seen the place I'd certainly like to see the owner," she -announced to Rob as they walked on towards the house. "I suppose he's -here, isn't he, waiting to take over my herd?" - -"Here he is," announced Rob, trying hard to keep a serious face as he -took Garnett by the arm and led him forward. "Meet Miss Holliday, Mr. -Garnett. Shake hands with the gentleman, Miss Holliday." - -"Garnett!" Harry cried in astonishment. "You!" - -"That's right, give it to him proper, Sis," Rob called back as he went -off to look after the horses. - -Harry did not even hear him. With her brain in a whirl that was all -that she could find to say, but as she put her warm hand into his big -clasp her sparkling face told him better than words that the surprise -it gave her was not greater than the happiness. - -"How ever did it happen, though?" she asked presently. "I thought you -had sold all your hay." - -"I didn't sell any. Pablo, the renter I had here, sold my share; -leastwise gave Biane an option on it. Of course when Biane skipped, the -hay come back on my hands. I didn't know that when I left you up yonder -and come a-huntin' Rob. But I got a loan from the bank on my place -here, enough to pay up Ludlum and get us some hay back from Paplo for a -start." - -"But how are we going to pay you?" Harry interrupted. "A hundred tons -of hay at----" - -"Say, now," begged Garnett, "don't you go to figgerin'! When Biane -skipped the country, didn't that turn my hundred tons back on me? Well, -I guess. And what was I goin' to do with it when I hadn't a critter -of my own to feed, chiefly when I knew you folks was wearin' out the -roads huntin' hay?--And what's easier and doin' better for us all than -for Rob and me to feed together here on my ranch; and you, mebbe, -to cook for us once in a while,--and me to take my wages in calves -next spring,--or any old time like that; in case you took a notion to -feed here next winter,--and me to put mine in with yours, and all of -us graze together up to your homestead,--ranch that is, I mean, in -summer and--next winter,--next winter,--Aw! What's the use of all this -talkin'? It's all right, ain't it?" - -Red to his ears, the forest ranger clutched his hat with a hard hand -and stared down at the girl beside him, something unsaid held back in a -sudden spasm of shyness. - -Before Harry could answer the front door opened behind them and Isita, -who had been exploring by herself looked out. - -"Now that we're home, Miss Harry," she said, "couldn't I set the table -for supper? There's a beautiful set of china dishes in the cupboard." - -Harry turned to Garnett, the familiar roguish gleam in her face. "If I -am going to live here, Mr. Skinflint Garnett," she began lightly, "I'll -expect to use those dishes--" her voice trailed off, the bright, brave -scarlet swept into her face, then as swiftly fled. Garnett said not a -word. His eyes were on hers and in them was a look, a light. She had -seen it there before but now she understood what it meant. She tried -to take a steady breath, she hunted words,--"those dishes. Shall I -start breaking them in now?" - -Brave as the words were how her voice shook! - -"Say, Harry--" How queer and deep and soft Garnett's voice was. He had -thrown down his hat and stood there, shaking yet determined, his fists -clenched at his sides. "Harry?... You reckon you could----" - -"What, Chris?" The plunge of her heart was like the gallop of a -frightened colt. - -"--You reckon you could take me with 'em, with them dishes, break me in -with 'em for yours?... Little girl?" - -Her lips moved but no sound came from them. Yet he read her answer -in her eyes and it must have satisfied him because he bent his head -to hers and for an instant he held her. Then he took her hand. "Come -along. Let's take a look at the winter half of this Homestead Ranch of -ours." - - -THE END - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Homestead Ranch, by Elizabeth G. 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Young. - </title> - <link rel="coverpage" href="images/cover.jpg" /> - <style type="text/css"> - - p { margin-top: .75em; - text-align: justify; - margin-bottom: .75em; - } - - p.bold {text-align: center; font-weight: bold;} - p.bold2 {text-align: center; font-weight: bold; font-size: 150%;} - - h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { - text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ - clear: both; - } - h1 span, h2 span { display: block; text-align: center; } - #id1 { font-size: smaller } - - - hr { - width: 33%; - margin-top: 2em; - margin-bottom: 2em; - margin-left: 33.5%; - margin-right: 33.5%; - clear: both; - } - - body{margin-left: 10%; - margin-right: 10%; - } - - table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding: 5px; border-collapse: collapse; border: none; text-align: right;} - - .pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ - /* visibility: hidden; */ - position: absolute; - left: 92%; - font-size: smaller; - text-align: right; - text-indent: 0px; - } /* page numbers */ - - .center {text-align: center;} - .smaller {font-size: smaller;} - .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} - .mynote { background-color: #DDE; color: black; padding: .5em; margin-left: 20%; - margin-right: 20%; } /* colored box for notes at beginning of file */ - .space-above {margin-top: 3em;} - .right {text-align: right;} - .left {text-align: left;} - - </style> - </head> -<body> - - -<pre> - -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Homestead Ranch, by Elizabeth G. Young - -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/license - - -Title: Homestead Ranch - -Author: Elizabeth G. Young - -Release Date: October 6, 2020 [EBook #63389] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HOMESTEAD RANCH *** - - - - -Produced by D A Alexander, Martin Pettit and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This -file was produced from images generously made available -by The Internet Archive) - - - - - - -</pre> - - -<div class ="mynote"><p class="center">Transcriber's Note:<br /><br /> -Obvious typographic errors have been corrected.<br /><br /> -A Table of Contents has been added.<br /></p></div> - -<hr /> - -<div class="center"><img src="images/front.jpg" alt="front" /></div> - -<hr /> - -<h1>HOMESTEAD RANCH</h1> - -<hr /> - -<div class="center"><img src="images/frontispiece.jpg" alt="IT'S TOUGH THE FIRST TIME" /></div> - -<p class="bold">"TIRED?" HE ASKED. "IT'S TOUGH THE FIRST TIME YOU COME -OVER THIS TRAIL."</p> - -<hr /> - -<div class="center"><img src="images/title.jpg" alt="title page" /></div> - -<hr /> - -<p class="bold2">HOMESTEAD RANCH</p> - -<p class="bold space-above">BY</p> - -<p class="bold2">ELIZABETH G. YOUNG</p> - -<div class="center space-above"><img src="images/logo.jpg" alt="logo" /></div> - -<p class="bold space-above">D. APPLETON AND COMPANY<br />NEW YORK : : LONDON : : MCMXXIII</p> - -<hr /> - -<p class="center">COPYRIGHT, 1922, BY<br />D. APPLETON AND COMPANY</p> - -<p class="center space-above">Copyright, 1915, 1919, by Perry Mason Company<br /> -PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA</p> - -<hr /> - -<p class="center">TO<br /><br />MARY TRACY HORNE<br /><br /> -KINDEST OF CRITICS<br />AND<br />WISEST OF FRIENDS</p> - -<hr /> - -<h2><span>CONTENTS</span></h2> - -<table summary="CONTENTS"> - <tr> - <td></td> - <td><span class="smaller">PAGE</span></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="left">CHAPTER I</td> - <td><a href="#Page_1">1</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="left">CHAPTER II</td> - <td><a href="#Page_20">20</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="left">CHAPTER III</td> - <td><a href="#Page_33">33</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="left">CHAPTER IV</td> - <td><a href="#Page_46">46</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="left">CHAPTER V</td> - <td><a href="#Page_58">58</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="left">CHAPTER VI</td> - <td><a href="#Page_68">68</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="left">CHAPTER VII</td> - <td><a href="#Page_83">83</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="left">CHAPTER VIII</td> - <td><a href="#Page_96">96</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="left">CHAPTER IX</td> - <td><a href="#Page_107">107</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="left">CHAPTER X</td> - <td><a href="#Page_122">122</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="left">CHAPTER XI</td> - <td><a href="#Page_135">135</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="left">CHAPTER XII</td> - <td><a href="#Page_155">155</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="left">CHAPTER XIII</td> - <td><a href="#Page_166">166</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="left">CHAPTER XIV</td> - <td><a href="#Page_179">179</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="left">CHAPTER XV</td> - <td><a href="#Page_193">193</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="left">CHAPTER XVI</td> - <td><a href="#Page_205">205</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="left">CHAPTER XVII</td> - <td><a href="#Page_216">216</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="left">CHAPTER XVIII</td> - <td><a href="#Page_231">231</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="left">CHAPTER XIX</td> - <td><a href="#Page_245">245</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="left">CHAPTER XX</td> - <td><a href="#Page_258">258</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="left">CHAPTER XXI</td> - <td><a href="#Page_271">271</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="left">CHAPTER XXII</td> - <td><a href="#Page_283">283</a></td> - </tr> -</table> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p> - -<p class="bold2">HOMESTEAD RANCH</p> - -<h2>CHAPTER I</h2> - -<p>Now that the train had crossed the Rocky Mountains, most of the -passengers in the tourist car were becoming bored and restless. The -scenery was less absorbing; there was so much of it that even its -magnificence had begun to pall! Yet Harriet Holliday was still deeply -interested in everything. There were now only a few hours between her -and her destination, and she had begun to look at the solitary ranches, -wondering whether her brother's would look like them.</p> - -<p>The train was passing across a seemingly endless desert, through ranges -of hills without a sign of life, without water, grass or trees to -break the monotony of sand and sagebrush. Once in a great while there -appeared a row of buildings that, Harriet decided, must be a town—a -few boxlike stores, a hotel with an imposing cement block front, a -straggling line of cabins, some turf-roofed huts, some tents—then -abruptly the gray solitude of the desert came into view once more.</p> - -<p>Harriet thought of the clustering villages along the Connecticut -shore—the white-and-green houses sheltered by elms, the church spire -on the hill. Home seemed suddenly unutterably far away. A queer ache<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span> -surged up in her throat. She felt not only endlessly far in miles from -home, but in time, too—as if she had left the year 1912 behind her and -come somehow into the vanished days of the first pioneers. To keep back -the tears she glanced hastily up and down the car at the people who for -several days had been her companions and nearly all of whom had given -her glowing accounts of "the West."</p> - -<p>A different promise had lured each, and each promise seemed golden. -One family had sold the railroad shares from which they had drawn an -income and had bought an apple orchard in Oregon. An old couple were on -their way to California to invest in an orange grove. A newly married -pair were on their way to a timber claim in Washington. A young public -school teacher had given up a good position in Chicago to take a -district school in Montana where she could homestead. Oddly enough, not -one of those to whom Harriet had spoken so far was expecting to settle -in Idaho.</p> - -<p>Her roving glance came back along the seats. Just in front of her sat -a broad-shouldered young fellow, staring out of the window. Harriet -could see the boyish curve of his tanned cheek, his freckled nose and -his light brown hair. Until this moment she had not set eyes on this -young man. He must have got on at Ogden. While she was looking at him -he turned and met her inquiring brown eyes with a pair of steady blue -ones. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span></p> - -<p>"This is Idaho," he said.</p> - -<p>Then he blushed all over his tanned face. He had spoken as if the -barren ranges had been mountains of gold, the gray sagebrush desert a -vista of lakes and forests and gardens.</p> - -<p>Harriet smiled. "Thank you," she said. "I'm glad to know." She was -silent a moment; then, curiosity overcoming her reserve, she asked, -"Have you any idea how much farther it is to Shoshone?"</p> - -<p>"Say! You getting off there? It's the next stop." His blue eyes flashed -when Harriet said she was, and he went on: "Homesteaders are coming in -like rabbits round a haystack. If you're going to take up land you're -wise to come now, before the best of it is all filed on."</p> - -<p>"Oh, I'm not going to settle," Harriet protested. "I've been teaching -but I have to rest my eyes so I've come out to visit my brother. He has -a ranch."</p> - -<p>"You'll stay though! I'm just back from Chicago. Took a bunch of -cattle. I stayed East two months. Thought I'd like it. Not much! I'm -glad I've hit the brush once more." His glance went to the window and -seemed to feast hungrily on the gray plains.</p> - -<p>Harriet looked out too, trying to see what he could find that lured him.</p> - -<p>"You don't know where your brother's homestead is, do you?" he asked. -"There are two districts that fellows are coming into; one south of -those foothills yonder, the other on Camas Prairie." </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span></p> - -<p>"Yes. That's it, Camas Prairie. He sent me pictures of it. Here's one." -She had been looking at the photographs a few moments before and drew -it from her handbag.</p> - -<p>"Well, what do you know about that!" the young fellow exclaimed as he -glanced at the three pictures. "That's Sage Hen Springs, all right. -There's the big quakin' asp that marks the section line. It's a -landmark for all cattle men coming across the prairie."</p> - -<p>He laughed to himself as he handed back the pictures. "I was just -wondering what Joyce'll say when he finds some one has filed there. -He's a sheepman and he's used that glen there for a lambing place for -years. He's been meaning to put a man on there for two years anyhow. -Yes, sir, I'll bet he's mad when he finds he's lost it."</p> - -<p>"Isn't there some other place near by?"</p> - -<p>"No, ma'am. That's just it. Water is mighty scarce in these hills -anyhow, and Joyce knows the sheep have to have it."</p> - -<p>"It's funny that he never took a homestead, living out here so long."</p> - -<p>"Oh...." The young fellow hesitated. "He's got one," he said slowly, -"but he needs a whole lot more than that."</p> - -<p>"But I thought a man could only homestead once," Harriet said in -surprise.</p> - -<p>"That's right. But there's ways of crawling through<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span> the fence when the -gate's shut. I shouldn't wonder but he'll try to buy your brother out."</p> - -<p>"Oh, Rob would never sell! He's going to raise cattle!"</p> - -<p>"That's good money, all right; but if Joyce wants that water hole as -bad as I reckon he does, he'll put up a bunch of money for it. Well," -he added, glancing out, "we're pretty near there."</p> - -<p>Harriet began to collect her luggage and the young man rose. "My name's -Garnett," he said hesitatingly. "Maybe we'll meet up on the prairie."</p> - -<p>"Oh, I hope so," Harriet said smiling, and held out her hand.</p> - -<p>As the train pulled into the station she looked eagerly among the crowd -waiting on the platform, but did not see her brother. She had stepped -down upon the cindery track and was wondering what she had better do -when a voice exclaimed, "Hello, sis! Got here safely, did you?"</p> - -<p>"Bobs!" Harriet turned quickly and then faltered. She had expected to -find a slim, pale boy, wearing glasses and very fastidious about his -collars and neckties. She was facing a big, sunbrowned man without -glasses, who wore overalls, a gray flannel shirt, a sheepskin vest and -huge laced boots; but he was smiling and he gripped her arm and kissed -her.</p> - -<p>"Bobs!" she cried. "I didn't know you."</p> - -<p>"Don't worry," Rob told her. "You won't know yourself either in six -weeks. Let's see. Got your<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span> traps? We'll go right over to Kenny's. -Supper'll be ready as soon as you've washed the cinders out of your -eyes. I've been so busy loading up for the ranch that I almost forgot -to meet the train."</p> - -<p>"Kenny's," the old hotel of the cattle days before there had been a -town, stood just across the street, and every one who had left the -train appeared to be going there for supper. When Harriet and Rob went -in, a circle of miners, ranchers, sheep herders and cattle men had -already gathered around the big office stove. They were gossiping in a -cloud of tobacco smoke; another group hung over the clerk's desk.</p> - -<p>Among them moved a big, red-cheeked woman, the hotel-keeper's wife. She -nodded to Rob. "How do, Mr. Holliday? Your sister's come, I see."</p> - -<p>As Rob introduced Harriet to Mrs. Kenny, the good-hearted Irishwoman -held out her hand with words of welcome.</p> - -<p>The big dining room was rigorously clean; the oilclothed floor almost -reflected the electric lights; plates and glasses shone; two trim -young women waited on the guests. But the guests themselves! They -were all men, dressed in what Harriet mentally called "workmen's -clothes"—overalls, flannel shirts, corduroy trousers, vests, but no -coats. Unshaved, weatherbeaten, scarred and lined by hard experience, -these men seemed as rough and repellent to the dainty, carefully reared -girl as the mountains of this stranger land. As she<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span> was eating her -supper, taking furtive glances down the long table, she heard a voice -at her shoulder and saw Rob turn to speak to an old man.</p> - -<p>"Axcuse me, Holliday, but it's just a worrud I'm wantin' wit' yourself."</p> - -<p>Harriet saw beside her a little, bent old man; his legs were bowed from -a life in the saddle and his neck was tanned and wrinkled from years of -weathering. He wore a much mended flannel shirt, a drooping vest, and -short overalls that revealed gray socks and congress gaiters much run -down at heel. Harriet thought that, except for his merry, honest face, -he looked very much like a tramp.</p> - -<p>She was rather surprised when her brother introduced the old man to -her. After greeting her cordially he went on to explain to Rob that he -had not, after all, a fresh cow in the herd good enough to sell for a -milk cow, but that he would send out the heifers he had promised and a -cow that would be fresh in the fall. Then he turned to Harriet, wished -her "good luck" and moved away.</p> - -<p>"Rob, do all the cowboys dress in that—well, shabby sort of way?" -Harriet asked as she and her brother left the dining room together.</p> - -<p>"So that's what you didn't like!" said Rob. "Dan Brannan isn't a cowboy -though. He's one of the richest cattle men around here. Worth over a -hundred thousand, I've heard. That's why he can afford to wear old -clothes."</p> - -<p>"He might at least be neat." </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span></p> - -<p>Rob laughed. "I'll remind you of that some day about two months from -now, when you've quit wearing starched shirtwaists."</p> - -<p>As they were to start for the ranch early in the morning, they went to -bed soon after supper. Harriet fell asleep at once and did not wake -until a sharp tattoo rattled on her door.</p> - -<p>"Roll out, sis," Rob was calling, "nearly six and we want to hit the -trail by seven."</p> - -<p>When Harriet came down into the office, she found it thronged, and -humming with suppressed excitement.</p> - -<p>"The sheriff has just come into town with two horse thieves," Rob -explained. "They rounded 'em up on the Malade river, just above here, -with a string of ponies. Another of the fellows got away after wounding -one of the sheriff's men. It must be cold hiding out in the foothills -this time of year. Well, let's eat and move on. We want to make the -Hyslop ranch before dark."</p> - -<p>As they stepped out into the street after breakfast Harriet shivered. -"It's cold at night in the mountains all right," Bob admitted, "but -it's hot enough as soon as the sun gets up. You'll see."</p> - -<p>Turning the corner to the livery stable he stopped and pointed to a new -farm wagon, ready loaded. "That's ours. You get up while I hitch and -we'll be off in a jiffy."</p> - -<p>Harriet stared at the wagon in dismay. The sloping roof of canvas -that was roped over the load looked to her as insurmountable as one -of the snow-covered peaks<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span> the train had passed. The wagon seat had -been lifted from the sockets and was balanced on top of a bale of hay. -Several reels of barbed wire, a plow and her trunk gave Harriet a hint -of what company she might find herself in if the wagon should roll into -the ditch.</p> - -<p>She managed, however, to get aboard. While she was watching her brother -hitch the team, a clatter of hoofs made them both look up.</p> - -<p>"Why, hello, Jones!" Rob exclaimed. "When did you get in?"</p> - -<p>"Oh, a day or two ago."</p> - -<p>The man on horseback was small, slim and dark. A felt hat shaded his -eyes. He glanced at Harriet and said quick and low to Rob:</p> - -<p>"Can I speak to you?"</p> - -<p>Rob went across the road. The man on horseback leaned forward and began -to talk rapidly.</p> - -<p>Harriet turned her face away, but now and then she caught a word, a -sentence: "if they get onto me," "my brand," "keep it quiet as you -can," "I wouldn't say anything at all." And then in a natural tone the -stranger said suddenly, "Well, see you later," and rode off.</p> - -<p>Rob came back, finished hitching, climbed into the wagon and they -started. Harriet expected her brother to say something about the -mysterious young man; but although Rob began almost at once to talk, -asking all about their father and mother and the life at home since he -had left and speaking freely about his own experiences through the past -four years, he said nothing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> at all about the stranger. Harriet was -unable to restrain her curiosity.</p> - -<p>"Was that a cowboy, Rob?" she asked.</p> - -<p>"Who?"</p> - -<p>"I mean that man on horseback who was talking to you."</p> - -<p>"Oh! That?" Rob hesitated. "Jones, you mean? He's a fellow I've met. He -has some horses he wants me to take care of for a while." He stopped, -then after a moment added, "If any one asks when I'm not home, just say -I'm boarding them for a fellow." He stopped and after a few moment's -silence began talking of other things.</p> - -<p>There was so much to see and so many questions to ask that Harriet soon -forgot about Jones. They were passing through one of the irrigation -tracts which marked the new development of the West. Wherever the -sagebrush had been cleared from a new piece of land, lay the smooth, -level acres: wheat, pasture, young orchard or stubble. The fields -were all of one size and were intersected squarely by the irrigation -ditches. The barns and dwellings of these ranches were always near the -road. Built of new unpainted boards, and unshielded by trees, they -glared crudely in the blazing sunshine.</p> - -<p>"Pretty good-looking ranches some of these fellows have," observed Rob, -nodding toward a forty-acre stretch of young rye, green and flat as a -billiard table.</p> - -<p>"But how ugly the houses are! And so small!" </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span></p> - -<p>"You've got your ideas cut to fit the regulation New England colonial -mansion, that's all. When I can afford a shack like that,—" he pointed -to the two-room cabin they were passing, "I'll think I'm rich."</p> - -<p>"Bobby! The idea. Why, what do you live in now?"</p> - -<p>"A tent. I only filed on my homestead this spring, you know, and -haven't had time to build. All last winter I was working for wages, -feeding cattle for Dan Brannan, getting a line on feeding my own—and -ever since I came in on to my land this spring after the break-up I've -been so busy getting my springs fenced that I haven't had time to sleep -scarcely. You can live in a tent for a while, can't you?"</p> - -<p>"Why, of course!" Harriet hesitated, not wanting to hurt her brother's -feelings by being too critical. "But where do you keep the food and -such things? Is it safe to go away like this and leave it all open?"</p> - -<p>"Sure. Who'd steal a few blankets and grub? My nearest neighbor is -eight miles away and nobody much passes except cow punchers and -sheepmen and they're honest, generally speaking."</p> - -<p>Harriet was silent a moment, slowly putting this picture in place of -the one imagination had painted. "But won't the cows and sheep get into -the garden, spoil the hay or something?"</p> - -<p>Over Rob's sunburned face came an embarrassed smile. "Sorry to say -there isn't any garden—yet."</p> - -<p>"Oh!... Then you haven't a real farm?" </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span></p> - -<p>"No, indeed. Not what Easterners would call a farm, but it's worth a -lot. It's this way. You see those hills we're climbing up to? Well, -my place is over on the other side of them, a quarter section of -government land that looks about like this; covered with sagebrush -and bunch grass, but I've got some good springs. That's what makes -my land worth something. There are thousands of acres of government -land like this open to homesteaders, but worthless because there's no -water. So the man who owns water, by fencing it, keeps stock away and -controls the range near him. All this government land is free pasture; -but it's no good without water. There is water—small springs and -streams—scattered through the hills, enough to keep a little place, -forty acres or so. Those are what people from the East keep coming in -and taking up. Men will homestead so long as they can find water, for -there's plenty of good land."</p> - -<p>"I see," Harriet said slowly, gazing ahead over the interminable miles -of gray-green brush and bright, new, wild grass to the jagged, black -lava summit of the foothills. "But why didn't you take some land down -here?" she asked, with a gesture toward the green-and-gold oasis made -by the irrigated land around them.</p> - -<p>"Oh, this costs more. The land is cheap but the irrigation water is -brought in and you have to pay a lot for that. Besides, this isn't a -stock country and that's what I'm after. A fellow ought to make good -with all that free range."</p> - -<p>Harriet made no answer and for several minutes<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span> they rode in silence, -the creak of the wagon suggesting many things.</p> - -<p>"I meant to tell you all this when I wrote to you," Rob began abruptly. -"But honestly, Harry, there was so much that was more important to -say that I forgot about the tent and how many miles to the next ranch -and so on. I'm so used to living that way that I didn't realize how -you might take it. As soon as mother wrote about your eyes, and how -discouraged you were at having to give up teaching, I sat down and -wrote right off the bat for you to come. It seemed as if it would be -the real thing to have you out here this first year on the place. -It'll be more like camping than farming. I can't raise a crop until -the land's cleared and we ought to get time for lots of fishing and -shooting trips up into the Sawtooth forest. The climate is great—not a -drop of rain for months at a time. You'll like it, I'm sure. Still, if -you don't you can go back any time."</p> - -<p>"Of course I'll like it," Harriet, or "Harry," as Rob had always called -her, said hurriedly, for she had caught the note of disappointment -in her brother's voice and felt a prick of self-reproach at being -so critical when Rob had thought only of the benefit to her and the -happiness it would be for both of them at being together again.</p> - -<p>Although Rob was five years older than his sister they had always been -chums through childhood, had written to each other regularly while they -were away at separate schools and had never lost interest in each<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span> -other's work. As soon as Rob had decided to stay in the West he had -looked forward to having Harry come out to live with him.</p> - -<p>As the morning passed the sun grew hot on their backs. Harry took off -her coat and wished for a parasol. Rob with his hat over his eyes -slouched forward comfortably and gave his attention to the team. "Rock! -Move up there," he ordered. "Get out of that, you! Hit the collar, -there, Rye! Keep in the road!"</p> - -<p>The last few days of travel had tired Harry more than she realized -and now the slow motion of the wagon and the unbroken silence of the -desert proved very restful to her. The green of budding sage, of buck -brush and rabbit brush and new bunch grass melted into a soft mantle -spreading over the world as far as she could see. At long intervals -they passed immense flocks of sheep scattered through the brush and -among the rocky buttes.</p> - -<p>"Who takes care of them?" Harry asked. "I should think their owners -would be afraid to leave so many alone."</p> - -<p>"They're being taken care of. See that tent up there?" Rob pointed to -a patch of white canvas a mile away. "The Mex brings the band out to -their feed ground early in the morning, leaves the dogs on guard and -then goes back to his tent and sleeps half the day. He won't have to -bother with the sheep until it's time to move them to their bedding -ground for the night."</p> - -<p>"What's a 'Mex'?" </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span></p> - -<p>"Oh, short for Mexican. So many of the sheep herders are Mexicans and -Bascoes nowadays that people call them all 'Mexes.' That stick up -there with the rag on it marks the line between his range and the next -herder's and neither of them can cross it to feed. The sheep are all on -their way to the reserve now, in the mountains on the other side of the -prairie. They stay here in the foothills as long as the grass lasts, -then work north. That's when our trouble begins. I expect they'll -bother us a lot, since I haven't finished fencing."</p> - -<p>"Why, I thought you said you had fenced," Harry exclaimed.</p> - -<p>"Just the main springs. Not the whole hundred and sixty acres."</p> - -<p>"It must be hard to tell where your land begins and ends," Harry -laughed thoughtlessly.</p> - -<p>"Oh, I guess I know what's mine," Rob said rather dryly. "It takes -considerable wire and posts to get around that much land and money to -buy 'em. I had to work like a steer this winter so as to have some cash -to put into the place. To comply with the homestead law I've got to -have a house built before next winter and clear and plow just so much -land. Besides the glen that's fenced, there's two miles of fencing -and cross fencing for corral and garden. I'll have to work outside -for wages too, to get my feed for next winter; hay and grain for the -critters and groceries for you and me."</p> - -<p>As he told off the items slowly in a matter-of-course way, Harry -realized what a big thing it was he had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span> undertaken. Although he had -joked about it, she knew he did not consider it a small one by any -means, and for a time she felt not only disappointed by the contrast to -what she had expected, but vaguely oppressed.</p> - -<p>There was too much else to think of, however, to brood over that. As -the day waned they climbed steadily higher. The road became rougher. -Often Harriet held her breath as the horses scrambled over a lava -ridge, lurched down into a wallow of mud and struggled out only to -strike a worse spot farther on. At the top of each rise Rob paused to -breathe the team. Several times he and Harriet got down and walked -beside the wagon.</p> - -<p>"Tired?" he asked. "It's tough the first time you come over this trail, -but you'll get used to it."</p> - -<p>"I don't mean to travel it often enough."</p> - -<p>"You may have to," Rob warned her. "When I'm too busy to go to town -I'll send you."</p> - -<p>Harry looked back at the rough trail and laughed. "As if I'd travel -this rough road alone!"</p> - -<p>It was after six o'clock when they topped the last rise and, saw -ahead in the shadow of the great caņon walls the string of buildings, -haystacks and corrals of the Hyslop ranch.</p> - -<p>"We'll camp here, outside the fence," Rob said, as he turned off into -the brush and pulled up beside the stream flowing from a fissure in the -caņon wall.</p> - -<p>It was growing colder now, a dry, clear cold that stirred Harriet's -blood and made her realize how hungry<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span> she was. While Rob unhitched and -fed the team she gathered dry sticks for the fire.</p> - -<p>Soon coffee, bacon, and canned beans were on the fire, and, with tin -plates in their hands, the two hungry travelers sat down with sighs -of anticipation. Harry had taken a first mouthful, when suddenly she -pointed. "Look! What is it?"</p> - -<p>Rob turned, and saw in the darkness the gleam of yellow eyes. "A -coyote!" he exclaimed, overturning his plate as he scrambled to his -feet. "If only I had my rifle with me now!"</p> - -<p>He snatched up a bit of blazing sagebrush to fling at the animal, -which, oddly enough, had not fled.</p> - -<p>"Why, it's a dog!" Harry cried suddenly.</p> - -<p>Trembling with fear, yet unable to resist the smell of food, the little -animal crawled forward until he was close to the fire.</p> - -<p>"It's starved, that's what's the matter," declared Harry, who had put -down her plate and was coaxing the dog close enough to pat it. "Just -feel his poor bones. And look at his foot, too. He's been beaten nearly -to death."</p> - -<p>"He's hardly more than a puppy. He must belong to some of these herders -round here. Brutes some of 'em are. I've heard they'll beat a dog to -death if they get mad at him. And they'd even tie up a horse without -food or water all day and night. You'd better turn him loose, Harry. If -he should belong to a 'Mex' the fellow'll be around after him."</p> - -<p>"I'll wait till he comes." </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span></p> - -<p>She put down a plate of food for the dog who devoured it with mad -hunger. Then he crawled into the shelter of the canvas which Rob had -let down beside the wagon as a windbreak, and lay there until supper -was finished and the beds unrolled. When Harry lay down in her roll of -quilts, the little, black, sheep dog crept up beside her.</p> - -<p>"You dear thing," she murmured. "Whoever owned you didn't deserve to, -and I'm going to keep you."</p> - -<p>For a few moments she was conscious of her strange, new surroundings: -the caņon walls, thousands of stars above her, the monotone of the -stream. The next she knew daylight was pouring into the caņon, Rob was -cutting brush for the fire and the black puppy, shivering silently, was -watching her with one eye.</p> - -<p>Harry reached out and drew him up beside her. "I'm certainly going to -keep you, you little black rascal. You're as black as Othello. There! -That's your name."</p> - -<p>After breakfast when they were ready to start she lifted the dog up -into the wagon. "He can ride, can't he, Bobs?"</p> - -<p>Rob smiled but answered gravely: "Honestly, I'd turn him loose, Harry. -If you want a dog I'll get you one, in fact we'll have to have one to -work for us. But it's risky picking up one that may belong to some -crazy sheep herder. You don't realize what these fellows are. Nearly -every one of them is off his nut from living alone, and if they do get -a notion you're<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> trying to do them out of anything, like as not they'll -have it in for you."</p> - -<p>"Oh, Bobs! Please don't make me leave him," Harry begged. "See him look -at me."</p> - -<p>"All right. But don't get scared when some 'Mex' begins to look at him."</p> - -<p>"Scared! Just refer any one that wants him to me."</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span></p> - -<h2>CHAPTER II</h2> - -<p>After leaving the caņon where they had camped, Rob and Harriet drove -through a region of utter desolation. The road wound about among crags -and needles of granite that rose high into the air. Then came the -flats—a stretch of meadow that lay sunken between the north and south -watersheds—and after that a sharp plunge down a narrow trail cut in -the face of the mountain to the bottom of Spring Creek caņon.</p> - -<p>The snow-swollen stream filled most of the narrow floor of the caņon; -the road was a succession of mudholes through which Rob forced the -struggling horses. A thick wall of willows along the stream kept the -travelers from seeing more than a few feet ahead; the gray walls of -the gorge shut off the sunlight and echoed noisily to the shouting -creek. To Harry that ride up the caņon was a nightmare of terrifying -suspense. Then abruptly it ended; they were out on level ground, -sunshine streamed along the valley below them, and across the prairie -the Sawtooth Mountains stood shoulder to shoulder, with their summits -radiant in the snowy splendor.</p> - -<p>"At last!" sighed Harry.</p> - -<p>"Not quite," Rob answered. "We go up a little before we reach the -ranch. It's on the bench, close to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span> the hills—not on the prairie down -there. It's only five miles more."</p> - -<p>Turning eastward presently, the road wound along the base of the hills, -which were very low here, with only an occasional steep butte jutting -out from the range. On the other side the ground fell away gradually to -the prairie floor, which was brilliant with its hundreds of acres of -young grain, plowed land, pasture, and sagebrush. Harriet was gazing -down at the plains, when Rob's voice made her look around sharply.</p> - -<p>"There! Now you can see the ranch."</p> - -<p>"Trees!" she exclaimed.</p> - -<p>"Yes, the only big grove of quaking asp left on this side of the -prairie. Every one round here knows that big fellow at the top. There's -a real stream, too. With those for a starter it won't take us long to -make a home."</p> - -<p>There was a new note in Rob's voice—something more than the boyish -kindness that had made him so lovable a chum. For a moment Harriet felt -very far from him. Then a wave of nobler feeling swept over her. Of -course Rob was absorbed in his homestead. Who would not be—owner of -160 acres, and master of his own toil?</p> - -<p>Soon Rob left the road and drove through the brush along the edge of -a wet, green meadow toward the caņon that opened out from the hills. -Along the steep slopes of the hill, trees meandered, and down the caņon -a mountain stream came gushing. At the upper edge of the meadow Rob -drew up, unhitched the horses, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span> pitched the tent in the shelter of -a spreading clump of willows.</p> - -<p class="space-above">Two weeks later, Harry was standing in the tent, deep in a struggle -with her first pie. The cookbook was propped open before her on the -plank table, on which cups, spoons, and plates were scattered in -profusion.</p> - -<p>"Bobs, is that you?" she called, as she heard footsteps outside. "Do -look here! This pie crust is such a mess!"</p> - -<p>She had arrived at a point where she needed encouragement. The morning -was passing; the tent was very hot; flies swarmed everywhere, and her -dough-covered hands could not grasp and tuck away the refractory curl -that was tickling the end of her nose.</p> - -<p>"If you want pies," she went on, "you'd better send for one of your -cowboy cooks to come and make them. I can't."</p> - -<p>"Excuse me, ma'am. Can I help?"</p> - -<p>At the sound of the strange voice Harriet turned, dismayed. In the -doorway of the tent stood a dark, slender man eying her questioningly. -In his khaki shirt, scarlet neckerchief, silver-trimmed leather "chaps" -and broad-brimmed hat he was all that Harry had imagined a cowboy -should be. There was something familiar to her in his dark-eyed face; -and when he said, "Is Mr. Holliday here? I'm fetching in a bunch of -colts—Jones is my name," she remembered at once. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span></p> - -<p>"Mr. Holliday is not here, but please come in, Mr. Jones," she said. "I -am his sister."</p> - -<p>Jones came into the tent and sat down on a cracker box near the door.</p> - -<p>"How do you like Idaho?" he asked.</p> - -<p>"I'd like it better if I'd learned to make pies before I came," Harry -replied, with a rueful glance at her sticky hands. "Rob has told me -how well all the men out in this country can cook. It makes me feel -so stupid not to be able to. Rob has tried to show me how to make -sour-dough bread and stew frijole beans—with red peppers and garlic, -you know. Aren't they awful? Rob likes them, though."</p> - -<p>"They ain't so bad," said Jones gravely, turning his hat in his hands -and glancing oddly at the girl from under his eyebrows.</p> - -<p>"Well, maybe not, when you're very, very hungry. I can manage to cook -<i>them</i>, but pie—look at it!" She viciously prodded the glistening, -sticky paste. "I guess I'll just throw it away and start fresh."</p> - -<p>"Oh, I wouldn't waste it! Ain't you got it a little wet, mebbe?"</p> - -<p>"Is that it? What must I do? I'm sure you are laughing in your sleeve -at me."</p> - -<p>"Not much. I remember what an all-fired mess I had layin' round when I -first waded into pie makin'. But now if I was you and you told me to -turn that there into hot bread and take a new layout for the pie, I -reckon I'd try it."</p> - -<p>"Thank you!" Harry laughed. "If I were you,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span> Mr. Jones, and you were -I, and I saw you in this fix, do you know what I'd do? Offer to show -me—you—how to do it."</p> - -<p>With a smile, Jones laid his hat under the table, dipped some water -into the hand basin, washed his hands, and came over to the table.</p> - -<p>"I'll grease the pans," Harry said. "The apples are ready. And there! I -forgot all about the fire. This business of putting in wood every five -minutes——"</p> - -<p>She put wood into the stove, filled the kettle, stirred the beans, and -greased the pans; all the while she watched the new cook as he worked.</p> - -<p>"I'd rather organize a fresh batch of dough," he said apologetically. -"Makin' it over would be like tryin' to make a cow pony out of a cayuse -that's been half broke to a buggy."</p> - -<p>In a few minutes he had the pie pans lined, and looked about him for -the filling. "Apples, you said, didn't you?"</p> - -<p>Harry pointed to a basin overflowing with dried fruit that she had -soaked but had not cooked. "Those are the apples I meant to use."</p> - -<p>Jones hesitated and grinned. "You wasn't cal'latin' to make them into a -pie without bilin' 'em first? It'd be like chewin' on gun waddin! Ain't -you got no canned goods?"</p> - -<p>From the pile of groceries, dishes, chicken feed, and bedding that Rob -had dumped into a corner until he could find time to put up shelves, -Harry produced a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span> can of peaches. "This place is in the worst mess," -she declared. "We've been here just about two weeks, and Rob is so busy -getting post holes dug while the ground is soft that he hasn't time -even to think how we live."</p> - -<p>"A homesteader has to think of his critters first. Did you say you had -the garlic in those beans? They'd ought to bile some smarter if they're -for dinner."</p> - -<p>When Rob came home at noon, tired, hungry, and expecting a meal of -soggy bread and experimental beans, he found dinner waiting for him; -the open oven door revealed delicious brown biscuits and an odorous -pie. Harry, cool and calm, was setting the table.</p> - -<p>"So you got here at last, did you?" Rob said in greeting to Jones.</p> - -<p>"Yes, but it's a wonder," Jones replied. "The road's so crooked comin' -through the hills that a fellow meets hisself comin' back three times -on the way over."</p> - -<p>"Did you bring in the horses?"</p> - -<p>"Sure. I've got 'em in those trees up yonder. Thought I'd better see -you before I put 'em in the corral." He shot a quick glance at Rob.</p> - -<p>"No, you don't want 'em there. I've got the glen fenced. There are so -many trees in there that it will be cool and protected for the colts, -too. Well, let's have dinner, sis; I'm hungry enough to chew nails."</p> - -<p>"You'll have just time to wash while I'm dishing up," Harry reminded -him.</p> - -<p>She had taken pains to set the table attractively—with clean napkins -from her little store of linen, with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span> the butter on butter plates, and -with a glass of water at each place.</p> - -<p>After much splashing outside, Rob reappeared. "Now for grub!" he -exclaimed, slumping down on the cracker box. "Come along!" he cried to -Jones, who, standing before the looking-glass, was carefully parting -his glossy black hair. "Your top's all right."</p> - -<p>"You certainly didn't bother to brush yours," Harry said, with a glance -at Rob's wet and rumpled hair.</p> - -<p>"Oh, it'll do!" Rob hastily smacked his hair flat. "Come along, Jones. -That's the trouble with these Western financiers," he added in a loud -aside to Harry. "They think too much of their looks." He glanced round -the table. "This all the beans you've got, sis?" he asked, eying -apprehensively the small dish in which Harry had served the beans.</p> - -<p>"No." Harry pointed to the saucepan on the stove.</p> - -<p>"Ah! Good work. Beans, Jones? Sure." Rob ladled out huge platefuls for -Harry and Jones, swung the saucepan from the stove to the table, helped -himself generously, and then calmly set the saucepan down on his clean -napkin. "Now, a little condensed milk for the coffee," he said, "then -hoist anchor and away."</p> - -<p>"I'll have to open a fresh can," Harry said, jumping up. "I threw out -the other."</p> - -<p>As she went to get it, she failed to see her brother's eyebrows lift in -surprise. He said nothing, however, and devoured his dinner hungrily.</p> - -<p>"Sis couldn't even turn a flapjack when she first came out," he said to -Jones as between them they <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span>demolished beans and biscuits. "Never mind, -sis, you've earned your salt teaching, and if you keep on like this -you'll soon be worth your salt to <i>me</i>."</p> - -<p>He winked teasingly, cheerfully unconscious of the fact that Harry's -cheeks were flaming with annoyance. Just when Rob should have been -nicest, before a stranger, he was particularly horrid!</p> - -<p>In a very cold and dignified manner she disclaimed credit for the pie -and biscuits, but Rob was so busy eating that he did not notice the -reproof in her voice. As soon as dinner was over he got up, reached for -his hat, and said, "Come on, Jones, let's go up to the glen."</p> - -<p>They stepped outside the tent. Harry heard Rob say in a low voice, -"I've been looking for you this long while. Have any trouble getting -through?"</p> - -<p>"Not much. I didn't give any one a chance to ask questions."</p> - -<p>She heard no more and was soon thinking about other things—chiefly -about how Rob had changed since coming West. She washed the dishes, -straightened up the tent, and was just hanging up her apron, when she -heard the men coming back, still talking earnestly.</p> - -<p>"It's the only way," Rob was saying. "You can't be sure that these -fellows will not find out; and if you can say that—see?"</p> - -<p>The next moment they entered the tent. "Where's the ink, Harry?" he -asked. As she went to her trunk, he added, "Give us a sheet of paper, -too. That's it. Let's go outside, Jones; it's cooler there."</p> - -<p>They sat down on the shady side of the tent. Harry<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span> heard them talking -long and low. After a while Rob came inside, put down the pen and ink, -and went out again. Shortly afterward, Jones rode away.</p> - -<p>Harry waited, hoping that Rob would come in and tell her what they had -been talking about; but he did not. Going to the door, she saw him -driving along the fence line, unloading the posts that he had cut that -morning in Spring Creek caņon.</p> - -<p>Harry felt hurt and irritated. Slowly something hardened in her throat, -and setting her lips, she sat down with her mending. When, after a -while, Rob came up to get a fresh bag of water, she did not look up or -speak.</p> - -<p>But Rob was too full of his own thoughts to notice Harry's mood. He -drew a cracker box to the table, reached for a scrap of wrapping paper, -and was soon deep in figuring. "Twenty-four, six, thirty. Six tons of -alfalfa. How many hundred of barley and wheat and oats will it take to -winter the stock on, I wonder?" He thrust his legs out under the table, -ran his hands through his hair, and stared at the figuring before him.</p> - -<p>"Yes, I ought to have three hundred dollars at least, before snow -flies," he said. "I will, too, if I stick on the job and nothing -happens."</p> - -<p>"If nothing happens," Harry repeated, with a short laugh. "Does -anything ever happen out here, pleasant or otherwise?"</p> - -<p>"Eh? What's started you off? I mean, if the work goes well and we don't -get a setback of some kind.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span> Three hundred dollars will see us through -the winter, all right."</p> - -<p>"'Us!' Don't count me in, please."</p> - -<p>"Well, you have got a grouch, sis," said Rob, in some surprise. "What's -the matter now? I thought you were here for a year. In fact, I was just -going to ask you if you don't want to homestead here."</p> - -<p>"Me? Homestead? Never!"</p> - -<p>"Why not? I didn't say anything about it before, because I wanted first -to see whether you liked it and whether it agreed with you. You're -taking hold fine, and I believe we'd make a big thing of it together. -There's a hundred and sixty on the coulee just east of the next butte. -You've been over it?"</p> - -<p>"Yes," Harry admitted. She remembered the swale, the strip of green -meadow, the springs breaking from the hillside; it did not compare in -value with Rob's land, but it was a good "hundred and sixty."</p> - -<p>For a moment Harry had a vision of herself as a ranch owner: riding a -cow pony, planting and selling crops, building up a herd of her own, -perhaps. Then came swiftly a picture of herself standing alone in the -doorway of the cabin, as she had seen the women standing in their -doorways watching the train pass their lonely prairie homes. Yes, it -would be that way with her, while Rob was off with Jones or some other -man. She shook her head.</p> - -<p>"I couldn't! I've no money. I can't make any out here. What should I do -for clothes and things? It<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span> took all I made at home, teaching, to keep -me properly dressed."</p> - -<p>"You wouldn't need such things here; you'd be a lot better off without -them, if you're going to wear yourself out getting them. In a few -years you'd have a farm worth something—you and I together could do a -lot. As it is, some old cow-puncher'll settle it up, or a sheepman'll -grubstake a Mex to prove up on it for him, and the sheep'll eat out -the whole range. It wouldn't take you long to commute, only fourteen -months, and then, if you didn't like it, you could hike back East. Of -course it would cost you two hundred dollars to prove up, but you could -make that easily by teaching a district school."</p> - -<p>Again Harry hesitated. She remembered suddenly the young school-teacher -whom she had met on the train, and who was giving up a good salary to -come out and homestead.</p> - -<p>"If I have to spend all I'd make teaching merely to prove up, I don't -see that I'd be any better off than if I went back home. If I could do -something to earn money to put into the ranch it might be worth while."</p> - -<p>"Quit throwing things out before they're half used; that would save -some money, anyway."</p> - -<p>Rob spoke brusquely. He hated to find fault with Harry, but he had -wanted to speak before this about her wastefulness, and now she was -giving him an excuse.</p> - -<p>"Really, Rob, I don't know what you mean." Her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span> tone showed that her -pride was hurt. "I thought I was very economical."</p> - -<p>"It's not very economical to throw out a tin of milk that's only been -used twice—and to cut fresh bacon for fry fat, when there's an old -rind hanging on the wall. It's those little things that count up in -the long run. I'm not kicking, but since you said you'd like to help, -that's as good a way as any."</p> - -<p>"And yet you suggest my staying out here. Really, if I'm such a poor -manager as you say, I think I'd better go back at once."</p> - -<p>"What's the use of talking like that? I guess it's lonesomeness that -makes you grouchy. You ought to get out and see some of the other -ranchwomen. Why don't you go over to Robinson's. It's only three miles -from here, and she'd be tickled to death to have you go to see her."</p> - -<p>"Why doesn't she come first? She's been here longer than I have."</p> - -<p>"They don't pay much attention to that formal sort of nonsense out -here," said Rob. "If you were sick they'd come and nurse you for a -week; but most of them have a raft of children, and chores to do -besides."</p> - -<p>Whistling cheerfully, he went out to his work. Harriet flushed with -anger. How rude Rob was! But what could be expected when he had lived -so long among these rough Westerners?</p> - -<p>Yet under her mortification she felt that he was right and that she was -wrong. She had not realized it before.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span> At home her mother and elder -sister had provided for the household; and what Harry earned she had, -quite as a matter of course, spent upon herself; of course she had had -to go without many things that other girls had, and so had thought -herself very economical. Rob's economy was not like that. She saw now -how often he saved money by fashioning something that she would have -thought it necessary to buy—or by getting further use out of something -that she would have thrown away. She knew that his was the real spirit -of economy.</p> - -<p>Nevertheless, she was angry with him, and began to write a homesick -letter to her mother. She was deep in a recital of her woes, when a -voice interrupted her.</p> - -<p>"This Holliday's ranch?" it inquired.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span></p> - -<h2>CHAPTER III</h2> - -<p>A stranger stood in the doorway of the tent. He was short and heavily -built, with a big, close-shaven head and small, bright eyes. As Harriet -rose and came forward, he smiled reassuringly.</p> - -<p>"My brother is not here just now," the girl said. "He has gone after a -load of fence posts. Won't you come in?"</p> - -<p>"Thanks. I'll sit down out here. It's cooler, I reckon. So you're -homesteadin', are you? How do you like it?"</p> - -<p>He spoke in such a cheery voice and smiled so pleasantly that Harriet's -fears vanished. "To tell the truth, I don't care much for it," she -admitted. "It's so very lonely."</p> - -<p>"You're right. Homesteadin's hard for a young lady, 'specially one that -ain't used to this country. You wa'n't raised out here, I judge, ma'am?"</p> - -<p>"Oh, no! We come from Connecticut."</p> - -<p>"Say! Connecticut! I'll bet you didn't cal'late to hit the hard pan -when you come, neither?" He cocked his head, smiled, and then burst -into a ringing laugh.</p> - -<p>Harry laughed, too. "If this is 'hard pan,' I certainly didn't expect -to hit it."</p> - -<p>"Yes, sir, and it'll be a heap harder before you've finished provin' -up, too. Summer's fine here in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span> hills, but when the winter sets in! -You goin' to stick it out the three years?"</p> - -<p>"Oh, no! I'm going back. I haven't taken a homestead myself; this is my -brother's. I'm only visiting him."</p> - -<p>"What's he goin' to do here, anyhow?"</p> - -<p>"Make a ranch, I guess."</p> - -<p>"A ranch? Why, it'll take twenty years for him to get the brush off -this and get it all into crops. 'Tain't fit for nothin' but grazing. -You know what he'd ought to have done? Took forty acres down in the -Twin Falls district. There's where they're makin' money. That's the -place for you young folks from back East to get in and make a strike. -You'd have easy sleddin' all the way, and make money, too. But this -here—"</p> - -<p>He stopped as if he did not care to say too much, and looked off across -the sagebrush.</p> - -<p>Harry had listened, interested at first, and then surprised and -disturbed. Poor Rob! He did not know what he had got into. And oh, how -thankful she was that she, too, had not filed a claim!</p> - -<p>At that moment Rob came around the corner of the tent.</p> - -<p>"How do!" he said, and stopped.</p> - -<p>"This Mr. Holliday?" asked the stranger. "My name's Joyce."</p> - -<p>"Glad to meet you, Mr. Joyce." Rob sat down on the grass and took off -his hat. "Got any fresh water there, Harry?" he asked.</p> - -<p>"Fencing's a big job," he said, as he drained the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span> dipper. "The -ground's getting dry now, too, so I have to work fast."</p> - -<p>"Yes. It's a hard proposition all through," answered Joyce. He was -silent a moment, and then began abruptly, "I've been telling your -sister here what you could do over on the south side; how much better -off you would be with forty acres there than with a hundred and sixty -here."</p> - -<p>"You an agent for the Twin Falls' tract?" asked Rob, with a smile.</p> - -<p>"No, sir. I'm a sheepman; but I've got eighty acres down there, and I -know what it's going to be. A young fellow like you with brains and -spunk could make a fortune there in a few years. Here you'll spend a -lifetime gettin' a living."</p> - -<p>He went on to give a glowing account of the farming on the south side -of the Snake River—a tract that an irrigation company had lately -opened.</p> - -<p>"See here," he said suddenly, "I'll tell you what I'll do. I'll -exchange forty acres there, all proved up on, only a few payments left, -for your homestead, if you'll commute on it. And I'm offering you the -biggest price you'll ever get for it."</p> - -<p>"Why do you offer it if it's so big? Why don't you keep your forty?"</p> - -<p>"Well, it's just this way: I've got to have a water hole here for -lambing. I've been coming here on my way to the reserve for twenty -years. Never thought of filing on this land it's so poor, nothing but -the water here but that's what makes it valuable to us stockmen." </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span></p> - -<p>"That's what makes it valuable to me. I'm going to run cattle."</p> - -<p>Joyce laughed loudly. "My boy, cattle would starve where sheep grow -fat. You'll be flat broke in five years."</p> - -<p>"Why haven't you taken it up before?" asked Rob. "It's been here a good -while."</p> - -<p>"Well, us stockmen have got so used to having all the wild land we -wanted that we haven't realized until too late that you fellows are -coming in here and taking it all up."</p> - -<p>"Then I'm not the only greenhorn from back East who thinks it's good -for something."</p> - -<p>"If you'll sell out to me, you'll never regret it."</p> - -<p>"If I ever decide to sell out, I'll give you first chance to bid on -it," Rob promised; and that was as much as Joyce could get out of him.</p> - -<p>When Joyce was leaving, he turned in his saddle and called:</p> - -<p>"Well, so long, Holliday! Mebbe you'll be sorry you didn't close with -me when the sheep begin coming in."</p> - -<p>A day or two after Joyce's visit, Harry called the dog—she had -shortened Othello to 'Thello by this time—and went down to the side -of the hundred and sixty where Rob was fencing. Having so little to -occupy her time, she frequently went out to walk in the afternoon, and -joined her brother on her way home; but this was the first time she had -gone down so early, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span> she found the brush, under the afternoon sun, -a very different place from what it had looked from the shade of the -quaking aspens.</p> - -<p>Out in the brush there was no shade; even the largest clumps of sage, -some as high as her head, gave little refuge from the glare of the -sun. The desert, lying silent in the sunshine and heat, seemed to fill -the visible universe, and to absorb all significance from the tiny -human motes that inhabited it. What, Harry asked herself, could Rob do -singlehanded against that inert opponent?</p> - -<p>As she watched him bore one hole after another, driving the post-hole -digger down through the gravel and earth, repeating monotonously the -same motions, never resting, seldom speaking, pausing only to pour a -drink of water down his throat or to wipe the sweat from his face with -his torn sleeve, he seemed to her to have become a helpless automaton -that had been wound up and set going for the amusement of some -invisible spectator.</p> - -<p>Harry was discovering that the West was very different from the -picturesque idea she had had of it. Her part in it, too, was not the -picturesque part she had thought to play. Harry saw the West only from -its unromantic exterior; not—as Rob was seeing it—as the foundation -for as great a romance as the world has ever seen: the transforming of -the waste places of the earth into a garden of plenty.</p> - -<p>If Rob had only told her of the dreams and plans<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span> that inspired -him—but Rob was no talker. Now, as Harry watched him, she felt only -the vague discomfort of pity for his overwhelming task.</p> - -<p>The heat made her sick, the glare tortured her eyes; she was afraid of -the lizards and horned toads that darted across the sand about her; -but if she went back to the tent she knew that she would soon become -lonely and homesick. She decided to take a short walk. Looking over her -shoulder toward the foothills, she frowned questioningly.</p> - -<p>"Rob, who is that up there?"</p> - -<p>"Hey?" Rob straightened himself laboriously and glanced in the -direction in which she pointed.</p> - -<p>As yet no sheep had bothered them. One or two flocks had come down from -the foothills on their way across to the reserve, but Rob had warned -them off. Seeing that their favorite bedding ground had been filed on, -the herders had pushed on to the "scab" land.</p> - -<p>"Aren't those sheep?" asked Harry.</p> - -<p>"They are," Rob said slowly. Resting on his shovel, he gazed up at the -point where the buttes divided to form a deep coulee.</p> - -<p>The leaders of the flock had come rather slowly over the crest of the -hill, but now the whole herd came pouring down the glen. The thousand -or more animals bleated crazily as they smelled the water and the deep, -rich grass below them. Two sheep dogs maneuvered them with short, sharp -yelps, glancing back for directions to the sheep herder who stood above -and with his hat signaled to them what to do. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span></p> - -<p>Walking toward the glen, Rob motioned to the sheep herder to come down. -At first the man paid no attention, but when Rob had whistled sharply -two or three times, he slowly began to descend the hill.</p> - -<p>"He doesn't want to hear me," Rob said. "You'll see. He'll pretend he -doesn't understand. Those Mexes are a coony lot; pretend to be stupid, -but are sharp as nails when it comes to hanging on to a good grazing -ground."</p> - -<p>Watching the sheep flow along, Rob and Harry waited. After a while the -herder came down the glen toward them.</p> - -<p>"Say, he's not a Mex at all!" Rob exclaimed. "He's an American! It must -be that herder of Joyce's."</p> - -<p>The herder, who was a good-looking, heavily built fellow about twenty -years old, stopped and looked at Rob without speaking. His felt hat was -drawn forward over his eyes. He carried a heavy stick that was thick -and knotted at the end.</p> - -<p>"How do!" he said, glancing inquiringly from brother to sister.</p> - -<p>"I suppose you know that this land has been filed on?" Rob began. "I'll -have to ask you not to herd your sheep in 'round here."</p> - -<p>"Who's filed on it?"</p> - -<p>"I have."</p> - -<p>"I don't see no fence."</p> - -<p>"I've just come on, and haven't got the fence up yet; but it's mine, -just the same."</p> - -<p>"Well, I don't know if it is," the young fellow replied<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span> insolently. -His eyes were fastened upon 'Thello, who, crouching at Harry's feet, -had been growling at him.</p> - -<p>"Where'd you get that pup?" he asked shortly. "He's mine."</p> - -<p>"Yours?" Rob's voice was quiet, but his blood was hot. "I don't see any -collar."</p> - -<p>An angry glint shot from the herder's eyes. "He's mine, just the same."</p> - -<p>"I don't know if he is."</p> - -<p>"Well, I'm going to have him!" the man muttered, and made a move toward -the dog.</p> - -<p>But Harry was quicker. Sweeping 'Thello into her arms, she stepped back.</p> - -<p>"Whoever owned him didn't deserve to!" she cried. "The poor little -thing had been starved and beaten nearly to death when we found him, -and I'm not going to let him go."</p> - -<p>The way in which Harry spoke the words, with her head thrown back and -her brown eyes shining, carried a challenge; the sheep herder's fist -tightened on his stick and his face darkened. Then, without a word, he -shrugged his shoulders and moved off.</p> - -<p>"Remember," called Rob, "you're to feed on the slopes. I want the -meadows for my own stock, and if you aren't careful, I'll have you -moved outside the two-mile limit."</p> - -<p>The fellow stopped, looked back at them, and then answered, "I reckon -you can't do just that. I've filed on the homestead just east of this -here one. My name's<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span> Boykin, if you want to look it up." Turning, he -went on.</p> - -<p>There was a minute of silence. Then Rob said slowly, "The homestead -east; the land I meant you to take."</p> - -<p>Harry could not answer. A queer, surprising shame and regret held her -silent.</p> - -<p>She and Rob walked down to the tent without speaking a word. Anything -that Rob might have said would have sounded like a reproach, and of -what use, he thought, would that have been now? Harry longed to have -him speak, nevertheless, to have him say something that would show how -he did feel. She was much relieved when at last he broke the silence.</p> - -<p>"Who's that coming?" he said abruptly. "I believe it's Brannan with the -cow and those heifers."</p> - -<p>A cloud of dust was puffing along the road toward the ranch, and -through it they saw a man on horseback, with the half-dozen head of -cattle which Rob had bought. When they came nearer Harry recognized the -little man as the same who had spoken to Rob in the hotel at Shoshone.</p> - -<p>They hurried across the meadow to the corral; without waiting for them -Dan had opened the gate and begun to drive in the cattle.</p> - -<p>Tired, suspicious and frightened, they refused to enter and started -off, each in a different direction, but they had reckoned without the -old "cow puncher." Harry had smiled to herself when first she saw the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span> -wizened old man perched upon his big hay horse; but her amusement gave -way to wonder and admiration when he began to work the "critters" back -toward the corral.</p> - -<p>Bellowing and kicking they dodged and ran but Dan, with his dog and his -whip, steered them back and drove them finally through the gateway.</p> - -<p>Harry, Rob and Dan looked proudly at the cattle.</p> - -<p>"A nice bunch of critters," said Rob.</p> - -<p>"They are that," Dan assented gravely. "As good as any I have and I've -the best herd in the valley. Now ye've the last word whin some felly -picks on 'em."</p> - -<p>"A good start is half the journey," said Rob, "and I'm obliged to you. -Come up to the tent, Dan. It's hot work riding on a day like this, and -sis will make us some lemonade."</p> - -<p>"I see you've the sheep still wid ye." Dan nodded toward the hillside.</p> - -<p>"Got 'em for keeps." Rob went on to tell what he had just found out. -"The worst of it is," he said, "that that herder is a mean one, and -Joyce is a mean one, too; so between them I guess I'm in for trouble."</p> - -<p>Dan nodded. "Y'are. Niver did ye say truer worrud. Meanness is the cud -thim two niver swallys. But I'll be tellin' ye a thing, lad."</p> - -<p>He leaned forward and laid his hand on Rob's knee. "Ye don't want to -let thim think ye're beaten. That Joyce has half a dozen homesteads -a'ready that he's paid his herders to file on, for sure! But kape yer<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span> -eyes open, and might be you'd find a way to come up with him yet."</p> - -<p>"I'm afraid a tenderfoot like me hasn't much of a show against an -old-timer like him."</p> - -<p>"Niver say it. There niver was a rashcal yit that didn't lave wan -footprint at least in the mud, smart as he'd be, and it's mebbe you -that's the lad wit' the eyes to see it. Watch him, Rob, watch him."</p> - -<p>Rob shook his head, yet nevertheless he felt a glow of hope in his -heart.</p> - -<p>That evening, just before bedtime, Jones returned to the ranch, spread -his quilt on the dry grass under a tree and became one of the family. -He was good company, and Harry would have been glad to have him about, -except that he took so much of Rob's attention. Every morning at -sunrise the two began to work with the colts, breaking them one by one -to bit and bridle, and then to harness and wagon.</p> - -<p>As soon as the forenoon grew warm, they shut the colts in the meadow -at the head of the draw. This was a natural pasture lot, watered by a -spring that flowed from the rocks under the next lift in the foothills -and sheltered on all sides by trees. Here the horses were safe and the -boys paid no more attention to them throughout the day. Jones always -rode away through the valley while Rob plowed, went on with his task of -fencing, or did some work in the garden. After supper the boys resumed -their business of breaking the colts.</p> - -<p>Twice Jones had ridden away in the evening taking one or more of the -harness-broken horses with him and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span> had returned some days later -without them. Harry supposed that he had sold them. Neither Rob nor -Jones ever talked about the horses in her presence and she had soon -understood that she was not expected to ask questions about them.</p> - -<p>One morning Rob asked his sister to put up some lunch for Jones and -himself because they were going down the valley on business.</p> - -<p>Harry put up the lunch and stood watching while they mounted and rode -off. Among the string of horses which Jones had brought in were two -well broken to saddle, a black and a sorrel, and to-day the boys each -rode one of them. These two horses had run loose for so long a time -that they were as frisky and spirited as the colts. As the little party -swept away across the wild prairie the girl longed ardently to be with -them. She liked to ride—Rob had been teaching her—and it did seem -hard that she should not be allowed to go along on such trips as these, -simply because she was not considered a proper person to share a secret.</p> - -<p>Hurt pride mingled with resentment struggled together in her breast. It -was hard to think that she was still outside Rob's deeper interests. -Her life had, for the moment, lost its zest. She finished tidying up -the tent, then went down to the garden determined to be interested in -her own tasks, for the planting and weeding of the vegetables that Rob, -overwhelmed in the press of work, had been forced to leave to her.</p> - -<p>She put in several rows of root vegetables, a second planting of peas -and beans and was trying to feel <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span>enthusiastic about planting corn when -a soft crooning call made her turn.</p> - -<p>At first nothing living was to be seen. Then a quiver amongst the tall -weeds and grass along the stream caught her eye, and there came into -sight a sage hen leading her brood of five chicks. Advancing sedately, -craning her long neck to keep watch on every side, pausing to strip the -seeds from various weeds, crooning her furtive call to her young, the -mother bird moved upstream toward the cool shade of the caņon. Suddenly -her black, inquiring eye met Harry's friendly but eager stare. For an -instant the hen stood motionless, her gray-brown coloring blending her -confusingly with the sand and sagebrush of the hillside behind her. -Then, with a short, whistling call she dropped low and Harry saw her -and the baby chickens slither off toward the willows.</p> - -<p>With a sudden determination to follow and have a closer look at these, -her nearest neighbors, Harry dropped her hoe in the fence corner, shut -'Thello inside the garden so he could not chase the birds, and slipped -quietly up the draw after them.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span></p> - -<h2>CHAPTER IV</h2> - -<p>For some minutes Harry walked along the stream without seeing or -hearing the sage hen. But this bit of discouragement only increased her -interest. How could they hide so quickly without flying? The chicks -were too young to fly and surely the hen would not desert them! No, -there they were now!</p> - -<p>Harry felt her blood quicken with interest as the covey of bark-gray -birds slid across a sun patch beyond the willows and vanished again -amongst the quaking asps higher up. So absorbed did she become in -this game of hide and seek that she never once thought of the meadow -pasture and it was only as she made a detour to avoid a great patch -of fire-weed that she came alongside the fence. At the same moment, -she saw a man come riding slowly across the shoulder of the hill. He -appeared to be watching for something, for he rode slowly and looked -about.</p> - -<p>Harry stood perfectly still, hoping he would not catch sight of her. -But her light dress at once caught the rider's eyes and before she -could move he was riding toward her.</p> - -<p>He was a tall, big-shouldered young fellow, dressed in cowboy fashion.</p> - -<p>"Seen any strays round here, ma'am?" he asked, lifting his hat. "I'm -looking for one." </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span></p> - -<p>"Strays? Horses, you mean?" Harry stammered.</p> - -<p>The sound of the stranger's voice had recalled something to the girl's -mind. She had seen this man before. His voice, his smooth, freckled -face, his blue eyes—she knew them. She blushed with confusion, for the -young man was looking at her intently.</p> - -<p>"I don't believe there've been any strays here," she said. "My brother -might know."</p> - -<p>"Your brother down at the tent yonder?"</p> - -<p>"No, not now. He's gone off with—with another man."</p> - -<p>"You ain't got no horses of your own here that mine could ha' got in -with?"</p> - -<p>"No—yes—I mean we're boarding some horses, but they're colts and -inside the pasture, and I'm sure there are no strays among them."</p> - -<p>The stranger had dismounted and, leading his horse, was walking beside -her.</p> - -<p>"Excuse me, ma'am. Ain't I seen you before?" he asked.</p> - -<p>"That's what I was wondering," Harry laughed. "But I can't remember -your name. Mine is Harriet Holliday."</p> - -<p>"Sure thing! It was comin' up in the train, wasn't it? Mine's Chris -Garnett."</p> - -<p>At once Harry remembered. After telling each other that they were -glad to meet again, they walked on toward the tent. "Whose horses are -those?" Garnett asked, pointing at the big team in the corral.</p> - -<p>"Oh, that's the work team!" </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span></p> - -<p>"I thought you said your brother was off."</p> - -<p>"Yes, he's riding one of the horses we're boarding."</p> - -<p>"A colt?"</p> - -<p>"No, you see there were two old—I mean good, broken horses in the -bunch. Rob and the fellow who owns the horses are riding them."</p> - -<p>Harry's explanation was somewhat jerky. The subject of Jones and his -horses still rankled in her, and she could not speak of them naturally. -Garnett looked at her gravely. She felt the color rush into her face -and her eyes fell.</p> - -<p>"You must stay and have some lunch," she said at last, trying to turn -the conversation away from the painful subject. "I haven't a hot -dinner, because the boys aren't going to be home, but I'd like to have -you stay."</p> - -<p>To her surprise Garnett readily accepted her invitation. While she -was setting the table, she kept stealing glances at him, and tried to -harmonize her memory of the very boyish person she had met on the train -with this quiet young man. He was the same big, friendly fellow, with -the same laughter-wrinkled eyes; but now there was something beneath -his reserve that she could not quite understand. Sitting cross-legged -on the grass outside the tent, he played with 'Thello, and talked -casually to Harry while she moved about inside. All the restraint of -the first moments had apparently passed; Garnett said nothing more -about the horses until he left, an hour later.</p> - -<p>"If that pony of mine should come in here," he said,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span> turning in his -saddle, "I'd be a lot obliged to you if you'd send me a line. Soldier's -my post office. That horse of mine is about six years old, sorrel, -ring-and-arrow brand. You'd notice him in a bunch of cayuses."</p> - -<p>A sorrel! Harry's thoughts flashed to the sorrel horse which Rob had -ridden away that morning. She felt a pang of vague apprehension, and -wondered whether Garnett had noticed her startled look.</p> - -<p>When Garnett had gone, she tried to reassure herself. Of course -anything that Rob took an interest in was all right; but <i>why did he -keep it a secret from her</i>? Suppose that sorrel horse should prove to -have the ring-and-arrow brand? There might be many sorrels with that -brand, yet her heart beat more nervously and her lips grew dry.</p> - -<p>An idea came to her, and she ran up the glen toward the pasture where -the colts were hidden. She knew that the sorrel was not there, but she -wanted to see whether the colts were branded.</p> - -<p>When she reached the upper end of the glen she crawled through the -barbed wire, and was just emerging from the shelter of the trees when -she saw Garnett ride along the fence and look at the bunch of colts -inside.</p> - -<p>Harry stepped back, instinctively afraid of his seeing her. Why? She -demanded it of herself fiercely. Why should she feel guilty because -Rob was concealing something from her? She had done nothing wrong. But -Garnett suspected something; he had not believed her.</p> - -<p>Humiliation swept over her. Even after Garnett,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span> satisfied that his -horse was not there, had ridden away, and after she had returned to the -tent, her cheeks burned at the thought, "He did not believe me."</p> - -<p>She determined to tell Rob about the whole affair and to make him -explain the mystery. Also, she would look at the brand on that sorrel -horse.</p> - -<p>But Rob and Jones did not get home until ten o'clock. They were very -tired and hungry, and Harry was so busy getting supper for them that -she did not have a chance to go into the matter.</p> - -<p>The next morning Jones rode away on the black horse. When Rob had gone -down to the brush to work on the fence, Harry ran out to the corral and -looked at the sorrel. The brand was perfectly plain—ring and arrow!</p> - -<p>Her first impulse was to go out to Rob and tell him all about Garnett's -visit; but when she thought of how completely Rob's work always -absorbed him, she hesitated. After all, what was the use of breaking -into his morning's toil with her story? She might just as well wait -until noon.</p> - -<p>As she stood, irresolute, her gaze wandered to the distant prairie. -Now, early in June, every minute of the day brought some new and -lovelier expression of nature's magic to view; the color that filled -the valley was slowly deepening with the unfolding year. Far down -the prairie spread the green wheat fields, the squares of alfalfa -and plowed land, the pale clouds of pink where the fruit trees were -in bloom. Through<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span> the crystalline air the curve of hill and hollow -shimmered resplendent.</p> - -<p>Harry's eyes grew vague while she pondered. For the first time her -heart went out to her new surroundings. She had been stupid to shut -herself out from partaking of this land. She turned restlessly back -into the tent.</p> - -<p>Regret for not having filed on the land next to Rob's and the thought -of Jones and the sorrel horse worried her. It was intolerable to think -of settling down to humdrum tasks of housework or garden. Calling -'Thello she set off up the draw in the dumb desire of "working it off" -outdoors.</p> - -<p>The narrow vale between the towering buttes was now at its loveliest. -Bees buzzed in the wild rose thickets; wild flowers of vivid -colors—scarlet, blue, violet and yellow—dappled the earth at her feet -and even splashed the sides of the barren buttes. Along the stream, -where the ground was always moist, a dense tangle of weeds and vines -had sprung up and, with the willows, made it difficult to get through -except in certain places.</p> - -<p>Harry followed the same course she had taken the day before when -following the sage hen. But this morning she noticed how differently -the ground appeared. The willows had been broken through; the vines -had been torn away; and the stream had been trodden into a slough by -countless hoofs. Some cattle had come through on their way to the -hills, but they had kept to the draw farther east. 'Thello sniffed -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span>suspiciously and Harry wondered what had been there; but as she -crossed the brook for the last time and came out onto the meadow she -stopped short. A great flock of sheep were feeding. Spread out round -the verdant basin they were eating silently, steadily, greedily, with -short, close-cropping nibbles that would leave nothing but the bare -ground of the rich pasture before them. At sight of her, one or two -ewes "blatted" and moved on, but the others were too busy feeding to -notice her.</p> - -<p>Harry's first astonishment flared suddenly into sharp indignation. She -looked round and saw the herder watching her from a rocky knoll near -by. "Please come down here!" she called sharply, and then added to -herself, "It's that Boykin—the one Rob ordered off before. Miserable -creature!"</p> - -<p>He came down very slowly and stood before her much as he had stood -before Rob, with his eyes smouldering under his half-shut lids.</p> - -<p>"Well, come to fetch me my dog?" he drawled.</p> - -<p>"Your dog! Didn't my brother tell you not to feed down here? This is -our pasture."</p> - -<p>"Is it?"</p> - -<p>"Yes, you know it is. And you had better drive your sheep off right -away, too."</p> - -<p>"Had I?"</p> - -<p>"Yes, at once." Even as she spoke Harry felt how empty her words were. -"You know perfectly well that you have no right on our land. You're -spoiling the pasture, and the stream, too. I wondered what had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span> made -the water taste so queer. It's because your sheep have been in it."</p> - -<p>"If you don't like it, I reckon you can dip out of another spring. -There's plenty in these hills."</p> - -<p>"How dare you talk so!" Harry was trembling nervously. "You shall see -whether we'll put up with such lawlessness!"</p> - -<p>She flew home, with her cheeks hot with anger, and with the sheep -herder's laugh echoing in her ears. When she entered the tent she found -Rob there.</p> - -<p>"Oh," she cried breathlessly, "you remember that herder you told not to -come in here? He's up in the glen now. I've just seen him. I told him -to go, but he won't. He laughed."</p> - -<p>Rob walked to the door. "Will dinner be ready by twelve, sis?"</p> - -<p>"I guess so. Why?"</p> - -<p>"I'm hungry," he said quietly. "It's eleven now."</p> - -<p>Harry stared at him. "You aren't going up there?"</p> - -<p>"Yes, after dinner. He'll be there until then, won't he? If I knew -where to find the camp tender, I'd tell him a thing or two about that -herder—make the whole outfit clear out. I don't care if Joyce has put -him on the next homestead, I filed here first, and he has no right to -put the man on there, anyway. I don't know whether there's any law in -this country, but if there is——"</p> - -<p>He left the tent abruptly.</p> - -<p>Harry began mechanically to get dinner. When it<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span> was ready, she blew -the horn and Rob came in. He said nothing about the sheep herder, but -ate his dinner calmly. At the end of the noon hour he rose, went to the -door, and stood looking out.</p> - -<p>"I don't know how I'm going to keep those fellows off," he said, half -to himself. "I can't let my work go, to be chasing them all the time." -He pushed up his hat and scratched his head dubiously.</p> - -<p>"Of course not; but if they're going to ruin our drinking water and eat -all the grass——"</p> - -<p>"Oh, I'm going to drive this outfit away!" he said, as he went out.</p> - -<p>In her anger and excitement over the sheep, Harry had completely -forgotten Garnett and his horse. She began to gather up the dishes, -and then, leaving everything, ran outside. A queer excitement filled -her. She wondered what Rob would do. He had disappeared beyond the -willows and for some minutes all was silent. From where she stood she -could see, above the top of the grove, the rocky slope of the hillside -running across the end of the caņon. Suddenly, from that hillside a -cloud of dust began to rise. Harry could hear nothing, but in a few -moments she saw the sheep spread up over the hill and scatter in all -directions. The dust rose in blinding clouds; the sheep, catching the -panic from their leaders, fled wildly, and finally disappeared round -the hilltop. Harry sighed contentedly and went back to her dishes. Rob -would soon come in and tell her what had happened. Absorbed in her -work, she quite forgot Rob. Not until some time later, when she had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span> -hung up her apron and was putting on her hat with the idea of joining -him at his work, did she remember where he had gone.</p> - -<p>"Something must have happened!" she exclaimed. "He's been gone almost -an hour." She went outside and looked up toward the glen. All was -quiet; she could see no sheep or dust. "He's probably gone on over the -hills," she decided, "driving them off so far that they cannot come -back."</p> - -<p>Satisfying herself with that explanation, she went inside and sat down -to do some mending. In a few moments her brother came slowly into the -tent.</p> - -<p>"Rob!" she cried out. "What is it?"</p> - -<p>His face looked strange, and he stared at her without answering. She -took a quick step forward and drew a terrified breath. His hair was -matted with blood; blood oozed from a gash on his forehead; and as she -felt him over with trembling hands, she touched a bruise, swollen and -dark, at the base of his skull.</p> - -<p>"Oh, Bobs! What has happened to you, dear? Oh, he's fainting! Bobs, -don't! Oh, what shall I do!"</p> - -<p>Rob had turned very white; he swayed dizzily, and then caught himself.</p> - -<p>"I'll lie down a while!" he muttered. "Feel pretty mean. That fellow -beat me up. Jumped out on me from the bushes before I saw him. I'd -run the sheep up the hill—was waiting to see if they'd come back. He -knocked me over—kept beating me. Must have fainted."</p> - -<p>His words trailed away and his face grew moist with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span> sweat. Stumbling -to the bed, he dropped down on it.</p> - -<p>Harry had never seen a person faint, and for a moment she hung over -Rob, staring at him. The sight of his familiar face, bloodless under -the tan, so solemn, quiet, and strange, filled her heart with a passion -of remorse. What ought she to do?</p> - -<p>The only restorative at hand was cold water. She bathed Rob's forehead, -rubbed his hands, and tried to force a drink between his teeth.</p> - -<p>Then unexpectedly Rob stirred, opened his eyes, drew a slow breath, and -smiled.</p> - -<p>"All right, sis," he murmured. "—Just rest a while."</p> - -<p>Harry smiled back; then she ran outside the tent and burst into tears.</p> - -<p>"I must get a doctor," she murmured, when she got control of herself.</p> - -<p>Returning to the tent, she bathed and bandaged her brother's wounds. -The cut on his scalp was bleeding steadily, though slowly; the bruise -at the base of his skull was swollen and throbbing. He was quite -conscious now, but very weak and dizzy from pain; and, although he -answered her when she spoke, he evidently wanted to rest and sleep.</p> - -<p>"How in the world am I ever to go after a doctor?" she thought -desperately. "I can't harness the team or even put a saddle on the -pony. If I had only, only learned! I suppose I shall have to walk to -Robinson's and get them to go to Soldier for me. It means leaving Rob -alone for hours. How can I ever do it?" </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span></p> - -<p>Tears blinded her as she stared down at him.</p> - -<p>"And it's all my fault!" she groaned. "It would never have happened if -I hadn't been so hateful—hadn't made him go, had taken the homestead, -hadn't kept 'Thello in the first place!"</p> - -<p>She felt very remorseful and penitent. When she had made Rob as -comfortable as she could, and had put water close beside him, she set -out. The fear that Rob would die haunted her. Sometimes so sharp and -heavy was the pain of leaving him there alone, and so dreadful the fear -of what she might have to face on her return, that she wavered and -looked back.</p> - -<p>Only the knowledge that her brother's need of a doctor was greater and -more urgent than his need of her drove her on. Through the heat and the -dust and the white glare, she hurried, hurried, hurried. As she rounded -each butte in succession and saw the empty road curving far ahead round -another, she wondered passionately how much farther Robinson's was.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span></p> - -<h2>CHAPTER V</h2> - -<p>Harry was beginning to think that she had lost her way, when suddenly, -as she topped a rise in the road, she saw the Robinson ranch lying -below her beside the mouth of a coulee. Barns, sheds, corrals, pens, -haystacks, and ranch house lay scattered along the fence near the road. -The buildings, which were of unpainted boards, weathered to the gray of -the desert, reminded her of the houses she had seen from the train; but -the path from the gate to the door of the ranch house was bordered with -flowers, and the yard, which was separated from the farm fields by a -fence, was neatly planted with vegetables and fruit trees.</p> - -<p>A chorus of loud barks announced Harry's arrival. At once the door of -the house was opened a crack and several children, with yellow, tousled -heads, peered out. As Harry approached, the children promptly shut the -door, but at her knock a young woman with a fat, smiling baby on her -arm, opened it.</p> - -<p>"How do? Come in, won't you?" said the woman.</p> - -<p>"Is this Mrs. Robinson?" asked Harry, on the threshold. "I'm Miss -Holliday."</p> - -<p>"Glad to make your acquaintance. Set down. You look tired. Norma, -let the lady set in that chair." She drew a small girl from a plush -rocking-chair and dragged it forward. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span></p> - -<p>"Thank you, I can't stop. My brother has been hurt terribly. A sheep -herder attacked him and beat him almost to death. He must have a doctor -at once. Can you send to town for me?"</p> - -<p>Harry spoke rapidly. She was spent with weariness and heartache, and -the mention of Rob brought a strangling sob to her throat.</p> - -<p>"How about! Mr. Holliday hurt!" Mrs. Robinson set the baby on the -floor, and putting her hands on her hips, stared in mingled curiosity -and sympathy at her visitor, and poured out questions and exclamations.</p> - -<p>Wiping her forehead nervously with her handkerchief, Harry had turned -abruptly away. She shrank from the eager interest of a stranger, -and had to force herself to answer the woman's questions. "It's an -imposition, I know, to ask you to send to town for the doctor," she -said, "but I can't leave my brother alone long enough to go, and I -don't know how to ride very well, anyway."</p> - -<p>"Sakes alive, girlie! Nobody don't have to ride to git him. You kin -just phone over. There's the phone right there. P'r'aps I better ring -him up for you. Like's not he's at the hotel gassin', 'stead of in his -office."</p> - -<p>Harry was only too glad not to have to repeat her troubles to the -doctor; she sat limply in the rocking-chair and fanned herself with her -hat, while Mrs. Robinson hunted vocally among the front stoops in town -for "Doc" Bundy.</p> - -<p>"If a body was to wait for him to come to his office,"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span> declared Mrs. -Robinson, "we could all die of old age before ever seein' him. I got -him, though. He's to the drug store gittin' him some sody. Hello, that -you, Doc? Yep, Mrs. Robinson. 'Tain't for us. Listen while I tell you, -so's you can come on."</p> - -<p>When she had finished a lengthy description of Rob, his ranch, the -quarrel, and Rob's injuries, and had adjured the doctor to hurry and to -bring the sheriff with him, Mrs. Robinson dropped into her chair and -prepared to enjoy her visitor's call; but when she looked at Harry's -face, she exclaimed:</p> - -<p>"You pore thing! You're all beat out, 'ain't you? You're as white as -curdled milk. See here! You catch hold of the young one and I'll hook -up the rig and carry you back home. Vashti can look out for the others -and get her dad's supper. I'll call her now."</p> - -<p>Mrs. Robinson left the room followed by three or four tow-headed -youngsters, who were clamoring for bread and jam. Harry, with the baby -on her knee, leaned back in the plush rocking-chair and looked vaguely -about her. Evidently this was the room where the family lived, for -besides the big cookstove and the table covered with oilcloth, there -were a plush-covered lounge, a phonograph, and a very new, shiny bureau -with an immense plate-glass mirror. The Robinsons had money to spend -if not good taste in spending it, she decided; at the same time she -noticed the unpapered board walls, which were decorated with gaudy -calendars and advertising posters, and the china, which had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span> evidently -been recruited from "prize package" cereal boxes.</p> - -<p>Although Mrs. Robinson might be ignorant and crude, Harry gratefully -admitted that she was kind-hearted to drive her home at that time of -day. Hearing the rumble of wheels and the voice of her hostess giving -swift and numerous orders, she went to the door and looked out. The -"rig," as Mrs. Robinson had called it, was a light, mud-spattered -mountain wagon, drawn by a team of half-broken ponies that laid their -ears back and showed the whites of their eyes alarmingly. Mrs. Robinson -sat in the front seat, with one foot on the brake.</p> - -<p>"Oughtn't the baby to have something more on?" asked Harry, glancing at -the child's bare feet and gingham slip.</p> - -<p>"How about! Vashti," Mrs. Robinson called to the big-boned girl of -twelve who watched them from the doorstep, "you fetch ma's shawl off -the bed. And remember now, the beans is all cooked; there's pie, and -your dad likes plenty of lard in his hot bread. And be sure to get them -young ones to bed early, or I'll warm their jackets for 'em when I get -back."</p> - -<p>As they drove out of the gate, Mrs. Robinson left an ever louder stream -of directions flowing behind her, until a drop in the road hid the -house from sight. Then she sighed abruptly and became silent.</p> - -<p>"It's very kind of you to drive me home," began Harry. "I appreciate it -immensely; but what will your husband think?" </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span></p> - -<p>"Oh, he won't care. He can do for hisself as good as any woman. Men -folks in this country most always learn to housekeep when they're -bachin' it. Why, we were married when I was fifteen, and came out here -from Nebrasky, and there wasn't another woman in twenty miles to turn -to for help. But Robinson, he could show me hisself!"</p> - -<p>"At fifteen!" exclaimed Harry. "Why, you were just a child! Weren't you -lonely?"</p> - -<p>"I guess not! There was too much to do. I was likely to be called on -any day to finish seedin', or hayin', or help butcher, or what not, so -be he was short-handed."</p> - -<p>"But now, with all your little children to take care of," Harry began, -but she stopped short.</p> - -<p>She had been watching the little cayuse ponies, divided between fear -of their suddenly running away and admiration of the cool steadiness -with which Mrs. Robinson held them in check; but as they went down -the bank of a creek that had been dug out deep by the spring freshet, -the woman's foot slipped from the brake and the wagon rolled upon the -ponies' heels. Mrs. Robinson pulled up hard on the reins, but the -ponies plunged, clattered across the shallow ford, and, with their ears -back, dashed up the opposite bank.</p> - -<p>"Now, you ornery varmints! Quit it! Quit it! Yes, you will, too! Whoa, -you! If I don't beat the buttons off you for that!"</p> - -<p>Pouring a vivid flood of language upon the ponies, Mrs. Robinson threw -the brake and sawed sharply at their mouths. Suddenly there was a jerk -and a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span> snap; the cheek strap of the off horse's bridle swung loose.</p> - -<p>Harry saw the leather strap fly back, and saw the pony shake its head -and shy; involuntarily she pressed the baby close to her. But Mrs. -Robinson was too quick for the cayuse. Pulling the ponies square across -the road, she faced them toward the boulders that marked the edge of -the "bench"; then, whipping the lines round the brake, she stepped over -the dashboard and out along the pole, and swung herself down at the -horses' heads.</p> - -<p>"Now, if that ain't the meanest team you ever saw, tell <i>me</i>!" she -drawled, as she wiped her face with her apron and looked contemptuously -at the ponies. "To bust up the harness when there ain't a thing handy -for me to mend it with! I suppose there ain't an inch of balin' wire in -the wagon. You couldn't look, could you, girlie? I don't want to leave -this fool pony."</p> - -<p>"Here's something! I don't know whether it's baling wire," Harry said, -after making a careful survey of the wagon box, "but there's a piece of -wire round the whip socket."</p> - -<p>"Sure thing, I'd forgot that. Lay the young one down and get it for me, -will you?"</p> - -<p>Harry obeyed, and Mrs. Robinson, cool and unconcerned, mended the -bridle. Then she climbed into the wagon, started the horses, and took -up the conversation as if it had never been broken off.</p> - -<p>Ashamed to reveal her fear, Harry forced herself to listen and to talk; -but when they drew near the ranch her thoughts rushed forward, and she -could think only<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span> of Rob. The moment they stopped at the corral she was -out of the wagon, and with an apology to Mrs. Robinson for leaving her -to unharness alone, she hurried across the slope. Her brother lay as -she had left him, with one arm up, shielding his face from the flies -that swarmed in the hot, sunny tent. He was awake, but feverish and in -pain. Bringing a basin of water, Harry began to change the bandages. -While she was busy, Mrs. Robinson appeared, with the baby in her arms.</p> - -<p>"How about feedin' the critters?" she asked, as she declared her -sympathy. "The pigs ain't been slopped nor the chickens fed, I expect. -I don't see the cow nowheres. Like's not she's feedin' up in one of -them draws along the hills. 'Slong's you ain't milkin' her it don't -matter. She'll get back when she's thirsty. Now, don't you move," she -added, as Rob tried to rise. "I'll see to the whole outfit."</p> - -<p>"I'd forgotten all about the critters!" muttered Rob. He tried to lift -himself, and then, sinking back with a gasp of pain, closed his eyes. -"I certainly feel mean."</p> - -<p>"You mustn't think of moving," protested Harry. "Mrs. Robinson is here. -She's looking after everything. She's been awfully kind; telephoned to -the doctor, drove me home, and everything."</p> - -<p>A look of relief crossed Rob's face. He smiled, and murmured, "That's -great!" and suddenly Harry realized that under their neighbor's -matter-of-fact manner there had been more genuine kindness and a -greater willingness to help than she had appreciated.</p> - -<p>Harry longed to drop down beside Rob and sleep;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span> never had she been so -weary. But she realized that Mrs. Robinson must be hungry, for it was -almost eight o'clock. Harry had built the fire and was moving stiffly -about, trying to think what she could prepare from her meager supply of -groceries, when Mrs. Robinson returned.</p> - -<p>"Say now," the woman exclaimed, "you let me get supper! You're wore to -a feather edge. I'll knock up a pan of hot bread and fry a little fat -meat, and that'll do us, bein' as there's no men to cook for."</p> - -<p>After supper, Harry and Mrs. Robinson washed the dishes. The doctor had -not yet come, and the girl was worried.</p> - -<p>"Well," said Mrs. Robinson, "it's a twenty-mile drive out here, and it -was close on to six when I called him. There, now! Hear that? I guess -that's him this minute."</p> - -<p>Both women hurried outside. The silhouette of a horseman showed against -the sky, and a voice called, "This Holliday's?"</p> - -<p>"That's right," replied Mrs. Robinson. "We're waitin' for you, Doc."</p> - -<p>The next moment the doctor, a sallow-faced Kentuckian, swung from his -saddle and clumped into the tent; he had turned up a wrong trail, he -said, in apology for being late.</p> - -<p>Harry held the lamp for him while he cleansed the wound and took a -few stitches in it. He gave Harry directions for caring for it, and -left lint and antiseptics. There was, he said, nothing more that he -could do; <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span>fortunately all danger of concussion from the blow at the -base of the skull had passed, and the other injuries were only flesh -wounds. All Rob needed was to keep quiet for a few days. The sheriff, -he explained, had not been able to come, because he had gone to Scalp -Creek to investigate a shooting affair. While the doctor was getting -ready to leave, Mrs. Robinson wrapped the baby in her shawl.</p> - -<p>"If it's all the same to you, Doc," she said, "seein' as it's on your -road, I'd be mighty obliged if you'd drive me over. The ponies are that -mean to-night! You can hitch yours on behind the wagon."</p> - -<p>Harry went down to the corral with them and stood in the moonlight -holding the sleeping baby while Mrs. Robinson caught and harnessed -the horses. Harry felt a generous impulse of admiration for the -self-reliant, fearless ranchwoman, and when she said good night asked -her cordially to come again.</p> - -<p>"If she were only a little more civilized and congenial!" thought -Harry regretfully, looking after them until they had vanished amid the -moonlit ghosts of sagebrush, and the rattle of wheels had died away.</p> - -<p>"I guess it would be better, though, if I were more like her," she -suddenly confessed to herself. "Everything she does counts, while I -just rush round and waste my breath. Of course she's learned how, while -I have been learning civilized things; but if I'm to stay out here I'd -better learn how to live here."</p> - -<p>She took up her work the next morning with a fresh incentive and in -a happy spirit. Caring for the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span>animals was not such a bore as she -thought it would be. She went first to the chickens and pigs; next she -attended to the horses and heifers in the corral. The cow was nowhere -in sight.</p> - -<p>"I wonder when Jones will get back?" she thought. "Now that he might -really be of some use, of course he's not here."</p> - -<p>She finished her work, made Rob comfortable, and then went to walk over -the ranch to see in which of the grassy coulees the cow had stayed to -feed.</p> - -<p>The hundred and sixty acres that the fence inclosed afforded plenty of -range and good pasture, and there was no apparent reason why the cow -should break out; but although Harry searched every gully and behind -every rock ledge, she could not find her.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span></p> - -<h2>CHAPTER VI</h2> - -<p>It was several days before Rob was able to get about as usual. His head -ached when he tried to walk and his muscles were stiff and sore.</p> - -<p>On waking the morning after he was hurt, he asked whether Jones had -come back again. He seemed a little troubled to learn that he had not -yet returned. When the next two days passed without bringing Jones, Rob -became plainly disturbed.</p> - -<p>"He might at least send me word if anything has gone wrong," he -declared.</p> - -<p>"Perhaps he's gone after more colts," Harry suggested. "He's sold a -good many of those he had here, hasn't he?"</p> - -<p>"About half of them; but he wouldn't bring in more—not now, anyhow."</p> - -<p>"Why not?"</p> - -<p>"Oh, because. He simply wouldn't."</p> - -<p>Harry kept silent, for she saw that Rob did not want to say any more -about the matter. He seemed so greatly worried over Jones's absence -that she restrained her impulse to tell him about Garnett and his -sorrel horse.</p> - -<p>On the third day Rob got up and announced that he was going to work.</p> - -<p>"The first thing you know the cattle will be coming<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span> in round here -to feed, and if I don't get that extra strand of wire round my fence -before they get here, my critters will be up and off with the others."</p> - -<p>Harry's heart thumped. "I might as well tell you, Bobs. The cow is gone -already."</p> - -<p>"Hey?" Rob turned quickly and stared at her. He looked pale and thin -now that he was standing. "When did the cow get out?"</p> - -<p>"I don't know—exactly. The day you got hurt, I guess."</p> - -<p>"She may be in Boise by this time. Did the heifers go, too?"</p> - -<p>"No, they are all here."</p> - -<p>"Thank goodness! Well, I'll get right out after the other beast. I've -heard Dan say a dry cow is a mean critter to keep tabs on. Put me up a -lunch, will you, sis, while I'm saddling the pony?"</p> - -<p>"Bobs! You aren't going to start out to-day? In this hot sun?"</p> - -<p>"The longer I wait the hotter it'll get and the farther I'll have to -ride."</p> - -<p>"Couldn't you send one of the Robinson boys?"</p> - -<p>"And pay him two dollars a day? They couldn't go, anyhow. The whole -family is busy irrigating and plowing for fall wheat. Don't worry, sis; -that scratch on my scalp looks worse than it feels. I may find the cow -right down along the creek."</p> - -<p>Rob went up the glen to the pasture to get his saddle horse. He was -gone a long time and came back looking much troubled. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span></p> - -<p>"I don't understand it" he said. "The gate is open up there and all the -colts are gone. My pony, too."</p> - -<p>"Rob—who could have done it? Do you think they were stolen?"</p> - -<p>"I don't think so. There's been no horse stealing round here since that -gang was rounded up last spring—just when you came, you remember? -No, I can't imagine what's happened unless Boykin opened the gate for -spite. Do you know when he went out?"</p> - -<p>"The day after he attacked you. I heard the sheep crossing the meadow -in the morning when I was getting fresh water for you."</p> - -<p>"Wait until I find Joyce! If he thinks I'm going to put up with such -work he's mistaken. I'll have to ride old Rock. What will Jones say -when he finds those colts are gone? And how can we ever round 'em up -again?"</p> - -<p>"It isn't your fault. Why doesn't he come and take care of his own -stock?"</p> - -<p>"Something's happened, I suppose. He wouldn't stay off like this for -nothing. I ought really to go after the colts instead of the cow."</p> - -<p>Rob went down to the corral, and soon Harry saw him riding back, not on -Rock, but on the sorrel with the ring-and-arrow brand.</p> - -<p>"I'd forgotten we'd left this horse down in the corral," he said, -looking much relieved. "Well, now I shan't be gone a week, as I -expected to if I rode old Rock."</p> - -<p>Harry started to speak and then changed her mind;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span> there could be -nothing wrong in Jones's secrets about the horses if Rob did not -disapprove of them. Doubtless there were plenty of sorrels with the -ring-and-arrow brand, and after keeping this one so long for Jones, -there could be no harm in Rob's getting some service from it.</p> - -<p>So, instead of telling Rob about Garnett, she said, "That's a pretty -good pony, isn't it? About how old is he?"</p> - -<p>Rob had just mounted. "About six or seven years, I should think," he -said, as he rode off.</p> - -<p>He was gone all day, but he found neither the horses nor his cow.</p> - -<p>"I'll go out to-morrow," he said at supper, "and stay until I find some -of these strays."</p> - -<p>"You—you won't come back at night?"</p> - -<p>"Probably not. Why?"</p> - -<p>"Nothing—much. That is, I only thought you might be able to go to town -in a day or two. We need several things."</p> - -<p>Harry twisted her fingers together and tried to control her voice. To -have Rob stay away—to leave her all alone! She stood silent, looking -up at him. She must not let him see that she was afraid, for she had -determined never to complain again.</p> - -<p>Nevertheless, she waited almost breathlessly for him to answer.</p> - -<p>"All right, then," he said, after a moment. "I'll come back to-morrow -night, and we'll go to town the day after." </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span></p> - -<p>As soon as Rob had ridden off the next morning, Harry began to put the -tent in order and to arrange for the journey to town. She prepared a -luncheon for the trip, washed a pair of overalls for Rob, got out a -clean flannel shirt for him, and sewed a button on his coat. She had by -this time learned to regard overalls as "dress-up" garments.</p> - -<p>In the afternoon she went out to irrigate the garden. While she was -cultivating at one end, a ditch broke at the other and let the water -rush down across half the rows. She had hard work repairing the damage, -and was so busy that she lost all track of time. In fact, she did not -realize that the sun had set until a long-drawn melancholy howl from -the butte, answered suddenly by a chorus from the "scab" land, told her -that the coyotes were out for the night.</p> - -<p>"Probably Bobs went farther than he realized," she decided, when at -nine o'clock she sat down alone to eat her supper.</p> - -<p>At ten o'clock Rob had not yet come. What could be keeping him? Had the -pony stumbled and thrown him? Could he have had a sunstroke? Suppose he -had fainted out there alone—without water——</p> - -<p>Resolutely Harry turned from such thoughts. He had probably lost his -way and would get home very late. She would be foolish to sit up for -him.</p> - -<p>She undressed very slowly, listening, hoping to hear the sound of the -pony's hoofs; but soon she grew too sleepy to listen for them. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span></p> - -<p>When she awoke it was broad daylight; the clock had stopped and Rob -had not come. She went to the doorway and looked all round. The same -silence, the same blaze of sunlight, the same solitude. Was it really -another day? In the unbroken quiet everything seemed at a standstill. -She did the chores and worked in the garden; but all the time she -listened. And Rob did not come.</p> - -<p>The day passed, and another night. She slept fitfully. Several times -she thought she heard the beat of hoofs, and trembling with hope, -hurried out to look. When the third day passed without bringing Rob, -Harry knew that something had happened to him.</p> - -<p>She sat beside the table in the evening with her head in her hand. -She wished that it were not too late to go over and talk with Mrs. -Robinson. She felt the instinct to lay her troubles upon some one else. -Then she bethought herself and crushed down the impulse. The Robinsons -were all busy with the haying. She had no right to call upon them -for help, and moreover, she would be ashamed to do it. She must help -herself. She would drive the twenty miles to Soldier, and send some one -out to look for her brother.</p> - -<p>When her alarm clock rang the next morning she hopped resolutely out -into the chilly dawn, dressed, and got her breakfast.</p> - -<p>No one who is used to handling horses can understand Harry's feelings -as she lifted the heavy set of harness from the peg beside Rock's stall -and dragged<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span> it over his back. She had watched her brother often as -he harnessed the team, and remembered something about the way he had -done it; but it was mostly by luck that she got the various straps into -their proper places. Her heart beat nervously as she led the horses out -of the corral and backed them up before the wagon. Suppose they should -run away? But Rock and Rye were a steady team, and stood serenely while -Harry fastened the tugs. It was only half-past seven o'clock when she -left the ranch, but she felt as if she had already done a day's work.</p> - -<p>She drove slowly at first, afraid that something would go wrong with -the harness or that the horses would run away; but after the first few -miles her spirits rose above her worries, and by the time she reached -the Robinsons' ranch she was enjoying every moment of the ride.</p> - -<p>As she passed the house Vashti burst from the door and, waving a -letter, ran toward her.</p> - -<p>"You want me to post this?" Harry asked, as she pulled up the horses.</p> - -<p>"Oh, no! It's for you," Vashti said, and thrust the envelope into -Harry's hand. "Hank Miller fetched it out from Hailey yestiddy."</p> - -<p>"It's from Rob!" exclaimed Harry, and laughed with relief. Then, as her -eyes flew down the sheet, her face clouded. The note read:</p> - -<blockquote><p><span class="smcap">Dear Harry.</span> I'm in the jug at Hailey. It's about those -horses of Jones's. Bring that paper he gave me. It's a bill of -sale. I stuck it up behind the clock on<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span> the shelf, next to the -coffee grinder. Come over with it as soon as you can. Get one of -the R. boys to tend the stock while you're gone.</p> - -<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Rob.</span></p></blockquote> - -<p>"'Tain't bad news, is it?" Vashti's voice broke Harry's dismayed -silence.</p> - -<p>"What? O Vashti, I must go to Hailey this minute. Can one of the boys -tend the stock while I'm gone? Thanks ever so much. Which is the -shortest way to Hailey? I suppose I must go by way of Soldier?"</p> - -<p>"No. Cross the river by the lower bridge and then strike for the pike -about Willow Creek." Vashti pointed eastward. "You'd ought to make it -before dark if you hustle."</p> - -<p>"How far is it? I don't know the road at all."</p> - -<p>"You don't! Say! You want to watch for the big pillar butte. It's on -the right where the road splits to go over the mountains. And say! Keep -to the east whenever you hit a fork. Where are you going?" she added, -as Harry turned the team homeward.</p> - -<p>"I've got to go back and get a paper Rob wants."</p> - -<p>"Say!" Vashti called after her suddenly. "Let me go for you. I can ride -over there on Geezer and back while you're gettin' turned round."</p> - -<p>Without waiting for an answer the little girl ran to the corral, led -out the pony, flung a saddle over his back, shoved the bridle over his -ears, and came back to Harry on the run.</p> - -<p>"Now, where's your paper?" Vashti asked. "You go on toward the bridge," -she continued, when Harry had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span> told her where to find the bill of sale. -"I'll come across the scab land and meet you."</p> - -<p>With envy and admiration and gratitude in her heart Harry watched the -small figure in red calico speed away across the sagebrush.</p> - -<p>"If I could only go like that!" she thought with a sigh. "Well, I guess -I'm not too old to learn, and if Vashti will teach me, maybe I can -teach her something she'd like to know."</p> - -<p>She had scarcely five minutes to wait at the bridge before Vashti came -up with the precious paper. "You'll have to jack them there plugs up -some if you're goin' to make it," the little girl remarked. "Wait. I'll -get you a willer."</p> - -<p>Slipping off her horse, she went down the bank of the river. In a -minute she returned with a long, stout willow wand. "'Tain't so good as -a blacksnake, but it'll make 'em step along some."</p> - -<p>"Thank you, Vashti. If I do get there, it will be entirely owing to -you!" Harry's words made the small girl smile with pleasure.</p> - -<p>"It's just as Bobs said," Harry confessed to herself. "They're as -kind-hearted and friendly as can be when you once know them, and all -the 'education' in the world isn't as valuable out here as what they -know."</p> - -<p>As she drove along she kept thinking about the Robinsons, and of her -own life on the ranch, and of Rob's present trouble. She was so busy -with her thoughts that she did not notice the road, which meandered -across the prairies without even a tree or a butte<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span> for landmark. This -end of the prairie had never been laid off in ranches; it was too rough -and too much broken by waves of lava that had at one time poured down -through the valley. For miles there was no sign of human existence, no -fence, no house, no cattle. The girl did not realize that she ought to -be observing all the details that, in the desert, take the place of the -signposts of civilized regions. She had grown drowsy with the monotony -of the ride, but as the time passed, she glanced at the sun. It was -getting low, and the pillar butte had not yet come into view. Feeling -sure that she would see it after the next turn, she urged the horses -to a trot; then suddenly she drew a sharp breath of dismay. The road -had dipped into a small meadow sunk among the buttes, and ended. Harry -pulled up the team and stared. Before her lay a long wooden platform. -Tent pegs still stood in the ground, which was littered with camp -leavings and piles of refuse wool. It was a shearing floor. She had -taken the wrong road.</p> - -<p>She sat still a moment, wondering what she had better do. She had no -idea how far past the right turn she had come. The best plan would -be to feed and water the horses here and then turn back. She ate her -bread and bacon and drank from the canvas bag slung beneath the wagon; -she envied 'Thello, who had promptly laid himself down in the shallow -stream that oozed from the meadow.</p> - -<p>As she drove back, she watched ahead for the place where the road -branched, unaware that, on her way<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span> into the hills, she had passed not -one but two forks of the road.</p> - -<p>By degrees the ridges that inclosed the flats drew nearer. Great -chimneys of lava, pillars and obelisks of red granite and blocks of -iron-stained quartz crowded the road, which curved and swerved amongst -them. Sometimes she drove beneath a threatening stone bridge; sometimes -the wagon squeezed between tilted stone slabs; sometimes it bumped over -a sharp descent of ledges. The rocks ahead took on weird, fantastic -shapes that made them look like the ruins of a fire-swept city—long -streets of toppling houses, palaces, towers, dungeons—lighted by the -flames of the westering sun.</p> - -<p>So hideously real was it that Harry found herself listening for the -uproar of cries that would have been part of an actual fire. The -silence made it more horrible, and in that silence she began to be -afraid. She stopped the horses and sat still. She was lost.</p> - -<p>She did not know which way to turn; once astray in this labyrinth of -rocks, she might never be able to find her way out. The horses, thirsty -and tired, stood with drooping heads. 'Thello, who lay at the roadside -softly panting, glanced inquiringly up at her.</p> - -<p>"Yes," she said, as if answering his question, "I've got to get out of -here somehow. It's absurd. I <i>must</i> get out."</p> - -<p>Keeping her eyes on the road, she slowly backed the horses. The sun was -setting, and on the hard, thin soil that covered the bed rock, wagon -tracks were hard to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span> see. Watching the faint trail fixedly, leaning -forward and urging the team on, she wound in and out among the rocks, -until gradually they became more scattered, and lost their fantastic -shapes.</p> - -<p>When at last Harry saw the open road, she felt that the worst was -behind her; but, nevertheless, she pulled up and looked slowly about. -She was not sure in which direction she ought to turn, and she dreaded -the thought of going down the caņon alone in the dark. 'Thello pricked -up his ears, stared ahead, and growled.</p> - -<p>"What is it, boy?" Harry asked eagerly. "Run him out!" But the dog, -growling softly, merely continued to listen.</p> - -<p>With a sudden sharpening of her senses, Harry peered into the dusk. -Perhaps some one who could help her was passing near by. She listened -intently, with every nerve alert.</p> - -<p>Suddenly she stood up in the wagon and screamed:</p> - -<p>"Help! Help! Help!"</p> - -<p>A clamor of echoes answered her ringing cries, and 'Thello challenged -them furiously. The girl stood silent. As her voice struck back -mockingly at her from barren butte and rock, she realized that she was -helpless, and lonely, and afraid. Drawing a deep breath, she shut her -hands tight. She would not give up to fear! Steadying her voice, she -put all her strength into one more call:</p> - -<p>"Help!"</p> - -<p>"Coming!" A man's voice answered her.</p> - -<p>The shout echoed her cry, a rattle of hoofs swept<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span> suddenly near, and -Harry saw a horseman appear over the ridge. His figure rose and fell -in silhouette as he galloped toward her. "It's Garnett!" Harry thought -joyfully.</p> - -<p>"Hello, what's doing?" he asked, as he pulled up. "Any one hurt? Who is -it?"</p> - -<p>"It's Harriet Holliday. I'm lost. I got over into those queer rocks and -couldn't get out."</p> - -<p>Garnett caught the quaver in her laugh. "Lucky I was riding through -this way," he said. "That was the city of rocks you were in. How did -you get out? Even fellows that know the country have got balled up in -there and come pretty near cashing in before they struck the trail -again."</p> - -<p>Harry shivered. "I just made up my mind I <i>had</i> to get out, and kept my -eyes on the wheel tracks until I found the open road again."</p> - -<p>"You've got grit and sense, and you did well. Where are you heading for -up here alone?"</p> - -<p>"Hailey."</p> - -<p>"Hailey! This time of night?" He dismounted and tied his horse to the -back of the wagon; then he got into the seat beside her, took up the -reins, and whistled to the team.</p> - -<p>"Oh, will you really drive me?" Harry sighed in relief. Every tired -muscle, every trembling nerve relaxed, and she leaned wearily back -against the wagon seat.</p> - -<p>"I started this morning," she explained. "I took the wrong turn -somewhere. But this is the first time<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span> I've been out this way, and so -it was easy to get lost."</p> - -<p>"The first time! And you're alone!"</p> - -<p>"Yes, my brother's in Hailey. That's why I'm going. He's in trouble. I -don't know just what, but he sent for me to come."</p> - -<p>Garnett made no answer, and they were both silent for some moments, -while the team jogged on. Harry was wondering whether she ought to tell -Garnett that Rob was in jail, when his voice made her start guiltily:</p> - -<p>"Your brother been gone long?"</p> - -<p>"Long? No; let's see. He started out after the cow—You didn't hear of -her, did you?"</p> - -<p>"Maybe it was yours some one was telling me about."</p> - -<p>"I wonder whether it was ours? Perhaps Rob tried to take it and got -into a squabble. And yet that isn't a bit like him."</p> - -<p>"Was he afoot?" Garnett asked suddenly.</p> - -<p>"Oh, no. On horseback. But it was a strange horse." She stopped.</p> - -<p>"One of those you were telling me he was keeping?"</p> - -<p>"Yes." In spite of herself her voice became self-conscious.</p> - -<p>"Well, maybe some one thought it was his."</p> - -<p>"Thought what?"</p> - -<p>"Maybe that horse your brother was riding belonged to another fellow, -and the other fellow pinched him for stealing it."</p> - -<p>"What nonsense!" She laughed faintly.</p> - -<p>"It's not nonsense to the fellow that thinks his critter was stolen," -he replied. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span></p> - -<p>"Of course not. I don't mean that, I mean the idea that my brother -would steal a horse. You don't for a moment think he would, do you?"</p> - -<p>"I don't pass judgment on people I don't know right well."</p> - -<p>"But you know what sort of people we are. Do you think I would steal?"</p> - -<p>"Maybe not."</p> - -<p>Harry gasped. "You might as well say yes."</p> - -<p>"If I saw you riding one of my horses, say, and I'd lost one, and you -couldn't tell me where you'd got it, and wouldn't give it up, perhaps -I'd think you stole it. Perhaps I'd run you into the jug until you -could tell where you got it."</p> - -<p>"And that's what you think has happened to Rob?"</p> - -<p>"M-h'm!" he assented.</p> - -<p>"What?" Harry's voice rang. She drew herself erect, and in the luminous -darkness of the summer night the two in the seat of the jolting wagon -stared at each other.</p> - -<p>"Tell me," she demanded sharply, "tell me what you know—what you -think!" And still staring at him, she waited for his reply.</p> - -<p>"I know that your brother was riding my horse. I saw him on it."</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span></p> - -<h2>CHAPTER VII</h2> - -<p>For a minute they jogged on in silence. Then, in a voice that was clear -with scorn, Harry said:</p> - -<p>"So you sent my brother to jail just for riding your miserable old -horse!"</p> - -<p>But although her voice was cold and hard, there was a note of fatigue -and distress in it that Garnett was quick to understand. He flushed -hotly, and a wave of sympathy for the girl swept over him. Those few -indignant words of hers made him certain that she knew no more who -the real horse thief was than he did himself. She was just what she -had appeared that first time in the train—a sweet, gay, warm-hearted -little girl, amusingly ignorant of everything Western!</p> - -<p>"I reckon you think hanging's too good for me," he said. Harry did not -answer, and in a moment he went on. "It's like this. My job is up in -the reserve—keeping tabs on everything that goes on up there in the -timber, where the sheep and cattle men take their herds in summer. You -can see I wouldn't keep my job long if I was to believe everything -fellows tell me about how honorable and noble-minded they are. I'm -deputy sheriff, too—have to be in case of trouble, we're so far from -town. I was running down one of those Bascoes when that pony of mine -disappeared. I traced<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span> it out to the Boise base line,—this road we're -on now—when I met a fellow that saw him traveling this way in a string -of colts. I was on his trail when I struck your place. You see, I was -kind of suspicious about that 'boarding' yarn, and yet I didn't see, -honestly, how you could frame up a tale like that yourself."</p> - -<p>"Why didn't you come back the next day and ask my brother about your -horse?"</p> - -<p>"That's what I meant to do; but I got word to go back to the reserve -quick. The sheep were coming in, and I didn't have another chance to -get down here until the day I met your brother hunting his cow. He had -my horse, and I thought the best thing to do was to give him a chance -to explain to Judge Raeburn. That's the way of it."</p> - -<p>There was a long, strained silence. Garnett had never been so -uncomfortable and unhappy in his life. Here he was, showing himself in -the worst possible light to the nicest girl he had ever met.</p> - -<p>The road, which was cut out of the side of the cliff, was steep and -barely wide enough for the team. On one side was the frowning mountain -wall, on the other the black abyss. Harry felt the horror of it; but -when she looked up into the clear, serene sky she forgot her fear. -She felt round her the splendor and immensity of the night and the -wilderness, and her annoyances, her troubles and worries, slowly faded -away. A delightful sense of rest came upon her. She realized how much -she owed to Garnett for coming to her aid as he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span> had done, and she was -trying to think of something friendly to say to him, when he spoke.</p> - -<p>"I hope you ain't a-cussing me still?" he said with gruff earnestness. -"I'm sorry."</p> - -<p>"No, indeed," Harry answered quickly. "You couldn't help it. But I wish -Rob had never gone in with that fellow Jones—the one he's boarding the -horses for. Sometimes I almost hate Jones. He's taken Rob away from me. -I meant to have such a good time out here, but one thing after another -has gone wrong. Part of it was my fault, I know."</p> - -<p>And she told him the whole story of the affair with the sheep herder, -how she had insisted upon keeping 'Thello and had refused to file on -the homestead, of the herder's attacking Rob, and of the mysterious -disappearance of the colts, and Rob's pony, and the cow.</p> - -<p>"And if I'd done as Bobs wanted me to, all these troubles would never -have happened."</p> - -<p>"Oh, now, you mustn't talk that way. Nobody lives that ain't meeting up -with something all along the trail. Might be you'll get you a homestead -somewhere that you'll like a whole heap better than the one you lost."</p> - -<p>"It isn't that. It's because Rob wanted us to have them together. The -sheep couldn't have come in then; and now, since Joyce has filed on -that place, his sheep will eat out all the grass and ruin the grazing -for our cattle. So you see it is all my fault."</p> - -<p>"I wouldn't say that, now. I might say it was mine, because I hadn't -any business to lose my horse; but I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span> ain't saying it. Things happen, -that's all. And it's as likely to turn and happen right for you as it -did the other way. We ain't ready to call this job off yet. Looks now -as if your brother wasn't a horse thief, after all; and as he ain't, it -looks up to me to get him out of the jug."</p> - -<p>"I wish, when you have got him out, that you would put that sheep -herder in. Running the horses off! As if he hadn't already done enough -in beating Rob the way he did! I'd like to show that old Joyce, too, -that he can't have all the grass, even if his herder has filed on the -homestead next to ours."</p> - -<p>"I reckon there wouldn't be much trouble running in the herder. The -law's got a plain case against him—assault and trespass; but it's -Joyce that ought to get jugged first."</p> - -<p>"Joyce!"</p> - -<p>"Sure. He's got fifty more homesteads than he has any right to."</p> - -<p>"Yes, that's what Dan Brannan told us," Harry said slowly. "But no one -can prove anything against him, and you <i>could</i> make his herder have -some regard for our rights."</p> - -<p>"I'll do that, anyhow. I'll hunt him out as soon as I get back to the -range. What sort of a looking fellow is he?"</p> - -<p>"Big and heavy-looking, yet rather handsome, in a way. Looks like a -spoilt, sulky child.</p> - -<p>"Not a Mex?" </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span></p> - -<p>"Oh, no. That's what makes it seem so much worse."</p> - -<p>"Name Hunter?"</p> - -<p>"No, Boykin."</p> - -<p>"Boykin? Are you dead certain? There's one of Joyce's herder's that's -this fellow's twin brother, if he ain't closer still—the meanest man -that ever followed a bunch of woollies—but his name's Hunter. I've got -him in the jug right now, too."</p> - -<p>"Oh, if it only were Boykin!"</p> - -<p>"I'll look him up," Garnett said. He was silent for a moment, and then -he exclaimed:</p> - -<p>"Say, I want you or your brother to take a look at that fellow Hunter -to-morrow! It's got into my head that he and your man Boykin favor each -other a whole lot more than they'd ought to."</p> - -<p>"I don't see that it makes any difference how much alike they look," -Harry said.</p> - -<p>Garnett chuckled. "It might make a whole lot of difference to you."</p> - -<p>"How?"</p> - -<p>He was silent a moment. "If you'll excuse me ma'am, I reckon I'd better -not say too much until you've had a peek at Hunter."</p> - -<p>Harry did not urge him to explain, and when they began to talk again it -was of other things. Harry told Garnett about her life back East, and -about her comradeship with Rob in the old days: she told him, too, how -disappointed Rob was because she did not like the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span> West as he had hoped -she would. She admitted that she had not tried very hard to like it.</p> - -<p>As they drove on through the darkness they chatted freely, and -exchanged the simple confidences that lay the foundation for a true -friendship.</p> - -<p>At last they left the caņon and rumbled over the hard, smooth road -toward town. Little by little the lights of Hailey grew brighter, and -at last the wagon drove under the big blue arc light on the edge of the -town. It was Saturday night, and all the stores were open; the streets -were crowded with people.</p> - -<p>Garnett proposed that they should go first to the hotel and have some -supper; but Harry was almost nervously eager to give Rob the paper she -had brought to him, and so Garnett acquiesced.</p> - -<p>"I reckon I'd better go along," he said. "It's after hours for -visitors, but as deputy sheriff I can fix it up. And I'd like to see -your brother myself. If he'll give me the straight story of this -affair, I reckon I can straighten things out pretty quick."</p> - -<p>Harry's heart beat unevenly as she followed Garnett up the steps of -the jail and into the office. The dreary room, lighted by the glaring -electric light, meant something indescribably mean and shameful to -her. Her heart sank as she waited for Garnett to attend to certain -necessary formalities. When Pedersen, the big Swede jailer, stared at -her in smiling, stupid curiosity, she was thankful for the protection -of Garnett's presence.</p> - -<p>Garnett let Harry go to her brother's cell alone. As the door clicked, -the light flashed up and flooded the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span> narrow, whitewashed room. Rob -turned from the window where he had been standing.</p> - -<p>"Hello, sis!" he said listlessly. "Just get in?"</p> - -<p>"Bobs, dear! You poor thing! Isn't this horrible?" She ran to him, slid -her hand through his arm and kissed him.</p> - -<p>"You look as if you had been ill!" she exclaimed, looking up at him -anxiously.</p> - -<p>"I do feel seedy." He passed a hand over his unshaven cheek and glanced -down at his rumpled clothes. "Being shut up here without a change of -clothes for several days is the limit. Did you bring that bill of sale?"</p> - -<p>"Yes, here it is." She handed him the paper. Rob glanced at it, and -then put it into his pocket. "If I'd only had that along the other day -when that chump pinched me! Smarty! I'd like to have him fined for -false arrest—putting me in here!"</p> - -<p>"Why, Bobs! He didn't know you were all right. He'd never seen you -before. He had to do it; but he's awfully sorry."</p> - -<p>"He is? How do you know?"</p> - -<p>"He told me so. He drove me over here. If it hadn't been for him, I'd -probably be wandering round in the hills or lying at the bottom of that -awful caņon on the edge of the road." She went on to tell him about her -journey and her talk with Garnett. "He's outside now, Bob," she said, a -little timidly, for Rob's face had darkened. "He wants to see you and -have you tell him who Jones is and where he got those horses." </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span></p> - -<p>"I don't want to see him. And I've nothing to say about Jones."</p> - -<p>"But, Bobs, if you don't tell how Jones came to have Garnett's horse, -they'll simply hunt up Jones and <i>make</i> him tell. Won't you see -Garnett? I've already convinced him that you were only boarding the -colts for Jones, and Garnett's really our friend now, only of course he -wants to clear this matter up. I wish you'd talk frankly with him, Rob, -dear."</p> - -<p>"I like that! Maybe he's forgotten I tried to explain things the day he -ran me in."</p> - -<p>"But you didn't tell him where Jones got his horse. He's going out -to-morrow to hunt up Jones and bring him here to prove that those -horses are his."</p> - -<p>"But they're not. They're mine."</p> - -<p>"Yours!" Harry cried, falling back a step.</p> - -<p>"That's what this bill of sale is. I bought every one of those colts -from Jones."</p> - -<p>"But, Rob, where <i>did</i> Jones get Garnett's horse? He never sold it."</p> - -<p>"Don't ask me. There comes Pedersen. You'll have to go now."</p> - -<p>"And you won't see Garnett? Please, Rob! He's really our friend. Oh, -yes, and another thing. I was telling him about that herder, Boykin, -and he says my description of him exactly fits a herder of Joyce's -named Hunter, who is in jail here. I think Garnett suspects that they -are the same man, and he seems to think it may make a lot of difference -to us. I don't quite see how, do you?" </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span></p> - -<p>Rob's expression changed. "It would make a lot of difference to me to -know that Boykin was in the jug."</p> - -<p>"Oh, it was some bigger difference than that. He didn't want to tell me -about it until he was sure, but maybe he would tell you."</p> - -<p>Rob laughed. "Aren't you ingenious, miss? Not till morning, anyway. -Maybe I'll talk to him then, unless Raeburn gets home first. If I can -only see the judge for five minutes, he'll probably dismiss the case -against me without another word."</p> - -<p>Garnett looked up eagerly when Harry entered the office. "He didn't -want to see me?" he asked.</p> - -<p>"He will in the morning." She blushed faintly, but still faced him with -frank eyes.</p> - -<p>"Well, let's go. You're all in. It's nearly midnight, do you know it? -And you haven't had a square meal all day."</p> - -<p>"I'm not a bit hungry, but I am sleepy, most horribly sleepy."</p> - -<p>She yawned and laughed at the same time.</p> - -<p>As they went out into the street, Harry drew a deep breath and lifted -her face. How sweet the fresh air was! And to think of Rob's being shut -up in that horrible prison!</p> - -<p>"I'm sorry for all the trouble I've caused you," said Garnett, when -they stopped at the foot of the hotel steps. "But I won't leave this -game until it's played through."</p> - -<p>He held out his hand to her, raised his hat and looked at her; in his -steady blue eyes was an expression of sincere friendliness that put -courage into Harry's heart. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span></p> - -<p>The confidence which that assurance of good will inspired in her sent -Harry to a dreamless sleep.</p> - -<p>When she came down to breakfast the next morning, the hotel clerk -handed her a note.</p> - -<blockquote><p><i>Miss Holliday</i>,</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">Dear Friend</span>, Am sorry not to drive you across the prairie -to-day, but have gone to hunt up that Jones. Saw your brother -early, and gave him a look at Hunter. He says it's the same herder -that beat him up. Your brother ain't talking about Jones, but I'll -camp on his trail until I find him, or what was him, and fetch him -along back to straighten this business out. Resp.</p> - -<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Christopher Garnett.</span></p></blockquote> - -<p>The letter was like the warm handclasp he had given her last night. -She hurried off to see Rob, hoping that now he would feel differently -toward Garnett.</p> - -<p>But Rob returned her cheery greeting without much enthusiasm. -"Garnett's all right," he said, in answer to her eager question. "He -admits he thinks I didn't steal his horse, but some one did, and Jones -looks like a good one to put it on. I promised to keep Jones's affairs -quiet until he gets ready to talk himself. If Garnett finds him, he may -get what he can from him; that's no affair of mine. When I see Judge -Raeburn, he'll put the whole business straight in five minutes."</p> - -<p>"Well." Harry's voice was colorless, and she stared past Rob at the -window. Then, with a quick change of manner, she turned to him. "In his -note Garnett said<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span> that Boykin <i>is</i> Hunter. What will that mean, Rob?"</p> - -<p>Rob's face lighted up. "If we can prove that he is, we can contest his -filing on that land."</p> - -<p>"O Rob! How perfectly splendid! But how soon can we find out?"</p> - -<p>"When court opens. As soon as Boykin comes up for trial, Garnett -will appear as a witness against him in this case of assault that he -arrested him for."</p> - -<p>"He attacked another man?"</p> - -<p>"Yes, he got into a fight up on the way to the reserve; ran his sheep -under the fence onto Rudy Batt's land, and when Rudy set his dogs on -the sheep, Boykin, or Hunter, leaped on him with a stick, just as he -did on me, and beat him up."</p> - -<p>"Mercy! What a murderous creature! I'm glad some one arrested him at -last."</p> - -<p>"Yes, that's another thing I want to stay over here for: to appear -against him in court. He may get six months in the pen."</p> - -<p>"I hope he will. I wonder what he changed his name for? What a funny -thing to do!"</p> - -<p>"That's not so uncommon. A man often skips the country and changes his -name when he's done something and is afraid of the law. Garnett says -that Hunter was herding cattle for the same outfit he was with, and -that he was always quarreling with some one. Then one night he pulled a -gun on one of the boys, and lit out without waiting to see whether he'd -killed him or not."</p> - -<p>"Had he killed him?"</p> - -<p>"No, lucky for him. But you see he had filed on a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span> homestead out there, -and so he's got no right to this one."</p> - -<p>"Then we can surely get it."</p> - -<p>"Not so sure. As soon as Joyce sees what's going to happen, he may jump -in and put another man on there."</p> - -<p>"O Bob! Could he? Would it be possible?"</p> - -<p>"Why not? If he's slick enough to have done it so often, it won't -bother him to do it once more. But there's time enough to think about -that later. You must hit for home now, if you're to make it before -dark. Let's see. You need groceries, don't you?"</p> - -<p>"Yes. I forgot that to-day was Sunday."</p> - -<p>"Well, see here. Go to the hotel and ask the clerk, Dougherty, to -telephone down to his brother at the mercantile company store. Jack -Dougherty is bookkeeper there, and he's usually down at the store early -Sunday morning; he'll let you in to get what you want. When you get -home, better round up the heifers every night to be sure they're all -there. I may hear of the cow over this way."</p> - -<p>Before Rob's calm, matter-of-fact attitude Harry's reluctance at going -back to the ranch alone appeared childish. So she said good-by cheerily -and started out.</p> - -<p>The sun was high and the morning breeze dead when at last she left the -poplar-shaded streets of the old mining town and struck the long road -up the caņon to the top of the divide. She met only one person on the -road, and that was Joyce. He was driving his motor car toward Hailey. -When he came in sight the team began to prance nervously. Joyce got -out<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span> and came up to them. He looked curiously at Harry, but did not -recognize her until she spoke to thank him for quieting the horses.</p> - -<p>"Say!" he exclaimed. "Ain't you the lady from Connecticut? Sure. What -you doin' out here alone? Where's your brother at?"</p> - -<p>"He had to stay in Hailey on business," she answered, smiling a little. -Soon enough Joyce would know what the business was.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span></p> - -<h2>CHAPTER VIII</h2> - -<p>Harry did not come into view of the Robinson ranch until nine o'clock. -It had been a long, hard drive from Hailey, and three miles yet lay -between her and the homestead. Fortunately, it was not quite dark. -Behind the mountains the after-glow still burned, dull orange and rose, -and the tops of the buttes reflected a pale saffron gleam. But dark -shadows filled the caņons, and objects near by had an odd trick of -disappearing in the darkness just as Harry looked at them.</p> - -<p>The ranch house lay dark and silent. Thinking that the family had gone -to bed, Harry was going on without stopping. She was really too tired -to stop and talk. As she came nearer, however, she saw a light in the -kitchen; then the door opened and some one came down the path toward -the gate.</p> - -<p>"Hello there!" Robinson called. "That you, Holliday? Don't get down; -I'll open the gate."</p> - -<p>"It's I, Harry!" the girl answered. "I won't come in, thank you. But -please tell Jimmy that he needn't ride over in the morning; I'll take -care of the animals now."</p> - -<p>"Say, you ain't alone, are you? Where's Rob at? Anything happened to -him?" Robinson had swung back the gate and was peering at the girl -perched on the wagon seat. "Vashti told us something was wrong." </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span></p> - -<p>"Yes. There's been some trouble over a horse Rob was boarding for a -man, and he had to stay in Hailey." She broke off. How could she go -into the story here, at this time of night?</p> - -<p>"A hoss, eh? Well, them things do take quite some time to straighten -up. But you can stop here with us until he gets home."</p> - -<p>"Oh, thank you! Really, though, I guess I'd better go on. It's so late, -and——"</p> - -<p>"Sure thing. Too late for you to be chasin' back there alone to-night, -ain't it, ma?"</p> - -<p>"That's what." Mrs. Robinson, with her arms wrapped in her apron, -had joined them, and stood listening while Harry told again what had -happened to Rob. As the girl gazed down through the clear darkness the -scent of the wild bean floated down to her from the hillsides. The -hurrying patter of water in the irrigation ditches soothed her tired -brain with the magic of a spell; her head nodded and her words became -indistinct.</p> - -<p>"Say, Johnny, she's droppin' in her tracks, she's so tired!" cried Mrs. -Robinson. "Take them lines and hand her down 'fore she takes a header -into the ditch."</p> - -<p>Mrs. Robinson spoke in a tone of command, and "Johnny" obeyed. Yielding -the lines with honest relief that she need go no farther that night, -Harry climbed down and walked stiffly to the kitchen with her hostess.</p> - -<p>The big, half-furnished room was neat and orderly from Saturday's -scrubbing. Vashti, in her Sunday<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span> starched lawn frock and new scarlet -hair ribbons, smiled bashfully. Mrs. Robinson, too, with "rats" in her -hair and wearing a new purple gingham dress, seemed ten years younger. -As she pulled forward a chair, Harry noticed that her right hand was -swathed in a bandage.</p> - -<p>"Yes, I burnt me, like a stupid," Mrs. Robinson explained. "Everything -gets in a mill at once, seems like, and I burnt up a cake and busted -a plate and put my hand out of business all at once. I got kind of -behind Sat'day, havin' them extry hands to feed—we've got three here -irrigatin' the alfalfy. We allus feed 'em good; it gives you a name -outside, and you get the pick of hands when the rush of work brings 'em -into the valley. Now, here's your tea warm; come and have a snack. It -ain't much, but it'll hold you till morning, anyhow."</p> - -<p>While she was talking, Mrs. Robinson had been setting out dishes at -one end of the table. Harry sat down before a bewildering array of -pickles, jelly, jam, cold meat, and hot fried "side meat," cake, pie, -and some warmed-over vegetables from supper. If this was a "snack," -Harry wondered what a "square meal" was. She was hungry from her day -in the open air; but more compelling than her need of food was her -need of sleep. Even while she drank her tea and tried to tell of -her experiences on the trip to Hailey, her eyelids sank leadenly. -Presently, in the middle of a sentence, she saw Mrs. Robinson smiling.</p> - -<p>"You poor young one! You're that sleepy you don't<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span> know what you're -sayin'. Vashti, run get some sheets and comfortables and we'll make up -the davenport in the front room."</p> - -<p>"It's good of you to keep me overnight when I know you have a houseful -already," said Harry.</p> - -<p>"Don't you worry. Nobody but comp'ny ever sleeps in the front room."</p> - -<p>Mrs. Robinson led the way proudly into the room. Exhausted as Harry -was, she knew what was expected of her, and managed to say something -about the gorgeous carpet, the dazzling wall paper, and the vivid table -cover.</p> - -<p>The air in the room was lifeless, and as soon as Harry was alone she -carefully drew aside the lace curtains and opened the window wide. -Then, after taking a long breath of the fragrant night air, she -undressed and dropped into bed. For a second she was conscious of sweet -comfort; she gave a great sigh of content—and knew no more until she -opened her eyes to the dawn and heard the clatter of stove lids in the -kitchen.</p> - -<p>"Well! You up?" exclaimed Mrs. Robinson in surprise, when Harry walked -into the kitchen. "You could ha' laid another hour yet; breakfast ain't -till six."</p> - -<p>"I hoped you'd let me help. How is your hand this morning?"</p> - -<p>"It hurts still, but I don't know what more I can do; it's covered good -with flour and lard."</p> - -<p>"If you would try it, I have some salve over in the tent. It's really -wonderful stuff. Mother made me<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span> bring a big jar of it. I'll bring it -over this afternoon."</p> - -<p>"Land sakes, girlie, go all that distance just to fetch me some salve? -Not much! There ain't no need of you goin' over to your place nohow. -Jimmy can easy ride over and feed until your brother gets back."</p> - -<p>But Harry was firm. She not only thought it her duty to stay on the -homestead, but she felt a sort of pride in staying there alone. Her -solitary drive, her adventure in the city of rocks, had waked a new -spirit within her, and that spirit was struggling to express itself. -She was, however, quite unconscious of that.</p> - -<p>"Please let me cook breakfast," she said suddenly. "I'm sure I can if -you'll just tell me how you have things. I can fry the potatoes and -make good coffee, anyhow."</p> - -<p>"Well, I b'lieve I will let you. 'Tain't real good manners to set your -comp'ny to work, but you'll excuse me this once, I guess. I couldn't -even dress the baby this morning—had to leave that to Vashti. Say," -she added, "you couldn't stay a week and cook for me while these boys -are here, could you?"</p> - -<p>Harry grew rather pink and stammered a polite refusal.</p> - -<p>"Well," said Mrs. Robinson, "I know you ain't used to this kind of -work, but any one can see you're smart. You'd get the hang of things in -half a day."</p> - -<p>"I'd stay in a minute," Harry assured her, "just because you were so -kind to us when Rob got hurt. But you know how it is, with all these -cattle round, and ours just new to the place. If they should get out, -they<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span> might get way across the river before Rob comes home."</p> - -<p>"Yes, that's right. And you two have got to work together if you're -goin' to make anything of homesteadin'. Pity you didn't take up a claim -of your own while you were at it. A girl that's got a hundred and sixty -in her own name is as independent as anyone."</p> - -<p>"Yes, I'm sorry I didn't; but there's plenty to do, even on Rob's land."</p> - -<p>"Ain't that the truth! Just wait until you get a crop in, though, and -are lookin' for harvest hands—"</p> - -<p>"We shan't have that trouble for a year or two, anyhow. Rob expects to -go out to work, haying and harvesting for other people, and I suppose I -shall stay at home and look after things."</p> - -<p>"Say! Why couldn't you come over and help me at haying and harvesting? -I'd pay you five a week and your board, and it'd keep the traces stiff -here. Seems like the wagon is allus on my heels, as you might say, in -the rush season."</p> - -<p>"I'll come if I can," Harry promised.</p> - -<p>She turned out the crisp, brown potatoes, poured the gravy into a bowl, -and set the coffee back while she fried the eggs. Mrs. Robinson went -out to pull the bell rope. The big iron bell hanging from the gable -clanged its call, and a shout answered from the corral.</p> - -<p>While Mrs. Robinson was overseeing the morning ablutions of the smaller -children, who had come tumbling into the room at the sound of the bell, -Harry<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span> went to the door to get a breath of fresh air after the heat and -smoke of the kitchen.</p> - -<p>The sun was just rising over the end of the foothills, and its rays -shot up into the blue sky like altar flames; its red-gold beams made -the trunks of the quaking asps up the caņon look like the pillars -of a church. Unseen among the leaves a robin was chanting, rapt and -blissful as a cloistered saint. That solitary voice of joy seemed all -at once the voice of the morning—of the desert morning—monotonous, -yet thrillingly significant to one who could see what the desert might -mean. For an instant the girl's spirit flamed up in the knowledge -of things yet to come. Then Mrs. Robinson called her, and she heard -once more in the room behind her the homely clatter of the household -assembling to breakfast.</p> - -<p>"Them men folks comin'?" Mrs. Robinson called. "It's on the tap of six -now."</p> - -<p>As she looked at the clock, she filled the oatmeal bowls and ordered -the children to their places at the table. Mrs. Robinson prided herself -on serving her meals piping hot, without keeping the men waiting. While -the men were coming in, the ranchwoman quickly filled the cups from -the big blue enamel coffeepot, and set platters of eggs, plates of hot -biscuits, and dishes of bacon at intervals on the table. Wondering and -admiring, Harry watched her.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Robinson motioned the girl to a place distinguished by a clean -napkin, and at the same time introduced her to the young men. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span></p> - -<p>"Let me make you acquainted with Miss Holliday; boys. This here's Pete -Mosher, and Con Gardner, and Lance Fitch—Miss Harriet Holliday. She -and her brother have homesteaded just east of here."</p> - -<p>The young men bowed and murmured, "Pleased to meet you, ma'am."</p> - -<p>Mrs. Robinson herself did not come to the table, but standing near by -with her hands on her hips, watched to see that every one had all he -wanted. Harry felt she had learned more this morning about how to do a -great deal rapidly and efficiently than a month of solitary struggle on -the homestead would have taught her. It made her feel as if she must -get back there as soon as possible and "do things."</p> - -<p>Mr. Robinson was telling the men about Rob's trouble with the sheep -herder; all of them, it seemed, had had trouble with Joyce's men.</p> - -<p>"Joyce is the meanest of all the sheepmen who come through here," said -Lance Fitch. "Never gives a homesteader a bit of mutton, and grabs -every blade of grass in sight."</p> - -<p>"That's how he got so rich," remarked Pete Mosher; "by hoggin' the -pasture and stealin' homesteads. I bet he's never hired a herder that -he didn't make at least one homestead off him."</p> - -<p>"Can't something be done to stop him?" asked Harry. "Couldn't some one -go and ask him for a job herding, and then, when Joyce tried to get him -to file on a homestead, have him arrested and prove him guilty?" </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span></p> - -<p>"Say, you catch Joyce and we'll send you to the legislature," promised -Robinson, with a laugh.</p> - -<p>Harry stayed long enough to help wash the dishes; then, in spite of the -family's vigorous remonstrances, she drove over to the ranch. The heat -of the day came on before she reached home, and she was glad that she -had started early. Although there was not a great deal for her to do -on the homestead, she did not finish her various tasks until noon. Hot -and hungry, she went up to the tent to get herself some luncheon and to -look for the jar of salve. She had just started to build a fire when -she heard a horse's tread outside, and thinking that it was Rob, flew -to the doorway. But it was a stranger that faced her—a big man, with -keen, friendly eyes and a low, drawling voice.</p> - -<p>"Robert Holliday live here?" he asked.</p> - -<p>"Yes," Harry answered, "this is his homestead, but he's not here now. -I'm his sister. Is there any message you wish to leave?"</p> - -<p>"Pleased to meet you; Miss Holliday. I'm the sheriff of Lincoln -County—Mason is my name. I've got a bunch of horses down in Shoshone -that I understand Mr. Holliday can tell me something about. Do you know -when he'll be home?"</p> - -<p>"No, I don't. To tell you the truth, he's over in Hailey now, in jail, -on a false charge of having stolen one of those horses."</p> - -<p>"A false charge?" The sheriff looked at her searchingly.</p> - -<p>"Yes." Harry colored under his keen inspection.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span> "Chris Garnett, the -deputy sheriff for this county, found my brother riding a horse that -Garnett claimed as his. As Rob refused to tell him where he got it, -Garnett took him to jail. But he admits now that he doesn't think Rob -stole his horse. Rob could come home if he wanted to, but he's waiting -over there to see Judge Raeburn and explain the whole matter to him."</p> - -<p>"H'm! Well, maybe you can tell me where your brother got that horse."</p> - -<p>"No, I can't. It was in the bunch of colts that a fellow named Jones -brought in here, but I don't know where they came from."</p> - -<p>"What were they doing here?"</p> - -<p>"The colts? Why, Jones and Rob had some sort of a partnership in them. -They broke them together, and Jones drove them out and sold them, I -guess, for he had taken more than half of them when he disappeared -about a week ago. We haven't any idea where he went, or whether he came -up and took the rest of the horses without telling Rob."</p> - -<p>"I see. And Garnett? Where's he at?"</p> - -<p>"Gone to find Jones and see what he can get out of him."</p> - -<p>Mason laughed. "Well, I'll be going on. You say your brother is staying -over in Hailey to talk things over with Judge Raeburn? Court opens in -Hailey to-day; so your brother ought to get back here to-morrow. I'm on -my way to Soldier and I'll stop over here on my way back—in a couple -of days or so." </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span></p> - -<p>"I wonder if you'll do me a favor?" Harry exclaimed, as Mason turned -his horse. "Will you leave a little package at the Robinsons' for me? -It's some salve for Mrs. Robinson's hand."</p> - -<p>"Sure I will. I haven't seen the family for quite some time."</p> - -<p>"What a stupid I am!" Harry exclaimed, as she watched the man ride away -in the distance. "I didn't remember to ask him where Jones was, or -where he found the colts, or anything. I wonder whether anything can be -wrong—whether he arrested Jones?"</p> - -<p>She turned away. A swarm of new, strange fears had suddenly sprung to -life to torment her.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span></p> - -<h2>CHAPTER IX</h2> - -<p>Standing in the door of the tent, Harry stared out over the desert -where the Sheriff had disappeared.</p> - -<p>"Dear me!" she exclaimed. "It seems that out here in the desert you -have to know more and think quicker and be generally all-around smarter -to be good for anything than you do back East, where every one is -supposed to know everything that's worth while."</p> - -<p>All during the afternoon, no matter what she happened to be doing, her -thoughts returned to that curious and not very flattering conclusion. -She recalled to mind the different people she had met in the short time -she had been in Idaho. They had all been "onto their job," as they -would have said. Even when they were not naturally qualified for their -work, they were self-reliant and resourceful.</p> - -<p>Harry's great desire now was to find a way to help Rob. She looked -round the vast expanse of untilled acres; neither her hand nor her -brain was yet capable of attacking that work. She turned and surveyed -the inside of the tent, and the spirit of all her New England ancestors -rose up in protest within her. Gazing helplessly at the dishes of -half-eaten food, the piles of canned goods, the eggs and butter -heaped under the table because there was no other place for them, she -saw in her mind her New England home,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span> with its cellars, cupboards, -storerooms, and pantries. Of all the housekeeping necessities for which -this chaotic tent cried to her, it cried loudest for a pantry. Who -could keep house without a pantry?</p> - -<p>What, she wondered, had Mrs. Robinson done for a pantry when she had -started housekeeping in her one-room "shack"? Harry's thoughts shifted -to the ranch house, and the Robinsons' cheerful slapdash way of doing -the day's work. She remembered helping Vashti bring in the butter and -milk from the side-hill cellar.</p> - -<p>A cellar! Laughing, Harry ran down to the garden. She came back with -the shovel and grub hoe, and went on to the stream where the bank rose -steeply on the other side into the slope of the hill.</p> - -<p>At first her enthusiasm made the work seem easy. It was fun to drag the -stones from the bank, to tear out roots and bushes, and gradually to -see a cave shape itself. Of course it would be only a miniature cave, -just large enough to hold a wooden packing box on end; but she could -keep there butter and eggs and milk, and perhaps a few dishes.</p> - -<p>Before she realized it the sun was low, the pigs were squealing for -their supper, and her hands were badly blistered.</p> - -<p>Well along in the afternoon of the next day, Harry was still digging -bravely at her cellar. It was not enthusiasm now, but determination, -that kept her at her task. She stood in the water and chopped doggedly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span> -at the roots. Sometimes she stopped to wipe her hot face on her sleeve, -or to give her hair another twist.</p> - -<p>"About a dozen shovelfuls," she said suddenly aloud, "and it will be -finished."</p> - -<p>"What'll be finished?"</p> - -<p>"Oh!" With a cry Harry whirled round and faced Rob, who stood on the -opposite bank grinning with amusement at the muddy, disheveled young -person before him.</p> - -<p>"Rob! You mean thing! How you scared me! When did you come? I didn't -hear you."</p> - -<p>"No wonder, making such a racket yourself. What's that? A playhouse?"</p> - -<p>"A playhouse! That's a cellar." She dropped her work and walked back to -the tent with him. "Well, it's good to see you. What has happened? What -did Raeburn say?"</p> - -<p>"Oh, not much. Gave me some good advice."</p> - -<p>"What about Jones? Oh, yes, I forgot. The sheriff was here from -Shoshone. He stopped here to ask you about those colts. He has them -down in town."</p> - -<p>"Yes, I know. I saw them last night."</p> - -<p>"Well, then, you know more than I do."</p> - -<p>"I know you've thought I was pretty mean, sis," Rob said, after a -moment's silence, "not to tell you all about this business at the -start. It wasn't because I didn't trust you; it was simply to save -you from having to answer questions that you couldn't have <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span>answered -honestly without giving everything away. But now it's all settled and -you can know what we've been doing.</p> - -<p>"First, I suppose you'd like to know who Jones is. I met him winter -before last when we were both working on the new railway out of -Shoshone. Jones had taken a subcontract under Grant, the man who had -the whole job from the company, and from the start everything was -against him: he struck rock, lost a team, and was laid up sick for a -couple of weeks. He just lost out all around.</p> - -<p>"Well, when he came to quit he hadn't a cent and was about five hundred -dollars in debt besides. Grant got out a judgment against him for -supplies, and there Jones was, with his whole winter's work shot to -nothing.</p> - -<p>"He worked at odd jobs during the summer. Then when he heard of that -government ditch up in the northern part of the state, he hiked up -there. He worked there all winter, got good pay, and saved some money. -He'd written to me, off and on, and I saw he was worried about that -money he owed. He wanted to pay it, but if he came back and paid up -everything, he'd be cleaned out. If he could only invest it and make a -little profit on it, he could pay his debts just the same and have a -little left over to start on. He'd had such hard luck and worried so -hard it seemed only fair.</p> - -<p>"I happened to think of bringing horses in to sell. A work team fetches -a good price down round Jerome and Twin Falls, where the new settlers -are coming in.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span> So we went into partnership on a bunch of horses. Jones -went across into Oregon and got some colts cheap and brought 'em down -here."</p> - -<p>"But why did you have to keep it a secret?"</p> - -<p>"Why, because, if his creditors had found out that he had a bunch of -horses, they'd have attached the whole lot of them and sold them in -auction for whatever they could get."</p> - -<p>"But if he had sold them to you——"</p> - -<p>"Yes, that's exactly why he did sell them to me; 'consideration one -dollar.' Of course, he and I understood that they were really his, but -legally they were mine, and no one could take them from me to settle -his debts; but to be on the safe side we kept the colts up in the draw -and worked with them only in the early morning and late afternoon, when -there wasn't much danger of cattle men coming through. Well, everything -was going fine, until one day when Jones was off looking up business -he met a fellow he'd known on the railway that winter. Of course the -fellow wanted to know how Jones was doing. Jones forgot himself and -told more than he meant to. The other fellow was on his way to Shoshone -then, and <i>he</i> said more than he should have. Grant heard about it, and -by the time Jones had got back from Jerome, Grant had sent the sheriff -after the horses."</p> - -<p>"But why didn't Mason come down to see you?" exclaimed Harry. "What a -strange thing to do—come and drive the horses off your land without a -word!" </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span></p> - -<p>"But he didn't know that they were mine, or that they were on my land."</p> - -<p>"Well, how did they know where to find them? Jones didn't tell that -fellow exactly where they were, did he?"</p> - -<p>"Of course not. It was through Joyce they found out. He was in town, -at Mason's office, when Grant came in to send the sheriff after the -colts, and Joyce remembered seeing them up there in the draw near the -big quaking asp. Every one knows that tree, so it was easy for Mason to -find the horses. It was dusk when he got there, and so I don't suppose -he even thought of looking round to see whether any one lived down -below in the caņon."</p> - -<p>"Well, anyhow, if they're yours legally, why can't you go down and -prevent Grant from selling them?"</p> - -<p>"I thought of that. But Jones said not to—I talked with him on the -telephone last night. We've sold half the bunch already, and the market -is as good now as it ever will be, and rather than have any mix-up he -thinks it's better to let Grant sell off the rest as quick as he can. -We've made a good profit already, and so long as Jones is satisfied, I -am. I got him into the scheme, so I felt that I had to stand by him to -the finish."</p> - -<p>"You certainly did!" exclaimed Harry. "It isn't every one who would go -to jail for a man who is almost a stranger. Lose all that time and gain -nothing by it!" </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span></p> - -<p>"Didn't I gain anything?" Rob looked at her oddly. "Didn't we, rather?"</p> - -<p>"Didn't we?" she repeated, puzzled.</p> - -<p>"Sure. Wasn't it by coming over to bring me that bill that you found -out all about Boykin Hunter and the chance to contest his filing?"</p> - -<p>"Sure enough. I'd forgotten. How did his case come out? Did he get the -six months he deserved?"</p> - -<p>"Not yet. Joyce was there, and he made a big powpow; said he could -bring witnesses to prove that Boykin was a noble character, that he -wouldn't hurt a fly, and so on. Asked for a stay until next court. -Garnett says that's to give him time to chase round and find another -man to put on that land. He's going to keep an eye on him,—Garnett on -Joyce, I mean,—and if anything suspicious seems to be brewing, he'll -chase down here and warn us."</p> - -<p>"That's nice of him, isn't it? You aren't mad at him any longer?"</p> - -<p>"At Garnett? Of course not. I was sore at him for being so bull-headed -about his horse; but of course he was right to hang on to his -suspicions until they were proved wrong. He was there this morning in -court. He saw Mason last night, too, and learned the whole story about -this horse deal. Yes, Garnett's a good fellow. It's fellows like him -and old Dan Brannan that show a fellow what the West really is—the -place where the man himself counts every time."</p> - -<p>He got up and stretched himself. "I think I'll drive over to Soldier -to-morrow and get a load of lumber.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span> It's too dry to plow, and it won't -be long before I'll be going haying and harvesting. If I get the lumber -in now, we'll be ready to start building the house early in September."</p> - -<p>"Where shall we put the house? I wish we could have it farther up the -glen, near the trees."</p> - -<p>"Let's go look round," suggested Rob.</p> - -<p>As they walked up the slope, Harry said suddenly, "Oh, yes, I've meant -to ask you a dozen times: how did Garnett's horse happen to be in that -bunch of colts? I never told you how Garnett came here one day to look -for his horse." She went on to relate what had happened, and why she -had always put off telling him of it.</p> - -<p>"Isn't that queer, the way a little incident can twist everything!" -Rob exclaimed. "If I'd known that, I'd probably never have ridden the -horse; never have got pinched anyhow, for refusing to tell where he -came from. The way Jones happened to have him was this: You remember -Garnett said he'd lost him? Well, a half-breed up in the reserve had -stolen him, along with another, and was on his way to Boise when he met -Jones coming this way, and got him to give him a colt in exchange for -the two saddle horses."</p> - -<p>"Goodness me! What a tangle, and yet how simple when once you know what -caused it all! And where is Jones now? They didn't keep him a prisoner -in Shoshone——"</p> - -<p>"Oh, no, he's at liberty, but he had to stay and see how the matter -was coming out. He said that after<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span> he pays his debts he's going into -Oregon again to buy more colts."</p> - -<p>They had been walking up the slope at a leisurely gait, and had just -stopped beside a big rock to look round when the thud! thud! of a -horse's hoofs came up from the trail, and they saw a buggy and team -approaching. Rob shouted, and as the answering call came back, Harry -giggled excitedly.</p> - -<p>"It's Garnett! I'd know that voice anywhere."</p> - -<p>They ran down to meet him, and reached the tent just as he climbed out -of the dust-covered buggy.</p> - -<p>"Hello, young fellow! What's the complaint now?" asked Rob. "I speak -for one night's sleep before you drag me to jail again."</p> - -<p>"Oh, don't worry," Garnett replied calmly. "It ain't you I'm after this -time; it's your sister."</p> - -<p>"Me!" Harry exclaimed. "Why, what do you mean?"</p> - -<p>"Oh, say now! You're easy, ain't you?" Garnett apologized, with -mischief gleaming in his eyes. "I didn't tell Bob the whole story, but -didn't he tell you that I promised to come after you any time to go and -file a contest on that homestead you're wanting?"</p> - -<p>"What do you know about that!" Rob exclaimed in delight. "Has Boykin -admitted he is Hunter, after all, or what?"</p> - -<p>"No, it's Joyce that's given himself away; given the whole thing into -my hand the way you'd shove a bottle at a baby."</p> - -<p>"Oh, how?" Harry cried. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span></p> - -<p>"It was yesterday, down at the livery stable in Soldier," began -Garnett, as they all sat down on the grass. "I was in the stall way at -the end of the shed fixing up my horse, and Joyce and another fellow -came in along the alley beside me. Joyce never dreamed any one was -listening, and he gave the whole thing up. He's going away to-morrow -morning to show this new herder the land he's to make entry on, and -then they're going to hike back to Shoshone in his automobile and file -a contest over Boykin's filing."</p> - -<p>"To-morrow!" repeated Rob.</p> - -<p>"You're guessing. That gives us to-night to get ready; we'll make one -first-class early start for Shoshone in the morning."</p> - -<p>"To-morrow!"</p> - -<p>"Say," said Garnett, turning to Rob, who sat as if he were dreaming, -"don't use so many words. It sort of confuses me."</p> - -<p>"You think we can do it?" asked Rob. It seemed too good to be true, and -he was afraid that he should show his feeling.</p> - -<p>"Can we! Well, I guess we can! You wait until you get in the rig behind -that team of cayuses. You'll do it, hands down."</p> - -<p>Rob looked at Garnett. He did not speak, but in his mute, eloquent -gaze Garnett saw that what he had wished for had at last come to pass: -Holliday was ready to be his friend!</p> - -<p>"Isn't it queer," Harry said, after a moment's silence, "the way some -people can take other people's<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span> mistakes and blunders and turn them -into other people's good fortune!"</p> - -<p>"Ain't you got an awful lot of folks mixed up in that?" asked Garnett.</p> - -<p>"Not so many as you might guess, if you wanted to," said Harry, -laughing, as she rose and went inside to her work.</p> - -<p>Supper was a merry meal. Rob and Garnett laughed and talked and joked -freely. Harry did not say much, but the sparkle in her eyes showed that -she was very happy.</p> - -<p>"And now, Harry, how early in the morning can you be ready to start for -Shoshone?" asked Rob, as he and Garnett prepared to leave the tent for -their beds in the hay. "I don't mean ready to begin to get ready; I -mean ready to hit the trail."</p> - -<p>"Oh, I can start now, if you say so," returned Harry, with a smile.</p> - -<p>"Say. Let's take a ten-minute nap first," Garnett pleaded. "I feel like -I was a living moving-picture show these days—I keep moving so much up -and down the big road."</p> - -<p>"Shall we make it eight o'clock in the morning, then?" said Rob. "By -the way, Garnett, how are we going? We can't all three squeeze into -that buggy."</p> - -<p>"We could, but there's no use of it. You'll take the team and I'll ride -your horse."</p> - -<p>"You can't. He's down in Shoshone in that bunch of colts."</p> - -<p>"Shucks! Well, I'll go as far as Robinson's with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span> you and borrow a -horse. Then I'll ride in ahead and meet you there. No use of me milling -round in the dust behind you for thirty miles."</p> - -<p class="space-above">"I wish there were a short cut to town," said Harry to Rob, as they -climbed out of Spring Creek caņon the following morning and started -across the flats. Garnett had borrowed a horse at the Robinsons' and -had ridden on ahead. "If Joyce sees us on the road, won't he suspect -where we're going?"</p> - -<p>"Why should he? He hasn't the faintest idea that we know his plans."</p> - -<p>"But he knows that we wanted that homestead, and that we know Boykin -is under suspicion of being some one else. If he hadn't been afraid, I -don't believe he'd have rushed off like this to put a new man on the -land."</p> - -<p>"No, I don't suppose he would. Still, I'm not worrying. Even if he knew -everything, he's got to go up on the land before he comes through by -the road, and he's got to go slow a lot of the way. A buzz wagon is all -right on a boulevard, but in a race like this give me a good team and a -light rig and I'll lay my money on that."</p> - -<p>As they drove along they laughed and talked, picturing Joyce's disgust -at finding himself beaten, and feeling, in truth, as if they had -already run and won the race. It was not until Rob looked at his watch -and found that it was half-past twelve o'clock that they realized how -much still lay between them and victory. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span></p> - -<p>"I guess we'd better not stop at the Hyslop ranch for lunch," he said. -"I'll let the horses drink, but we won't feed them. They would have to -rest an hour if I did, and we've got to take the next fifteen miles on -the run."</p> - -<p>"Yes, yes," Harry agreed earnestly. "We mustn't stop for anything. We -can't lose that homestead, Bobs, we can't."</p> - -<p>Leaning forward, with her hands clasped tensely, she watched one after -another the landmarks that Rob had pointed out to her on their first -ride across the hills. How different she felt now!</p> - -<p>They stopped to water the horses and to give them a few minutes' rest; -then they pushed on again. Always listening and looking back, they kept -the horses up to their work, and at the same time saved them for the -last spurt.</p> - -<p>"We're doing about eight miles an hour now," Rob said some time later. -"We've about an hour and a half before the land office closes, and we -ought to be able to do the rest of the trip in that time. That is, -unless Joyce gets in and does it quicker."</p> - -<p>He had hardly spoken when they heard behind them the faint blare of a -horn.</p> - -<p>"There he is now!" They said it in one breath, and their eyes met.</p> - -<p>Rob slid forward in his seat. "We'll do it or bust."</p> - -<p>"How can we?" asked Harry despairingly.</p> - -<p>"I don't know. But I'm not going to give up now, would you?" </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span></p> - -<p>"Oh, no, no! Let's keep going to the very last. Something may happen -for us."</p> - -<p>Although the horses did their best, the motor car gained on them -rapidly. Knowing that the car could pass them even if he held the -middle of the road, Rob drew to the roadside. As the lumbering -automobile went swiftly by it lunged down into a mudhole and spattered -them freely.</p> - -<p>"Thanks," said Rob placidly as Joyce glanced back over his shoulder. -"That's one we owe you. Never mind, sis. You want to hold on, for -wherever there's a stretch of good road I'll hit up the pace."</p> - -<p>"Yes, that's right. He might break down or strike a snag at the last -moment."</p> - -<p>"Snakes and siwash!" Rob cried a few moments later. "He's done it! He's -stuck!"</p> - -<p>"O Bobs," Harry cried, giggling hysterically, "please be careful! The -horses might run away."</p> - -<p>"O my, O my, O my great-grandmother!" Rob shouted with delight as he -pointed ahead.</p> - -<p>They could now see the whole of the road between them and town. It -wound downhill through the sagebrush, and then crossed the main ditch -of the irrigation company; from there it ran in a straight line between -the fenced fields until it entered the town.</p> - -<p>About a mile ahead, just after crossing the bridge, the automobile -stood motionless. The three men had climbed out, and were moving -distractedly about it. Apparently their efforts to start it were -proving futile. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span></p> - -<p>"What did I tell you?" chuckled Rob. "He's struck a mudhole and bogged -down. Look! There's a big break in the ditch somewhere above and the -road is flooded a foot deep. Get up, you Derby winners, get up!"</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span></p> - -<h2>CHAPTER X</h2> - -<p>As Rob and Harry drew near the disabled automobile, Joyce stepped out -into the muddy road and hailed them.</p> - -<p>"You couldn't stop long enough to hitch on here and haul us out, could -you, Mr. Holliday?" he asked ingratiatingly, as Rob stopped. "We can't -get her started neither way. It's kind of mean to ask a fellow to -onhitch, but there's accidents happen to all of us, ain't there?"</p> - -<p>Rob glanced at the car. Its front wheels were stuck fast in the -mudhole; moreover, the bank of the slough was so soft and deep that -Joyce could not get power enough into the wheels to force the machine -either forward or backward. Rob watched him twice crank the engine and -throw open the lever. The car shook violently, but refused to move. It -was safe where it was for some time.</p> - -<p>"You ought to get a couple of heavy rails or fence-posts to pry up the -front wheels and run her across."</p> - -<p>"That's all right, but I don't see any lying round here, do you?" Joyce -snapped angrily. Then he added in a more pleasant tone, "I'll make it -worth your while to put your team in here. I've got business in town -that can't wait."</p> - -<p>"I'm sorry; so have I," answered Rob. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span></p> - -<p>"Wouldn't twenty-five make it up to you? Here it is." Joyce pulled the -gold pieces from his pocket.</p> - -<p>Rob shook his head. "Business first, pleasure afterward," he said, as -the team started ahead. "I'm late as it is. You can get a couple of -planks over at the ranch yonder."</p> - -<p>A little way down the road Rob glanced back. "Now for the last lap," -he said. "If that motor will only be kind enough to sulk for half an -hour longer, I think we can just about beat him, her or it by a neck. -Hurray!"</p> - -<p>"He hasn't started yet," Harry announced from time to time, looking -back to see what progress their rival was making. "Why can't he stick -where he is until we get there? The moment he manages to get his -machine out of the mud he'll simply open everything and rush past us, -and we'll not be in the race at all."</p> - -<p>"Not much. He'd bust the whole machine wide open if he struck one of -these sharp rocks going fast. No, he'll wait until he gets pretty near -town, where the roads are smooth, before he hits her up to top speed. -So here is where we whirl in and do our level best."</p> - -<p>Rob merely touched one of the ponies with the whip, and it was enough. -Both ponies started on a run.</p> - -<p>"O Rob! They're running away!" gasped Harry.</p> - -<p>"Don't worry. I'd hate to see them drop, but I'm<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span> going to get there -first, or bust. Where's Joyce now?"</p> - -<p>Harry turned and knelt on the seat of the swaying buggy. "I don't -see him. Yes, there he is! He's started! O Bobs! If we could only go -faster!"</p> - -<p>Rob did not answer. All his attention was on the team. How they could -run! With ears back and tails stretched out, they dashed on; behind -them swung the buggy, bounding over mudholes and across stones and -ruts. Faster and faster the ponies flew.</p> - -<p>Not daring to look back, Harry clung to the seat with both hands. -Behind them came the continual blare of the horn as the motor car crept -up on them, drew nearer and nearer, until, as they scrambled up the -last hill, the mad clatter of the engine seemed almost in their ears. -At the top of the slope, with the main street stretching before them, -Rob showed no mercy. With the reins wrapped round his hands, he sat -forward on the edge of the seat and urged the horses on.</p> - -<p>Down the main street they went, missing a wagon, swerving past men who -ran out to stop the runaway team, and who then, seeing the motor car -behind, understood, and shouted applause. In a moment the quiet street -was in an uproar of excitement. Shopkeepers and customers, corner -idlers and school children, old men and women, ran pell-mell after the -galloping team and the motor car.</p> - -<p>Of three men on horseback who joined in the chase, one was Garnett. He -had reached town about an hour before, but had not wished to put up -his horse until Harry and Rob should come in. As soon as he saw<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span> them -flying down the street, he rode up, and, by keeping close to the side -of the buggy, helped to block the way to those behind.</p> - -<p>As Rob pulled over to the side of the street toward the land office, -Garnett shouted to Harry, "Jump for the door! Jump!"</p> - -<p>Quick as thought, he reached down from his saddle, caught the girl -round the waist as she leaned forward, and swung her from the buggy. -He swung himself after her, and sprang up the steps to the office door -just time to get between Harry and the sheepman, who reached for the -doorknob at the same moment. But instead of all three piling into the -room together, they merely fell against the door. For the door was -locked.</p> - -<p>Trembling with exhaustion and excitement, Harry felt her hand slip as -Joyce tried to push her out of the way.</p> - -<p>"No, you don't, Joyce!" Garnett said roughly, thrusting his arm in -front of the sheepman. "You didn't get here first."</p> - -<p>"This is a put-up job!" began Joyce angrily.</p> - -<p>"I bet!" was Garnett's grim answer, which brought a laugh from the -crowd that had gathered about the steps to see what would happen.</p> - -<p>"Let me into this office!" Joyce ordered.</p> - -<p>"The clerk didn't leave the key with me."</p> - -<p>"This isn't your affair. Get away from that door!"</p> - -<p>"Get away yourself."</p> - -<p>"Perhaps I had better go," Harry said in a low tone to Garnett. "I can -come back in the morning." </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span></p> - -<p>"Not early enough to get what you're after," said Garnett, glancing -down at her. "You can hang on a while, can't you, until Rob gets back? -He's gone to find out about opening this place. You don't want to have -to stand here all night."</p> - -<p>"All night?"</p> - -<p>She turned a dismayed face on him. Garnett gazed into it a moment -without answering. Never had he seen any girl look as Harry looked now. -She was spattered with mud from hair to shoes. She had lost both hat -and hairpins on that wild drive, and her brown curls lay in disorder -about her neck. Her cheeks were white; even her lips were pale with -excitement and weariness. But in her eyes shone the exultation of -victory and on her lips was a smile.</p> - -<p>"I can stand here a week if I have to," she said. "But I hope I shan't -have to."</p> - -<p>"You've got to get into this place first if you want that homestead. -Here comes Rob now. Perhaps he's corralled the clerk."</p> - -<p>Rob elbowed his way through the crowd that was pressing up to stare -at Harry. "No use," he said. "The office won't be opened until nine -o'clock to-morrow morning. I saw the clerk just as he was leaving town -to go to a wedding, and wild horses couldn't have held him. Are you -onto your job, sis?"</p> - -<p>"I guess so. Listen. What is he saying?"</p> - -<p>Joyce had retreated to the sidewalk. He was not afraid of a fight or -unused to one, but for various<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span> reasons he hesitated to try to get -possession of the door by force.</p> - -<p>The jokes of the crowd were becoming more and more irritating to him, -however, and suddenly he called out, "I'll give twenty-five dollars to -any one who'll break that girl's hold on the door there!"</p> - -<p>"And I'll give fifty swift kicks to any one who tries it!" cried -Garnett.</p> - -<p>"Wouldn't the young lady like a chair?" a voice said at Harry's elbow.</p> - -<p>Turning, Harry saw Smoot, the hotel clerk, leaning over the railing of -the porch with a chair in his hand.</p> - -<p>"That's good of you!" she exclaimed gratefully. "I didn't realize how -tired I am."</p> - -<p>"Hungry, too, I guess," suggested Smoot. "If you're going to stick it -out all night, you'll need some good chuck to hold you."</p> - -<p>"I expect I shall," agreed Harry with a tired little laugh.</p> - -<p>"Say, Smoot," suggested Rob, "can't you go over to Kenny's and tell 'em -to send round a tray of grub?"</p> - -<p>"All right. Anything in particular you'd like, Miss Holliday?"</p> - -<p>"A gallon or two of water; I'm so thirsty! But don't you want to eat -your own suppers?" she said, turning to Rob and Garnett.</p> - -<p>"Shucks! We don't care when we eat," Garnett assured her. "We'll starve -out this bunch first, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span>anyhow." Then, in a lower tone, he added, "When -Joyce sees you're game, he'll let up."</p> - -<p>"I guess I'm game."</p> - -<p>"Of course you are. I saw it that first time I spoke to you. Remember?"</p> - -<p>"On the train?" She laughed. "Indeed I do. And you told me I'd stay. -Honestly, I didn't expect to then."</p> - -<p>"No, you didn't. But you stick to what you tackle. I kind of felt that -once you'd camped in Idaho it'd get a strangle hold on you somehow."</p> - -<p>"Well, it has. Any one seeing me hanging to a doorknob all night must -realize that I like Idaho pretty well." She shivered involuntarily as -she spoke.</p> - -<p>"You're half froze. As soon as they come with that grub we'll send for -a blanket."</p> - -<p>"There comes the food now. And Mrs. Kenny. Isn't she the best, though? -And I look like—I don't know what."</p> - -<p>"Like a sure-enough fighter, and that's just what Mrs. Kenny likes."</p> - -<p>The sun had set and it was beginning to grow chilly. Most of the crowd -were drifting away. With a pot of coffee in one hand, a basket of food -in the other, and a big shawl over her arm, Mrs. Kenny came sailing -down the street, exchanging pungent remarks with the townsfolk as she -passed; she was much like a frigate going to the rescue with guns -unmasked.</p> - -<p>"For the land sakes, girlie," she exclaimed, "is it really you? Well, -you're the right stuff! Howdy,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span> Joyce? Looks like you wasn't in this -deal. How about it?"</p> - -<p>"It's early yet," answered Joyce sourly. "Wait till four o'clock -to-morrow morning."</p> - -<p>"And if I ain't a heap sight duller than I think, you'll be some tired -yourself by that time, settin' all night on the hard side of that -stair-step. Better go git you some supper, you and the new herder you -got there."</p> - -<p>Joyce growled something unintelligible in reply. He held a low-toned -conversation with the herder, and after a moment they walked away.</p> - -<p>The minute they were out of sight, Mrs. Kenny caught Harry's arm. "Come -on, now," she said quickly. "This is your time. You come round to the -hotel the back way and get cleaned up and rested. Joyce won't dream -you'll go like this, first dash out of the box. And if he did come -back, why, Garnett here ain't never filed, and he can hold the door -like it's for himself until you come back. Come on, now."</p> - -<p>"That's right," insisted Garnett. "Mrs. Kenny is sure right."</p> - -<p>When Harry came back, washed, brushed, fed, and rested, she felt -prepared for anything. Joyce had not returned, and the three, Harry, -Rob, and Garnett, felt certain that he had accepted defeat. Still, it -would not do to run any chances, and they prepared to watch through the -night.</p> - -<p>Rob had brought some old boxes from the grocery store, and with them -he built a little fire in the road;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span> there, as the long, chilly hours -passed, it glowed cheeringly. He and Garnett took turns watching the -door and the fire.</p> - -<p>But toward morning they unconsciously relaxed. Rob with his head on -his knees, dozed beside the smouldering fire; Garnett, stretched near -the door, nodded; and Harry, wrapped in the warm shawl, leaned her -head against the back of her chair and tried to realize that morning -was very near. Then suddenly she started, cried out, and clutched the -doorknob just as Joyce, in stocking feet, slid swiftly across the porch.</p> - -<p>Even as her call broke from her lips, Garnett threw himself forward, -caught Joyce by the leg, and brought him to the floor. Then, dropping -his hold, he sprang to his feet and stood in front of Harry, ready for -what might come. Rob, too, had waked at the first sound of trouble, and -had easily frustrated the herder's somewhat faint-hearted attempt to -help out the sheepman.</p> - -<p>Harry, Rob, and Garnett stood with their backs against the door, -prepared for anything. But Joyce had wrenched his knee in falling and, -unable to put up a good fight, limped away with angry threats.</p> - -<p>At seven o'clock Mrs. Kenny appeared with breakfast. With her came "Old -Man" Kenny and Smoot to take the place of Rob and Garnett while they -went to the hotel to eat.</p> - -<p>At nine o'clock the clerk opened the office door and the little party -passed inside. After all the excitement and suspense, the mingled hope -and fear through which she had lived in the last twenty-four hours,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span> -Harry was surprised at the calmness with which she went through the -necessary business of signing the papers and taking the oath.</p> - -<p>She was in a way, the calmest of all the little crowd which had -collected to see the end of this exciting race and to take a good look -at the girl who had "put one over hog-dollar Joyce." Every new settler -means much to those already at work building homes in a new territory -and almost every one who traded in town knew Rob Holliday and had heard -of the hard work he and "the girl" were doing on his homestead.</p> - -<p>The news of the race had of course run through the town and when the -land office opened for Harry's filing both windows were full of heads -and the porch held a crowd of complimentary size.</p> - -<p>A low but constant whisper of explanation accompanied the gray-haired -registrar's voice as he ran through the forms with Harry. When she had -signed her name for the last time he carefully took off his spectacles, -looked into her flushed and happy face with a kindly quizzical smile -and held out his hand. "I don't know when I've filed anybody that -pleased me like this has," he said; "If you keep a going on your -hundred'n sixty like you came after it, young lady, you're liable to -have a pretty first class ranch by time you prove up."</p> - -<p>A laugh of appreciation from the listening group approved this remark -and the many hands that shook hers as she passed down to the street -assured Harry of the good will that went with her to the work before -her.</p> - -<p>They spent the forenoon in town, doing errands and,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span> visiting with the -acquaintances who had heard the story of Joyce's defeat and came around -to hear the particulars. Mrs. Kenny gave them an early lunch and after -thanking her for her share in the victorious siege, they started back -to the ranch, Garnett going with them in order to take the team and -buggy back to Hailey.</p> - -<p>They were tired from lack of sleep and the long nervous strain, yet -they were too elated with the sense of the victory they had won to let -it go at that. They must talk it over and laugh at the fears they had -endured, even if now and then an irrepressible yawn would sandwich in -between the jokes.</p> - -<p>"I bet I could stretch a mile if I didn't haff to walk back to meet my -horse," Garnett confessed.</p> - -<p>"And I'd drop out at the Hyslop ranch and sleep all the afternoon -if I didn't hate to ask you two to wait and take me home." Harry's -infectious laughter drew a smile from two riders who passed them -coming in from the hills. Their felt hats pulled low over their eyes, -their sunburned faces powdered with white dust, no one recognized them -at first as they drew off the trail to let the buggy pass. But they -touched their hats to Harry and glanced back.</p> - -<p>"Why, hello Lance," Bob exclaimed. "I didn't recognize you and Rudy for -the dust that's choked us."</p> - -<p>The two dust-covered riders smiled. "Ain't you gettin' back from town -early?" Lance inquired.</p> - -<p>"Not so early as you fellas are gettin' in late." Garnett interposed. -"The show's over." </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span></p> - -<p>"It sounded like you'd been seein' something pretty good," Lance -admitted; "There warn't no notice over to Soldier of any show."</p> - -<p>"Oh it warn't that sort. Just one of these here amytoor doin's. -Charades. You know. Nobody knowed what he was going to say 'til he was -sayin' it——"</p> - -<p>"Or doing it," Rob added.</p> - -<p>"Must of been some show," Rudy Batts ventured gravely, his hazel eyes -very quiet and watchful for the joke behind all this banter.</p> - -<p>"Some! A whole lot," Garnett said warmly. "More 'specially when that -there Joyce, him bein' the villyan, crope up and thought he'd put one -over the lady there."</p> - -<p>"Sounds like it might be interesting if we was to hear it," said Lance. -"We got the vilyan, but who's the hero?"</p> - -<p>"There were two," Harry put in quickly. "Two heroes and a damsel in -distress, men at arms, a throng of brave retainers, a noble dame who -came to the rescue. Oh, it was wonderful. You tell them, boys!"</p> - -<p>As the story was told there were nods and growls of approval from the -two young men, homesteaders themselves, who had suffered more than once -from inroads of sheep and cattle owned by certain high-handed stockmen.</p> - -<p>"It's a big wedge you druv in between Joyce and his land grabbin', Miss -Holliday," Lance told her; "and luck was sure with you when you took -out after him." </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span></p> - -<p>"Spunk, I'd say," Garnett suggested as they all prepared to move along.</p> - -<p>"Spunk! That's right." Rudy declared. "If there was a little more of -that up our way mebbe we'd get busy and pull something that'd dehorn -animals like Joyce for good and give the rest of us a chance to feed -and water."</p> - -<p>"This'll be the best news on the prairie this year," was Lance's -farewell word.</p> - -<p>"Any chance to board at your place for a while, Holliday?" Garnett -asked, and, as Rob and Harry looked at him questioningly, he explained. -"Why, your sister there will be cookin' and makin' cake for a month now -to entertain the committee on congratulations that'll be hikin' over."</p> - -<p>"I certainly owe you a cake, Garnett," said Harry. "You can order any -kind you like."</p> - -<p>So they talked as the day waned and they climbed steadily higher until -Harry, gazing forward along the line of the road as it wound through -flowering rabbit brush and summer's grass across the foothills, saw -again the snowy peaks of the Sawtooth looking down at her.</p> - -<p>Was it only two months ago that she had followed the same road into the -unknown, curious and interested as a child? To-day she went where it -led, happy and content, and ambitious too. She realized that it was not -child's play that awaited her this time at the end of the road; it was -woman's work—But she welcomed it for she had become a woman.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span></p> - -<h2>CHAPTER XI</h2> - -<p>The glow of success at having gained the victory over Joyce in such an -unexpected way, the realization of being herself a homesteader, with -all the responsibilities and opportunities which that title conferred -gave Harry a new interest in the hard work of the succeeding months. -Winter came early and stayed late up there in the foothills and before -the snow began to fall in November a great deal must be done.</p> - -<p>Most important of all was the building of the house. Within six months -after filing on land each homesteader must, in the language of the law, -"establish a residence." Fortunately the section line between Harry's -hundred and sixty and Rob's ran just east of the stream and so, by -placing the two fourteen-foot cabins together with this line between -them, a very fair-sized house would result.</p> - -<p>Rob had figured that, with Harry's help, he could get the house up in -a month. He had planned to build it during October between harvesting -and threshing. He had already engaged to work for the ranchers down on -the flat with their hay and grain, and furthermore he had taken a job -feeding stock for the winter at Stone Bridge, a new settlement up the -river.</p> - -<p>But now Harry must be included in the winter's plans. A few months -earlier this would have been<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span> a serious consideration, as the only -thing she could do by which she could earn her living sufficiently well -was teaching, and, as has been said, she had had to give up that work -because of eyestrain. But six months of desert life had, in addition to -broadening her ideas, restored the natural vigor of her eyesight. The -complete rest from school work, the change from living in close rooms, -from narrow, close-built streets, and moving crowds, to working out of -doors with the wide horizon and silent spaces of the hills around her -had, in fact, given her more vigor than she had ever had and she felt -more fit than ever to teach.</p> - -<p>Here, of course, another difficulty arose. Teachers would have been -engaged for all district schools by the time Rob and Harry should be -ready to leave the ranch. They talked the situation over and decided -that an advertisement in the <i>Prairie Despatch</i> would reach the most -remote hamlets; those where lay the probable chances of finding a -vacancy. If this failed, Harry could go out with Rob to cook for the -threshing crews and, when that work ended, board in Stone Bridge -through the winter.</p> - -<p>Having settled this, Rob went down to help Robinson put up his second -cutting of alfalfa and Harry spent the week irrigating their alfalfa -and the garden. They had put in a quarter of an acre of potatoes with -the intention of having enough both for their own use the following -spring and summer and for selling to the ranchers down on the flat -where late frosts usually nipped the garden patches. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span></p> - -<p>Harry's advertisement was to appear in that Saturday's <i>Despatch</i>, -so naturally there was no report from it when Rob came up to spend -Sunday. But the following week he brought a letter from the trustees -of a mountain hamlet and, more important, word from Mrs. Robinson that -her husband's sister living up at Stone Bridge, had written that their -teacher was going to be married and they were wondering where to find -another.</p> - -<p>Harry, of course, rode out with Rob on Monday, taking her diploma and a -letter of recommendation from the principal of the school in the East -where she had taught. She was obliged to pass an examination before -being allowed to teach in Idaho, but she did that satisfactorily and -it was not difficult for the school board to believe in her general -fitness for the work—if "work" it could be called—she reflected after -seeing the textbooks and the fifteen children who were to be her pupils.</p> - -<p>The winter's work being thus happily settled for them, Harry and Rob -gave their attention to the new house. He hauled the lumber at odd -times between haying and harvesting and on the first of October came -home with a last load of nails, shingles, windows and building paper, -ready to begin work.</p> - -<p>The building of that "prove-up shack," as Rob would call it, was, -next to Harry's coming into Idaho, the most significant event in her -life. All her traditions had built the conviction that a home must be -something more than a weatherproof box containing the number of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span> cubic -feet required by the homestead law and lighted by one window two and a -half feet square.</p> - -<p>"I can't, I won't live in a—a shack like some I've seen," she -protested; "board walls so full of splinters you could curry a horse -against them and nothing but a row of nails for a closet. Why isn't it -just as cheap to make a pretty cottage of the same amount of wood?"</p> - -<p>"Why, isn't it just as cheap to make a lace veil as a flour sack? -They're both made of cotton thread. I've figured on spending one -month's time and about two hundred dollars cash on this dwelling. Now -if you can show me where any style can be worked in for that sum of -money and labor—don't forget the labor—go ahead and make your plan."</p> - -<p>This somewhat discouraging permission was quite enough for Harry. A -flood of sketches including dormer windows, pergolas, verandas and -colonial chimneys was the result offered for Rob's consideration.</p> - -<p>"Now if I were an architect and you had a million dollars to spend we'd -show these old timers, wouldn't we?" he laughed. But nevertheless, he -did try to adapt his material to the spirit of Harry's wishes.</p> - -<p>The eaves of the steep, gabled roof hung low; there were windows -wherever a free wall space allowed—big windows that gave the plain -rooms a set of ever-changing pictures of prairie and mountains. There -was even a little porch before the door—that door built of planks, -studded with nail-heads and twice the width of the ordinary mill-work -door, "so that when we get<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span> our piano, it will be easy to bring it -inside," explained Harry.</p> - -<p>"You must be figuring on making money, real money," Rob teased.</p> - -<p>Harry could not tell him how the slow raising of that house had lifted -her to the sight of still wider horizons. But every board she helped -to lay in place, every nail she drove fastened her more firmly to this -new land, strengthened her will to succeed. As she and Rob worked -they talked, planning endless improvements to be made as they should -prosper. The desire for those things stirred them to toil happier than -many pleasures.</p> - -<p>Rob did not finish the house, there was too much else to be done; a -horse shed to be run up, firewood to be cut and hauled in readiness for -the following spring, the channel of the stream that ran close to the -house to be deepened and widened with the slip, so that when the snow -water came down in the spring break-up it would not overflow into their -new cellar, or swirl a pile of stones from the hillside into the garden.</p> - -<p>They left the gathering of the stove wood to the last; freezing ground -would not make sagebrush any harder to cut and haul. They were getting -the wood in a coulee about a mile east of Harry's hundred and sixty -where there were plenty of willows and the sagebrush grew big and thick.</p> - -<p>It was a cold November afternoon when, as they were loading the last -wagonful, they saw coming in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span> along the trail a team hauling lumber and -a mountain wagon.</p> - -<p>"Well! What do you know about that," Rob exclaimed; "looks like some -one's filed here. I'd better go over and see."</p> - -<p>Harry watched in a stir of eager curiosity. Homesteaders! That would -mean neighbors. A procession of possibilities swept through her mind.</p> - -<p>The three men talked for five minutes or so, then Rob came back.</p> - -<p>"Homesteaders all right," he announced, "an old man named Eldredge and -his wife. The young fellow is a real estate man from Shoshone who's -locating them. Eldredge is only going to put up his shack this fall and -then go back east—he's from Missouri—and came out in the spring with -his wife."</p> - -<p>"How jolly to have neighbors," Harry beamed. "I hope they've some -children?"</p> - -<p>"Nary one. Just Darby and Joan. But she'll be another woman for you to -exchange flower seeds with and have a tryout as to which can make the -best cake. Isn't that what you've been wanting?"</p> - -<p>"You seem to be pleased yourself. It'll give you fresh material to -tease me with."</p> - -<p>"Fine! I didn't expect you'd see that so quickly. Too bad we'll have to -wait until next spring to start the fun."</p> - -<p>"Oh, I don't know. By the time you've helped feed a hundred head of -cattle and cleaned the corral for a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span> month you'll forget there is such -a thing as a joke or me to be tormented."</p> - -<p>Harry's prediction hit the mark.</p> - -<p>All through the winter she and Rob did not talk together once a week. -He was at work in the morning before she left for school and in the -evening after nodding a few moments over the paper he rolled off to bed.</p> - -<p>Harry, herself, gave little thought to anything beyond her work. As -soon as she began teaching, all the interest and pleasure which she had -taken in it before revived with an ardor to kindle the most indifferent -child. She had been cut off so abruptly from her companionship with -girls that her heart was still a little bit sore from the tearing -loose of old bonds. Also, she had been in her new environment just -long enough to feel, beneath the material interests and excitement of -new work and prospects, the ache of loneliness for friends. In her -six months of wilderness life she had made the acquaintance of enough -people to realize with startling emphasis how frankly dishonest and -also what crudely and unassumingly good pioneers men and women are. -With senses alert for such things she saw what school life—all too -short for these sturdy workers—might be made to mean.</p> - -<p>That flow of warm good will helped to carry her far over the difficult -beginning, for it was hard at the start. Her pupils were of all ages -from six to fifteen and of as many dispositions. All, of course, were -suspicious<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span> of the new teacher who had supplanted the one they knew.</p> - -<p>"They look at me," Harry reflected, inwardly amused, "as I might view -a boa constrictor coiled in a college professor's chair. If they only -knew how much that is interesting a boa constrictor could tell them! -Well, I'll show them how I'm not like one—Attention, please!"</p> - -<p>She smiled at them as they turned, surprised, on their way to the door. -(It was Friday afternoon and they were in a hurry to be off.) "You -are all invited to meet me here to-morrow evening at seven o'clock," -she went on, "girls please wear aprons as we are going to make candy. -That'll show them I'm half human," she added to herself, watching the -faint start of surprise that went through them, followed by smiles and -murmured thanks.</p> - -<p>That was a good beginning even though between beginning and finishing -may be a hilly road. But it was Harry's belief that every one loved -adventure, every one dreamed of romantic deeds with himself the hero. -From this she had decided that every one would work and study with -gusto if the task were skillfully presented to the imagination as a -living, pulsing part of the great romance—life. But the theories which -she had evolved while teaching carefully reared girls from well-to-do -families was not certain to fit all cases. The first month at Stone -Bridge district school was destructive to all theories and nearly -baffled her.</p> - -<p>Such unexpected work she had: to make children<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span> wash their faces and -hands; to make and enforce the rule that handkerchiefs were to be -universally carried; to watch those who came in thin shoes through the -snow and rain and make them dry their feet; to see that certain big -boys did not filch the lunches from certain small, timid ones; and to -watch that pencils, erasers, colored crayons and other small belongings -were not carried off by those to whom they did not belong. Also, she -bought mittens and scarfs for two small children of a hard-drinking -sawyer at the lumber mill, and acquired the habit of carrying something -extra with her lunch every day for the little girl who never had enough.</p> - -<p>"And all the time I'm learning a lot from them," she realized when she -saw them settle things for themselves. When red-headed Katie Riordan -jumped out and slapped "Portagee Joe" Biane, the worst boy in school, -for sticking his foot out and tripping little Lon Fisher, it took -Harry's breath away. She hadn't been intended to see it because she was -working at the board. Not knowing what to do, she waited to think it -over. In the meanwhile, Joe let Lon alone and Katie was as sweet as new -milk to every one.</p> - -<p>Every day she saw things which made her bubble with laughter, ache with -pity and burn with indignation: the blacksmith's three children who -came to school on one horse, their feet tied up in sacks full of straw -to keep them from freezing; Knute Sundstron, who wore neither socks -nor undershirt and swallowed a spoonful of sand to cure indigestion, -asking to sit by<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span> the door where his feet might not get warm and make -his chilblains itch; Charlie Martin, an only child who loved books with -a ruling passion but was not allowed to carry them home from the school -library because they "littered up the house," slipping them inside the -lining of his overcoat in order to smuggle them into his room; and -Isita Biane, the sister of "Portagee Joe," pretending that she didn't -want to go out to play at noontime, when the reason was that she had no -jacket and couldn't run or play in the man's overcoat in which she rode -to school.</p> - -<p>Of all these, amongst all the children in school Isita most appealed -to Harry. She was a puzzle, too. She said she was fourteen but looked -small for her age and was far behind the class she should have been in. -She stumbled hopelessly over her arithmetic, could scarcely write her -name legibly and yet spoke good English and could read remarkably well.</p> - -<p>She studied earnestly, but at times Harry would look up and find the -girl's gentle, black eyes on her with a timid steadfastness that stayed -with her after school. "I wonder if she isn't badly treated at home," -she pondered. "I'm sure I've seen bruises on her face and she seems to -be utterly submissive to that hulking brother of hers. I must try to -make friends with her."</p> - -<p>But oddly enough this was something which she could not quite bring -about. She knew Isita liked her; the faint flush which brightened her -face when Harry spoke to her, the shy answering smile, were not to be -mistaken. But there was a reserve which met Harry's<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span> attempts at active -friendliness and which she was too well bred to force. "I'm a stranger -and she isn't quite sure of me," she decided. "If I wait she'll come -round." And then, the very next day she yielded to a kindly impulse -which had strange consequences.</p> - -<p>It was one of those cloudless days in January when the sun, so hot -at midday in that altitude, shone with a terrible brilliance over -the snow-draped mountains and the white valley. But a freezing wind -contested the sun's warmth and Harry was walking up and down during the -noon recess in the shelter of the building while the schoolroom aired.</p> - -<p>Most of the children were playing shadow-tag, shouting and laughing, -their faces scarlet with their exertions and the bite of the air. Harry -paused, smiling at them, and suddenly noticed Isita, standing alone in -her clumsy sheepskin coat, watching the others.</p> - -<p>As at a hand on her wrist Harry stiffened. "Isita," she called lightly. -"Oh, Isita. Come here a minute."</p> - -<p>The girl had started at the sound of her name, and seeing Harry's eyes -on her, a little flush passed over her thin olive cheeks. She came -toward her teacher, moving awkwardly in the heavy coat.</p> - -<p>"Don't you want to do something for me," Harry began in her quick, -easy-going way. "There's a book, a new book just come from New York -that I want to read to you this afternoon. It's up in my room over at -Mrs. McCullon's. I want you to go over and get it for me. Will you, -dear? I can't leave these <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span>children and go myself. You'll find the book -on the table beside the bed. It's blue with gold letters. Tell Mrs. -'Mac' I sent you. Here! Put on my sweater. You don't need that heavy -jacket to run up the street."</p> - -<p>While she talked Harry had unbuttoned her sweater, slipped it off, -then, still smiling into Isita's wondering eyes, she unfastened with -quick, sure hands the sheepskin coat and drew it easily from the girl's -shoulders. Isita had made a weak effort of resistance, drawing back a -little, an odd look of fear in her face; but Harry was so quick, so -sure of herself, that the change was made before there was time to -remonstrate. She had the thick, warm sweater on and buttoned round -Isita's chin and was walking with her to the road. "You've plenty of -time," she encouraged. "Don't run."</p> - -<p>With the girl's coat on her arm she stood a moment watching Isita hurry -away, skip a few steps, then abruptly break into running.</p> - -<p>"Of course!" Harry said. "She likes to run as much as anybody. No -wonder she can't play with this thing on." She looked disapprovingly at -the heavy, much-worn canvas "sourdough" coat on her arm. "She's going -to keep my sweater! No reason on earth why I shouldn't wear my new one -every day. What queer people the Bianes must be to let their child -wear such clothes. It's not because they're poor, either. Biane's a -sheep shearer and makes good wages. I must get up the creek to see Mrs. -Biane. Teaching children satisfactorily without knowing their parents<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span> -is like trying to furnish a house by guessing at it from the outside."</p> - -<p>It was getting near one o'clock and she went in, shut the windows, -stirred up the fire and came out to look up the road for Isita before -ringing the hell. Isita was almost at the gate, the book under her arm -and a real rose-color in her cheeks. Harry watched her, not noticing -that Joe Biane was coming from the opposite direction. He had been with -the other boys to skate on the river and he, too, had seen his sister -coming. He reached the gate before her and stood waiting.</p> - -<p>Harry, standing in the porch, saw him speak to his sister, saw the girl -draw back, warding him off—"Why what is he doing!" Harry exclaimed, -and ran sharply down the steps just as he snatched the book from Isita, -threw it on the ground and began pulling off the jacket she was wearing.</p> - -<p>"Stop! Joe Biane—" Quick as thought the remembrance of what Katie -Riordan had done to this bully flashed back to Harry. She caught him by -the shoulder, gave him a shake and pushed him back. Her face was white, -her eyes sparkled. Taken utterly by surprise Joe made no attempt to -resist. "Pick up that book," Harry ordered, her eyes steadily on his.</p> - -<p>His scowl deepened. "My sister ain't here to work for you, nor nobody," -he growled. "She ain't wearing nobody's rags, neither. You take that -off, 'Sita, d'you hear?"</p> - -<p>"Pick up that book or stay after school for an hour every day this -month," Harry interrupted. "Isita,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span> leave that sweater on. I am in -charge here, Joe Biane. If your sister goes on an errand for me, that -is my affair and hers. Go inside and take your seat and don't say -another word. Thank you, Isita, for going after this. That little run -did you good. I'll have to think up excuses to get you out every day." -She smiled as she said it, gave a little pat to the girl's shoulder and -went back to the door to order the children who had all been watching -and listening to this interlude, back to work.</p> - -<p>In no way did she refer again to what had happened. She kept them all -smartly at work during the afternoon session and read them the first -chapter of <i>Robin Hood and His Merry Men</i> from the blue book with gold -letters. When she dismissed school at three o'clock she asked Isita and -Joe to stay.</p> - -<p>"Now," she said when they were alone, she, in a chair before the stove, -the brother and sister facing her from the nearest bench. "Now, Joe, -I want first to know whether you are acting on the authority of your -parents to control Isita during school hours?"</p> - -<p>Joe, his hands in his pockets, his feet stuck out in front of him, slid -a narrow half-glance at Harry and down again. "What's that to you?" he -demanded in a barely articulate grumble. "You're here to teach."</p> - -<p>"Exactly. And one of my first duties is to see that you children learn -the lessons and advance in your classes. To do this you must obey the -rules—" </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span></p> - -<p>"Who's breaking your rules," Joe interrupted. "What rules give you the -claim on any of us to go your errands?"</p> - -<p>"—Must obey the rules," Harry continued mildly, "and one of the rules -is that you must go out every fair day and exercise. If you don't get -the fresh air you can't study. You know as well as I do that Isita -can't play, or even walk well in that big heavy coat. And she is too -thinly dressed to go out without it. I sent her for that book just for -an excuse to make her run, and gave her my sweater so she could run. -It's a very nice jacket; fits her and is pretty and warm. It is my -privilege to give it to her if she will accept it, if her mother has no -objections. You don't think she would object, do you, Isita?"</p> - -<p>With all the encouragement and kindness she could put into voice and -look Harry turned to the girl. To her surprise Isita, very pale, looked -down at her hands and said: "I guess I'd better not take it, Miss -Holliday. Thank you, just the same."</p> - -<p>Harry felt her blood quicken indignantly at this, to her, unreasoning -suspicion of a friendly deed. "Just as you think best," she acquiesced; -"but you must wear something suitable to go out in during recess."</p> - -<p>Joe laughed. "You needn't worry about her," he said. "She's used to a -whole lot you couldn't stand."</p> - -<p>In thinking over the affair that night Harry wondered whether she -had not made a big mistake. Ought she not to have ignored everything -outside of Isita's<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span> actual school work? "Anyhow," she reminded herself, -"she knows that I want to help her. It may be that something will come -up later that will send her to me."</p> - -<p>But such a hoped-for occasion was not to happen for a long time. Before -the spring term ended Isita and Joe both stopped coming to school, and -when the truant officer hunted for them the family had moved away. -Harry could get no news of them from the other pupils and went back to -the ranch for the summer without a prospect of seeing Isita again.</p> - -<p>In the rush of summer work, concern for her school naturally waned. -Moreover, she soon began to look forward with interest to the arrival -of the Eldredges. Several times she went up to the little shack to see -if they had come. But there were no signs of any one having been there -and the summer passed without bringing them—Rob inquired at the land -office whether their filing had been withdrawn, but nothing of that -kind had happened.</p> - -<p>"Too bad," said the clerk, "for somebody else'll sure file over them -if they let the time go over. Good land's getting mighty scarce around -here."</p> - -<p>"I shouldn't wonder but what we'd better file on additional -homesteads," Rob said, as he was telling Harry what he had heard; "I -could take that long strip to the west and you could file on that swale -on top of the hills; you know that long meadow just back of those -buttes? With a fence around that we shouldn't be bothered so much with -cattle coming in to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span> water here when it gets dry. As soon as I can -get time I believe I'll go over that land and look for section-line -corners."</p> - -<p>"Are we going to have money enough for all that," Harry asked: "take up -more land before we've got this planted?"</p> - -<p>"I shouldn't plant all of this anyway; haven't water enough to irrigate -it all. But I'll need more grazing some day for my stock. If nothing -happens we'll have money enough from this next winter's work to fence -it."</p> - -<p>Rob had made several hundred dollars by his winter's work at Stone -Bridge and he had also gained valuable experience in handling and -feeding cattle. Harry, too, had saved more than half her salary and was -able to invest in a good cow, pony and saddle. It seemed to both of -them that they could not do better than go back to Stone Bridge for the -next two winters. They could do a lot of work on the place in the six -months of the dry season and the money they made working out would help -them to get ahead much faster than two or three extra months on the -ranch.</p> - -<p>Stone Bridge had, of course, grown during the summer absences. It was -good wheat land and settlers were flowing in. The school naturally -grew as well, and the third winter there were thirty pupils instead of -fifteen, and a second teacher.</p> - -<p>As Harry sat listening to a class recite, as she watched the children -studying, she studied them: the white-headed Swedes, the olive-skinned -Indians, the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span>Austrians, Swiss, Scotch, Americans, all so different, -all so worth while if one knew how to reach them. Teaching of this sort -was a bigger thing than ever it had seemed. The mere copiousness of the -so-called practical jokes that they played on each other was evidence -of the locked-up energy within them—energy so soon to be harnessed to -the plow, the mill, the mine, to follow the trail from ranch to forest -reserve, to go wherever the market called for workers. She had the -feeling of wanting to shut the doors and say: "Stay here! You haven't -begun to learn. Think of the books you ought to read—" She stopped -herself. "Literature! Why they're the stuff it's made of, aren't they? -and history, too. They've already had hold of life as they'd grab a -half-broken cayuse and no more afraid of it.</p> - -<p>"There's just one child I would like to see go on studying, though: -that little Isita Biane. I could tell by the look in her eyes that -she wanted to learn. She loved it. I wish I knew where she is. If I -could find her father and mother I wouldn't rest until I'd made them -understand that Isita isn't the sort to do things with her muscles. She -could do more with her brains, if it's money they want her to earn."</p> - -<p>This was to be her last winter teaching, at least for a time, as she -and Rob had decided to stay the next winter on the ranch and feed their -own cattle there. So she quite gave up hope of seeing Isita again. But -before school closed she asked the other teacher who was coming back -in the fall to look out for the girl, if she<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span> did turn up, and make an -effort to keep her in school through the grades at least.</p> - -<p>And then, almost the first person she saw when they went back to the -ranch was Joe Biane. They met him coming across their land as they -drove in. He had a gun over his shoulder and was carrying several -grouse.</p> - -<p>"Who's that?" Rob asked, as Harry nodded and Joe touched his hat and -grunted as he passed.</p> - -<p>"That boy I told you gave me so much trouble in school. I wonder what -he's doing up here. Shooting on our land, too."</p> - -<p>They looked after him as he went over the hill, the sunset light a -dusky red glow on his gun barrel.</p> - -<p>"Nobody living out that way," Rob said. "He must be with some outfit -camping at those east springs for the night."</p> - -<p>"I wonder where the family is—following the old man on his rounds to -the shearing pens. I suppose."</p> - -<p>"More likely shacked up in these hills somewhere, so Biane can come -home easy when he gets through at the nearest shearing corral."</p> - -<p>"I believe I'll ride up east in the morning and see if they're around -here," Harry decided.</p> - -<p class="space-above">There they were. As Harry rounded the rocky butte she saw smoke coming -from the Eldredge's abandoned cabin and a woman, gathering an armful of -sagebrush, retreated hastily into the house at sight of the stranger.</p> - -<p>"Mrs. Eldredge!" Harry thought instantly. "But<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span> why haven't they let us -know they were here?" The smile of expectancy was on her face as she -got down from her saddle and knocked at the door. The smile stiffened -with surprise as the door opened narrowly and Joe Biane looked out at -her.</p> - -<p>"Why, Joe! How—I thought—Don't the Eldredges live here?"</p> - -<p>"Never heard of 'em." Joe was older, heavier, as lounging and covertly -impertinent as ever.</p> - -<p>"Why, they are the people who filed on this land, built this house."</p> - -<p>"Never been here, anyhow."</p> - -<p>"How long have you been here, if I may ask? Is Isita here?" -involuntarily, she glanced behind him into the house.</p> - -<p>"She ain't in now," Joe slowly began to close the door. "Her'n the old -lady's went off hunting greens."</p> - -<p>"I see." Harry thought of the woman gathering wood. "Well, I wish you'd -tell Isita to come over and see me."</p> - -<p>"Sure." There was an odd gleam in Joe's eye as he closed the door.</p> - -<p>"I wonder what it is that makes them so unfriendly," Harry thought as -she rode home. "But if they think I'm going to give up Isita just for -the snubs of a surly creature like Joe they're mistaken."</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span></p> - -<h2>CHAPTER XII</h2> - -<p>That more than Joe's surliness stood between Isita and Harry, the -latter was not long in discovering. She was not easily discouraged -from attempting anything she had set her heart on, and at first she -made all sorts of pretexts for going up to the Biane's. Sometimes it -was to carry eggs or new pieplant or lettuce; "We have so much," she -explained to the silent, haggard-faced woman who came to the door; or -it was a bundle of illustrated papers that had been sent her from home, -and she thought Isita might be interested in them. Once or twice she -asked boldly if Isita might not come down and stay with her for a few -days to help with the chores, while she was working outside with Rob. -But Biane himself made it plain that Isita was expected to work for her -own family, and Mrs. Biane avoided seeing or talking to their neighbor. -To be sure, Isita came down to the Holliday's, but it was to "borrow" -soap, salt, tools and various other small necessities of which the -shiftless Biane family stood in need, and she was always in a nervous -hurry to get back home and never accepted Harry's friendliest urging -to stay awhile. Harry felt sure that the younger girl wanted to be -friends, that in this lonely land of vast distances each of them needed -the other. But she saw that Isita was very much afraid of her quiet, -smiling tyrannical<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span> father and, in spite of her unmistakable attachment -to Harry, she was too shy to talk of home troubles.</p> - -<p>As the spring days lengthened there was, too, less time for visiting. -To the sagebrush homesteader the sixty days of May and June are the -heart of the year's labor and a man must keep things moving from dawn -to dark, if he means to get ahead. No sooner is the frost out of the -ground, no sooner have the break-up floods of snow water run off, the -quaking morass of meadow-lands grown solid earth once more, than the -plow must be started.</p> - -<p>Harry had learned to handle the four-horse disk plow and the harrow as -well, so, while Rob worked one team she handled the other. They now had -four heavy work horses, besides three colts that could be used off and -on, and quite a bunch of half-broke and young stuff belonging to Owens, -which they worked as payment for their feed; thus there were few idle -hours while the spring drive lasted.</p> - -<p>To Harry each new morning was a fresh adventure and whenever Rob did -not need her for an hour or so, she explored the steep sides of the -rocky buttes, the narrow caņons separating them, and the tree-filled -"draw" behind the house. Nor was it altogether careless amusement which -led her to this. She had discovered that a good many other people -went to and fro through the caņons and across the foothills near by: -surveyors, sheepherders, looking for strayed stock, and men who were -just "going through." Often these various wayfarers carried "guns" -that were sometimes<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span> rifles but oftener, especially late in summer, -shotguns. And it had not taken Harry long to discover that the men with -shot guns were after grouse and sage hen.</p> - -<p>From the time of her arrival on the ranch she had been interested in -the wild birds and had soon begun trying to protect them. Rob had hung -"no shooting" signs along all the fences and already the birds seemed -to know that they were protected in that spot and came fearlessly to -feed in the alfalfa and close to the house.</p> - -<p>But even signs and outspoken orders would not keep a certain class of -game butchers away. They came even before the season opened, shooting -early in the morning and trusting to the lack of settlers to escape -arrest. Harry had several times driven off these poachers, but there -was one who persisted in defying her. That was Joe Biane. He was so -sly, so sharp, so indifferent to all remonstrance or warning that Harry -realized it was useless to threaten with words only; if he would shoot -on her land he should be punished.</p> - -<p>She came to this decision one morning in May when she had run out to -try and get a snapshot of a grouse cock strutting on the edge of the -alfalfa. She had moved cautiously along behind the currant bushes until -just within the right distance to get a good picture and was adjusting -the camera when a shotgun cracked in the draw above her.</p> - -<p>"After my birds again!" Harry exclaimed indignantly. "If it's Joe I -declare I'll go straight to town and fetch the game warden up here to -arrest him. Of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span> course he's spoiled my picture, too!" For the grouse -had folded his wings and scuttled out of sight into the willows.</p> - -<p>"I'll just go right along and see who that was," Harry decided, closing -her camera and starting up the cow path through the glen.</p> - -<p>At this time of the year the steep sides of the ravine were masked in -the leafage of quaking asp, thorn apple, willow and choke cherry, and -it was next to impossible to see whether the person shooting was there -or not.</p> - -<p>Harry did not stop to explore. She knew by experience that it was -farther up in the high meadow, a favorite nesting place of grouse and -sage hen that she was most likely to find the poachers. Now, in her -excitement she had started running (Joe should not evade her!) but the -path was steep, the sun ardent, and before she could reach the meadow -she was out of breath, hot, and not any calmer. In a final, desperate -effort to cut across Joe's path toward home she swerved through the -trees and almost ran over Joe himself.</p> - -<p>He was moving stealthily through the willows, but startled by Harry's -unexpected appearance, he stopped short.</p> - -<p>"Joe!" she exclaimed; "I thought so."</p> - -<p>"You did!" He laughed mischievously. "I ain't the only fella that takes -a short cut through here, am I?"</p> - -<p>"You take it oftenest. Outsiders don't get here<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span> quite so early in the -morning, as a rule. I see I'm too late to save my birds, though."</p> - -<p>She pointed indignantly to the grouse hen that hung from Joe's left -hand.</p> - -<p>Joe looked at it too. "Pretty nice one, ain't it," he observed. "Want I -should get you one?"</p> - -<p>"I should say not!" she exclaimed angrily. "And what's more, you may -put that one down. I've told you not to shoot on my land, and I don't -intend to have you carry off the birds under my nose, even though they -are dead. Give that to me, please."</p> - -<p>She reached out her hand, but Joe stepped alertly back. "This ain't -yours," he said. He was no longer smiling; instead he eyed her -sullenly, a cruel expression on his handsome face. Harry remembered -that he had looked at her just so the day he had tried to pull her -sweater from Isita. "Everybody's got a right to the wild critters," -he added. "Besides," glancing covertly at Harry, "I was gettin' this -because Isita likes 'em."</p> - -<p>For a second Harry faltered. The picture of the younger girl, thin, -tired-looking, unmistakably underfed came before her. But even as she -started to yield, her indignation flamed again. "Oh, well, if it's for -Isita," she answered with affected surprise, "give it to me. I'll take -it home and cook it, and you tell your sister I've invited her down to -dinner."</p> - -<p>"Not much," Joe answered shortly. "We don't beg a meal off'n any one." </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span></p> - -<p>"An invitation isn't begging; but never mind. If you're as anxious -as you say to please your sister, go put your time into plowing and -planting; then you won't have to depend on a tough grouse hen for -dinner."</p> - -<p>Her eyes went again to the limp, feathered form, the bloodstained -breast.</p> - -<p>"Such stupid cruelty!" she exclaimed. "To shoot the hens at this season -when it means a nestful of young ones left to starve."</p> - -<p>"Aw!" Joe growled contemptuously and began to walk away. "What's that -to you? You ain't running this country, so far's I know, and you ain't -a goin' to stop me gettin' a sage hen. I'll shoot when I like."</p> - -<p>"Not on my land," she warned him. "Remember, Joe, I've told you to -keep out. Next time I'll bring the game warden up here and have you -arrested."</p> - -<p>He laughed mockingly, his face darkening. "You'll do a whole lot," he -sneered; "just like you tried down at the school. But Isita didn't run -any more of your errands and she didn't wear your sweater. Did she?"</p> - -<p>"Because your father took her out of school and moved out of that -district is no proof that what I did was wrong."</p> - -<p>"What do I care for your 'methods'? I'll get even with you if you try -any of your bossing on me. Better watch out, Miss Schoolmarm."</p> - -<p>Harry looked after him as he disappeared in the willows. "Such people!" -she exclaimed with sparkling eyes and clenched hands. "They are a -menace to the country." </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span></p> - -<p>She broke off with a start and turned. While she had been talking with -Joe a man on horseback had come over the ridge and crossed the meadow. -As she turned, the rider, who had drawn rein and was looking down at -her with interest, touched his hat. Harry's cheeks reddened as she -explained what had happened.</p> - -<p>"Get the law on him, like you threatened," the stranger advised. -"That'll learn him. It ain't good business not to stick up for your -rights."</p> - -<p>"It's not only my rights, it's the birds' rights I'm fighting for, and -unfortunately Joe is not the only one who needs teaching. In spite of -signs all round our fence the hunters come right inside and shoot. I -did think Westerners were more honorable."</p> - -<p>At her warmth the man laughed quietly. It was a sort of laughter that -fitted his comfortable appearance; middle-aged, bearded, with the -mildly decisive manner of a person used to giving orders. His fine -saddle horse and saddle, yet plain dress, showed him to be a man -familiar with the ways of that country. He made an instant impression -upon the girl. She was too frank and guileless to recognize that under -the smoothness of his manner were hard purpose and a hidden threat for -any one who crossed him.</p> - -<p>"You're from the East, then?" he asked.</p> - -<p>"From Connecticut. I came out three years ago to stay with my brother, -Robert Holliday."</p> - -<p>"Yes. Of course. Joyce told me that Holliday had a ranch up this way. -Ludlum's my name. I live down in the lower country at the siding." </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span></p> - -<p>Harry knew who Ludlum was—the stockman who shipped twice as many -cattle as any other man living on the railway line. A new town had -grown up around the station that had been put in to accommodate him.</p> - -<p>"Don't you get lonesome up in these hills, young lady?" Ludlum inquired.</p> - -<p>"Not very. There's too much to do. All summer there's work on the place -and every winter I've taught school down on the flat."</p> - -<p>"Saving up to get you an auto?" asked the stockman with a laugh.</p> - -<p>"Saving up for cattle," Harry replied.</p> - -<p>"So! You're going into stock, are you? I thought all the ranchers up -here on the prairie were grain crazy."</p> - -<p>"Most of them are; but my brother says the money is in feeding what you -raise. 'Ship it on the hoof, not in the sack' is his motto."</p> - -<p>"And a mighty good one, too. Those your cows down yonder?"</p> - -<p>He was leaning on his saddle horn, pointing down the draw. From where -they stood they could look between the steep, rocky walls of the buttes -upon a wonderful picture of the ranch, narrow, but immensely long. -Beginning with the garden on the upper end of the slope below the glen, -it widened as it descended, taking in the green-blinded white cottage -with its porch and young shade trees, the corral with its long stock -sheds, the deep-green alfalfa, the emerald of winter wheat, the shaded -browns of fall-plowed earth and,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span> across the creek, the tossing sea of -scab land, the flat of Camas Prairie and the mountains. To complete -it, strung out along the creek, was Rob's bunch of cattle. Harry -felt very proud of them. On the very day of her arrival in Idaho Rob -had bargained for a little bunch of heifers. They were now cows with -their calves beside them, and in her mind's eye Harry always saw them -multiplied a hundred-fold, into the herd they were working for.</p> - -<p>"That ain't all you've got, is it?" asked Ludlum.</p> - -<p>"That's all," admitted Harry, and felt suddenly how small a herd of -forty head must look to the stockman. In a country where everything ran -in big numbers, from the miles that you lived from the post office to -the feet of snow and degrees below zero, it sounded "small farmerish" -to have so few heads of stock.</p> - -<p>"You've got the right sort of place for a stock ranch," Ludlum told -her. "Have you proved up yet?"</p> - -<p>"We have on the original hundred and sixties; but we've filed on -additional homesteads. We'll prove up on those next spring. That will -give us six hundred and forty acres; about half of it seeded—pasture -and hay. We plan to stay in here this winter. We've both saved up some -money, and it looks as if we were going to have plenty of hay."</p> - -<p>"You've thought it all out ahead, I see," Ludlum said, with a sort of -surprised admiration. For "tenderfoot" Easterners Holliday and his -sister seemed very practical and businesslike.</p> - -<p>An idea swung slowly round into his thoughts. He<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span> was silent for a -moment as he gazed down at the ranch.</p> - -<p>"Why don't you get a bigger herd to start with?" he asked presently. -"There's lots of money in cattle nowadays, but it's slow making it when -you start so small."</p> - -<p>"Of course; but we haven't the capital to start a big herd, and my -brother doesn't believe in mortgaging."</p> - -<p>"That's a good principle, generally; but taking cattle on time is -different. Your herd increases so fast that you're making fifteen or -twenty per cent, instead of four or five. Supposing, say, you were -to borrow off a stockman like me. Say I make over a hundred head of -stock—white-face, good beef critters, you understand—and you have hay -to feed up into the spring. Then you could figure like this."</p> - -<p>Fascinated, convinced in spite of herself, Harry listened while Ludlum -rapidly sketched the problem, the profit and loss, the complete -working, so it seemed to the girl, of a stock ranch. He made Rob's -little bunch of cows appear almost contemptibly unimportant. After -all, it appeared to be just as she had believed: if you had energy, -confidence and common sense, you were virtually sure of succeeding. -Rob's idea of poking along for years, collecting a heifer here and -there on the way, was hopelessly wrong and unnecessary.</p> - -<p>An impulse moved her to speak. "Won't you come down to the house now -and talk to Rob?" she begged. "He's off plowing, but he'll be in for -dinner.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span> I'm sure you could convince him that your plan is a sound one -for us."</p> - -<p>"I'd be glad to," Ludlum answered, gathering up his reins, "but I'm on -my way to the reserve to look at the pasture. If it'll be agreeable, -I'll stop a few days later on my way back."</p> - -<p>"We'll always be glad to see you," Harry responded cordially. -"Meanwhile I'll tell my brother what you've told me about making money -with cattle."</p> - -<p>"So that's Holliday's," Ludlum said to himself as he rode on. "Joyce -told me it was the best location round here. Funny how these-here -suckers think they can come along any time they like and shut us -old-timers out of every good water hole in the country! H'm! Well," -he remarked presently as if finishing a silent argument, "the way it -stands suits me first-rate. A year from July, say, I'd be able to feed -a big bunch of stock in there."</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span></p> - -<h2>CHAPTER XIII</h2> - -<p>After her talk with Ludlum, Harry went back to the house exulting. At -last some one who could speak with authority had come to advise them; -yes, and to help them, too. In her happy optimism she regarded Ludlum's -brief array of facts and figures as the formula for turning their labor -into a stream of gold.</p> - -<p>She spent the forenoon in bursts of energetic housework and in watching -for Rob. She was wild with impatience to tell him of Ludlum's plan -for them. Even the little house where they had heretofore lived so -contentedly seemed suddenly cramped and outgrown. Yet it was a far -better house than many wealthier ranchers owned, a better one than Rob -himself had expected to build.</p> - -<p>Absorbed in her plans for the future, Harry forgot to watch the clock -and was surprised to hear feet thumping up the steps and to hear Rob's -voice saying:</p> - -<p>"Come ahead in, Garnett."</p> - -<p>"Garnett! You don't mean it!" With an exclamation of delight Harry -turned.</p> - -<p>"Looks like I never did get the chance to send and ask you would it -be agreeable to have me call in." Garnett, tall, sandy-haired with -freckles across his nose, looked at Harry with a twinkle in his blue -eyes that laughed even when his face was serious. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span></p> - -<p>"I'll forgive you this time," said Harry, smiling back at him. "It's -months since we've seen you. We'd begun to wonder what we'd done."</p> - -<p>"You've done a heap," said Garnett, with an admiring glance at the sink -and pump, which Rob had added when he piped the water from the spring. -"You don't charge for drinks now, account of the new fixings, do you?" -he asked, picking up a cup.</p> - -<p>"Yessir. Forty cents the <i>demitasse</i>," said Rob, returning from his -refreshing splash at the wash bench. "Freight rates are high west of -the Rockies, remember."</p> - -<p>"Can't you hang me up this time? I'm so dry I can't tell you the news."</p> - -<p>"Depends on what it is," said Rob. "We got the mail two weeks ago, so -you can't fool us with anything stale."</p> - -<p>"I reckon I might's well move on, then. Like I told you, I'm due up in -the timber right now. Prob'ly scrappin' up there already 'long of those -cattle."</p> - -<p>Harry turned quickly from the stove where she was "dishing up." "What -cattle?"</p> - -<p>"Why, the stranger cattle that have been shipped in. I thought you knew -about them. What's the use of Rob's goin' for the mail so often if he -don't pick up the home-brewed news that's layin' out in the street over -to Soldier?"</p> - -<p>"Garnett, stop teasing, do!" Harry pleaded, as they drew up to the -table. "Whose cattle are they?"</p> - -<p>"I don't know," Garnett said. "Everybody's got it different. To hear -Rudy Batts talk you'd think a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span> thousand devils had been turned loose on -his land; but then, they cleaned up Rudy's winter wheat, just about, so -it's natural he's feelin' disturbed."</p> - -<p>"But Rudy Batts' ranch is up Soldier Creek," Harry interrupted, "and I -thought you said these cattle were in the forest."</p> - -<p>"They are by now, but the varmints were shipped in by rail to Soldier, -to the 'Idaho Cattle Company,' whoever that is; and their riders drove -'em up through the creek caņon on the way to the forest. Bein' what -they are, scrubs mostly, starved to death all winter and breachy from -the start, they didn't stop to ask for the wire nippers when they came -to fenced grain; just went right through or over and cleaned up inside. -That's how I got to hear about it. Everybody in Soldier's askin' who -owns the critters. Some think it's a bunch of bankers down round -Shoshone that saw beef was goin' up and wanted to get in on the profit. -And say! I wish I had a little bunch of beef critters to be eatin' the -pasture off these hills. Wouldn't I make all kinds of money?"</p> - -<p>Harry's heart leaped. Now was her chance. "Do you really think there -would be money in it?" she asked eagerly. "For Rob and me for instance?"</p> - -<p>"Do I! There's so much in it that I know I'm a fool not to give up -my job in the service and get me a herd. I would, too, if I hadn't -rented my eighty down on the South Side on shares to Pablo Carriero, -a Portagee. He's got it up to November, and you bet I'm not going to -lease again." </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span></p> - -<p>"But you could buy a few head, couldn't you?" Harry asked quickly. -"You'll have one third of your hay."</p> - -<p>"Not this year. I told Carriero to sell it if he could, and he's given -an option on it to that fellow Biane. But for you two! Why, it's as -easy as counting your fingers to coin money this year."</p> - -<p>"It is!" said Rob skeptically. "With steers selling at thirty and -calves at fifteen, and me with only three hundred cash in the bank? -Guess again, Christopher Garnett."</p> - -<p>"He isn't guessing at all," Harry said quickly. "I heard—some one told -me the very same thing this morning. If we bought only a hundred head -now, part cash, part time——"</p> - -<p>"Oh, time!" Rob echoed. "None of that for me, thank you."</p> - -<p>"Wait, please. You haven't heard it all," Harry broke in, and then -hurried on to give him the gist of what Ludlum had said. "With the -eight hundred cash we have between us," she ended, "there's no reason -why we should not borrow the rest, buy cattle and succeed, just as -thousands of men have done before us."</p> - -<p>"Yes, and other men who didn't know any more about it than we do have -gone into cattle and been ruined."</p> - -<p>"Say, Rob," Garnett drawled, "ain't you ever heard of a man with one -pet cow havin' her die on him?"</p> - -<p>"Oh, sure! But the chances are ninety per cent in his favor, and if he -does lose he loses less." </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span></p> - -<p>"Loses less when he loses all he's got! That's the first time I ever -heard that argyment. A man can drudge along and be safe while he never -owns more than he can carry to bed in his two hands; but that ain't -the way to figure in this country. Round up all you can and make 'em -rustle for their livin' while you busy yourself seein' that some other -feller's critters ain't swipin' the feed. That's the way to get rich. -It beats the pet cow all hollow."</p> - -<p>"Of course," Harry added earnestly. "And as for not borrowing, every -one knows that big business is done on credit."</p> - -<p>"Credit!" Rob fairly groaned. "I shouldn't care for any, as they say. -It sounds good as a topic for conversation, but I'll bet that's just -the kind of argument the old-timers got happy drunk on before the -winter of '89. Ever hear the Robinsons tell about that winter, you two?"</p> - -<p>The silence answered him. Yes, they had heard and also remembered. -Who that had heard could forget? First had come the June freeze and -then a dry summer with a shortage of grazing. But no one had worried; -probably, after such a cold summer there would be an open winter. When -all the grazing was gone they would drive the stock out to Shoshone -and buy hay. So they planned. Alas! Before the grazing was quite gone -the snow came—and stayed. And while they waited for a break in the -bad weather in which to move out, the "big snow" came and shut them -in—shut their cattle in to slow starvation. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span></p> - -<p>As Mrs. Robinson related it twenty-five years afterward the tears -streamed down her cheeks. "It like to broke pa's heart," she said; "him -havin' to set inside and watch them pore dumb critters waitin' to be -fed and finally layin' down to die. Time and again we tried to drive -'em across the foothills into the hay country, but 'twa'n't no use. Out -of two hundred head all we saved was one cow. Every stockman on the -prairie lost his herd, and some was ruined for good and all. We never -went into another winter without hay, I tell ye."</p> - -<p>It was a cruel experience, but Harry was not a person to let another's -misfortune shake her faith in her own enterprise. As she looked toward -her brother a characteristic expression came across her face: the -expression that meant obstinate, good-natured determination. She was -saying to herself: "We're not going to fail. We're not. I think we can -make cattle pay on borrowed money, and I'm going to borrow it."</p> - -<p>But she said no more to Rob, for she felt that it was best to let him -think the matter over by himself. That he was doing so during the next -few days was evident from the tension in the air whenever cattle were -mentioned.</p> - -<p>She hoped that Ludlum would come before the effect of Garnett's advice -had worn off, and, as the days passed, she grew uneasy. It was a relief -from the constant suspense when one morning Rob asked her to help him -round up his cows. Half a dozen starved-looking steers had come down -the draw during the night, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span> when he dogged them off his own herd -had followed them.</p> - -<p>Harry needed no urging. With Rob and Garnett to teach her she had -learned to ride well, and could even, with the help of 'Thello, round -up their own cattle very creditably. There was nothing that she enjoyed -more than to be out on a June morning, with a lively horse beneath her, -the sage-scented breeze sweeping past, the meadow larks calling across -the sky, the miles of blue swale and the cloud shadows racing ahead of -her. At such moments the horizon was hers; hers, too, the splendor and -greatness of life.</p> - -<p>To-day the work was all play. They had only to follow the fresh traces -of the herd going south across the hills, and half an hour of sharp -riding brought them up with the bunch. It took another half hour to cut -out their animals and turn them toward home, but that was what Harry -enjoyed. To wheel to and fro, spur after a creature that was dodging -to one side, dash ahead and turn the leaders, and finally send the -whole string galloping away with the thunder of hoofs and the chorus of -bellowings—that was the best sport yet.</p> - -<p>As Harry and Rob rode slowly home they discussed the coming of strange -cattle into their hills, and wondered whether they could be some of -those that Garnett had spoken of.</p> - -<p>"If they are," Rob said, "the riders will be along in a few days to -drive them back."</p> - -<p>When they were halfway down the draw 'Thello<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span> growled warningly, and -they saw a saddle horse standing at the corral gate.</p> - -<p>"Ludlum!" flashed into Harry's mind, and she was silent when Rob said -he would ride ahead and see who their visitor was.</p> - -<p>"I'll leave them alone for a while," she said to herself, "and give -Ludlum a chance to talk."</p> - -<p>She drove the cows inside the pasture, then rode slowly to the corral -and, putting up her pony, came to the house. Ludlum was talking in a -tone of calm assurance, of conviction won by thorough knowledge of the -subject. Rob, sitting on the porch step, smoothed the back of his head -and listened in silence. Harry wondered whether that silence meant that -he was yielding or merely resisting.</p> - -<p>Stocky, big-muscled, tanned to a smooth, healthy brown, Robert Holliday -was at first glance merely one of the many young fellows who have gone -out to the Far West to have a try at fortune. But three years of hard -wrestling with a sagebrush ranch had cleared and solidified his boyish -visions and made them a working force. Harry knew that Rob's opinions -carried weight in the community.</p> - -<p>At her approach Ludlum rose and held out his hand. "Wherever I see -folks as willing to work as you and your brother, Miss Holliday, I'm -willing to bet they'll succeed against any odds. Yes, ma'am."</p> - -<p>"How about the fellow that is working against us?" asked Rob quietly. -"Does he win, too?" </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span></p> - -<p>"O Bobby! You do think up such objections!" Harry said, with a laugh.</p> - -<p>But Ludlum nodded approvingly. "Quite right, Holliday. A man's got -to be cautious, especially in the cattle business. You'd ought to be -thankful, young lady, that you've got such a level-headed partner to -work with."</p> - -<p>Ludlum commended impartially the opinions of both Rob and Harry. "Come -down to the ranch and look things over," he said as he rose to go, "and -get acquainted with the missus and our girls and boys. Pick out a bunch -of critters, and make your own terms. You'll make twenty per cent on -your money, all right."</p> - -<p>"Hard work to come down to earth again after sailing round in Ludlum's -airship," Rob commented as they watched their visitor ride away. "He'd -make a fellow think that merely driving his critters on our land would -start providence coining money to pay for them and making hay to feed -them."</p> - -<p>"I don't see that we need trust especially in providence for hay and -cash!" Harry exclaimed. "We're sure of fifty tons of alfalfa of our own -this year, besides the wheat straw from fifty acres for roughage; and -as for the cash payment on a hundred head, haven't I five hundred in -the bank and you have almost three hundred? And we can always buy extra -hay on the flat."</p> - -<p>"We're not <i>sure</i> we can buy hay; we're not sure we'll put up fifty -tons of our own. It's a dry year, and the grazing may go early; and -we're not past the chance<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span> of a late frost. It's pure gambling to take -on a hundred head of cattle now."</p> - -<p>"No more than taking the dozen you bought that first year was. We'll -simply never make a real cleanup, Rob, if we never take a chance. -I'd rather do it and maybe lose something—lose my five hundred -dollars—than mosey along forever on the safe side."</p> - -<p>"Go ahead. If you think you can clear the moon in one jump, I won't put -the hobbles on you. But be satisfied with the moon; don't try to take -in the Dipper and the Milky Way, too. Take thirty head if you like, -from Ludlum, but no more. We agreed to run the ranch together; and if -you want to invest your earnings in cattle, all right. I'll ride after -the critters when I'm not working the land, and if you put in half -your money you can take thirty head at a thousand dollars, paying down -a quarter cash and giving a mortgage on your land. That'll leave you -two hundred and fifty dollars and me three hundred to get through the -season with."</p> - -<p>"Five hundred and fifty dollars!" Harry exclaimed. "Why, Bobby, we -could take more than thirty easy!"</p> - -<p>"Well, we're not going to. We'll risk something, but we'll not risk -everything. The first of December there'll be interest to pay—ten per -cent on seven hundred and fifty for six months; that's thirty-seven and -a half dollars. And we'll have to pay something on the principal, or -Ludlum won't be likely to renew the note, but I figure that the sale -from beef critters we already have and from this new bunch should pay<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span> -off another two hundred and fifty on the mortgage. That is, if we have -good luck."</p> - -<p>A flash of resentment passed over Harry. Thirty head were so few! Could -he not take even that small number without saying "if"? Her feeling of -annoyance, however, was soon swept away in the discussion of details -that Rob, with his usual foresight, insisted upon before they should -start the following morning to settle the business with Ludlum.</p> - -<p>They had finished talking and were sitting at the table, silent, each -thinking what this big change might mean to them. Harry turned the lamp -wick slowly up and down; her eyes were very deep and shining in the -flare of light. Rob stared absently at the paper on which he had been -figuring. Out in the falling night a whippoorwill called plaintively, -then stopped, and in the silence they heard timid steps on the porch.</p> - -<p>"Who's that?" Rob exclaimed, going to the door.</p> - -<p>Harry followed him with the lamp. Its light fell upon the frightened -face of a young girl.</p> - -<p>"Why, it's Isita!" Harry said, in surprise. "Come in."</p> - -<p>But Isita shook her head. Small-boned and slender for her age, -clutching a boy's jacket over her chest and glancing timidly from -brother to sister, she looked like a little lost child.</p> - -<p>"What's happened, Isita?" Harry asked. "Anything we can do? Come in, -dear."</p> - -<p>"Oh, I can't!" The words came in a faint, frightened gasp. "Mother sent -me to ask you—have you got<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span> something for a—a cut? Joe—that is, he -was cutting up a chicken, and the knife slipped—" She stopped abruptly.</p> - -<p>"That's bad; but we've got something for it. Come in and rest a minute -while I get the things, and I'll go back with you," Rob began; but the -girl raised her hands entreatingly.</p> - -<p>"Please don't!" she besought. "That is, I mean, thank you; but you -couldn't do nothing. It ain't so dangerous. All we need is something to -put on it."</p> - -<p>Rob went across the room to where Harry was busily putting together -lint, disinfectant and sticking plaster.</p> - -<p>"I think I ought to go over, don't you?" he said. "He may have cut an -artery."</p> - -<p>"No, no!" Isita's voice called out desperately. "It ain't so bad. Ma -said for you not to come. It—it would make dad so mad. He'd 'a' killed -me if he'd knowed I was coming over here. Never mind, Miss Holliday. I -reckon I'd better be getting back."</p> - -<p>"Wait! Here's your bandaging!" Harry called cheerily, coming out at -the same moment with the package and with her sweater on. "I'm only -going to the gate with you," she said soothingly, and, slipping her arm -through Isita's, led her down the steps.</p> - -<p>Harry was back in ten minutes. "I thought I might calm her," she -explained to Rob. "The poor child was either scared to death at sight -of a bad cut, or else frightened by that brute of a father. What a -shame she has to live with such a family." </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span></p> - -<p>"I wonder how Joe did cut his hand," Rob said thoughtfully. "I -shouldn't wonder if there had been a family scrap and the old man gave -him one."</p> - -<p>"Rob Holliday! The idea! Go on to bed, or we'll never get started in -the morning."</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span></p> - -<h2>CHAPTER XIV</h2> - -<p>Of all her journeyings about Idaho that ride to Ludlum's was the -one that Harry remembered most vividly. The start before dawn, the -ponies fresh and eager, the morning star ahead, white and dazzling -in the east, the familiar road at that unfamiliar hour so strangely -beautiful—above all, the realization that this day was to make -her actually the owner of a herd—all filled her with a wonderful, -exhilarating joy.</p> - -<p>She and Rob were riding fast, scarcely speaking to each other. They -had rounded the foot of the butte that separated Harry's land from -the Bianes' and were almost in front of the Biane house when, as they -galloped along the fence, Rob's horse leaped and gave a snort of fright.</p> - -<p>"Take care, there!" Rob called back as he regained his seat.</p> - -<p>Instinctively Harry reined in and glanced fearfully over her shoulder. -There was nothing much to be seen—only the elder Biane loading -something into the wagon that stood in front of the door.</p> - -<p>"I wonder whether Joe was hurt worse than they wanted to say," Rob -remarked to Harry, and then called out, "Hi, there, Biane; need any -help? Joe all right this morning?"</p> - -<p>"All right, all right! We need not'ting at all." As<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span> Rob halted, -the Portuguese started forward and waved his arm with a threatening -gesture. "Not'ting is the mattare here! Go on!"</p> - -<p>"Polite beggar," Rob commented, laughing as they set spurs to their -horses and rode on.</p> - -<p>It was nine o'clock when, after crossing the foothills, they -sighted, far to the south, the oasis of shadow that indicated the -poplar trees of Ludlum's siding. The railway crosses the Snake River -there, full forty miles south of Camas Prairie, in the heart of the -sand-and-sagebrush desert. When a new irrigation tract was opened, and -a rush of settlers came in the siding began to gather a settlement -round itself. Their ranches lay below the big ditch along the base of -the foothill rise, and their scattered forties and eighties of alfalfa -were the first verdure that the travelers from the hills had seen.</p> - -<p>As Harry gazed forward along the road winding through the sagebrush -toward Ludlum's, she saw in fancy the slow-moving string of cattle that -would soon be coming back over that road to her. Her herd! Already she -thought of them as hers; for when she had made the second payment in -December it would be no time at all until the increase from the herd -would pay the rest of the debt.</p> - -<p>"Things are getting pretty dry already," Rob remarked, as he gazed at -the passing country. "If the irrigation water fails these fellows, and -it may easy enough, there was so little snow last winter, they won't -get much late hay." </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span></p> - -<p>"Why, I think the crops look fine," Harry answered gayly; "and as for -us, we have all the water we need. Our springs were never known to -fail, now, were they? We've miles of free range that should last into -October, and we can certainly buy all the hay we need down on the flat."</p> - -<p>"I hope you're right," Rob answered. "Just the same, I'm going to stop -at some of the ranches along here and see what they're asking for the -first crop of alfalfa."</p> - -<p>The next ranch was an eighty-acre square of silk-green, rippling -verdure, with a small unpainted frame house at the edge of it, like a -raft anchored on the border of turbulent water. Unfortunately, there -was only a woman at home, and she explained that the men from that -and the next two ranches on the road had gone to put up hay on the -Constable place across the river.</p> - -<p>"If we can get through with Ludlum in time, I believe I'd better ride -across to Constable's," Rob said as they turned the last corner and -rode along Ludlum's fence.</p> - -<p>Harry assented vaguely. She was absorbed in admiring the splendid ranch -before them. The house grounds of the thousand-acre farm lay facing -the road; the railway ran along the other side of the place where the -new town had been laid out. For half a mile behind the house extended -a double row of immense Lombardy poplars, making a windbreak against -the violent west winds; and in their shelter were ranged<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span> the orchard, -garden and the group of barns, sheds, bunk houses, cookhouse and other -out-buildings that pertained to an old-time ranch.</p> - -<p>Water was running in the irrigation ditches, a windmill whirred with -its pleasant sound of industry, miles of alfalfa and pasture shimmered -in the morning sunshine, and in other fields cows with young calves -were feeding. The scene gave a feeling of long-settled prosperity, of -solid wealth that no "bad year," no "dull market," could affect.</p> - -<p>"And all this has been done with cattle!" Harry exclaimed, as she -looked around her. "How thankful I am I've started a herd!"</p> - -<p>"I wonder, though, how he got his start," Rob remarked. "With one cow -or with credit?"</p> - -<p>"I dare you to ask him," said Harry.</p> - -<p>Rob only laughed and swung out of his saddle in front of the door. -Several children ran out and surrounded them with friendly curiosity, -and a pretty, smiling little woman followed close behind.</p> - -<p>"I thought I recognized Mr. Holliday," Mrs. Ludlum said when Rob had -introduced his sister. "The minute I laid eyes on him I knew I'd seen -him here before."</p> - -<p>"No use trying to fool a real Westerner," Rob answered laughing. "Once -you're seen in this country you're a marked man."</p> - -<p>"Oh, now, I wouldn't call you that, yet. You ain't never done nothing -worse, so far's I know, than turn in here once for the night when your -team ran away from you, and then offer to pay for your bed and board." </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span></p> - -<p>"You'll never forgive that, will you?" said Rob. "Well, this time we've -come to carry off several square meals at once without paying—except -with promises. In other words, we're here for cattle. Is Mr. Ludlum -round?"</p> - -<p>"Well, there! He just ain't," said Mrs. Ludlum, who had seated her -guests in the big veranda rocking-chairs. "Ludlum's went out to the -South Side to look up his hay, but he'll be back for dinner. You'll -stay overnight anyhow. Oh, yes, now! It ain't so often you come this -way, and we've always wanted to get acquainted with your sister. We've -heard how smart she is; teaching school and milking and doing chores -like she was born to it."</p> - -<p>"Yes, sis keeps the traces stiff pretty well," Rob assured her.</p> - -<p>"Our ranch isn't much after seeing this one," Harry said quickly, -pleased yet embarrassed by her brother's praise.</p> - -<p>"Well, now. Don't let that give you a set-back," said Mrs. Ludlum. -"Why, when we come here, twenty-five years ago, we had the same layout -as you. Raw sagebrush and no water, except the river. You've got us -beat there. Didn't I live in the sheep wagon, too, for a year, until we -got ahead enough to build us a shack? All this you see now didn't come -in one jump."</p> - -<p>Such words were food and drink to Harry. As she listened to the -accounts of the Ludlums' trials, mistakes and bad luck, she saw that -she and Rob were not the only ones who had made blunders. By dinner -time they<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span> were exchanging experiences as if they had known one another -for years. Harry was almost sorry when Ludlum came in and the topic of -conversation changed.</p> - -<p>Rob, on the contrary, was glad to see the stockman. "It may save me a -trip over to the South Side," he said, "if you can tell me what sort of -hay crop they've got over there."</p> - -<p>"It's a good crop, all right, but it's about all contracted for."</p> - -<p>"Already!" Rob exclaimed. "What's the hurry?"</p> - -<p>"Nothing. The sheepmen always buy early, and this year there's some -extra cattle in the country, and some of 'em'll have to be fed this -winter—those that ain't fat enough to ship by fall."</p> - -<p>"From what we've heard of them they won't ever be fat enough," said -Rob, and he went on to tell what Garnett had reported.</p> - -<p>"I've seen 'em worse than that and come off the range fat," Ludlum -said, laughing. "You needn't worry about them taking all the hay."</p> - -<p>Nevertheless, Rob decided to ride out. "If we can get this business of -ours settled up early," he suggested, "I'll leave Harry here for the -night and go over there."</p> - -<p>"Sure," Ludlum answered promptly. "We'll go and take a look at the -stock on pasture, and you can pick what you like. Yes, come along," -he said to his wife, and added, grinning, to the others, "That woman -has to have a finger in everything; you'd think she'd raised the whole -outfit herself."</p> - -<p>"Well, I guess I did raise the start of it!" his wife<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span> exclaimed. "I -fed a dozen calves by hand until they could eat grass, and it's from -them he got his real start of a herd. Come on, Miss Holliday. I'll tell -you which ones to pick." And, putting her arm through Harry's she led -the way down the path.</p> - -<p>It was done at last. Rob and Harry had chosen thirty Durham cows, -calves, yearlings and two "coming two's." The price was to be one -thousand dollars, one fourth down, one fourth on December 1, when, if -all went well, the loan would be renewed. The afternoon was only half -gone when they came out of the notary public's office.</p> - -<p>"I'll leave you here," Rob said, mounting his horse as the others got -into Ludlum's automobile. "Don't forget, sis, if I'm not back to-night, -that you are to start on in the morning and meet me up the road near -that ranch we stopped at on our way down."</p> - -<p>"I've half a mind not to let you go inside a week," Mrs. Ludlum -declared as they started back to the house. "Men folks always take it -for granted that a woman's got to be home every minute, whether she's -needed or not. I'll bet you haven't slept away from home two nights -running since you filed on your homestead. Have you, now?"</p> - -<p>"Plenty of times," said Harry gayly. "You forget that I taught school -on the flat for three winters."</p> - -<p>"She caught you that time, Ma," said Ludlum, grinning.</p> - -<p>"A lot that worries me! Any one that can catch me is welcome to his -pay. My dad tried to make a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span> school-teacher out of me, but he gave it -up as a bad job. Said he guessed I'd make a better cow puncher. He'd -have been some surprised to know a girl could be smart at both."</p> - -<p>The way Mrs. Ludlum's brown eyes beamed at Harry warmed the girl's -heart.</p> - -<p>"I'd rather ride than teach," Harry declared, "but the only way I could -save money to go into cattle was by teaching. You see, Rob insisted -that besides the money for the first payment I should have something -for running expenses."</p> - -<p>"You don't mean to say you saved for that! How much, child?"</p> - -<p>"Two hundred and fifty."</p> - -<p>"Two hundred fifty! Whoopee! Did you hear that, Ludlum? Why, you don't -no more need that than a rattlesnake needs two tails! Instead of -saltin' that down, you'd ought to have put it into a decent-sized bunch -of beef."</p> - -<p>"We thought it safer to save something," said Harry, feeling her cheeks -redden.</p> - -<p>"There, now. She's mad with me." Mrs. Ludlum's arm went round Harry's -waist in a conciliatory hug. "You're the same sort I was myself—full -of spunk as an apple is of cider. That's the sort of thing that makes -success. I'll bet right now you wanted to put that extra cash into -beef, didn't you? Of course! See her smile! And that's what you're -going to do. Pa and I'll fix you up all right." </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span></p> - -<p>"But two hundred and fifty dollars won't buy many cows," Harry began.</p> - -<p>"It won't buy blooded white-face, but you've got a plenty of them. -What you need is some scrub stock; the sort we started with. They'll -rustle better for feed, stand harder weather and come through where -your high-class critters will knock under. You take thirty scrubs at -six hundred, pay two hundred fifty cash for 'em and let the other three -fifty go on time, and I'll lay you even money they'll make more for you -than your 'ristocrats that cost you twice as much. Ain't that right, -Pa?"</p> - -<p>"What you say goes, I guess," the stockman agreed, with a whimsical -glance at Harry as they got out of the car in front of the house. "You -always were the boss, you know."</p> - -<p>"Sure. I have to be. The men would just mill round in a peck measure -till kingdom come if the women didn't drag 'em into the road to -success. That's what the girl here is going to show her brother. Show -him she can do all the rounding up and cutting out this fall. Then -she'll sell off enough to buy her some hay. Pa here'll pick you a good -bunch, deary. They're all out on range now, but he'll see you get -what's comin' to you."</p> - -<p>As Harry listened to this lively mixture of plans for her and praise -of her, Rob's decision that they should take only thirty head suddenly -lost its finality. These people knew much more than Rob did about the -cattle<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span> business. Besides, Rob had not put a cent of his own into the -white-face; why should she not do as she liked with her own money—put -what she had left into thirty more? That, with Rob's bunch, would give -them an even hundred.</p> - -<p>Abruptly she stopped in the path. "I've decided," she said. "I'm going -to take the scrubs. Thirty head. I guess I'll come out all right. Why -not?"</p> - -<p>Her confidence remained as long as she stayed with the Ludlums. It -was only after she had bidden them good-by the next morning that she -began to wonder what Rob would say. At first he might disapprove. The -likelihood that he would do so grew upon her as she drew near their -meeting place; the arguments that had appeared so sound while Mrs. -Ludlum talked now sounded very flimsy.</p> - -<p>At last she heard the pound of hoofs behind her and, turning, saw Rob.</p> - -<p>"I came near not getting here this morning, after all," he began. -"Nobody'll sell hay now, or even set a price on it. They're all waiting -to see how the second cutting turns out. This pest of outside cattle -has sent every one on the stampede for high-priced hay. My, but I'm -thankful you've got that two hundred and fifty in reserve! We'll need -it, all right."</p> - -<p>He looked at her sharply. She was facing him with a smile on her lips, -eyes unflinching, but without a word.</p> - -<p>"What is it?" he asked quietly. "You haven't heard the bank's busted?" </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span></p> - -<p>"No. But I've nothing in it. I bought thirty more cattle, scrubs, at -six hundred, and paid down my other two hundred and fifty."</p> - -<p>It was told! With the relief, her nervous shakiness vanished, and -she rushed into the account of what she had done. She watched Rob's -face for the slow smile that would reluctantly acknowledge her good -judgment; but it did not come. Instead, Rob stared straight ahead, and -deep lines appeared in his face, as if he were very tired. Harry tried -to interest him by quoting Mrs. Ludlum, her experience and advice, but -Rob answered colorlessly or not at all.</p> - -<p>"No doubt it was easy enough twenty-five years ago," he said at last, -"but there are too many people in here now that have got something to -say about who's going to make all the money in cattle. If the ranchers -won't sell their hay, we'll have to do without. That's all."</p> - -<p>"I guess we can get all we need on the flat," Harry said quickly. "They -aren't short of water up there, thank goodness."</p> - -<p>"Yes, plenty of water so far; but don't forget it isn't too late for -the June freeze."</p> - -<p>The June freeze! Harry had forgotten that yearly menace. Only the year -before it had hit the prairie and had wiped out every little "truck -patch," blackened every acre of potatoes, and seared thousands of acres -of alfalfa. As if the thin fingers of that very June frost had folded -round her wrist, Harry felt her warm blood chill. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span></p> - -<p>Fear, however, was not natural to her. The reaction came, and through -the following week, while waiting for the new cattle to arrive, her -confidence in ultimate victory renewed itself.</p> - -<p>Ludlum had told her that he would send the white-face bunch up by -riders who would round up the scrubs on the way and bring the whole lot -in at once. Daily Harry expected to see them come down the draw. At the -same time she was waiting for Rob, who had been gone for several days -hunting hay on the flat. By sunset on Saturday she had given up hope -of seeing any one that week; but as she was feeding the calves, in the -corral, a hostile growl from 'Thello made her turn quickly to see a -slow-moving string of cattle wind down the draw.</p> - -<p>"My herd!" she exclaimed, and dropped her empty bucket. "They've come."</p> - -<p>There they were, shuffling the dust into an obscuring cloud and -beginning to bellow at the sight of the cows in the barnyard.</p> - -<p>"Where do you want 'em?" one of the riders called to the girl, as she -hurried to meet them.</p> - -<p>"Right there, until we can cut out the calves and bring them inside. -Just move them along the fence so I can count them, will you?"</p> - -<p>"Oh, you'll be able to count 'em without their millin' round none," the -rider answered; "they're tired enough to set for their photos without -stirrin' a hair."</p> - -<p>Was it only because they were tired that they looked so queer, Harry -wondered as she moved about among<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span> them. A puzzled look replaced -her pleased smile. The Durhams were right enough: big, solid, beefy -creatures. But the scrubs—was that the way scrubs always looked? She -had seen plenty of them on the range, but never had she noticed that -they were like these thirty strange odd-come-shorts: here a cow no -bigger than a good-sized calf, but carrying the horns of a Texas steer; -over there a Jersey-colored steer with a head as big as a buffalo's; -calves of every mixture of breed and of no breed at all. She was still -standing studying them when she heard the soft thump of hoofs and the -voices of two men, and saw Rob and Garnett riding toward her.</p> - -<p>"He roped me a couple of miles back and fetched me along," said the -forest ranger, pretending as usual that he was there only through -necessity. "Told me you were going to have beef stew and dumplings, and -he was afeared he couldn't eat it all himself."</p> - -<p>He had dropped from his saddle and come up beside her, stepping stiffly -on his high-heeled boots as he looked fixedly down at her.</p> - -<p>"Beef stew?" She made an effort at a lively reply. "I guess there are -some critters in that bunch that won't be good for much else."</p> - -<p>"What did you really expect?" Rob inquired mildly.</p> - -<p>"I hoped they'd develop enough beef to pay us to ship them for stew," -she retorted. "Of course I knew scrubs weren't like blooded stock, but -Ludlum said he'd pick mine out."</p> - -<p>"The word scrubs," Rob reminded her as they began<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span> to work the calves -inside the gate, "is like charity: it covers a multitude of sins. And -when you're dealing with the Ludlums—well, what fat there might be in -the herd is generally in the fire; as at present."</p> - -<p>"What <i>is</i> he talking about?" Harry asked.</p> - -<p>"Aw! Nothin' much. Some of the critters that were over the other side -of the river have been driven in here on the range and——"</p> - -<p>"Those wild, starved things from outside? But they can't! This range -belongs to us ranchers." The significance of the thing was coming to -her. "What right have outsiders to ship stock in here? We'll drive them -into the river! They shan't clean up the grazing."</p> - -<p>"I guess you wouldn't want to run 'em into the river," Garnett said -reflectively, "not if you're buying cattle from Ludlum on time."</p> - -<p>"Ludlum? What has he to do with it?"</p> - -<p>"Nothing much," answered Garnett, slowly, "except that about five -hundred of the scrubs are his, and if he knew that you were running 'em -off he might take it kind of bad."</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span></p> - -<h2>CHAPTER XV</h2> - -<p>"Guess I'd better lend a hand," Rob said to himself. He had been -repairing an irrigation ditch on the west side of the ranch and for -some time had been watching a cloud of dust to the east; it seemed to -indicate fresh trouble from Ludlum's hungry horde.</p> - -<p>Although scarcely ten days had passed since those scrub cattle had -appeared in the hills, the famished animals had already broken fences, -trampled growing wheat, horned last season's stacks and broken down -banks of the irrigation ditches. And what was worse, if possible, than -all that mischief, they were taking a great deal of Rob's time, every -moment of which was worth money.</p> - -<p>"We're helpless to prevent it, too, I guess!" Rob muttered as he -started toward the scene of trouble; "helpless because there's no herd -law in these hills. Ludlum's got just as good right to the free range -as we have, and, with his mortgage on Harry's land, he can make it -mighty bad for us if he finds us dogging his stock off. I'll get even -with him for his meanness, though."</p> - -<p>He glowered at the scattered bands of cattle that trailed along the -fence, seeking an opening into the rich feed inside. How shortsighted -he and the other <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span>foothill ranchers were not to have demanded a herd -law long before!</p> - -<p>As the law stood now the "cattle baron" had the advantage. He could -run his hundreds of head of stock on the open range from April to -September, or take them up into the reserve until that was eaten clean; -then after shipping his beef "critters" he could drive the rest down on -the South Side to winter on the hay that he had bought from the farmers -there. The man with fifty or a hundred head had no chance at all -against him. If the big stockman's cattle, grazing unherded, got inside -the rancher's fence and bloated on his alfalfa or grain, the stockman -could collect heavy damages from the farmer, who had no redress for -his damaged crops; it was the farmer's business to keep the stockman's -cattle out.</p> - -<p>It was a just law for the wilderness, but not at all the law for a -region that was going under the fence. The men who were reclaiming -the desert, who were turning the north slope of the foothills and the -prairie into farms, who were raising grain and hay and building up -small herds of cattle and sheep, were now the men to be protected by -law. That protection a herd law would give them, for it would forbid -stockmen to run their herds into the hills without riders to watch -them, and it would make the stockmen liable for damages to fences or -crops. That would mean, of course, that the big herds would not be -turned into the hills at all; for it was only because they could be -left there without herders that they had piled up the profits for their -owners. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span></p> - -<p>"Pity sis couldn't have known what Ludlum was planning to do up here -himself," Rob went on to himself. "She mightn't have fallen for the old -lady's get-rich-easy talk. Not that Mrs. Ludlum meant to gouge Harry. -She's square, and thinks he is, too, I guess. Ludlum's sharp, that's -all. Drives a hard bargain. If we'd known how many of their scrubs -we were going to ride after and feed for nothing, Harry'd have been -satisfied with thirty of her own, all right, especially now that the -range is going dry."</p> - -<p>As he stumbled along under the hot sun he saw Harry coming on -horseback. In her khaki jumper, divided skirt and riding boots she -looked like a boy of sixteen.</p> - -<p>"I'm awfully sorry to ask you to help," she began. "I can't get those -critters of Ludlum's out unless ours go, too. My! But I hate them!" She -stopped abruptly, with a telltale quiver in her voice, and looked away. -Then quickly she braced herself. "If I could once get them outside, I'd -take 'em so far they'd never find themselves, let alone find the road -back here."</p> - -<p>Rob's eyes softened. Poor old girl! She was doing her best, anyhow.</p> - -<p>"I guess they won't bother us much more, Harry," he said. "I have -decided that I'll put on another wire. They can't jump four."</p> - -<p>"Another wire!" she exclaimed. "But, Rob, have you thought of the -expense!"</p> - -<p>"Not half so expensive as wasting time running them<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span> off. Well, let's -get busy. If you'll fetch Jeff, I'll change these wet shoes."</p> - -<p>Obediently, Harry went up the draw to the corral among the trees where -they kept the work horses in summer. Her head ached, and there was a -lump in her throat. How considerate of her Rob was! She had added just -double to their difficulties, had added to their expenses, yet not one -word of reproach did he give her. Instead he was always ready to help -whenever she came to him—and that was pretty often. Handling cattle, -she realized, was not to be learned by any "fifteen minutes a day" of -study.</p> - -<p>"Cowboys certainly earn their wages," Harry admitted with a weary -sigh, when, after several hours of weary work they had at last got the -strangers outside the fence and had driven back inside several of their -own cattle that had gone out with the others.</p> - -<p>It was six o'clock. They were both choked with dust, thirsty, -saddle-sore and tired. Harry, aching from head to foot, longed to get -into a bath and put on some clean clothes; instead, she must wash a -panful of dishes and cook supper.</p> - -<p>"You're dead right," Rob agreed. "A buckaroo earns every cent he gets, -and its almost impossible to run cattle without them."</p> - -<p>Every word was a blow to Harry's careless faith in herself. She -listened in humble silence while Rob went on:</p> - -<p>"You can understand why I can't afford to ride cattle for nothing. I've -simply got to disk that <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span>summer fallow and start work on the dam for -the freshet-water reservoir. Every day I spend like this means a big -loss, not only to me, but to the ranch as an investment."</p> - -<p>"Of course. I can see that," Harry answered quickly, "and I expect to -pay you; but I haven't a cent of money now, as you know. I shall sell -some steers in the fall, anyhow, and I can pay you then."</p> - -<p>"I'd rather you paid me in cattle. After I've hired out harvesting, I -ought to have enough cash to buy all the winter hay I'll need for my -own stock, and maybe some for yours. I'll go to town to-morrow for that -wire. Maybe I can get it on time. That'll give me a little more cash to -buy hay with."</p> - -<p>Harry wondered what she should do if the scrubs broke in while he was -away. While Mrs. Ludlum had been talking, Harry had been ready to -believe that she could do anything; now the time had come for her to -show what she was actually good for.</p> - -<p>As soon as Rob had left the next morning, therefore, she made a circuit -outside the fence and ran off all the cattle in sight. To her relief, -that kept them away until the afternoon feeding began; then, making a -second tour, she dispersed the lines that were headed for the alfalfa.</p> - -<p>"If I'd dogged them that way from the first," she thought, "they'd -never have got inside at all."</p> - -<p>Rob did not get home that night, rather to Harry's satisfaction. "It -gives me another day to see what I can do with these critters." </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span></p> - -<p>Dawn comes early in the foothills at the end of June. Long before four -o'clock the sky was pink, the grouse were whistling in the alfalfa, the -morning breeze had begun to flutter the quaking asps, a cool, fresh -smell of juicy grass had risen from the earth, and the world of animals -had begun to feed.</p> - -<p>The cattle were the first to move. Almost before dawn they leave -their bedding ground and follow the scent of the nearest pasture. For -Ludlum's stock Rob's wheat and alfalfa were the lure.</p> - -<p>As they snuffed the sweetness of growing grass, the leaders of the herd -broke into hungry bawling, set off at a gallop, and, as they reached -the fence, plunged at it and went over.</p> - -<p>Harry woke to 'Thello's furious barking. She woke with a start, got to -her elbow and peered out. In the dim light she could make out forms -moving across the field. With a sigh she climbed out of bed and, still -nodding with sleep, dressed and stumbled off to saddle her pony, Hike.</p> - -<p>Of the two gates to the alfalfa meadow, one led into the lane at the -barn and the other into the east pasture. It was in that pasture that -Rob and Harry were holding the new herd until the animals became -accustomed to their home. Now, as Harry rode slowly down the lane, she -wondered what would be her best plan of action.</p> - -<p>If she ran the intruders out over the broken-down fence, they would -merely turn round and come in again; but if she took them through the -lane, up the draw and across the flat on top of the hills and ran them<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span> -south a good way, they might continue down that side of the divide. "It -would serve Ludlum right," she said to herself, "to have his starved -creatures break into his own alfalfa some morning!"</p> - -<p>As she rode slowly toward the feeding animals the blood sprang to her -temples and she drew a fierce breath. The sight of the starving beasts, -fifteen, twenty, twenty-five of them, tearing away greedily at the -tender alfalfa, roused in Harry an indescribable ire.</p> - -<p>"Miserable beasts!" she exclaimed. "Take 'em out, 'Thello! That's it! -Get 'em, boy!"</p> - -<p>Obedient to training, the collie had kept close to the pony. Now, at -the sound of Harry's voice, he was off—a vicious whirlwind of black -fur. As he dashed upon the herd, snapping at heels here, there and -everywhere, a stream of yelps rent the air.</p> - -<p>Shouting "Hi yi! Hi yi!" Harry set spurs to the pony and came close -behind.</p> - -<p>Away they all went, steers, cows, calves, dog and girl, plunging, -bawling, barking and galloping across the field and into the lane. Once -actually in the lane, with the gate shut behind them, Harry felt safe. -To be sure, some of the bunch were ugly and tried to turn back; but she -was on the lookout for those and, pushing her pony close, gave each -laggard a welt with her rawhide whip that sent the sullen one ahead -with a jump.</p> - -<p>She forgot her annoyance at being routed out early, forgot the time she -was wasting, almost forgot the trampled alfalfa. Her sense of mastery -blotted out the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span> vexations. This was the work she really loved. Even -after they had got up into the hills, the feeling of power stayed with -her and helped her to prevent the hungry scrubs from turning back. It -was not easy work. Though she was wet with sweat and smothered in dust, -she determined to keep after them until they had turned the shoulder of -the divide.</p> - -<p>She had just given one sulky brute a sounding thwack, when a shout -behind her made her wheel in surprise.</p> - -<p>"Hey! What's doin' here?"</p> - -<p>Over the ridge came a "cow puncher" riding at a lope. "Ain't you -herdin' them critters the wrong way, ma'am?" he inquired, with a queer -smile.</p> - -<p>"Wrong for them, maybe, not for us," Harry answered briefly. To herself -she added, "Who are you, anyhow?"</p> - -<p>He certainly was the oddest-looking <i>vaquero</i> she had met on the range. -He was plump and short, tow-haired and with no visible eyebrows; his -skin was burned rose pink, and his pale-blue eyes were scorched by the -desert sunlight. He looked like an overgrown fat baby; but a second -glance showed her that his scowling eyes and smiling lips were only -caused by the "sheepherder's grin" carved on his face by years of -riding in blinding sunshine.</p> - -<p>"I don't know whose cows you think you're rounding up," the "cow -puncher" went on, "but the real owner wouldn't now—want 'em druv off. -What I chiefly mean is, not right now." </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span></p> - -<p>"I'm sorry to disoblige the real owner," Harry said, with a laugh, -"but if you're a friend of his you can tell him that the 'real owner' -of a bunch of cattle on the ranch below here claims the grazing on -these hills, and that if he—that is to say, Mr. Ludlum—doesn't want -his scrubs dogged, he can send a rider up here to keep them where they -belong."</p> - -<p>As always with Harry, when her temper was up, she smiled, held her nose -in the air and eyed her opponent with fine disdain.</p> - -<p>The <i>vaquero</i> did not wither perceptibly. His grin merely became -sarcastic. "You personally acquainted—that is, you know Ludlum?" he -inquired.</p> - -<p>"I've made a beginning that way," Harry said.</p> - -<p>"Beggin' your pardon," the man went on, "and speakin' like I was givin' -a hint, I'd say that if this here owner of these-here scrubs gits on to -what you're doin' you're likely to find you ain't got anything of your -own to round up this fall. Not that he'd run 'em off; that is, now. And -you couldn't find 'em in his herd; no, not if you was to have every -blamed critter up before a judge and jury to be sworn to. Like's not -Ludlum'd try to help you locate your stock; he's right helpful, mebbe -you've noticed? I'm ridin' for him now myself, and I've got my orders -to keep these five hundred head in these-here hills—where they kin git -to water on the north slope, is what I chiefly mean."</p> - -<p>"But all the water on the north slope belongs to us," Harry remarked, -trying to control her indignation. "There isn't a spring outside, -except where the stream<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span> runs beyond our fence, until you get to -Robinson's. And before I'll let Ludlum water on my land, or on my -brother's, I'll shoot every one of his miserable scrubs. You can tell -him so, if you like; tell him I intend to keep right on dogging them -off, too. Please repeat every word of this to him. Thank you. Good -morning."</p> - -<p>With a jab of the spur into Hike's side she was off.</p> - -<p>"Of all the hateful, mean, dishonorable creatures!" she whispered to -herself. Her eyes were hot with tears; she felt tricked, cheated, -helpless. For the moment she did not realize that the "cow-puncher" had -perhaps not meant all he said, had merely tried to frighten her.</p> - -<p>She raced along, not noticing where she was going, and only came -to herself when the pony, which had naturally turned toward home, -slackened his gallop at the head of the draw. It was then about -eight o'clock by the sun, still and hot, and the cattle flies were -intolerable. The vision of the cold, deep spring under the wall of rock -brought sudden relief to her vexed heart. Sliding out of the saddle, -she took the bridle over her arm and walked across the mountain grass -toward the spring.</p> - -<p>Suddenly she came upon a grouse hen that had been wounded and had -escaped to die, and she realized that the hunters were abroad once -more. She kept looking to and fro on either side as she walked, and -suddenly a strange sound, almost under her feet, made her jump.</p> - -<p>"Well, of all things!" she said slowly. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span></p> - -<p>There lay a month-old heifer calf bleeding from a wound in its leg. The -creature made no effort to escape as Harry examined it; only gave a -mournful <i>moo!</i> and rolled its eyes.</p> - -<p>"You're not one of my calves," she said presently; "at least I think -mine are all in the corral. You must be one of Ludlum's; but you can't -lie here and die, even if you are his. I'll get you down to the house -somehow, and maybe when the cows come in your mother will come with -them."</p> - -<p>But no strange cow turned up lowing for a lost calf, and when Rob -returned he said that the only thing to do was to keep it until some -range rider came looking for strays. They cleaned out the wound, which -had been made by a shotgun, fed the calf on skimmed milk, and kept it -in a dark corner of the barn where the flies would not torment it.</p> - -<p>"That's Joe Biane's work," Harry said emphatically. "It shows what may -happen to our own calves at any time. He doesn't care what he hits when -he's after birds. I think we should speak to the game warden about him."</p> - -<p>"The trouble is that we didn't see Joe shoot the calf, so we can't -swear he did it. Unless you can do that, you've got no case. It's not -worth while, anyhow. You'd only get Joe's ill will, and he'd make us -more trouble than we've got already, which would be considerable. Let's -put all our time into getting a herd law through. We'll have to have -all the ranchers in with us, and that includes the Bianes. So don't rub -Joe the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span> wrong way until we've got his vote. Joe is nothing compared -with the trouble Ludlum may give us."</p> - -<p>"He certainly may," she admitted, thinking of what the pink-faced rider -had told her.</p> - -<p>She decided to say nothing to Rob about that incident. She reflected -that there was no use bothering him with every little matter that came -up between her and Ludlum's herders over the question of the grazing.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span></p> - -<h2>CHAPTER XVI</h2> - -<p>For a week after the new wire was put on, Rob and Harry had a respite -from fighting off Ludlum's herd. Once a day Harry made a circuit of the -place and drove the outside cattle back into the hills; but the rest -of the time she and Rob were virtually free from them. It was a great -relief, for besides the fact that Rob had turned water on the wheat, -which was beginning to look pretty dry, and that the time had come to -cut the alfalfa, two of their steers had gone off with the range cattle -and had not come back.</p> - -<p>Coming up from the barn with the last of the milk, Harry paused to look -once more through their cattle which had come down to the fence with -the milk cows and which now stood in the draw, nibbling the alfalfa -that pushed through the fence. Rob was coming across the meadow, a -hip-deep green expanse, and several times he stopped, pulled a blossom, -and glanced critically over the field.</p> - -<p>The late frost that Rob had dreaded had struck the flat only the week -before, and a general lack of water for the second crop would make hay -very scarce and high. The foothill ranches, being on the slope, had -more or less escaped the frost, and Rob's alfalfa had not been touched. -Looking at it now, swaying quietly as the sea at full tide and crested -with its foam of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span> purple bloom, it was hard to realize that there -were miles of parched foothill range near by, where cattle wandered, -searching every mouthful of grass.</p> - -<p>"That hay will be just right to cut on the Fourth," he said, when at -last he dropped wearily on the porch step.</p> - -<p>"On the Fourth! The prairie's supreme holiday! I thought the entire -valley went fishing on the Fourth," said Harry.</p> - -<p>"I don't believe it will this year. Every one that's got any hay at all -will cut it the minute it's ready. Robinson intends to cut a few days -later than I do, and he's going to let me have his mower first, so I've -got to work anyhow."</p> - -<p>"Well, if we've got to work, let's celebrate with a big dinner. How -would that appeal to a haying crew? Ice cream, chicken fricassee, -cherry pie. I thought so!"</p> - -<p>Rob smacked his lips and grinned broadly. "Doesn't sound as if you'd -get much fun out of it, though," he said, "cooking for a bunch of -haymakers."</p> - -<p>"Don't worry. The prospect of company well repays the cookery. I mean -to have the women folks, too, and the children."</p> - -<p>The dinner party now became their chief interest. First Harry, then -Rob, thought of some detail that would contribute to its perfecting, -and the two worked like a couple of children building a sand castle. -On counting the number of expected guests, they found that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span> they could -scarcely seat them all at table at once in the house; but Rob had -lumber on hand for extra cattle sheds, and from that he built under the -balm trees a table of goodly size and two benches.</p> - -<p>The day that Rob went over for the mower Harry cleaned the house. Even -if they did dine outside, the house must be flawlessly neat. It was -nearly five o'clock when at last Harry scrubbed her way out of the door -and down the porch steps. Behind her the cabin twinkled like a new pan, -and, when she had shaken out the mop, she stretched her arms and sighed -with satisfaction.</p> - -<p>Then suddenly she wheeled round and listened. Somewhere down toward the -creek a gun had spoken faintly.</p> - -<p>Instantly Harry was another creature. Her languor vanished; she drew -up, keen and alert; her eyes moved back and forth along the line of -willow bushes that screened the stream. For half a minute she watched, -scarcely breathing; the immense silence was broken only by the far, -faint bell note of a mourning dove. Had she only imagined that other -sound? No. There it was again.</p> - -<p>Suddenly two figures crept into view, moving cautiously, with shotguns -held ready. She put two fingers in her mouth, drew a deep breath, and -then a screaming whistle split the evening calm.</p> - -<p>The sportsmen heard it. Harry saw them stop and look her way; but, -seeing only a girl, they evidently<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span> felt safe, for they started forward -again, with guns cocked, and when Harry whistled the second time they -paid no attention.</p> - -<p>"I guess I know what'll make you go!" cried the girl, and she ran into -the house. She came out again with the big .32 rifle under her arm and -started down the path.</p> - -<p>She had gone scarcely a hundred feet when she saw a flock of sage -hens rise. At the same instant there was a rattle of shots, and two -birds fell. Harry threw the rifle to her shoulder, aimed high and -fired. Instantly one of the men jumped back, shook his fist toward her -and shouted. She did not catch the words, but it made no difference, -anyhow. He knew he had no business inside the fence, for there was a -plainly printed sign warning hunters off. She moved forward slowly, -expecting to see the sportsmen get over the fence; but just then -another covey of birds rose, and simultaneously both men fired.</p> - -<p>That was too much. Harry raised the rifle and fired six deliberate -shots. She aimed high over the heads and well to either side of the -trespassers, so that there was no chance of hitting them. Nevertheless, -when an automobile rolled out from the willows and she saw how easily -she might have hit the driver, she felt a thrill of horror.</p> - -<p>She stood watching while, the men made a run for the car, scrambled -aboard and went swinging out of sight up the road. Then slowly she -turned back home. Her knees felt shaky; she drew a long, unsteady -breath and,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span> to her surprise, had to sit down on the ground for a -moment.</p> - -<p>When Rob got home with the mower he brought a general acceptance of the -invitation to the Fourth of July dinner. "They fell for it as if they'd -been expecting it any time in the last three years," he reported.</p> - -<p>"It's just as well, then, that I planned to have Isita come down and -help me," Harry answered. She had decided to say nothing about shooting -at the hunters. She had realized by this time what a terrible risk she -had taken, and she knew it would worry Rob to think that she had been -so reckless.</p> - -<p>"What on earth do you want Biane's girl here for?" he asked. "I should -think Mrs. Robinson could help you out."</p> - -<p>"She would, of course; but I want an excuse to talk with Isita and -persuade her to go to school this winter."</p> - -<p>"But if we're feeding cattle here this winter, you won't be teaching -down on the flat."</p> - -<p>"Isita can go to school just the same, can't she? Besides, I want to -advise her to find a place where she can work for her board while she's -going to school. Her mother would send her if she weren't afraid of old -Biane."</p> - -<p>"Better go slow. If you're too friendly, we'll have their hogs down -here in the wheat every day instead of twice a week."</p> - -<p>But Harry insisted on having Isita. The one drawback to her life on the -ranch had been the lack of girl<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span> friends, and her interest in Isita had -taken the place of other interests.</p> - -<p>As she rode over to the Bianes' two days before the dinner party, she -tried to frame a tactful speech in which to offer the other girl a -dress to wear; for probably she had nothing suitable, and Harry did not -want her to refuse to come, merely because she lacked a dress.</p> - -<p>The Biane cabin was still not much more than the "prove-up shack" that -the original owner had quitted. It was of unpainted boards with only -two half windows to break its blank walls, and seemed scarcely to -deserve the name of "home." And still, some one had tried to improve -the place. A woven-wire fence enclosed a small garden patch in which, -among the cabbages, Harry recognized bachelor's-buttons and poppies -grown from seed she had given Isita. Some packing boxes had been fitted -together for a chicken house, and an attempt had even been made to -fence in a few acres of wheat; but the live stock—Joe's hogs, half -a dozen sheep and several thin cows—wandered loose, rather to the -detriment of the crops of neighboring ranchers.</p> - -<p>As Harry rode up, the morning sunshine was beaming over all; on the -chickens scratching in front of the cow shed, on the scarlet poppies -beside the path. Yet to Harry the clutch of poverty seemed actually -visible. What a place for a young girl to grow up in! Chopping wood, -plowing, herding sheep; while the good-for-nothing father and brother -went fishing and hunting!</p> - -<p>"I'd like to take her to stay with me all winter," Harry thought -in sympathetic indignation. "If she<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span> had half a chance, she'd make -something worth while of herself. How thankful I am for my life!"</p> - -<p>No one was visible about the place, and Harry knocked twice before she -got any response. Then halting steps came across the room within, the -door was unlocked, and Isita's mother stood in the narrow opening.</p> - -<p>"Oh! It's Miss Holliday. The hogs down bothering you again? I told that -Joe——"</p> - -<p>"No, indeed. The hogs haven't bothered us lately. I came to ask Isita -to help me with my Fourth of July dinner."</p> - -<p>Harry put all the friendly warmth possible into her voice. She -remembered that this work-worn woman who faced her there with a sort of -defiant anxiety had been a New England farmer's daughter, and that many -a time in her girlhood she must have helped with a big company dinner -in honor of the national holiday.</p> - -<p>But Mrs. Biane merely drew back a little and raised her hand in abrupt -refusal. "No, thank you. It's kind of you to ask Isita, but I wouldn't -want her to go."</p> - -<p>She began to close the door.</p> - -<p>"Oh, please don't refuse!" Harry begged. She had no intention of -yielding so easily. "It would be doing me a real favor to let her come. -It's so hard to do everything alone, and Isita is the only young girl I -know well enough to ask to help me."</p> - -<p>She used all her eloquence, her most persuasive warmth, but even while -she talked she was aware of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span> something in the woman's silence, a sort -of dread, that made her unwilling to let Isita go; but at last, won -over by Harry's friendliness, Mrs. Biane yielded, saying only that -Isita must be home before dark.</p> - -<p>"Why didn't her mother want her to come?" Harry asked herself as she -rode away. "Why are they so unfriendly? There's something wrong there. -No wonder Isita looks scared and unhappy. I wonder where she was. Off -herding the sheep, probably. That looks like one of them now—near our -fence, as usual."</p> - -<p>A glimpse of something white moving in the sagebrush had caught her -eye. She rode toward it, and discovered, not a sheep, but a young calf.</p> - -<p>"What's happened to these scrub cows?" Harry exclaimed. "I never saw -anything like the way they desert their calves. This is the second I've -found left to starve. If rustlers were busy, they'd shoot the cows and -carry the calves off."</p> - -<p>Too young to graze, the calf was gaunt from lack of food and made no -effort to escape when Harry began to drive it. Instead, it merely -stumbled forward a few steps and stopped.</p> - -<p>"Go on," she ordered. "I couldn't let you lie out here and starve, even -if Ludlum can. How any man can turn a herd of cattle into the hills and -not know or care what happens to them for weeks and months is more than -I can comprehend. Come! Move along there."</p> - -<p>Thus adjured, and helped by an occasional flick of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span> the rawhide, the -calf moved ahead until within sight of the gate. Harry was just about -to get down and open it, when the pony gave a jerk and looked sidewise, -and Harry had a glimpse of an old felt hat moving behind a ledge of -lava that had jutted from the scab land. Riding forward, she came face -to face with Joe Biane. He had climbed up through one of the fissures -and stood leaning carelessly against the rocks, with his hands behind -him. A mischievous smile curled his lips.</p> - -<p>"Morning, Joe!" she said. "Will you open the gate for me?"</p> - -<p>Joe did not move. Astonished, she waited a moment. Then she noticed -that he was hiding his hands. Her lips curved in a comprehending smile.</p> - -<p>"You needn't be afraid!" she exclaimed. "I won't look at the birds -you're hiding. I realize it's useless to try to protect them from you."</p> - -<p>Joe neither answered nor moved. His derisive grin widened; he looked at -the calf and inquired, "Lost another critter, have you?"</p> - -<p>"Another calf? This isn't ours that I know of. I found it starving -outside, and I'm bringing it in to feed it."</p> - -<p>"Sure. Of course you want to save it." Joe snickered, and then, to her -astonishment, he burst into a rude laugh and moved back among the lava -ridges out of sight.</p> - -<p>Harry watched him. He had shifted his hands quickly; nevertheless, -she had caught a gleam of <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span>something. "His shotgun, of course," she -decided. She felt oddly irritated by his impudent stare and laughter. -What did he mean by saying "of course" she wanted to save the calf?</p> - -<p>"It's just his fresh way of talking," Rob said at noon, when she had -described the incident to him. "He may think you expect a reward from -Ludlum for feeding it. It may be ours, of course, though I don't see -where the cow can be. We'll have to wait until to-night when the milk -cows come in to see if any of them claim this one. It looks too poor to -be ours, I think. Any time Ludlum's riders come looking for strays, we -can show them these two and let them decide."</p> - -<p>"Don't you think we should round our critters up and count them?" Harry -suggested. "It's a long time since we've been over the yearlings and -steers, and we may be losing more of them. Those two haven't turned up -yet."</p> - -<p>"I know," said Rob, with a sigh. "I've been meaning to; but there's -so everlasting much to do. I ought to be working on that fill for the -reservoir right now. And yet, if we want the wheat to make anything, -I've got to get more water on it before it's too late. We want to save -every bit of feed inside, too, so we can't bring all the stock in until -they've cleaned up the range. Once haying's over, you bet I'm going to -dog off Ludlum's scrubs and give our cattle a fair chance at the range. -It's a little too much to have him grab everything outside and hold a -mortgage on our land, too."</p> - -<p>As Rob, sitting flat on the porch, with his back against<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span> the house and -his feet out before him, talked of his plans, Harry suddenly noticed -two men who were riding toward the gate.</p> - -<p>"Now what can they want?" she said as they came inside. "I haven't a -thing left to offer them for dinner."</p> - -<p>"They're not coming to the house," Rob said. "They're going west. -Riders hunting strays, I guess." They watched in silence as the two men -rode slowly through the herd, taking note of the cows and calves there; -then the riders disappeared round the butte.</p> - -<p>"They'll probably go up on top and look through the cattle there and -then drop in to supper," Rob suggested as he got up to go to work.</p> - -<p>But they did not come. It was not until the Fourth of July that the men -appeared again, and then they came on an unexpected errand.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span></p> - -<h2>CHAPTER XVII</h2> - -<p>"I hope Isita comes early," said Harry on the morning of the Fourth as -she dried the breakfast dishes. "The nearer dinner time it gets the -more things there are to be done at once."</p> - -<p>"I've seen you turn out pretty good feed all by yourself, when a bunch -of people have come in unexpectedly," said Rob, who, in honor of the -holiday, was dawdling about for fully ten minutes instead of hurrying -back to the field. "Those surveyors, now, that lost their way and -stayed overnight. Pretty good grub, I say, was what you gave them."</p> - -<p>"This is a different matter," said Harry, trying not to show her -pleasure at Rob's praise. "This is a dinner party, you no savvy?"</p> - -<p>"I see. In other words, you want the grub fit to eat off that -hundred-and-sixty-l'even-piece semiporcelain, rose-sprigged, -twelve-dollar-ninety-cents et cetery, et cetery, dinner set that we -bought out of the mail-order catalogue,—how long ago?—and that's been -settin' in the cupboard ever since."</p> - -<p>Rob dodged the flapping dishcloth with which Harry chased him outdoors. -"All right!" he called back. "I'm going to tell 'em about that first -pie you tried to make!" </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span></p> - -<p>"You'll be sorry if you do," she warned him.</p> - -<p>She was still smiling at the remembrance of those first days in the new -country when she saw the calico-clad figure of Isita coming along the -ditch bank.</p> - -<p>"It's awfully good of you to help me out to-day!" Harry exclaimed as -the girl came up the path. "I couldn't possibly have done it all alone."</p> - -<p>"I wanted to come," Isita answered quickly.</p> - -<p>Something unfamiliar in her voice made Harry look closer at her. -Ordinarily Isita's color was a clear, pale olive. Now her cheeks were -flushed, her eyes heavy, and she breathed quickly.</p> - -<p>"I don't believe you're well!" Harry exclaimed.</p> - -<p>"Sure, I'm well. I hurried up here too fast, that's all," Isita -insisted, and asked what work she should do first.</p> - -<p>She was evidently eager to do her very best, and after a little Harry -felt encouraged to bring out the flowered lawn she had wanted to give -Isita. She brought it from her room where it had been lying, freshly -ironed.</p> - -<p>"See here," she said. "Wouldn't you like to put this on? It's too small -for me, and yet it's so pretty I can't bear to throw it away. It will -be nice and cool, too, this hot day."</p> - -<p>Without a word the other girl took the dress; but, though her lips -were dumb, she looked up at Harry, and over her quiet face came an -expression so vivid, so glowing, that Harry felt as if a dull-covered -book<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span> had been unexpectedly flashed open at a splendid picture. The -book was instantly closed again, but that one glimpse satisfied her. -She felt as happy as a child dressing a new doll as she slipped the -dress over Isita's thin shoulders, buttoned it and then stood off to -admire the result. Isita dropped her eyelids shyly and smoothed the -bright lawn with caressing fingers.</p> - -<p>"Now, if you'll shell the peas," Harry went on as if nothing unusual -had happened, "I'll freeze the ice cream. Here; slip on this big apron. -You want to look fresh when the company arrives."</p> - -<p>She ran down cellar, where the cream was waiting, together with a tub -of ice that Rob had cracked for her; but she had scarcely begun to turn -the freezer when Isita called:</p> - -<p>"There's something that looks like comp'ny coming up the road!"</p> - -<p>"Not already!" groaned Harry, and rushed up to look.</p> - -<p>A mile away a cloud of dust marched forward round a slow-moving light -wagon, and Harry caught glimpses now and then of white-frocked children -on the back seat.</p> - -<p>"It's the Robinsons," said Harry with conviction. "They live nearest. -Well, shell peas for all you're worth, and I'll go twirl the freezer. -Be sure to call me when they get to the gate."</p> - -<p>And down she dived into the cellar again.</p> - -<p>"They're just pullin' up to the gate," came the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span> summons from Isita at -last, "and it is the Robinsons. There's a raft of young ones."</p> - -<p>As Harry ran down the path to meet them, Mrs. Robinson, crimpy-headed, -tall, angular, as vividly alive as ever, waved her hand in greeting.</p> - -<p>"Bully for you, girlie!" she cried. "You've got the flag up. As I says -to pa as we come round the butte," she went on without a pause as she -clambered from the wagon, shook her skirts, pushed back her hat and -fanned her face with her handkerchief, "and seen that flag floatin' up -top the pole there, I says, 'Well, there's two real Americans in this -country, anyhow.' For a hull lot of us Fourth of July has got to mean a -big feed and sleepin' it off."</p> - -<p>"Mother put the flag in my trunk when I was leaving home. She said we'd -need it to remind us of—well, days like this, when we were too busy to -observe them any other way. I'm afraid if she hadn't we'd have had the -big dinner and nothing else."</p> - -<p>"That's something to have, these hard times, lemme tell you," put in -Pa Robinson from the rear of the wagon, where he was unloading small -Robinsons. "Too late to look for rain now, and there's no more snow -water to come down into the river. Looks to me like we'd all be glad to -get red beans and side meat next winter."</p> - -<p>"Say! That's true, too," his wife chimed in. "What's more, pretty near -every truck patch on the flat got froze down that last freeze. I tell -you, I'm glad us<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span> folks live up here on the bench; even if they do -laugh at us for campin' on the rim rock."</p> - -<p>"It don't look like you had any June freeze up here," said Robinson, -turning to Rob, who had come up from the barn. "I ain't seen no finer -stand of alfalfa on the prairie."</p> - -<p>"It would be a long sight better if the cattle that are running loose -in these hills hadn't broken in so often," Rob told him.</p> - -<p>"Them scabby critters!" Robinson exclaimed in deep disgust. "I tell you -right now, there's got to be something done to get rid of them scrubs."</p> - -<p>"Well, that's certainly so! We've come to the end of our patience."</p> - -<p>"It's time!" Mrs. Robinson exclaimed. "I'm to the end of mine long ago, -watchin' you men folks pomper up yours and string it out to the last -breath before you'll git a move on."</p> - -<p>"Oh, we know you," said Pa Robinson. "You'd be for pullin' the fuse out -by the tail just as she's goin' off."</p> - -<p>"Let them have it out alone," Harry begged Mrs. Robinson. "I want you -to come and look at my wool. I've washed and picked it, but it doesn't -begin to look so nice as yours."</p> - -<p>When the older woman had felt the creamy strands that Harry had kept -tied in a sheet, she said, "It ain't the same sort of fleece. Mine's -that long, wavy Merino, and this is Southdown. Goin' to card and quilt -it yourself?"</p> - -<p>"I did want to. I wanted to have a quilting bee this<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span> fall and have my -quilts made up in the old-time patterns—sun flower or morning star. -Like our grandmothers.' You remember, don't you?"</p> - -<p>"Do I! Ain't I seen 'em back home on the spare-room bed? But it seems -we ain't got the time to do that sort of work out here."</p> - -<p>"Let's make the time, then. Start the fashion, you and I."</p> - -<p>"That's right, girlie. All we need's some one to give us a shove up -the right trail and we'll keep to it. Like you startin' the girls last -winter in that camp-wagon—no, camp-fire club at school. Vashti, she's -a different young one since—quit thinkin' about her hair ribbons -and how to git to the dances downtown every week and took to washin' -the young one's faces and readin' the receipt book instead. And that -reminds me. She sent you up a cake she made herself; red, white and -blue frosting—and a jar of jell. I'll run git 'em out the hack before -the dogs smell 'em." At the door she stopped to call back, "Here comes -Con Gardner and Lance Fitch! Oh, yes! And I forgot to tell you"—her -voice fell—"Zip Miller won't be over. He's got the spotted fever."</p> - -<p>"Oh, how dreadful!" Harry turned from a survey of the cooking with -distress in her eyes. The spotted fever was the perpetual menace in the -country where sheep grazed. The worst of it was that no one knew the -exact cause or cure; the sufferers died or recovered without apparent -reason.</p> - -<p>"The doctor's went over every day," Mrs. Robinson<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span> went on, then broke -off with, "I'll tell you later; you ain't got time now."</p> - -<p>Harry slipped off her apron to go to meet the latest guests. "Keep up -the fire, won't you?" she said to Isita in passing. "That chicken is -cooking just right."</p> - -<p>"Don't you worry, Miss Harry," was her prompt answer. "I'll watch -everything as careful as can be."</p> - -<p>All day, while engaged in the exciting task of having everything ready -at once, in seeing that Mrs. Mosher's baby had its warm milk and nap at -the proper time, in managing so that the dinner should fall between two -loads of hay, Harry found Isita always on hand, alert and responsive. -The younger girl was deeply interested in Harry's way of setting the -table: with eyes full of wonder she gazed at the white tablecloth -spread symmetrically, the bowl of nasturtiums in the center, the fresh -rolls laid inside the neatly folded napkins. When all was complete and -they stood off to take a final view of the table, Isita said quietly, -"That's the way it looks for Thanksgiving, ain't it? Ma's told me about -that big time."</p> - -<p>Harry looked at the girl with pity in her eyes. Never to have known -Thanksgiving except through hearing about it!</p> - -<p>"You'll go back some day," Harry said. "Every one must eat at least one -Thanksgiving dinner with grandmother and grandfather."</p> - -<p>She stopped, for Isita's eyes were fixed upon her with a bright, -far-off gaze, and the girl was breathing quickly through her parted -scarlet lips. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span></p> - -<p>"She can't be well," Harry thought again but before she could speak, -Rob came in to ask how soon dinner would be ready.</p> - -<p>"It's ten minutes of one now," he said, as his eyes roved eagerly over -the table, so cool in the shade of the trees. "Is there time to put up -another load before we eat?"</p> - -<p>"That depends on how fast you work," she reminded him. "It won't take -up more than ten minutes to dish up."</p> - -<p>Rob promptly disappeared toward the corral and they heard him bawling, -"Come on, all you workin' stiffs! She's set!"</p> - -<p>At last they were all gathered round the table, and Harry's reward had -begun to come in the form of murmurs of approval from the men, and in -more outspoken compliments from the women.</p> - -<p>"Why on earth didn't you send some of these things to the county fair -last fall?" Sally Gardner demanded wonderingly as she tasted one dish -after another.</p> - -<p>"Yes! You'd have some of them year-in and year-out blue-ribbon grabbers -askin' you for receipts, all right," said Mrs. Robinson as she reached -for a third helping of salad.</p> - -<p>"That's right," echoed Lance Fitch. "'Tain't every lady can teach -school 'n' cook good, too. You could be makin' your sixty a month right -along in summer, cookin' for the hay and harvester crews."</p> - -<p>"Sure!" exclaimed Pa Robinson. "What do ye<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span> mean, Holliday, by keepin' -this sister of yours hid out in these here hills all summer?"</p> - -<p>"How do you expect me to ranch without her to ride the fences for me, -I'd like to know?"</p> - -<p>"Better look out, or some fancy cow puncher'll ride off with her for -keeps. Then whar'll you be?"</p> - -<p>"He kin do like Kit McCarty done," Lance said; "write to a mail-order -house and tell 'em, they'd send him everything to fit up house with. -Couldn't they send him a wife to keep his house along with the rest of -it?"</p> - -<p>"Nothing stirring," declared Rob. "She might be like this company -dinner set that spends most of the year sitting up in the closet, -looking pretty and doing nothing else."</p> - -<p>"If he ain't as mean as a Scotchman," began Mrs. Robinson, when a voice -from outside made them all jump.</p> - -<p>"What's that about Scotchmen?" it asked. "My mother was Scotch, and -I'm thinkin' of goin' into sheep myself along with all the other canny -Scotch laddies in Idyho, if the cowmen get any meaner."</p> - -<p>It was Chris Garnett. He had ridden up unheard and was peering at the -company through the screen of branches.</p> - -<p>"Sorry to be late," he said apologetically, when he was seated and the -women were filling his plate. "Some folks'll tell you, 'Them forest -rangers don't have a thing to do but ride to keep from gettin' too -fat, and go fishin'.' Fact is, there's a movin-picture<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span> mix-up on the -reserve most of the time. Right now it's these scrubs. Can't keep 'em -out. There's scrappin' every day along of the men that own pastur' -in the reserve and the riders for the Idyho Cattle Comp'ny and the -rustlers that's tryin' to pick up a few head between times."</p> - -<p>"It's a cinch somebody's rustling calves," Rob said. "We've lost two -yearlings ourselves."</p> - -<p>"I'll rustle a few myself pretty soon," said Lance Fitch, scowling at -the mound of potpie and mashed potatoes submerged in a lava stream of -gravy that he was demolishing. "If these outside capitalists are going -to shove their starved critters in and steal our range, I'll wise 'em -some."</p> - -<p>"Now you're talkin'," Pete Mosher broke in eagerly. "Them rich fellers -went into cattle just for a notion; becus beef's goin' up. Us ranchers -live in these hills, and our livin' depends on the grazin' in 'em. -Who's got the best right to it—them capitalists, or us? Hey?"</p> - -<p>As he asked it, his sunburned blue eyes darted from one guest to -another. Rob was the first to answer him. "There's one way to get rid -of these scrubs—put the herd law through."</p> - -<p>"Herd law!" And now every one talked at once. "In a free range country? -Where'd we be ourselves?" "The stockmen'd fight it while the world -stands." "You'd have the whole of Camas Prairie goin' to law."</p> - -<p>"Wait a second," Rob broke in; "let me explain. There's not a section -of land along the north side of these hills that isn't homesteaded, -is there, at least up<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span> to where the hills get too steep for cattle -to graze? And if all of us ranchers along here made an agreement not -to fight one another if our cattle made trouble, but to settle it -peaceably, then we could keep the range for ourselves and keep out the -big fellows, Ludlum and the rest that couldn't afford to herd their -stock all summer."</p> - -<p>He talked on fast and eagerly, making mistakes and correcting himself, -not saying half that he wanted to; but he put the idea before them -convincingly, and before the discussion ended they had decided to take -action toward getting a herd law through for that district.</p> - -<p>While the argument was at its hottest, Mrs. Robinson leaned over and -whispered hoarsely: "Say, girlie, if you say so, I'll go pick me some -of them peas you said I could have. The sun's wearin' west, and fust -you know it'll be milkin' time and us havin' to hit the trail."</p> - -<p>"Go ahead," urged Harry. "I'll go see where Isita is and start the -dishes."</p> - -<p>"Is that the Portugee girl you're talking about?" asked Sally Gardner. -"I saw her go off across the meadow yonder while you and Mrs. Robinson -were fetchin' on the ice cream."</p> - -<p>Isita had, in fact, slipped away home without a word to any one.</p> - -<p>"Never mind, girlie," Ma Robinson consoled her; "here's four of us -women that's been broke to dishwater and the clatter of pans long -enough not to shy or balk at 'em. That so, Sally Gardner? Come on, -then?" </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span></p> - -<p>When, shortly after six o'clock, Harry, Rob and Garnett stood at the -corral gate and watched the visitors out of sight, Harry laughed and -sighed together.</p> - -<p>"I've had the best time in years," she said. "I only wish we lived -nearer folks, so I could give a party oftener."</p> - -<p>"Looks like you're goin' to have some more comp'ny to-day," Garnett -remarked and nodded toward the lane.</p> - -<p>Harry turned and saw two riders coming toward the barn. "They're -welcome to what there is. There's at least a chicken wing left."</p> - -<p>"I'll see what they want," Rob said as he went to meet them.</p> - -<p>Garnett and Harry looked after him carelessly, and then went on with -their pleasant chatter. But a sudden burst of angry voices from the -barn silenced them abruptly. Garnett unconsciously tautened.</p> - -<p>"Guess I'd better step down there," he said. "Looks to me like the -buckaroos I met huntin' strays. Might be I could set 'em straight."</p> - -<p>"I might as well go, too," Harry decided. She had heard her brother -say, "Prove it if you can. It's absurd on the face of it."</p> - -<p>"Do they think we've been stealing their critters?" she asked in a low -voice as they hurried forward, and she thought of the calf she had -brought inside to feed. "It's more likely some one has been stealing -ours. The last time we went through the herd two were missing, and that -was quite a while ago." </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span></p> - -<p>"Don't tell them so," Garnett cautioned her; "let them do the talkin'."</p> - -<p>At sound of their steps Rob turned to them. "See here, Harry. These -fellows say you've shot one of their cows and run in her calf. They say -they've had positive information from a fellow who saw you shoot."</p> - -<p>Harry turned white. For a second there was no sound except the -creaking of a saddle as the ponies breathed. The two <i>vaqueros</i>, one -a half-breed Indian, the other the pink-faced man whom Harry had met -on the range, stared at her fixedly. Garnett apparently kept his eyes -fixed on space, but he missed nothing.</p> - -<p>Fear had not blanched Harry's cheeks. Anger had, and the next instant -they flushed scarlet. "Who saw me shooting?" she cried. "I haven't had -a gun in my hands this summer except to warn poachers off our land."</p> - -<p>"Poachers?" the pink-faced rider echoed inquiringly.</p> - -<p>"Yes; hunters who come inside our fence to steal sage hen and grouse. -They won't stop merely for being asked. You have to fire a rifle over -their heads to frighten them. Then they understand that 'no-shooting' -signs mean what they say."</p> - -<p>Her voice trembled a little, but she held her head defiantly and faced -the "cow-puncher" with steady eyes. He merely shook his head and smiled -incredulously.</p> - -<p>"You shore are brave, ma'am. Tother day you was doggin' off Ludlum's -stock like you owned the hull range, and you told me you'd shoot every -one of 'em now—that is, if it suited ye; and now you're gunnin' for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span> -white men becus they're pickin' up a few birds what ain't yours nohow. -I guess you wouldn't find no trouble pluggin' a cow critter if you -thought you could rustle her calf."</p> - -<p>"Is that so, Harry?" Rob asked quietly. "Did you threaten to shoot -Ludlum's stock?"</p> - -<p>"I did. After what this rider threatened," she admitted, and related -the whole occurrence. "As for bringing in a deserted calf," she added. -"I'm perfectly willing to acknowledge I did it. I wasn't going to leave -it to starve, no matter whose it was. When you take it back, you might -ask Ludlum to return our steers that his scrubs have taken off with -them; but when it comes to shooting a cow, his or anybody's, well, I -didn't. That's all."</p> - -<p>"Looks like you'd have to hunt your critters further on." Garnett's -words showed his relief, and Rob's sudden smile told how great his -suspense had been; but that relief lasted only a moment.</p> - -<p>"I'd like to believe you, ma'am," the "cow-puncher" said brusquely, -"but we done seen the cow with our own eyes. Yes. She's layin' out -yonder and her hind quarters cut off and the hide clean gone, so we -can't prove nothin' by the brand; but I know her turned-down horns and -her slit ears. She's got a bullet hole through her neck, too, sure's -I'm livin'."</p> - -<p>"Say!" Garnett broke in, and his voice was short and hard. "Who's the -scissorbill you fellows been listenin' to? Why didn't you bring him -along to prove all this?" </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span></p> - -<p>"Oh, it's easy enough to fetch him when we want him," Pink-face -retorted tranquilly. "You know him, all right. Portugee Joe? Just east -of you? Sure."</p> - -<p>"Joe Biane!" Harry exclaimed. "Are you going to take his word against -mine? You can't know him very well."</p> - -<p>"'Tain't a case of knowin' nor trustin'," Pink-face answered. "Not -chiefly, is what I mean to say. We ast Joe had he seen any cow critters -off by theirselves, alive or dead, that is chiefly; and he said as how -he seen you shoot this here one. You was shootin' at some bird hunters -inside your fence, and he, that is, Joe now, he was footin' it acrost -the scab land and seen you plunk that there cow we're tollin' you -about. Yes."</p> - -<p>There was a queer silence. Then Pink-face continued: "There ain't no -use gassin' here. We got a warrant for the lady's arrest and we might's -well be movin' to town is what I would say chiefly. Portugee Joe said -he'd be there to witness for us in the morning."</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span></p> - -<h2>CHAPTER XVIII</h2> - -<p>Rob refused flatly to let Harry start that evening for Soldier, where -the warrant summoned her to appear before the justice of the peace, and -the "cow-punchers" finally agreed to sleep at the ranch. After they had -taken their saddle blankets out to the haystack for the night, Harry -described to Rob and Garnett exactly what had happened to bring about -the shooting. It was hard to tell. The more she explained to those -two boys sitting silently on the opposite side of the table the more -complete did her disgrace seem to her. At the end Rob laughed a little -and said:</p> - -<p>"Looks like it wouldn't be safe to leave any firearms round after this."</p> - -<p>Even Garnett, Harry realized with a sore heart, had nothing to say -except a growl about, "Better men have hung than them cheap skates -that call theirselves sportsmen. Sportsmen! I'd shoot a few pinheads -like them some day myself, and it wouldn't be no accidental shootin', -neither."</p> - -<p>By Rob's advice Harry gave as brief an account of the affair as -possible to the justice of the peace; she emphasized the fact that -she had brought two of Ludlum's deserted calves inside to feed, and -that, because Ludlum kept no cowboys to look after the herds in their -vicinity,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span> there was always a bunch of cattle trailing round the fence, -trying to get in.</p> - -<p>All that, unfortunately, failed to impress the justice. He eyed the -girl with mild, expressionless eyes, sentenced her to pay for the cow, -and, with curt humor, advised her next time to "Look before she shot -and then not shoot."</p> - -<p>Rob, of course, had to pay her fine and costs. He did it without a -word, but Harry knew only too well that every one of those forty -dollars meant just so much less money for hay when winter came. Garnett -left them and returned to the reserve. For the first time since they -had known him, Harry felt relieved to have him go. It was hard enough -to face the long ride in her brother's company, so desperately did she -want to be alone in her depression. Beneath Rob's talk of the other -things, she could feel his disappointment in her.</p> - -<p>When they reached Robinson's, Rob's voice broke in on these dreary -musings. "If you don't mind stopping, I believe I'll go in and see -Robinson about that herd law. Old man Saltus says he thinks that we can -put it through."</p> - -<p>Harry assented wearily. "I'd be glad of a rest."</p> - -<p>"Of course!" Rob looked at her quickly. "I ought to have known you were -dog-tired. Why not stay overnight?" he urged. "You've had two mighty -hard days and need a good rest. I can get along all right."</p> - -<p>Mrs. Robinson welcomed them with unfailing hospitality. Almost without -their knowing how it was done,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span> their horses had been led away to -water, and they themselves were seated on the shady back porch. Mrs. -Robinson took it as entirely a matter of course that they should stay -to supper.</p> - -<p>"You must of went by right smart early this morning." Her voice soared -from the kitchen above the clatter of dishes and the surflike hiss of -frying pans, while she tacked back and forth from stove to table. "Pa -sent Denny over to git Rob to come help with the hayin'; he reckoned -he'd begin to cut to-day 'stead of waitin'. And say! Isita has got -the spotted fever. You know you said she was poorly yestiddy. How do -I know? Becus Denny went on up there huntin' Rob; thought he might of -druv Joe's hogs home or some such. Come along in, everybody. She's all -set."</p> - -<p>Isita sick! For the moment at least that news diverted Harry's thoughts -from her own troubles. "Have they had the doctor, do you know?" she -asked.</p> - -<p>"None of us ain't seen him, if they have."</p> - -<p>Harry felt pretty sure that the Bianes had not sent for any assistance. -If it had not been for the ride to Soldier, she would probably have -gone up to see how Isita was and have insisted on having the doctor -at once. The spotted fever was short and sharp, sometimes a matter of -hours only.</p> - -<p>Like most buoyant people, Harry's spirits went correspondingly low when -she was depressed, and now, morbidly self-conscious over one blunder, -she felt herself largely to blame for Isita's neglected condition.</p> - -<p>"I declare," Mrs. Robinson said suddenly, "you<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span> ain't eatin' a thing, -girlie. You'd oughten't to of took that long ride this hot weather; -and after workin' so hard yestiddy and all. You're clean drilled down. -That's right, go along out on the porch and I'll bring your tea to you. -It's hot enough in here to fry fat out of an iceberg."</p> - -<p>Stammering an excuse, Harry pushed away from the table, furious with -herself for the tears that had suddenly blinded her. In another moment, -she felt, she would have disgraced herself by sobbing aloud. Mrs. -Robinson's sympathy was the one thing that her aching heart could not -resist.</p> - -<p>Rob had an instinctive idea that under the pressure of kindly -solicitude, Harry would relate the whole affair to their neighbor; and -he knew that if she did she would get pungent advice and wholesome -consolation from that sagacious friend. He rode home after supper, -satisfied that Harry would be herself in another twenty-four hours.</p> - -<p>It turned out as he hoped. Mrs. Robinson had divined that something -more than fatigue had affected the girl. As she was showing Harry to -her room she put her hand on the girl's shoulder and said gently, -"Yestiddy was just one lick too much for you, wa'n't it, child?"</p> - -<p>"It wasn't that. Oh, it wasn't!" Harry began: and then, dropping her -face on her hands, she sobbed miserably.</p> - -<p>But oh, the relief of having it out! Of telling some one who could and -would say exactly what she thought<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span> of it all—why Harry's firing a -rifle merely in warning had been so reprehensible. That was exactly -what Mrs. Robinson did tell her.</p> - -<p>"It took the Almighty consid'able time to make dirt enough out of -these lava buttes to grow crops on, and you'll learn, if you live in -this country, that you've got to have some of the Almighty's patience -to wear down these here varmints that call themselves men into the -dust ordinary humans are made of. I know how you feel about your sage -hens gettin' shot out. Didn't I ride clear to Shoshone once behind a -wagonload of them 'sportsmen,' a gun in my fist ready to drop the first -guy that lifted his eyebrow? I did.</p> - -<p>"They'd cut our fence and druv in onto the wheat and was wadin' round -in it like it was wash water. They laughed at me when I ordered 'em -out—that is, until they seen I had the drop on 'em. I run 'em all into -court in Shoshone and seen 'em pay their fines good and proper. Wasn't -that all right, you'll say? Looks so. But them four men has spent their -lives, you may say, gettin' even with us. Nothin' you could catch 'em -in, just sneaky things; like stealin' our range, cuttin' our fences, -runnin' off our stock with theirs in the round-up, scatterin' dope with -the salt where our stock would get it. I wisht I had two bits right now -for every dollar they lost us. I tell you, you never get nowhere in -this country tryin' to bust up a lava butte with a sulphur match."</p> - -<p>"But surely we should do something to protect the birds—and -ourselves!" Harry protested. "I think<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span> it's our duty to fight the -poachers. Indeed, I do!"</p> - -<p>The old spirit rang in her voice, shone in her eyes, still dim from -crying. The comers of Mrs. Robinson's mouth twitched in fellow feeling. -She saw that Harry had come to the place every one comes to in the -splendid morning ride of youth; the place where the fight is waging -between right and wrong, and into which every one in his turn wants to -plunge with a shout and a hailstorm of blows.</p> - -<p>"You can't never save the birds with bullets," she said, "not if you -was to plug every game hog in the land full of lead."</p> - -<p>"But what are we to do?" cried Harry. "They laugh at mere words."</p> - -<p>"There's one they won't laugh at more than twice: law."</p> - -<p>"Law! Isn't there a law against trespassing now, and against shooting -out of season?"</p> - -<p>"That's right; but once all the folks stand together and show they mean -to have sure-enough law, there'll be an end to poachin' and game hogs -and all the rest of the pizen-mean lawlessness that makes the rancher's -life a burden."</p> - -<p>"Just as the herd law would rid us of the big stockmen," added Harry. -"With their herds gone off these hills, there would be plenty of feed -for all our cattle."</p> - -<p>"That's what! It's got to come same's the spring break-up. It'll be -some satisfaction to know we give her the first shove, too."</p> - -<p>As Mrs. Robinson in her droll way made everything<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span> clear to the girl, -Harry felt her soul being smoothed out like a piece of crumpled paper. -When Mrs. Robinson said good night, she reached out impulsively, put -her arms round her and exclaimed, "You're so good to me!"</p> - -<p>Her mind was still tranquil when she rode home the next day. It made -her feel that, in spite of Ludlum's methods she was going to come out -ahead in the end.</p> - -<p>Unfortunately, her confidence received a setback the moment she reached -home. Rob was just unsaddling and looked as if he had been up all night.</p> - -<p>"What's happened?" she inquired quickly. "Aren't you going over to help -Robinson?"</p> - -<p>"I've got to get things straightened out here first. I don't know what -happened last night but something scared the critters up in the hills. -They sure were stampeded—such a bellowing and pounding of hoofs when -they went down the lane and through the fence you never heard. There -wasn't any use getting up. Nothing short of a rifle bullet in each one -of their crazy heads would have stopped them. Somebody else must have -thought as I did, though, for I heard a shot."</p> - -<p>"But Rob! What would any one start shooting up a herd at night for? -Could it have been hunters camping up above?"</p> - -<p>"More likely somebody with orders to get our critters on the run, and -they made a mess of it and scared the other fellow's."</p> - -<p>"But there's no one round us that we know of; except Ludlum." </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span></p> - -<p>"Did I say there was? All I do say is that I'm going to find out who -stampeded our critters and scattered 'em all over the county. Every one -of them went out last night. Some of 'em came back this morning, and -I rounded up a lot in the hills over east; but there's three or four -steers clean gone."</p> - -<p>He threw the saddle over the peg and led the tired pony off to water.</p> - -<p>For half a minute Harry stared after him, overcome. The chaos of the -last two days seemed about to boil up once more and engulf her. No! -That it should not. She stiffened resolutely. It was the very time when -she needed every bit of calmness that she could muster. Pulling Hike -round, she trotted after Rob.</p> - -<p>"See here, Bobby," she began briskly, "you must get back to help with -Robinson's haying, and I'm going out to hunt those steers. Yes, I am -now," as he began objecting. "There's nothing to be done here that -can't wait, and I shall thoroughly enjoy getting our critters out -of Ludlum's clutches before he's had a chance to ship them to the -stockyards."</p> - -<p>"Oh, he wouldn't do that! He wouldn't risk getting into trouble. What -he can do is to keep them moving until there's not much chance of our -finding them again. If we lose our stock we can't pay his loan and he -takes your land. That's what he's after. A water hole and green meadow -like this is a gold mine to a man with so much stock. Ludlum's strictly -'honest,' but business is business with him, and he's waiting for the -chance to close down on us." </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span></p> - -<p>"He'll never get the chance, never!" cried Harry.</p> - -<p>"I'm afraid you'll be disappointed if you think telling him so will -stop him. If you don't want to lose your land, you'd better have the -cash handy when our friend comes round this fall to see how things are -getting on."</p> - -<p>Harry made no answer. She knew that Rob was right. Power, not arguments -about right and wrong, was what Ludlum respected. What she must do was -to see to it that they lost not another head of stock and that the -herd got all the grazing that belonged to it. Then she could sell at a -better price and renew the loan without having to sacrifice her entire -herd.</p> - -<p>"I'll start out this very afternoon," she said once more as Rob was -leaving for Robinson's, "and get the census, as you may say, of every -critter hereabouts. I'm going over first to see how Isita is; and by -the way, Bobby, if any one is going to town while you're over yonder, -have them bring back some oranges for Isita, and also telephone in -to the doctor. If they haven't sent for him, tell him to come over, -anyhow. I'll pay him myself, if they won't."</p> - -<p>Rob promised without comment. How like Harry it was to offer to pay the -doctor, and quite ignore the fact that she had not a cent in the bank. -It amused him, even while he was glad that she could so quickly rise -from her depression.</p> - -<p>Harry herself realized what she had done only when she was on her -way to the Bianes'. "What must Bobby think of me?" she exclaimed. "I -forgot, of course<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span>, that I hadn't a cent. Never mind. I will pay, as -soon as I sell my beef critters. O me! It begins to look as if I'd -have to sell them all to pay the four hundred and twenty-two dollars, -interest and capital, I'll owe on the stock in December, besides what -I'll have to have for hay for them. Well, I've 'til December first to -raise the money, and that's nearly four months yet."</p> - -<p>All along the two miles of road to the Biane cabin she was on the watch -for grazing cattle, hoping to see their curly white-face and red-polled -steers among them. All the good feed had been eaten off close by, -however, and what stock she did see was up in the narrow draws where -there was still a little green. Evidently she was to have plenty of -work rounding up those steers. Why, no! She pulled up short. That -looked like some of them now.</p> - -<p>She had just turned the ridge in the lava beyond which lay Biane's, -when she saw below her, feeding on the fine grass round the edge of -a pothole, Biane's sorry-looking bunch, and with them a big, curly -white-face and two red—polls, theirs of course. She rode over to look -at the brand, but as she approached, the cattle moved round to the -other side of the water. Harry paused and looked across. She wanted to -ride through, but the water was black and sinister. Out in the lava, it -was not safe to go where you could not see your footing. She had better -wait until she was coming home and then drive the steers with her.</p> - -<p>No one, as usual, was visible round the house, but<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span> the front window -was open and a blanket was fastened up to keep out the light. Isita -must be in that room. Harry knocked lightly, then listened. Some one -inside was talking. She knocked again and, when no one answered, opened -the door and entered.</p> - -<p>At first the sudden change from the blaze of sunshine outside to the -darkness of the room obscured everything. The voice she had heard was -still hurrying on in a low monotone. She turned toward it and, as -her eyes grew accustomed to the half light, saw a cot bed and on it, -murmuring in the delirium of fever, Isita.</p> - -<p>Going swiftly to the bed Harry bent over the unconscious girl. "What do -you want, Isita, dear?" she asked gently, then drew back in dismay.</p> - -<p>The small face, usually so clear and pale, was swollen out of -recognition and disfigured under a veil of crimson flecks; the lips -were parched and brown. At the sound of Harry's voice the sick girl -moved nervously, was silent an instant, then began to mutter afresh in -broken, hurried words.</p> - -<p>"Isita, dear! You poor little thing!" Harry exclaimed. "What is it, -Isita?"</p> - -<p>Perhaps the repetition of her name or the sound of the familiar voice -broke through the sick girl's stupor, for she shivered, opened her -eyes, reached out an imploring hand and stammered weakly, "Don't kill -him! Don't! I can't—Don't let him! She—she—" The words died away -into an unintelligible whisper.</p> - -<p>One of Harry's arms was round Isita; her cool hand<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span> was on the hot -forehead, when suddenly there was the sound of a harsh voice at the -entrance of the room.</p> - -<p>"Say, there! What's doin'?"</p> - -<p>It was Mrs. Biane. Almost running she came from the kitchen. "Oh! It's -you, Miss Holliday! I couldn't think. Put her down. Quick! It's the -spotted fever."</p> - -<p>Almost roughly the woman pushed between the bed and Harry.</p> - -<p>"I know. That's why I came," Harry explained. "But what is she saying? -What does it all mean? What is she afraid of?"</p> - -<p>"Nothing." Mrs. Biane faced Harry defiantly. "The fever's got her. -Biane killed one of her lambs the other night. She was comin' down with -the fever then, I guess, for it's laid on her mind ever since."</p> - -<p>Mrs. Biane was evidently agitated. Leaning over the bed, she smoothed -the tossed sheets and straightened the pillow. "You had better come -outside," she said to Harry. "Hearin' you talk upsets her. Anyhow, it -ain't safe. Like's not you might catch it."</p> - -<p>"It's not contagious. The danger is all to the one who has it. What -does the doctor say?"</p> - -<p>"The doctor? We ain't had him. We don't need him. What can he do?"</p> - -<p>"A great deal. He might tell you what Isita should have to eat. Perhaps -then you needn't kill her lambs."</p> - -<p>"Why not kill them?" The woman turned almost violently. "We ain't a -thing to eat else. You kin see the truck patch is dead dry. There ain't -no grain<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span> to feed the chickens, no hay for the stock. We might's well -quit this God-forsaken desert. A man can't make nothin' here; the frost -or the drought'll catch him every time."</p> - -<p>In the hoarse, whispered outburst there was a strangled sob that sent -a thrill down Harry's spine. As she stared into those sunken eyes in -which shone suddenly the flame of unendurable miseries, she felt that -this strange woman needed pity more than blame.</p> - -<p>"Listen, Mrs. Biane," she said with gentle determination; "you must -have the doctor. I've already sent for him. It shan't cost you a cent. -I had to do it for Isita. People sometimes die of spotted fever, and I -couldn't—I'm too fond of her—she's terribly sick. Just listen."</p> - -<p>For the voice had suddenly risen to a cry: "Not that one, Joe! Not that -one! No—no!"</p> - -<p>"She hears you. She's frightened. You'd best go on." Mrs. Biane turned -hurriedly to the bed. "Wake up, Isita," she said and laid her hand on -her daughter's shoulder.</p> - -<p>"Oh, don't do that! You don't want her to die, do you?" Harry -exclaimed, hardly knowing what she said.</p> - -<p>"She might almost as well—better, too, I guess."</p> - -<p>The words came in a despairing sob as Mrs. Biane threw her apron over -her face and sank on her knees beside the bed.</p> - -<p>"Don't cry!" Harry begged, with her own eyes full of tears. "Isita's -going to get well. Don't you worry." </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span></p> - -<p>The burden of her own inability to help lay sore on Harry's heart as -she rode home. Poverty and sickness and the shadow of famine beyond! -She would save Isita, anyhow! Whatever happened, while she herself had -bread, the other girl should have half of it.</p> - -<p>To her relief the doctor's automobile passed just after she had turned -in at the home gate. Knowing that her friend was in his care she could -take up her housework and the chores with real interest. Not until the -cows began coming in to be milked did she remember the white-face steer.</p> - -<p>"What a stupid I am!" she said to herself with sinking heart. "How can -I tell Rob and what will he think—that I'm no good, I guess. I can't -leave the milking and go, and afterwards it'll be too late. I'll go the -first thing in the morning."</p> - -<p>But she rode nearly all the next day without getting a glimpse of the -steers. Nor, when she stopped to inquire for Isita, could Mrs. Biane -give her any information about them. No strange animals had come in -with theirs at milking time.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span></p> - -<h2>CHAPTER XIX</h2> - -<p>On Saturday Rob returned from haying. Because of the shortage of water -for irrigating, Robinson's hundred acres had cut very much less than -usual. Every one, Rob said, was complaining of the way in which the -stockmen from outside had "hogged" the grazing.</p> - -<p>"So far," Rob told Harry, "every one I've talked with is willing to -sign for the herd law. It's too late to do us any good this season, but -we'll have it ready by the time the beef barons start coming north next -spring. Biane is the only man down this way I haven't talked to. When -you go up there with these oranges, I wish you'd find out if he's going -to be home this evening and I'll go up then."</p> - -<p>Immediately after dinner Harry set out with the oranges. She walked, -because Rob's saddle horse had a sore foot and he wanted to use Hike. -So far Harry had not missed a day in going to see Isita. The fever had -broken, leaving the girl weak and wasted, and now especially was the -time when she needed the nourishing and dainty food that Harry took to -her.</p> - -<p>The exhausting languor that follows the spotted fever made it a painful -effort for Isita to move. Yet at sight of Harry in the doorway with her -basket on her arm, the girl tried to raise herself on her elbow.</p> - -<p>"None of that, Miss," Harry warned her, pretending<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span> to look stern, "or -I'll go straight back home, and you'll never know whether I had soup or -a sermon in this basket."</p> - -<p>"It's all one to me," Isita answered, with a faint laugh. "I like -whatever you bring; just so's <i>you</i> bring it."</p> - -<p>Harry's daily visits had been literally a life-giving happiness to the -poor child. Even Mrs. Biane's strange bitterness had softened before -Harry's irrepressibly sunny nature. To-day she came in from the kitchen -to set a chair beside the bed.</p> - -<p>"While you're here, Miss Holliday," she said, "if you don't mind taking -charge, I'll go up the road a piece after the hogs. Both the men are -away."</p> - -<p>"That's all right. I'll be here for a good hour. I've brought a book; -if Isita eats her orange nicely, without making a face, I'll read to -her."</p> - -<p>"Why you're so good to my girl, Miss Holliday, I can't see. You've no -reason to be." Mrs. Biane spoke abruptly, as if the words had kept back -more than they expressed.</p> - -<p>"I think I've the best reason in the world!" Harry exclaimed. "Isita -and I are what they call 'side pardners.' And 'side pardners' always -stand by each other in trouble."</p> - -<p>Mrs. Biane opened her lips to speak, then closed them and went into the -kitchen, shutting the door.</p> - -<p>Harry pulled her chair close to the bed, took up an orange and spread -under Isita's chin the smooth white napkin she had brought. The other -girl said not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span> a word, but drew Harry's warm brown hand into her two -thin ones and carried it to her lips.</p> - -<p>"Silly child!" Harry said, drawing her hand away, but her throat -tightened with emotion.</p> - -<p>She began in a most businesslike manner to prepare the orange. As she -sat there in the quiet, shaded room, something of the deep serenity of -the summer day filled her. It was the realization that the other girl -understood—was at last her friend.</p> - -<p>When Isita had finished the orange, Harry took the chair over to the -window, lifted one corner of the blanket that served as curtain and -began to read. She had brought <i>The Lady of the Lake</i>, feeling that its -simple language and its rhythmic flow would soothe Isita as much as -the magic of the tale would delight her. As she read, she knew without -really looking that Isita was watching her. By and by, at the end of -a long description, Harry glanced over and saw that the sick girl was -asleep.</p> - -<p>Harry drew a deep breath of relaxation. Her shoulders ached a little -from sitting so long. She stood up, thinking she would go outside and -walk about; but the loose boards in the floor creaked so loudly that, -fearing to wake Isita, she sat down again. It was so dark and still in -the room that presently she found herself nodding. She closed her eyes -and leaned her head against the wall, then sat up with a jerk. A man's -voice directly outside the window was speaking.</p> - -<p>"Don't you ranchers make any mistake about this.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span> Once let a fellow -like him get control here, and you'll be ruined before you know it."</p> - -<p>It was Ludlum. She could not mistake that voice. Harry sat rigid, -wondering how to get out of the place. Before she could think what to -do, Ludlum went on: "Let Holliday put that herd law through, and you'll -have all the sheep in southern Idaho cleaning up the feed round you."</p> - -<p>"What's the reason they will?" It was Joe Biane who answered, ready as -usual to suspect every one and combat all statements. "What's the herd -law got to do with lettin' the sheep in? It's to keep critters out."</p> - -<p>"Cow critters," Ludlum corrected. "Once you get a herd law in here -it'll nullify the two-mile limit that keeps the sheep off now. Holliday -didn't tell you that, did he? He's spread the notion that us stockmen -are the ranchers' enemies, when the fact is, we're your best friends. -You never see one that ain't ready to give you homesteaders a lift, -sell you cattle on time. Holliday's sister is buying her a herd on -time right now, though mebbe you wouldn't think it from the way she's -threatened to shoot up mine. I guess it was them two stampeded the -critters here a few nights ago. Nobody but a tenderfoot would 'a' -done it. Soon's they've been in this country a month they think it's -the proper thing to pull a gun on everything. Why, didn't she go to -shootin' at me with a rifle the other day because I'd clumb over their -fence to pick<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span> up a grouse I'd winged? No, I tell you, Holliday ain't -the kind you want to advise you. They ain't neither of 'em the kind -anybody wants round. Well, I'll be moving. Let me know any time you -want any help."</p> - -<p>"Wait, please!"</p> - -<p>At the sharp call both men started guiltily. The front door stood open, -and Harry was coming down the path straight toward them.</p> - -<p>"I heard you, Mr. Ludlum," she said. "Every word. Some of them weren't -true."</p> - -<p>At the ugly insinuation the stockman's bland face stiffened. "You heard -me, eh? Well, then, young lady, you heard what's good for you. A few -hard facts."</p> - -<p>"Facts!" Harry's eyes snapped scornfully, and she flung up her head. -Joe Biane, who had been edging quietly out of notice, understood this -sign and halted, grinning expectantly.</p> - -<p>"I don't know what you call facts," Harry went on. "It certainly isn't -true that you came inside our fence 'merely to pick up a grouse,' as -you say. You and another man were shooting on my land, and even when -you heard me warn you, you kept on shooting. I had to fetch the rifle -to frighten you off."</p> - -<p>As Ludlum pretended to laugh, she hurried on:</p> - -<p>"And we didn't stampede your cattle. I wasn't at home when it happened, -and my brother was waked up in the middle of the night by hearing our -own stock bellowing and running wild. When he had rounded<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span> them up next -day four of our best steers were gone; it would be hard to prove it, -but I think they've been stolen."</p> - -<p>"Stolen. That's bad, too." Ludlum was apparently at his ease once more, -amused and tolerant. "Stealing branded cattle in this country is a kind -of risky business. Ain't you putting it pretty strong?"</p> - -<p>"Not so strong as I'd like to put it, when I've been told by a buckaroo -right in these hills that if I dogged a certain stockman's scrubs off -our range I was liable to have all my own cattle disappear; without one -chance in a hundred of knowing who'd run them off, too."</p> - -<p>"Well. You heard that, did you?" Ludlum spoke in a tone of soft -surprise, but his eyes gleamed cruelly. "It's going to be pretty hard -for you to make anything on your cattle this year, then, ain't it? -Can't even make a payment on your mortgage, mebbe."</p> - -<p>"You needn't worry about my not paying you, Mr. Ludlum. If we can't do -anything else we can bring the stock inside the fence until yours and -these other outsiders' cattle have been rounded up. I'll have enough -to sell this fall to pay off something by December. There won't be any -danger of losing them next year, when the herd law goes through.</p> - -<p>"You tell Joe, here, that you're our best friend, yet you try to set -him against us. You tell him the herd law will put an end to the -two-mile limit, which isn't so. That's not the kind of friend we're -used to, Mr. Ludlum. And if we're not the kind of people you<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span> want -round here, if you don't like us, why do you come up here? We've got -along all right without you."</p> - -<p>The moment she said that, she knew that she had made a mistake. -Ludlum's eyes narrowed. "Oh," he said slowly, "so you got along all -right, did you? Ain't it kind of sudden that you've found that out? -Seemed to me you were pretty well pleased to have the old man put up -cattle for you on time."</p> - -<p>"It was your suggestion that I should buy of you. You weren't doing it -because you were a friend. You said it was good business."</p> - -<p>"That's right, little lady," Ludlum laughed, "you've hit it. Business -it was and business it's to stay. Eh? It'll take more'n losing a bunch -of stock to make you knock under, won't it? Well, here's luck to you."</p> - -<p>And with a malignant chuckle he kicked spurs into his horse and went -up the road at a gallop. As Harry, with throbbing pulse and clenched -hands, stared after him she became suddenly aware that Joe Biane was -watching her with covert intentness.</p> - -<p>"Whatever you do, Joe," she said abruptly, "don't go to outsiders to -help you get a start. You see what you're likely to run against."</p> - -<p>"Aw! What difference does that make?" Joe mumbled, walking away. "Beat -'em at their own game, I say."</p> - -<p>Harry scarcely heard him. She did not know, really, what she had said -herself. Her thoughts came rushing down like a river that leaps a -precipice and turns to helpless spray. She had spoken as she did to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span> -Ludlum on impulse; she had said too much and angered him.</p> - -<p>As she went into the house to get her things, Mrs. Biane softly opened -the kitchen door. Harry nodded, put her finger on her lips to indicate -that Isita still slept, and then quietly went out. The walk home -quieted her, and by the time Rob had come in to supper she was able to -relate the affair calmly.</p> - -<p>Her brother laughed a little. "You shouldn't let that sort of talk -disturb you. We know Ludlum is out for himself, same as we are, though -our methods are a little different. But I don't believe he can break up -the herd law. The other ranchers round here know him a lot better than -we do, and his bluff about the sheep isn't going to scare them."</p> - -<p>Just to make sure that Ludlum had not turned any of the farmers against -the herd law, Rob took time to ride out and talk with them—especially -with those who, too busy or too indifferent to go into the matter -thoroughly, had not given it very enthusiastic support. It was a -discouraging ride; though most of the ranchers were still with Rob, -Ludlum had won over enough men to defeat the chance of sending the -petition through.</p> - -<p>"The farmers up here aren't strong enough yet, or maybe they haven't -suffered enough from the outside stockmen to carry any concerted move -like the herd law through," he said gloomily to Harry on his return. -"They're working so hard to make a living that they don't take time -to think how much more easily they could make it. As for us, if I can -buy enough hay to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span> take us through the winter, I'll be well enough -satisfied."</p> - -<p>"Well, I won't!" was Harry's vehement and unexpected reply. "The idea -of our all standing weakly aside and letting Ludlum or any one like him -come in here next spring with perhaps twice as many scrubs! It's too -humiliating. We might as well get out of the cattle business at once. -What's the use of buying hay, of getting in any deeper, if we're not -sure of our grazing every year? Don't you see? We've got to get it, and -we're going to talk to every rancher in these hills once more and make -them see what they're up against. Aren't we?"</p> - -<p>Rob, in his favorite attitude on the porch floor, with his legs -stretched out, his hands behind his head, was silent for a long moment. -Then he gave Harry a reflective, questioning look. "Do we dare?" he -asked.</p> - -<p>"Dare! What do you mean, Rob Holliday? Dare!"</p> - -<p>"Exactly what I say," replied Rob. "We sailed into this cattle -proposition pretty bumptiously at first, but it looks to me as if we'd -got another think coming. We've locked horns with Ludlum already and -a false move on our part may finish us. Still, it's your land that's -mortgaged. Do you dare?"</p> - -<p>Harry stiffened up defiantly. "This isn't a childish 'stunt,'" she -answered with dignity. "I've reasoned this all out as coolly as you -have. A dozen steers will be enough to pay the principal and interest -due December first."</p> - -<p>"Will they! Four hundred and twenty-two dollars!<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span> And the chances are -that beef will go down as feed goes up. And you don't reckon on what -the other fellow may do. Ludlum is after your land; never-failing -water like ours is a gold mine to a stockman. If we put that herd law -through, he'll be so mad he'll move heaven and earth to ruin us. He's -got a lot of power in this country and he's hard as nails."</p> - -<p>"Then I'll sell every animal in my herd, pay off everything I owe and -be free of him. You'll have your cattle, and with them and the range -cleared of Ludlum's stuff, we'll soon make up the loss and sail ahead; -beat Ludlum to a fare-thee-well."</p> - -<p>"So be it then," Rob acquiesced; "but if we're going to push the herd -law we'll have to do it now, before harvesting begins. We'll start with -Biane. We may find out from him what made the other fellows back out."</p> - -<p>But the Portuguese was reticent. On Rob's arguing that the summer -grazing was the backbone of the cattle business and that it belonged -by rights to the foothill ranchers, Biane shrugged his shoulders and -smiled.</p> - -<p>"Yes. As you say, us fellows have not any show. We ar-re poor and the -poor must always stand back; give the fat man the road. Eh?"</p> - -<p>"Not if we'd hang together the way the big men do," Harry answered -promptly.</p> - -<p>Suddenly she felt a repulsion for that short, swarthy man with his -smooth, ingratiating manner, his slow, narrow glance that moved so -calculatingly over her and Rob.</p> - -<p>"Before this," she went on, "we ranchers have <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span>struggled on alone, not -worrying about our neighbors' troubles; but now we're up against it, -and we must work together or go clean broke."</p> - -<p>"Why, look here, Biane," Rob put in earnestly; "you've a bunch of stock -yourself, and you've had to buy hay down on the South Side. What good -is Ludlum's good will going to do you? Can't you see that your profit -is in standing with us? Every acre of grazing we save is money in your -pocket."</p> - -<p>Biane, chewing a straw, smiled. "I have no ill-feeling for you, -Meestore Rob. I like be freendly wit' my neighbors; but so I like keep -freendly wit' Ludlum. The range is free. I have no right to drive heem -off. Eh?"</p> - -<p>"But he is driving us off!" Rob exclaimed. "He talks about keeping it -free, and he's taking every spear of grass on it. Isn't he?"</p> - -<p>"I get enough," Biane said gently, with a shrug and a smile. "What more -I need? If it is hay that you want, I sell you some."</p> - -<p>"You? Why, how's that? You'll need all you bought for your own stock, -won't you?"</p> - -<p>"I spare you some. How much you need?"</p> - -<p>"Well, after we've sold our beef this fall, we'll have about seventy -head to winter."</p> - -<p>"I could let you have feefty ton."</p> - -<p>"That's fine. At how much?"</p> - -<p>"Oh, twenty-five dollare. Yes."</p> - -<p>Rob laughed ironically. "Only twenty-five a ton? How can you let it go -so cheap?" </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</a></span></p> - -<p>"Hay is now feefteen and——"</p> - -<p>"Sure. And may go to fifteen hundred, so I wouldn't think of robbing -you. No doubt you can get fifty from some one you don't want to keep -friendly with."</p> - -<p>"You ar-re mistaken. I rather not to quarrel wit' nobody."</p> - -<p>"The hill ranchers may not understand," Rob said as he turned his -horse. "Trying to keep in with us and our enemy, too, doesn't look so -friendly as you imagine."</p> - -<p>As he and Harry, riding home, talked over the visit, Rob said, "There -must be something more than sweet neutrality back of all that. How do -we know that Ludlum isn't paying that fellow to stand out against the -herd law?"</p> - -<p>"He can't bribe every one," Harry answered, "and there are enough of us -to carry it through, once we all get together."</p> - -<p>The evidence that Rob was able to give of Ludlum's dishonesty, and of -his outspoken animosity toward Harry and himself, was a strong argument -with those farmers who had listened favorably to Ludlum's talk. Rob -was able to convince them that unless they wished to be ruined they -must protect themselves against such plunderers as Ludlum. The more -progressive farmers added their arguments to Rob's with such effect -that, when the petition for a herd law came up in the county court, -very few among the hill ranchers' names were missing.</p> - -<p>"There she is," Rob said, throwing on the table the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</a></span> Camas <i>Prairie -Courier</i>, containing the announcement that their district was to go -under the herd law. "I'd like to see old Ludlum's mug when he reads -that. I bet he'll try to start something even now."</p> - -<p>"Let him," Harry answered tranquilly. "This will see his finish up -here."</p> - -<p>"It may see our finish, too, round December first," Rob said to -himself, "that is, if hay goes any higher and cattle any lower."</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</a></span></p> - -<h2>CHAPTER XX</h2> - -<p>Now that the herd law was a fact, the next task Rob and Harry had to -undertake was getting hay for the winter. Yet it was almost impossible -for them to find time to look for it. Every day was crowded with work. -The herd law would not take effect until the following spring, and -the cattle at present in the hills would remain there until the fall -round-up. Until then one or the other of the young people must always -ride the fence to look for breaks, to push the range cattle back and to -keep their own animals near home in an effort to stop the losses that -continued with baffling persistence.</p> - -<p>With the patience of an old hand Harry performed that part of the work. -Early and late she rode to all the water holes not already gone dry, to -all the favorite midday haunts of the herds, constantly hoping to find -one or all of the six creatures that had disappeared. She found none of -them; and, while she searched, two more steers, a yearling, and a cow -and a calf vanished one by one.</p> - -<p>Ludlum's "cow-punchers," with growing insolence, came repeatedly inside -the fence to look through the milk cows and calves on pasture; and they -never lost a chance to make threatening remarks to Harry about rustlers -and what they were doing. Harry never <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</a></span>repeated their remarks to Rob, -for she was anxious to shield him from any additional annoyance.</p> - -<p>Slowly she had waked up to the fact that behind her brother's -undemonstrative calm there was deep anxiety and worry. Never given to -talking much, he now scarcely spoke a word. His appetite vanished; when -Harry begged him to eat, he said that he had a headache or that he had -not slept very well the night before, which soon began to mean that he -was not sleeping well any of the time.</p> - -<p>"Poor Bobby is killing himself over the business, and there isn't a -thing I can do to help him," she said to herself. "I can't even sell -out until this fall, and by that time——"</p> - -<p>But she could not say what she thought might happen by that time. The -last cutting of hay would soon be made now, and Rob must surely be able -to get some then.</p> - -<p>By the middle of August the range was stripped of feed. The foothills, -browsed over by thousands of sheep and cattle, burned by the dry winds -and endless days of bright sunshine, stretched their dreary length of -black lava and yellow sandstone buttes, gray sagebrush and trodden -dust. Water holes and springs finally succumbed to the long drought, -and from all sides the herds came down round the ranches. Trailing -along the fences, they disturbed the silent nights with their uneasy -bellowings.</p> - -<p>About the first of September Rob and Harry brought all their cattle -inside, in relays. Their wheat was not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</a></span> going to pay for harvesting it, -and it was better to feed it now as pasture and save the alfalfa. They -had, intended, of course, to ship their best steers to the stockyards, -but the lack of feed had flooded the markets both East and West with -half-starved and young creatures; and even fat beef was bringing a -ruinously low price.</p> - -<p>"Better to hold on as long as we can," Rob decided; "the price should -go up as soon as this low grade is cleaned out."</p> - -<p>"I should think that with so many hundreds being shipped there would be -plenty of hay for all that are left," Harry suggested.</p> - -<p>"I haven't found a man who's got more than enough for his own stock—if -he has that. Even grain hay is being held for winter feed."</p> - -<p>Harry had no answer. Slowly, distinctly, before her unwilling mind -rose the vision of the famine winter. Against her wish she recalled -the stories to which in the unmeaning time of plenty she and Rob had -listened, shudderingly thankful that they had been spared such distress -and anguish of mind.</p> - -<p>Early in November she had asked Rob a question that she had been -pondering. They had finally sold sixteen steers at the ruinous price -of thirty dollars a head, and with hay at fifteen dollars it was clear -they would not have enough money to pull through. Yet while they were -suffering this famine here, down on the South Side a great harvest was -being gathered. Why<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</a></span> was there no way of getting part of that feed on -the prairie? "What's the reason they can't ship baled hay in here?" she -said.</p> - -<p>"Baled hay? Forty miles by wagon? It couldn't be done. No, the ranchers -on this side of the hills have to take their chances, and they know it. -If they haven't enough hay, they'll sell half their stock and put the -rest on short rations and pull through somehow."</p> - -<p>"Why couldn't they drive their cattle down there? Other men bring their -stock up here in summer and go back to the South Side for the winter."</p> - -<p>"Sure. That's where they live. These fellows here would have to take -all their belongings—a raft of children, chickens, pigs—why, they'd -rather let their cattle starve."</p> - -<p>"Well, we haven't a raft of children to hold us here. If you can't find -hay on the prairie, we'll go down on the South Side and buy hay and -feed the stock there."</p> - -<p>"Don't you know that we'd have to have a house to live in and a well? -The stock's got to be watered, and the ditches don't run all winter. -You seem to think we can move round anywhere we take a fancy. In the -West there aren't any obligingly abandoned farms waiting at the end of -shady lanes, with pasture attached. Every house and shed and shack in -this country was built for some special bunch of folks, and every acre -of pasture is carrying just so much stock, and the rest is desert."</p> - -<p>"But you'll go down there and try to find something,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</a></span> won't you?" Harry -urged. "Some one is going to get the last hay for sale there, and you -may be that one. I'll see to things here."</p> - -<p>"Well, seeing as I haven't got any advice of my own to follow, I may as -well take yours."</p> - -<p>When he set out, two days later, Harry walked down to the big gate with -him.</p> - -<p>"Now don't hurry back," was her warning as he left her. "You must find -hay. It means the beginning of our everlasting fortune if we bring the -herd through this winter. And if," she added to herself as he rounded -the butte, "if we can't get hay—what then?"</p> - -<p>At the end of a week she received a post card from Rob.</p> - -<blockquote> - -<p>"No luck yet. Plenty of feed, but mostly contracted for in big -lots; small stacks not for sale. Am going farther on next week, so -don't expect me until you see me."</p></blockquote> - -<p>As Harry read this she felt a pang of terror such as she had felt -when, as a child playing "I spy" and wildly seeking a hiding place at -the last minute, she had heard the warning shout, "Ready or not you -shall be caught." Were they going to be caught now? Not only must they -get hay, but they must get it before the first big snowstorm should -imprison the herd in the hills. Would Rob, down in the Snake River -country where the weather was still warm, remember that up in the hills -winter was very near? </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</a></span></p> - -<p>To Harry, waiting, watching, the suspense became almost unendurable. As -November glided away with its pale, clear skies and its short, windless -days, the desert grew lonelier, vaster. The forsaken fields, the sear -hillsides on which not one of the animals that had fed there was left, -even the empty skies where only a single hawk floated—all were dumb -witnesses that the harvest was ended.</p> - -<p>If Harry had been idle, the suspense would have been worse; but there -was plenty for her to do, whether they stayed where they were for the -winter or departed. The root vegetables must be dug and stored, the -weeds burned, the dry wood hauled down from the grove and stacked, the -asparagus bed mulched and the young trees tied in tar paper to keep -off rabbits. When she had done all that and had cleaned the house, -Harry felt that she could afford to take an afternoon off and go to see -Isita. Though the girl had been out of her sick bed for more than three -months, she was not yet strong, and for that reason Harry was doubly -set on getting her away to school.</p> - -<p>She found Isita sitting on an old box in the sunshine, picking wool -for a quilt. She was working slowly, steadily, but all too evidently -without interest. At sight of Harry her face lighted with pleasure.</p> - -<p>"I was so afraid you'd gone for the winter!" she exclaimed. "It's such -a long time since you've been up."</p> - -<p>"As if I'd go without saying good-by! I don't want to go at all until -you're settled down on the flat, going to school. Has your mother -persuaded your father?" </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</a></span></p> - -<p>Isita's head drooped. "I don't believe he's going to let me go. He -wants me to work." She half glanced up and smiled rather wanly. "I -can't explain. You wouldn't understand."</p> - -<p>"No, I don't understand," Harry answered. "I'd like to ask, too. Is -your father here?"</p> - -<p>The words were still on her lips when Biane turned the corner of the -house at a leisurely walk.</p> - -<p>"Good afternoon, miss!" he said. "You wish to speak to me?"</p> - -<p>"If you please, Mr. Biane. Isita seems to think that you can't spare -her to go to school this winter. I wondered if you realized how much -she wanted to go; how much she needed the rest from farm drudgery after -being so sick."</p> - -<p>"Oh, she's well now, I think. So, 'Sita?" He moved his eyes to Isita -and smiled the smile of a drowsy tiger. Involuntarily his daughter -straightened, and a spot of color deepened in her cheeks.</p> - -<p>"Even if she is well enough to be doing chores," Harry pursued, -determined to finish her argument, "she will never be fit for anything -better if she doesn't go to school. She could make so much of herself -if she were trained."</p> - -<p>"Trained?" The Portuguese smiled slowly, with his head on one side. "I -train my girl, Miss Holliday; she need no more of that."</p> - -<p>Harry shivered. "I'm afraid we don't mean the same sort of training," -she said coldly.</p> - -<p>Biane gave a profound nod. "I raise my family to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</a></span> make a living. I -train them to mind. You onderstand? Books! Chatter! Seenging! Puah! -'Sita likes work. Better than books. Sure!" His glance leaped to his -daughter. "Why you not tell miss how much you like to work, eh?" he -inquired in a purring tone.</p> - -<p>Isita watched him with fascinated eyes. She was white as tallow. -Nevertheless, she smiled, and her dry lips shaped the words: "Yes. I -like to work. Truly."</p> - -<p>Biane turned back to Harry. "You see? I t'ank you all same for your -politeness."</p> - -<p>Harry went home heavy-hearted. She was bitterly disappointed in herself -that she had failed so miserably in helping her little friend. Her pony -fell into a walk. She did not notice it. 'Thello, exploring on either -side of the road, veered off into the scab land after a squirrel, and -Harry did not miss him. Only at the sound of his excited yelping did -she wake and look about her.</p> - -<p>"'Thello!" she called. "Here, boy!"</p> - -<p>But the clamor only grew more violent, and, after waiting for several -moments, Harry turned back to the place where the dog was digging -furiously at the bottom of the dry pot hole. Harry's indifference -warmed to curiosity as she saw the dog tearing away at something hidden -under the crust of the soil that had been mud—something that was -weighted down with stones. Curiosity became suddenly amazed conviction -that she was at last to know what had become of some, at least, of -their lost steers. For there at her feet, plainly visible under the -dried clay and stone, lay<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[Pg 266]</a></span> many hides of cattle. Some were shriveled -and rotted beyond identification; some looked fresh. One, with curly -white hair still clinging to the skull, Harry could have sworn was the -hide of poor Curly Face.</p> - -<p>She was down on her knees by now, working away with 'Thello in a flame -of determination to make sure of her suspicions, when a voice behind -her demanded:</p> - -<p>"What you think you're doin'?"</p> - -<p>"Finding my lost steers!" she answered triumphantly. "And next I'll -find who stole them."</p> - -<p>"Oh, you will!" Joe sneered. "How you know they're yours?"</p> - -<p>"There are two red polls, out of Rob's bunch. There's the black -shorthorn. Oh, I know well enough! And some one killed 'em, skinned -'em, hid the hides. I'll find who did it, too." She laughed rather -wildly. It was such a mean, cruel thing for any one to do!</p> - -<p>"Three hundred dollars worth of stock we've lost this year!" she cried. -"Just wait until Rob hears where I found them! Then we'll see something -doing."</p> - -<p>Without another glance at the boy who stood watching her in silence, -she swung up into the saddle and raced for home. She must write at once -to Rob of her discovery.</p> - -<p>As she set down on paper the details of her find, her indignation -flamed anew. The person who had stolen those animals had perhaps -ruined them; for the loss of a dozen creatures might mean just the -difference between having enough to pay the money due Ludlum on the 1st -of December and not having it. And if she<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</a></span> could not make the payment -Ludlum would certainly refuse to renew the loan. But she would not -think of it. She would find some way to pay him.</p> - -<p>When she had finished the letter she threw on her hat and sweater and -went out to do the chores. With 'Thello at her heels she raced across -the garden to the stock yard. The cattle stood close to the fence, -basking in the faint sunshine, waiting their ration of hay. Harry had -left the hayrack full, ready for the evening feeding. Now she harnessed -the team to it, drove the load on the feeding ground and forked off the -hay as she moved slowly forward.</p> - -<p>At sight of her the cattle had begun to low, and now they followed the -wagon, stopping one after another to feed. Harry knew each one of them: -the quiet cows, the solid-built steers, the fat calves and yearlings -in their furry winter suits. How big and strong they looked; how -well-cared-for—even the scrubs that at first had looked so hopelessly -poor! And she might have to sell them all to save her land! Fiercely -she jabbed the fork into the flakes of solidly packed hay.</p> - -<p>When she had scattered the hay, she fed the chickens and milked. As she -was beginning on the last cow, 'Thello, on guard at the corral gate, -sprang up with a threatening growl.</p> - -<p>"Who's that?" Harry said to him. "If it's a cow-puncher, tear him limb -from limb."</p> - -<p>"Who you hatin' so hard?" inquired a mild voice and Garnett made a -long-legged step over the board fence of the barn yard. "Rob ain't to -home?" </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[Pg 268]</a></span></p> - -<p>"No. He's down on the South Side trying to find hay. I'm surprised you -haven't seen him. What are you doing up here at this time of year, -anyhow? Your renters have quit, haven't they? I thought you were on -your ranch over there for the winter."</p> - -<p>"Had to go to Soldier to witness against a rustler."</p> - -<p>"Didn't happen to be Ludlum, did it?" Harry asked sardonically.</p> - -<p>Garnett grinned, and Harry said quickly, "I guess if you had lost a -dozen critters and suddenly had found evidence of their having been -killed right near home, you'd hate all cattle men and cow punchers, -too."</p> - -<p>As they walked to the house together she told Garnett of the increasing -trouble they had had with Ludlum's men toward the end of the season, -and of her finding the hides.</p> - -<p>"You see," she concluded, "it's perfectly plain that Ludlum planned at -the start to work things so I'd have to let my land go. That's what he -was after. But if he thinks killing my cattle is going to put me out of -the game, he'll be disappointed."</p> - -<p>"Say, now," Garnett put in, "I wouldn't pull my gun on Ludlum yet -awhile. Don't look to me like a stockman would bother himself with -such a job. He'd run off a hundred head mebbe into the mountains, but -not this. I reckon I'd better ride over there and take a look at those -hides. I could mebbe get a line on something."</p> - -<p>While Garnett was gone, Harry started the supper<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[Pg 269]</a></span> fire and set the -table; then in a clean blue apron, she waited expectantly for his -report.</p> - -<p>"I'd never say Ludlum done that job," he announced decisively the -moment he returned. "I'd swear to his brand on one hide there at any -rate, and mebbe more. There's a good twenty-five skins in the bunch, -and you didn't lose more'n a dozen critters all told, did you?"</p> - -<p>"Just a dozen," she answered, "one of them only lately. It's hide -wasn't there."</p> - -<p>"And Ludlum's been gone out of here six weeks?"</p> - -<p>"Two months. But if he didn't do it, who did? Who?"</p> - -<p>"That's your next job, I reckon, finding out. If one of your critters -has turned up missin' this last month, then I'd sure count Ludlum out -and smell a fresh trail for the thief. I'd quit frettin' myself right -now, anyhow. Rob'll be along soon and mebbe he can fit this puzzle game -together."</p> - -<p>His kind heart was distressed at the thought of leaving the girl alone -with her gloomy thoughts, but he knew that she would scorn the idea -of his staying. Being left alone was one of the things that the women -of the cattle country took for granted, and Harry, he knew, was not a -"quitter."</p> - -<p>But when he was leaving he held her hand in his hard grasp a second or -two longer than usual, and his blue eyes tried to say more than his -tongue ever had. Perhaps Harry understood their meaning, for she tilted -her head and smiled. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[Pg 270]</a></span></p> - -<p>"Run on, now," she said. "The moon sets early, and you'll be late -getting home. If you see Bobby down yonder, tell him to find a buyer -for my herd instead of hay for them. Tell him, in fact, that he must -sell them. I have worked it out, and I know we haven't money enough to -make our payment in December. Now, don't forget."</p> - -<p>"You bet! I'll see that they're sold if I have to peddle 'em back to -Ludlum himself," promised Garnett as he went off into the twilight. As -Harry watched the dusk close round him she felt, for the first time in -all her happy, courageous young life, absolutely alone.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[Pg 271]</a></span></p> - -<h2>CHAPTER XXI</h2> - -<p>During the following days Harry, with her mind on the mystery of her -slaughtered animals, spent all her spare time looking for the recently -lost scrub and keeping an eye open for suspicious-looking or stranger -cowboys. She was putting up her pony one evening after a fruitless -search when footsteps approaching through the twilight made her turn -sharply, with every sense on guard. As she did so Joe Biane emerged -from the shadows.</p> - -<p>"Why, Joe!" she exclaimed. "How you startled me! What do you want?"</p> - -<p>Joe laughed awkwardly. "Is Rob to home?"</p> - -<p>"No. Did you want anything special?"</p> - -<p>"Only to ask him could we borrow the team to-morrow to pack our traps -to Shoshone. We're pullin' out."</p> - -<p>"Pulling out! For the winter, you mean?"</p> - -<p>"No. Quittin'. For good."</p> - -<p>"Why, Joe! What on earth for? Why didn't Isita tell me before? What -will you do with your stock? And your hay? Where are you going?"</p> - -<p>"Aw, anywheres, I guess, to get out of this country. Ain't we starved -all summer? And now they tell us we're in for a hard winter. Besides, -dad mortgaged everything last year, and now it's been took: the team,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[Pg 272]</a></span> -wagon, stock everything. Dad's going back East, for all I know."</p> - -<p>"Back East! And Isita never said a word of it!"</p> - -<p>"She didn't know nothin' about it until yesterday."</p> - -<p>"Oh! Well, I'll lend you the team of course. That is, I'll drive you -in. What time did you want to start?"</p> - -<p>"In the mornin', if it's all the same to you—so's we'll sure catch -that night train."</p> - -<p>"I see. I'll be over early."</p> - -<p>"You needn't go," Joe insisted awkwardly. "I can fetch the team back -next day. I ain't goin' out with the folks."</p> - -<p>"I'd rather drive myself. It will give me a chance to visit with Isita."</p> - -<p>For several minutes she stared after Joe when he had melted into the -shadows. Was it really fear of the coming winter that was driving the -Bianes away? Slowly she glanced round her. There in the caņon the -darkness was deep as a sea, with only here and there, like a pale face, -a gleam of rocky butte facing the west. Not a cricket chirped, not a -breeze whispered. In profound silence the earth waited; for what?</p> - -<p>Without warning, overwhelmingly, like a great sea risen swiftly in the -night, homesickness drowned her. How safe it was back there in that New -England village!</p> - -<p>Suddenly she shook herself. "I'm as bad as the Bianes," she said to -herself, with a shaky laugh, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[Pg 273]</a></span>"letting myself get scared by what people -say. My job's here, snow or no snow."</p> - -<p>But the cruelty of having Isita snatched away from her was not so -easily ignored; the happy friendship that she had so patiently worked -and waited for, torn up like a flower at the very moment of its -blossoming!</p> - -<p>But Harry was not the sort who, in the clutch of trouble, weeps or -sulks or melts into flabby inertness. She finished her tasks for the -night, rose an hour earlier than usual the next morning and went -briskly about her work. After milking, she turned the calves into the -pasture with the cows so that she need not milk that night, left a load -of hay on the wagon in the corral so that the stock could feed out of -the rack, and scattered plenty of wheat for the chickens. Her lips were -set; there was a steady gaze in her eyes that meant unshaken purpose. -Some time, somehow, she would have Isita back for "keeps."</p> - -<p>With characteristic kindness she filled a basket with the best she had -for the travelers' luncheon—a loaf of bread, some butter, a jar of -jam, a cake, some home-made cheese—anything that might make the long -journey easier for the two women.</p> - -<p>If Isita were going back East she would need some clothes. In Harry's -trunk there lay some that she had not worn since she had come to -Idaho—clothes for all seasons and occasions, useless to her, yet too -good to throw away. Harry selected some that she thought suitable and -wrapped them in a bundle.</p> - -<p>"Why couldn't I have kept her here?" she said to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[Pg 274]</a></span> herself almost -fiercely. "I'd have clothed and fed her as long as she needed. We'd -have been so happy. At least," she consoled herself, "if they're really -going East, Isita will have to go to school. She can tell me everything -on our drive to Shoshone."</p> - -<p>But Biane had other ideas. "They can tell you not'ing. They know -not'ing," he interrupted blandly the moment Harry began to ask -questions. "I myself decide to quit her-re. Where do we go?" He raised -his eyebrows, smiling fatuously. "Aha! Perhaps even to Sout' Amer-rica. -A fine cattle country that. Mebbe you hear from us one day. Eh?" He -raised a shoulder, turned to walk away, then glanced back with a wise -smile that made poor Harry wish she were a man and could say what she -thought.</p> - -<p>It took only a short time to stow the few boxes and bundles in the -wagon. When all was ready, Harry hastened to help Isita into the front -seat beside her, before any other arrangement could be suggested. She -was determined to have some sort of talk with her friend before they -were separated. But she was soon made to realize that Biane controlled -his family absolutely. At every attempt she made to talk confidently -with Isita, Biane leaned across the back of the seat and broke into -their talk with other subjects until she gave up in despair.</p> - -<p>The conviction that this abrupt departure was caused by other reasons -than those that Joe and his father had offered, grew steadily in her, -and the uneasy suspense that she noticed in the whole Biane family<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[Pg 275]</a></span> -strengthened her belief. By the time they reached Shoshone she was so -tired, so nervously on edge, that she drove at once to Kinney's Hotel, -got out there, and left Biane to take his family on to the station.</p> - -<p>"When you've finished with the team," she said to him, "bring them back -here to the livery stable. I'll leave orders for feeding them. What -time does your train leave?"</p> - -<p>"Our train?" he repeated, darting a suspicious glance at her.</p> - -<p>"Yes. I want to come down and say good-by to Isita."</p> - -<p>"Sur-rely. I was forgetting. We go at ten o'clock." And with his cold -smile that showed his teeth and half closed his yellow eyes, the -Portuguese drove off. Isita turned to give Harry one entreating look -before the dusk hid her.</p> - -<p>"If I'd had the least chance to talk to her," Harry said to herself, -with a sigh, "we could have fixed up a plan of escape. She could have -slipped off the train at the next station, or something. I could see -that her mother was nearly scared to death, or she'd have explained -this journey to me."</p> - -<p>Well, it was too late now to think of what might have been done. Harry -could only have faith in Isita's courage and ambition to free herself -from this hateful bondage.</p> - -<p>In the hotel office she stopped to chat with the clerk, who was an -old-time friend of hers and Rob's. "I'm going up to my room to rest -now," she said, "but I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[Pg 276]</a></span> want to be called in plenty of time to meet -that ten-o'clock train going East."</p> - -<p>She was so tired that the moment her head touched the pillow she was -off to sleep. When some time later there came a pounding on the door, -she stumbled up, forgetting where she was.</p> - -<p>"It's a girl to see you, Miss Holliday!" the clerk called. "Says its -awful pertickler and to come a-hurryin'!"</p> - -<p>"Coming, coming!" Harry cried, as she hunted for her shoes under the -edge of the bed. "Isita, of course," she told herself. "What can have -happened? Has she actually escaped?" Her heart was thumping with -suspense and hope as she snatched hat and coat and ran out. Isita was -waiting at the foot of the stairs.</p> - -<p>Harry saw that Isita's black eyes were actually glassy with fear, and -that beads of sweat glistened on her forehead.</p> - -<p>"Isita, dear!" she exclaimed. "What is it? Come upstairs and——"</p> - -<p>"No! no! Not a moment! Come!" the girl cried in a rasping voice and, -catching Harry's arm, pulled her toward the door. "Come. I'll tell you."</p> - -<p>Too much astonished to dispute or question, Harry followed her to the -street. No one in the office had seen them, and the street was empty. -After a frightened glance up and down, Isita looked at Harry and opened -her lips to speak. But twice she made an effort before a sound came. At -last, hoarsely, came the words, "They're going to steal your team!" </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[Pg 277]</a></span></p> - -<p>"Steal my team!" Harry almost smiled with relief and stopped short, but -Isita clasped her hands imploringly.</p> - -<p>"Don't wait," she entreated; "there's not a moment to lose! I ran the -second they left me and mother, but they'll be back soon."</p> - -<p>"But wait. The horses are here. In Kinney's barn," Harry protested.</p> - -<p>"No, they're not. Oh, you don't understand! Please trust me; I'll -explain."</p> - -<p>Her words came quick and broken, and Harry realized that the girl must -have run a great way. No longer questioning or waiting, Harry followed -her obediently. Turning down a side street, they came after a while -to a place where the pavement ended and an old road curved off. A -little beyond this stood a group of old buildings, stone and brick, the -deserted roundhouse and shops of a past era. Into one of these Isita -led the way, and Harry heard from the darkness the familiar nicker of -Rock and Rye.</p> - -<p>"All right, boys," she began reassuringly, when a voice said:</p> - -<p>"Please be quiet. You might be overheard."</p> - -<p>Mrs. Biane stood beside her.</p> - -<p>"No, don't ask me! I can't say a word!" she exclaimed in a low voice of -distress. "'Sita here'll tell you the hull of it by and by. Only hurry -and git off, you two. I want you should take my gurl with you, Miss -Holliday. I'll be more grateful to you than I can tell. She can come -back to me some day when it's<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[Pg 278]</a></span> safer, happier. There, deary, I know," -she said soothingly as the young girl threw herself, weeping, upon her -mother's breast.</p> - -<p>For a minute Mrs. Biane held Isita to her; then, with a last kiss, she -unlocked her child's arms and put her gently aside.</p> - -<p>"I know she's safe with you, Miss Holliday," she said as she tucked -Isita into the wagon beside Harry. "You're a good girl and you've been -a real friend to her—to me; and you can help her to grow up good. -There, go! Don't drive past the station. He's liable to be round there. -And hurry!"</p> - -<p>She led the way to the road, stared toward the town, listening for a -moment, and then walked swiftly away without a backward glance.</p> - -<p>New and rude emotions surged through Harry as whipping up the horses, -she drove quickly out from the town. Sympathy for Isita, sympathy for -that stricken mother, and humbly grateful joy for herself mingled in -almost painful force. It relieved her to put her arm round Isita and -draw the frail body close against her own.</p> - -<p>"After all, they couldn't separate us, could they?" she said.</p> - -<p>"Looks not." Isita tried to answer cheerfully, but her voice broke into -a sob. "It's so hard to give up mother. She could have stayed. It was -them two men made a mess of things."</p> - -<p>"But why did they have to rush off so suddenly?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[Pg 279]</a></span> Harry asked. "Haven't -they been doing pretty much the same, year after year?"</p> - -<p>"Oh, sure, ever since I can remember; but they never got caught before."</p> - -<p>"Caught? They seemed to be going off quite freely."</p> - -<p>"They wouldn't of been free long. Not—not now since you—you found -your hides."</p> - -<p>"My hides!" Harry repeated slowly. "You think—they knew—who——"</p> - -<p>"You needn't mind saying it." Isita gave a hard, hurt laugh. "Not if -they didn't mind doing it. Oh, how often I've prayed you'd come on them -driving one of your steers down home or burying a hide in the pothole!"</p> - -<p>"But why did they skin them?" Harry asked. "I thought rustlers stole -live stock and drove them out of the country."</p> - -<p>"They wasn't brave enough, even for that! It was much easier to butcher -and haul them out at night to Shoshone. Nobody could trace it that -way, without any hide or brand. That's why they didn't want the herd -law; with all them cattle grazing in the hills, yours and Ludlum's and -stray brands out of other herds, they could pick up one most every -day; work a little bunch down our way and, when night come, shoot one. -That's what Joe was doing when he was on your land. He seen you wasn't -suspicious; your critters were the best of all, big and fat. That's why -he killed your cows, too; so's he could steal their calves. Oh, they<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[Pg 280]</a></span> -knew how to do it, all right! It was a regular business."</p> - -<p>She stopped abruptly; the hard note in her young voice was like an echo -of those cruel days. Harry was silent. How simple it all was now; Joe's -mysterious cut; Mrs. Biane's suspicion of strangers or even of friends; -Joe's poaching; Isita's terror, and the never-explained stampeding of -the herds that night.</p> - -<p>With a new, less bitter, accent in her voice, the younger girl went on: -"Before, it hadn't seemed so bad to me. But after I knew you, when you -were so generous, so kind, things were different. Oh, I wanted to be -friends! You never guessed. But, of course, they wouldn't let me. I had -to be round home to keep watch. You know. And then they knew I'd have -warned you, put you on your guard. You know I would of, don't you?"</p> - -<p>"Dear Isita," Harry said, much moved, "of course I know you would -have." The realization of what this mere child had suffered made her -own loss insignificant. "There's one thing I should like to know, -though," she said. "Your father must have made money selling beef to -the butcher. Why were you always so poor? You had scarcely enough to -eat."</p> - -<p>"He gambled it all away as fast as he made it. Mother and I never saw a -penny."</p> - -<p>"I understand. Well, don't let's think of it any more!" Harry -exclaimed. "All that is past and gone. I've lost a few cattle, but I've -gained a real friend. I'm satisfied, and I think we're going to have -no end of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[Pg 281]</a></span> good times together." Her ringing voice, her beaming face, -would have reassured the most troubled heart, and in fact, for the -first time in many days Isita smiled happily.</p> - -<p>There was only one shadow to mar Harry's satisfaction. This was the -knowledge that in taking Isita home she was adding another burden of -expense to Rob's already heavy load. Of course, if he succeeded in -finding a buyer for her herd there would not be the debt to Ludlum -to reckon with, and if they did go down to the South Side she could -probably find work in the large towns there.</p> - -<p>When, after resting for the night at a ranch house, they started on -again the next morning, her mind was busy with plans. Even if her herd -were sold, they would need more money for part payment on hay to feed -Rob's stock. And if she did go to work for wages, it would not be hard -to place Isita with some good family who would give her her board in -exchange for help with the housework while she went to school. Yes, it -seemed that all would arrange itself; that is, if only Rob had managed -to sell her herd and to find hay for his own.</p> - -<p>"If only! if only!" The monotonous <i>clip-clop!</i> of the horses feet -repeated those significant little words—significant because upon them -hinged all that had gone before. If only she had been satisfied with -thirty head! If she had not been in such a hurry to own a big herd! If -only she had not lost her temper and in doing so shot one of Ludlum's -cows! If only she had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[Pg 282]</a></span> herded her own cattle more understandingly! As -she looked back over the year she saw that from the very start she had -done things that meant spending money, had got herself and her brother -into predicaments, while Rob had plodded behind straightening out the -difficulties, and finding the money to pay for her mistakes.</p> - -<p>And now here she was bringing home Isita! Not that she could have -refused the responsibility. Rob would not have wanted her to do that. -Only somehow, Isita seemed to be the last straw that she was adding to -his load. A sudden vision rose up before her of Rob traveling endless -miles up and down the South Side hunting for hay, hunting for a buyer -of her herd.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[Pg 283]</a></span></p> - -<h2>CHAPTER XXII</h2> - -<p>Sunset comes early in the foothills in November, and it was dark by the -time the girls reached home. As Harry was opening the big gate at the -foot of the lane, Isita exclaimed:</p> - -<p>"There's a light at the house!"</p> - -<p>"O goody! Then Rob is here." Harry sent a halloo to give word of her -arrival. "You go right inside, Isita," she said when they reached the -garden gate, "and I'll take the team to the barn."</p> - -<p>As she passed the back yard she saw a figure moving there in the dark.</p> - -<p>"So you got here first?" she called gayly.</p> - -<p>"Time some one was gettin' here," Garnett's voice answered unexpectedly -from the hay that he was forking out to the impatient herd.</p> - -<p>"Yes. I thought I left you in charge." Rob had come up and was speaking -with assumed sternness. "I'd pretty near decided you'd left the country -with the Bianes."</p> - -<p>"How on earth did you know they'd gone?"</p> - -<p>"As we were coming in we met the sheriff going out. He'd been over -there with half a dozen warrants for the old man and Joe. Seems they've -been stealing sheep and cattle for a good while. That's where our -stock went, of course. Garnett told me about finding<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[Pg 284]</a></span> the hides. Fine -neighbors, weren't they? Well, I'm glad we're rid of them."</p> - -<p>"Rob," Harry began and stopped. It was hard to tell him. "Rob, they -didn't all go. Isita is here."</p> - -<p>"Isita here! Well, of all things! Where is she?"</p> - -<p>"Up at the house. I wanted to explain to you before you saw her. She's -here to stay, you see. I ought not to have kept her without asking you, -but there was no time. And it seemed so dreadful to leave her with that -father. I know I'm adding another burden to you, but——"</p> - -<p>"Yes, it's terrible. I know she'll ruin us; big strapping creature like -that. She'll eat as much as two cow-punchers. I'll harness right up -again and ship her on the next train."</p> - -<p>Harry was relieved that he took it so lightly, but she was still more -relieved by the new life in his voice.</p> - -<p>"Bobby! What is it? You've had good luck?" she said as they started -toward the barn. "You sold my herd." She felt an immense relief and at -the same time her heart sank at having to let them go. "Who took them? -Did you get enough to pay Ludlum?"</p> - -<p>"A thousand." Bob ignored the first question.</p> - -<p>"A thousand! But we'll need more than that."</p> - -<p>"Of course, I know. But haven't I been making wages haying and -harvesting, besides what I had in the bank?"</p> - -<p>"But you'll need that and more, too, for hay. Did you get hay?" </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[Pg 285]</a></span></p> - -<p>"A hundred tons of the finest, and we're going there to feed."</p> - -<p>"O Bobby!" she could not go on. She leaned against the end of the stall -and stared after him as he poured oats into the mangers for the horses. -No matter what went wrong, he always found a way out and pulled her -out, too. "If it weren't for you," she began.</p> - -<p>"Of course, I know. It's an endless tug of war between us to see which -one can get along without the other."</p> - -<p>"Say!" cried Garnett, coming across the stable yard toward them. "Can't -you folks sandwich those argyments in between the supper food? Little -lady up at the house says she has boiled water enough to scald a hog -and yet supper ain't real ready neither. Says she's waitin' on the boss -for orders."</p> - -<p>"Never mind. When I went off yesterday I left things so that five -minutes with a frying pan would finish them."</p> - -<p>It was a very little more than that before the food was sizzling. The -two girls were busy setting the table, when heavy steps thumped across -the porch, and some one knocked sharply.</p> - -<p>"Come in!" Rob called and moved toward the door, while the three others -watched. Every one gave a start of surprise as it was shoved open from -without and Ludlum faced them.</p> - -<p>Red-faced and scowling with fatigue and annoyance, with his eyes -gleaming maliciously upon the cheery<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[Pg 286]</a></span> scene before him, he stood -against the blackness of the night like a messenger of evil.</p> - -<p>"Come in, won't you?" Harry said politely. "Sit down." With a mutter -the stockman dropped heavily into the nearest chair, took off his hat -and mopped his face.</p> - -<p>"Dusty riding round here now," said Rob.</p> - -<p>"Yep. We need rain."</p> - -<p>"I hope it holds off until we've pulled out of here."</p> - -<p>"What's that? You're not wintering here? Haven't sold out, have you?" -Chagrin was in Ludlum's face and voice as he glanced from Rob to Harry.</p> - -<p>"Oh, no," Rob replied, with a smile. "We couldn't get hay enough up -here to carry us through, that's all."</p> - -<p>"It'll be different next year," Harry said with a note of triumph in -her tone.</p> - -<p>"Different, eh?" Ludlum sneered. "Because you've got the herd law -through, you think you're fixed. I daresay that's the argyment you used -to push the thing; told the rest of these rim-rock squatters that, -if it wasn't for that confounded 'millionaire cattle trust' that was -stealin' the grazing, you'd all get to be millionaires yourselves in no -time."</p> - -<p>"We told 'em it was the only thing to do to keep from being busted up -and driven out entirely by fellows like you and Joyce," said Rob.</p> - -<p>"And you think that because you ain't gettin' all you want it gives you -the right to drive us out; hog all the free range yourselves. You're -kinda mean, too, ain't you?" </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[Pg 287]</a></span></p> - -<p>"If you hadn't been so grasping in the first place," said Harry, "we -shouldn't have had to fight you. We've taken only what we deserve to -have."</p> - -<p>"And I suppose you think you're going to keep it!" Ludlum sneered. -"Why, my little lady, do you think your herd law is going to keep us -stockmen, with thousands of critters to feed, out of these hills? Not -much. We've grazed here long before you ever come in, and we'll be -grazing long after you've dropped back where you come from. You think -you can keep tabs on the stock that comes in here! Why, you couldn't -begin to. How'll you know whether there's herders with 'em or not?"</p> - -<p>"We'll know whether your cattle bother us," Rob warned him; "and if -they do break in and spoil our crops, it's you that pay the damages -now, not us fellows who have to pay you for your bloated critters. You -don't get hurt, you know, unless you break the law. You big fellows are -trying to push us off the earth. Maybe this'll show you that you don't -own it all yet."</p> - -<p>"And I guess," said Ludlum, "the only way to teach you smart Alecks -that you can't run everything is to clean you out of this country right -now."</p> - -<p>"Yes?"</p> - -<p>"Yes!" Ludlum shouted, pounding the table with a knotted fist "And -according to that idea I've decided not to extend your time on them -cattle. You've showed you're a tender-foot at the business, you and the -girl there losin' stock right along. You're a joke, and there ain't -room for jokes in the beef business. So you<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[Pg 288]</a></span> just take your little -bunch of stuff and run on. The time on your mortgage expires next -Monday, December first, and it'll be foreclosed to the minute. See?" He -grinned with savage satisfaction.</p> - -<p>"Foreclosed?" Rob said calmly. "Of course you mean unless we can pay -back your loan."</p> - -<p>"Oh, certainly," Ludlum replied with savage irony, "if you can pay me -that thousand——"</p> - -<p>"One thousand one hundred and fifty-five dollars," Rob said. "I -intended to send you a check for the amount as soon as we got to town, -but I can give it to you right now. Saves me a stamp, too."</p> - -<p>Without glancing at Ludlum, who, smothering in his astonishment and -fury, stared motionless, Rob pulled his check book from his hip pocket -and wrote the check. He laid it on the table before the stockman.</p> - -<p>"Now if you will write a receipt, which Mr. Garnett will witness, -everything will be straight between us. You can send me a discharge of -the mortgage when you get back to town." Ludlum bent over the check, -looked at it hard and muttered under his breath. When Harry silently -handed him the pen he took it with a scowl and wrote a receipt. Then he -pocketed the check, picked up his hat, glared venomously at the four -who were watching him and without another word flung himself through -the doorway and slammed the door after him.</p> - -<p>"It's mighty good to know, just the same, that <i>you</i> can't make us -suffer any longer," Rob said, with a deep bow toward the door. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[Pg 289]</a></span></p> - -<p>"I kind of thought a while back there he wasn't going to trouble nobody -any more," Garnett said, with a sigh, of relief; "he acted like he'd -swallered the torpedo he meant for us, and it wasn't agreein' so well."</p> - -<p>"Our supper won't agree with us, either, if it sits on the stove any -longer," said Harry. "And now you can tell me all about where we're -going this winter and who bought the cattle. Was it a regular stock -buyer or a rancher?"</p> - -<p>"A rancher."</p> - -<p>"And where did you find, the hay? At the ends of the earth, I suppose."</p> - -<p>"No. Not so far out. Same fellow that is going to take the cattle sold -me the hay. He'll take part pay in work; I'm going to feed the whole -outfit together."</p> - -<p>"That sounds pretty fine. Is there a shack near by where we can live?"</p> - -<p>"Oh, sort of a shack!" Rob admitted reluctantly, while Garnett threw -his head back and shook with soundless laughter.</p> - -<p>"What's the matter?" Harry inquired. "Is there a house there or not, -Garnett?"</p> - -<p>"Sure. Didn't he tell you?"</p> - -<p>"I'll bet it's nothing but a barn," Harry declared, whereat both boys -tittered again. "If I had time I'd write down to the man and find out -what sort of house he's giving us," she added. "By the way, you haven't -told me his name."</p> - -<p>"Let's see. What was the name of that old <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[Pg 290]</a></span>skinflint?" Rob asked, -scratching his head and turning to Garnett.</p> - -<p>"Say! If you can't remember, how do you expect me to?" the forest -ranger exclaimed, grinning.</p> - -<p>"You two certainly are silly to-night," Harry said loftily. But at the -same moment she was thinking how good it was to see Rob his old self -once more. And what a thing it was to have a friend like Garnett—so -full of fun and yet, underneath it all, as solid as a rock. If his -ranch were anywhere near the place they were going to, what good times -the four of them could have that winter!</p> - -<p>And how near she had come to losing it all;—to giving up and going -back East in that first summer of discouragement! In a flash of memory -she saw again Chris Garnett's steady eyes as he had looked down at her -that day on the train, heard the conviction in his voice as he told -her: "You'll stay!"</p> - -<p>Was it his standing by them in all their difficulties that had helped -his prophetic words come true?</p> - -<p>Suddenly, with a strange surprise she felt her cheeks burn and she bent -low over her work.</p> - -<p>"How soon are we going, Bobby?" she asked abruptly.</p> - -<p>"As soon as we can get ready. I suppose there's a week's work to do up -here first. Fortunately, Robinson says he'll take the pigs, butcher and -cure the meat and make the lard for one third. But we'll have to dig -vegetables, haul wood——"</p> - -<p>Harry merely smiled, but her turn came in the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[Pg 291]</a></span>morning, when Rob found -that during his absence she had done virtually everything to get the -ranch ready for winter. "Great work, sis," he acknowledged, with a -broad smile. "Thanks to you we can get off to-morrow. That kind of help -is worth money."</p> - -<p>"Good! I'll take my pay in cattle," she answered gleefully.</p> - -<p>"Let me choose 'em back for you out of the herd before old skinflint's -starved 'em to death," Garnett suggested, whereat Rob exploded into -noisy laughter.</p> - -<p>Never had Harry seen Rob in such a mood. All through the day she heard -him and Garnett talking as they worked and every now and then breaking -into peals of laughter.</p> - -<p>Harry would not let herself dwell on the loss of her herd. It hurt her -to see them file out through the gate for the last time, to realize -that she must begin all over again, this time in the slow, plodding -way, to gather a bunch of stock. But, after all, she had had a valuable -experience and she had saved her land.</p> - -<p>She and Rob took turns driving the loaded wagon; for to her the best -of the trip was being in the saddle, helping to move the cattle. When -Harry was driving Isita rode Hike. So happy was the young girl in her -shy way, so naturally did she fit in with the plans and duties and -pleasures of the family, that Harry was deeply thankful for the chance -that had given this friend to her.</p> - -<p>Cattle travel slowly, and it was late on the third day when they got -down to the South Side. As they left<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[Pg 292]</a></span> behind the wild splendor of the -Snake River gorge and came into the level richness of the irrigation -country beyond, Harry grew silent. She was noticing everything: -the magnificent ranches one after another, the haystacks as big as -churches, the silos and the orchards, the grain elevators and the -handsome houses. They all meant wealth. Yet at the same time she was -missing their own mountains, their groves and streams, the wild and -solitary beauty that at first had seemed so harsh and unfriendly, but -which, by insensible degrees, while the rough homestead had grown into -the cherished Homestead Ranch she had learned to love and to think of -as "home."</p> - -<p>"You ain't likin' it real well, are you?" Garnett said suddenly as he -rode beside her.</p> - -<p>"That isn't what I was thinking," she answered slowly. "When I looked -at this I wondered how I had ever imagined that we could make a herd -pay up in the hills."</p> - -<p>"But that's exactly the place to make 'em pay. Didn't Ludlum prove -it when he tried to sneak your homestead away from you? That's the -grandest grazing country in Idaho. But no one ought to winter there. -You've got to come down here and feed your stock in this hay country. -That's the combination that makes these stockmen so disgustingly rich. -Sure."</p> - -<p>Harry laughed a little. "It wasn't so much the money," she said slowly. -"I wanted to do something worth while, something that counted. Oh, you -know: raise the finest beef; have everybody want my calves.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[Pg 293]</a></span> I couldn't -bear the idea of farm drudgery and housework with nothing to look -forward to. Instead of that I made an awful mess of it, and no end of -trouble for Rob. And, after all, I've had to come round to his way in -the end."</p> - -<p>"Well, now, not just exactly that," Garnett objected, as he watched -the slow-moving line of cattle and tried to gauge the distance to the -gate of the ranch ahead of them. "It takes years to build up beef into -what you've planned, but you took a start, and there's a heap to that. -Your mistakes weren't wasted, either. They kept Rob movin' up front, -thinkin' quick, like he'd swallered pepper. Would he go back to raisin' -one calf on a bottle? Honest, now? And besides that look here. Didn't -you start me sittin' up and takin' notice of how I was lettin' the -grass grow under other fellows' feet for them to make hay of while I -was wastin' my time makin' it safe for them up in the reserve? Sure, -you did. But I'll tell you the rest and some more, too, after we get -these critters inside here. Hold 'em back, now, while I open the gate."</p> - -<p>"So this is the place," Harry said, when at last the cattle were inside -the pasture, the team put up, and the four of them, Rob, Garnett, Isita -and herself, were looking at everything. "I suppose the owner is no -more a skinflint, as you pretended, than that house is the tumble-down -cabin you tried to scare me with."</p> - -<p>She pointed to the roomy, well-built white cottage set in a little lawn -and fenced away from the farm by a neat paling. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[Pg 294]</a></span></p> - -<p>"Now that I've seen the place I'd certainly like to see the owner," she -announced to Rob as they walked on towards the house. "I suppose he's -here, isn't he, waiting to take over my herd?"</p> - -<p>"Here he is," announced Rob, trying hard to keep a serious face as he -took Garnett by the arm and led him forward. "Meet Miss Holliday, Mr. -Garnett. Shake hands with the gentleman, Miss Holliday."</p> - -<p>"Garnett!" Harry cried in astonishment. "You!"</p> - -<p>"That's right, give it to him proper, Sis," Rob called back as he went -off to look after the horses.</p> - -<p>Harry did not even hear him. With her brain in a whirl that was all -that she could find to say, but as she put her warm hand into his big -clasp her sparkling face told him better than words that the surprise -it gave her was not greater than the happiness.</p> - -<p>"How ever did it happen, though?" she asked presently. "I thought you -had sold all your hay."</p> - -<p>"I didn't sell any. Pablo, the renter I had here, sold my share; -leastwise gave Biane an option on it. Of course when Biane skipped, the -hay come back on my hands. I didn't know that when I left you up yonder -and come a-huntin' Rob. But I got a loan from the bank on my place -here, enough to pay up Ludlum and get us some hay back from Paplo for a -start."</p> - -<p>"But how are we going to pay you?" Harry interrupted. "A hundred tons -of hay at——"</p> - -<p>"Say, now," begged Garnett, "don't you go to figgerin'! When Biane -skipped the country, didn't that turn my hundred tons back on me? Well, -I guess.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[Pg 295]</a></span> And what was I goin' to do with it when I hadn't a critter -of my own to feed, chiefly when I knew you folks was wearin' out the -roads huntin' hay?—And what's easier and doin' better for us all than -for Rob and me to feed together here on my ranch; and you, mebbe, -to cook for us once in a while,—and me to take my wages in calves -next spring,—or any old time like that; in case you took a notion to -feed here next winter,—and me to put mine in with yours, and all of -us graze together up to your homestead,—ranch that is, I mean, in -summer and—next winter,—next winter,—Aw! What's the use of all this -talkin'? It's all right, ain't it?"</p> - -<p>Red to his ears, the forest ranger clutched his hat with a hard hand -and stared down at the girl beside him, something unsaid held back in a -sudden spasm of shyness.</p> - -<p>Before Harry could answer the front door opened behind them and Isita, -who had been exploring by herself looked out.</p> - -<p>"Now that we're home, Miss Harry," she said, "couldn't I set the table -for supper? There's a beautiful set of china dishes in the cupboard."</p> - -<p>Harry turned to Garnett, the familiar roguish gleam in her face. "If I -am going to live here, Mr. Skinflint Garnett," she began lightly, "I'll -expect to use those dishes—" her voice trailed off, the bright, brave -scarlet swept into her face, then as swiftly fled. Garnett said not a -word. His eyes were on hers and in them was a look, a light. She had -seen it there before but now she<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[Pg 296]</a></span> understood what it meant. She tried -to take a steady breath, she hunted words,—"those dishes. Shall I -start breaking them in now?"</p> - -<p>Brave as the words were how her voice shook!</p> - -<p>"Say, Harry—" How queer and deep and soft Garnett's voice was. He had -thrown down his hat and stood there, shaking yet determined, his fists -clenched at his sides. "Harry?... You reckon you could——"</p> - -<p>"What, Chris?" The plunge of her heart was like the gallop of a -frightened colt.</p> - -<p>"—You reckon you could take me with 'em, with them dishes, break me in -with 'em for yours?... Little girl?"</p> - -<p>Her lips moved but no sound came from them. Yet he read her answer -in her eyes and it must have satisfied him because he bent his head -to hers and for an instant he held her. Then he took her hand. "Come -along. Let's take a look at the winter half of this Homestead Ranch of ours."</p> - -<p class="center space-above">THE END</p> - - - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Homestead Ranch, by Elizabeth G. 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