Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 44, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 February 1919 — Page 2

The Ranch at the Wolverine

A Story of Love and Adventure on Idaho’s Plains

UMia, Brvwn A Ca.)

CHARLIE FOX ARRIVES AT THE COVE AND HELPS MARTHY RUN THE PLACE—HE SOON DISCOVERS EVI- . OENCE OF CATTLE THEFT. Synopsis.—Marthy and Jase Meilke, pioneers, have for twenty made a bare living out of their ranch at the Cove on Wolverine creek in the mountain range country of Idaho. Their neighbors, the MacDonalds, living several miles away, have a daughter, Billy Louise, now about nineteen years old. whom Marthy has secretly helped to educate.At the time the story opens Billy Louise is spending the afternoon with Marthy. A snowstorm comes up, and on her way home the girl meets an interesting stranger, who is Invited to stay overnight at the MacDonald ranch. Ward Warren and Billy Louise befirm friends. Jase dies and Marthy buries his body without aid.

CHAPTER tti—Continued. “You saw mommie, of course. You came from home?” “No, I did not I got as far as the creek and saw Blue's tracks coming down, bo I Just sort of trailed along, seeing it was mommies daughter I felt most like talking to.” . . _____ "Monunie’s daughter” laughed a'llttie and instinctively made a change in the subject “I’ve got to go in and wash the dishes,” she said, stepping back from him. “Of course nothing was done in the cabin, and I’ve been doing a little bousecleaning. I guess the dishwater Is hot by this time—if it hasn't all boiled away.” Ward, as a matter of course, tied his horse to the fence and went into the cabin with her. He also asked her to him to a dish towel, which she did after a good deal of rummaging. He stood with his hat on the back of his head, a cigarette between bis lips, and wiped the dishes with much apparent enjoyment He objected strongly to Billy Louise’s assertion that she meant to terub the floor, but when he found her quite obdurate he changed hlu method without in the least degree yielding his point though for diplomatic reasons he appeared to yield. He carried water from the creek and tilled the teakettle, the big iron pot and both pails. Then, when Billy Louise lad turned her bac’: upon him while she looked in a dark corner for the mop, he suddenly peited her under the arms and lifted her upon the table, and before she had finished her astonished gaspings he caught up a pail of water and sloshed it upon the floor under her. Then be grinned in his triumph. Billy Louise gave a squeal of consternation and then sat absolutely still, staring round eyed through the doerway. Ward stepped back—even his composure was slightly jarred—and twisted his lips amusedly. “Hello,” be said after a few blank seconds. “You missed some of it, didn’t you?” His tone was mildly commiserating. “Will you come in?” “N-o-o, thank you, I don’t believe I will.” The speaker looked in, however, aaw Billy Louise perched upon the table and took off his hat He was well plastered with dirty water that ran down and left streaks of mud behind. “I must have got off the road,” he said. “I’m looking for Jason Meilke’s ranch.” Billy Louise tncked her feet farther übder ber ski rts and continned to stare dumbly. Ward, glancing at her from the corner of his eyes, stepped consid-

He Caught Up a Pall of Water and Sloshed It on the Floor.

erately between her and the stranger •o that hia broad shoulders quite hid >er from the man’s curious stare. “You’ve struck the right place," he aaid calmly. "This is it.” He picked •up another pail of water and sloshed it upon the wet floor to rinse off thu mud. “I»—ah —Mrs. Meilke in?” One could not accuse the young man of craning, but be certainly did try to get another glimpse of the peraon on the table and failed because of Ward. “Sbe’s down In the meadow," Billy Louise murmured. “She’s down to the meadow," Ward repeated to the bespattered young man. "You lutt go down poet the stable and

By & M. BOWER

follow on down’’— he waved a hand vaguely before he took up the broom again. “You’ll find her, all right,” he added encouragingly. “Oh, Ward .' That must be Mar thy’s nephew. What will he think?” “Does It matter such a deuce of a lot what he thinks?” Ward went on With his interrupted scrubbing. “I’m awfully glad he came, anyway,” said Billy Louise. “I. won't have to stay all night now. I was going to.” “In that case the young man is welcome as a gold mine. Here they come —be and Mrs. Martha. — You’ll have to Introduce me; I have never met the lady.” Ward hastily returned the mop to Its corner, rolled dowm his sleeves and picked up his gloves. Then he stepped outside and waited beside Billy Louise, looking not in the least like a man who has just wiped a lot of dishes and scrubbed a floor. The nephew, striding along behind Marthy and showing head and shoulders above her, seemed not to resent any little mischance, such as muddy water flirted upon him from a broom. He grinned reminiscently as he came up, shook hands with the two of them and did not let his glance dwell too long or too often upon Billy Louise nor too briefly upon Ward.

When Ward went to the stable after Blue half an hour later Charlie Fox went with him. His manner when they were alone was different, not so exuberantly cheerful—more frank and practical. .. “Honest, It floored me completely to see what that poor old woman has been up against down here,” he told Warren, stuffing tobacco into a silver rimmed briar pipe while Ward saddled Blue. “I don’t know a deuce of a lot about this ranch game, but If that old lady can put it across I guess I can wabble along somehow. Too bad the old man cashed In just now, but Aunt Martha as good as told me he wasn’t much force, so maybe I can play a lone hand here as easy as I could have done with him.” Afterward, when Ward thought it over, he remembered gratefully that Charlie Fox had refrained from attempting any discussion of Billy Louise or from asking any questions even remotely personal. He knew enough about men to appreciate the tactful silences of the stranger, and when Billy Louise on the way home predicted that the nephew was going to be a success Ward did not feel .like qualifying the verdict.

CHAPTER IVi> The Mystery of the Missing. — ~~ WHEN Charlie rode down to the Wolverine a month or so later, tied his horse under the shed and came up. to the cabin as though he knew of no better place in all the world; when he greeted “mommle” as th|g>gh she were something precious in his sight and talked with her about the things she was most interested in and actually°made her feel as if he were Immensely interested also, Billy Louise simply could not help admiring him and liking him for his frank good nature and his kindness. She had never before met a man just like Charlie Fox, though she had known many who were what Ward once called “parlor broke.”

It was not until Charlie was leaving that he gave Billy Louise a hint that his errand was not yet accomplished. She walked down With him to where his horse was tied and so gave him a bloom against the dull brown of the chance to speak what was in his mind. “You know, I hate to mention little worries before your mother,” he said. “Those pathetic eyes of hers make me ashamed to bother her with a thing. But I am worried. Miss Louise. I came oyer to ask you if you’ve seen anything of four calves of ours. I know you ride a good deal through the hills. They disappeared a week ago, and I can’t find any trace of them. I’ve been looking all through the hills, but I can’t kcate them.” Billy Louise had not seen them, eltier. and she begged for particulars. “I don’t sea how they could get away fro-n yoijrcove.” she said, “unless your ban ■'dke down." , “The bars were all right It was last Friday, I think. I’m not sure. They were to the little meadow above the ■ house, you see. I was away that night and Aunt Martha is a little hard of bearing. She wouldn’t hear anything .unless there were considerable noise. I came home the next forenoon—l was over to Seaback’S—and the bars were to place then Aunt Martha had not

THE EVENING REPUBLICAN. RENSSELAER. IND.

been up the gorge nor had any one come to the ranch while I was gone. So you see. Miss Louise, here's a very pretty mystery.” - * ~ “You think they were driven off, don’t you?” Billy Louise asked a qtiestlon with the words and made a statement of It with her tone, which was a trick of hers. Charlie Fox shook his head, but his eyes did not complete the denial. “Miss Louise, I’d .work every other theory to death before I’d admit that possibility. I don’t know all of my neighbors so very well, but I should hesitate a long, long time —" “It needn't have been—a neighbor. There are lots of strange men passing through the country. Did you look for tracks?” “I did not. I didn’t want to admit that possibility. I decline to admit it now.” The chin of Charlie Fox squared perceptibly, so that Billie Louise caught a faint resemblance to Marthy in his face. “I saw a man accused of a theft once,” he said. “The evidence was —or seemed —absolutely unassailable. And afterward he was exonerated completely. Itwasjusf a Horrible mistake. But he left school ufader a cloud. His life was ruined by the blunder. I’d have to know absolutely before I’d accuse any one of stealing those calves, Miss Louise. I’d see them in a man's corral, with his brand on them—l believe that’s the way It’s done out here—and even then—” “Where have you looked?” There were reasons why this particular subject was painful to Billy Louise. “And are you sure they didn’t get out of that pasture and wander on down the Cove, among all those willows? It’s a perfect jungle away down. Are you sure they aren’t with the rest of the cattle? I don’t see how they could leave the Cove unless they were driven out.” “Yes, I thought of that—strange as it may seem.” Charlie's voice was unoffended. On the contrary, be seemed glad that she took so keen an interest in his affairs. “It has been a week, you know, since they flew the coop. _l_ did hunt every foot of that Cove twice over. I drove every hoof of stock up and corraled them and made sure these four were not in the herd. Then I hunted through every inch of that willow jungle and all along the bluff and the fiver. Miss Louise, I put in three days at it, from sunrise till it was too dark to see. Then I began riding outside. There isn’t a trace of them anywhere. I had just bought them from Seabeck, you know. I drove them home, and because they were tired, and so was I. I just left them in that upper meadow as I came down the gorge. I hadn’t branded them yet I I know I’ve made an awful botch of the thing. Miss Louise,” he confessed, turning toward her with an honest distress and a self-flaying humility In his byes that wiped from Billy Louise’s mind any incipient tendency toward contempt “But you see I’m green at this ranch game. And I never dreamed those calves weren't perfectly safe in there. The fence was new and strong, and the bars are absolutely bars to any stock larger than a.rabbit hate to bother you this, and I don’t want you to think I have come whining for sympathy,” he said after a mlnuteof moody silence. “But; see*

ing they were not branded yet—with our brand—l thought perhaps you had run across them and paid, no attention, thinking they belonged to Seabeck.” Billy Louise smiled a little to herself. If he had not been quite so “green at the ranch game” he would have mentioned brands at first as the most im-portant-point-insteadoftacking on the information casually after ten minutes of other less vital details. “Were they vented?” she asked, suppressing the smile so that it was merely a twitch of the lips which might mean anything. “I—yes, I think they were. That’s what you call it when the former owner puts his brand in a different place to show that his ownership has ceasqd, isn’t it? Seabeck puts his brand upside down’’— ~ “I know Seabeck’s vent,” Billy Louise cut in. There was no need of letting such a fine fellow display more ignorance on the subject. “And I should have noticed it if I had seen four calves vented fresh and not rebranded. Why in the world didn’t you stick your brand on at the same time?” Billy Louise was losing patience with his greenness. “I didn’t have my branding iron with me,” Charlie answered humbly. “I have done that before, I bought those other cow-s and calves. I —” "You’d better pack your iron next time," she retorted. • “If you can’t get a little bunch of calves ten miles without losing them —” , “But you must understand I did. I took them home and turned them into the Cove.- I know —Pm an awful chump at this.” > • ’■ > “The calves may not be absolutely lost, you know. Why. I lost a big steer last spring and never found him till, I was going to sell a few head. Then he turned up, the biggest and fattest one to the bunch. You can’t tell. They get themselves in queer places sometimes. ITI come over tomorrow if I can and take a took at that pasture ■. -v • -v . ■ .. ' c ■

and an around. And Hl keiep a good lookout for the calves.” Many men would have objected to the unconscious patronage of her tone. That Charlie Fox did not, but accepted the spirit of helpfulness in her words, lifted him out of the small matured class. “It’s awfully good of you,” he said. “You know a lot more about the bovine nature than I do, for all I put in every spare minute studying the subject. I’m taking four different stock journals now, Miss Louise. I’ll bet I know a lot more about the different strains of various breeds than you do. Miss Cattle Queen. But I’m beginning to see that we only know what we learn by experience. I've a new book on the subject of heredity of the cattle. I'm going home and see if Seabeck hasn't stumbled upon a strain that can be traced back to your native mountain Tttreep." . “ Billy Louise laughed and said goodby and stood leaning over the gate watching him as he zigzagged up the hill, stopping his horse often to breathe. She began to wonder, then, about those calves. Vented and not rebranded, they would be easy game sor 1 * any man who first got his own brand on them. She meant to get a description of them when she saw Charlie again—it was like his innocence to forget the most essential details—and she meant to keep her eyes open. If Charlie were right about the calves not being any-

“If You’ll Let Down the Bara, Mr. Fox, I'll Hit the Trall.

where in the cove, then they had been driven out of it, stolen. Billy Louise turned dejectedly away from the fence and went down to a shady nook by the creek, where she had always liked to do her worrying and hard thinking. The next day she rode early to the Cove and learned some things from Marthy which she had not gleaned from Charlie. She learned that two of the calves were a deep red except for a wide, white strip on the nose of one and white hind feet on the other; that another was spotted on the hindquarters and that the fourth was white, with large, red blotches. She had known cattle all her life. She would know these if she saw them anywhere. She also discovered for herself that they could not have broken out of that pasture and that the river bank was impassable because of high, thick bushes and miry mud in the open spaces. She had a fight with Blue over these latter places and demonstrated beyond doubt that they were miry by getting him in to the knees in spite of his violent objections. They left deep tracks behind them when they got out The calves had not gone investigating the bank, for there -Was.nQt_a -trace anywhere. and the bluff was absolutely unscalable. Billy Louise herself would have felt doubtful of climbing out that way. The gray rim rock stood straight and high at the top, with never a crevice, so far as she could see, and the gorge was barred so that it was impossible to go that way without lifting heavy poles out of deep sockets and -sliding them to one side. “I’ve got an idea about a gate here,” Charlie confided suddenly. “There won’t be any more mysteries like this. I’m going to fix a swinging gate in place of these bars, Miss Louise. I shall have it swing uphill like this, and I'll have a weight arranged so that it will always close itself if one is careless enough to ride on and leave it open. I have it all worked out in my alleged brain. I shall do it right away too. Aunt Marthy is rather nervous about this gorge now. Every evening she walks up here herself to make sure the bars are closed.” “You may as well make up your mind to it,” said Billy Louise irrelevantly in a tone of absolute certainty, “Those calves were driven out of the gorge. That means stolen. You needn’t accnsp any bhe in particular. I don’t suppose you could. But they were stolen.” . ’ .. ■

Charlie frowned and glanced up speculatively at the bluff’s rim. “Oh. your mountain sheep theory is no pood.”'Billy Louise giggled. **l doubt if a lizard even would try to leave the Cove over the bluff,” which certainly was, a sweeping statement when you consider a lizard's habits. “A mountain sft«ep couldn’t anyway.” “They’re hummers to climb-r-” “Brit calves are not. Mr. Fox. Not like that You know yourself they were stolen. Why not admit it?” “Would that do any good—bring them back?” he countered, looking up at , - •. . “N-o, but J do hate to see a person deliberately shut his eyes in front of a fact We may as well admit to ourselves that there is a rustler in the

country. " ®6ea w» can look out for him." Charlie’s eyes had the troubled look. -I hate to think that Aunt Martha Insists that is what we are up against, but —” “Well, she knows more about it than you do, believe me. If you’ll let down the bars, Mr. Fox, I’ll hit the trail, and if I find out anything I’ll let you know at once.” When she rode over the bleak upland she caught herself wishing that she might talk the thing over with Ward. He would know just what ought to be done But winter was coming, and she would drive her stock down into the fields she had ready. They would be safe there surely. Still, she wished Ward "would cope. She wanted to talk it over with a man who understood and who knew more about such things than she did. The fate of the four heifer calves became permanently wrappedin "the blank fog of mystery. Billy Louise watched for them when she rode out in the hills and spent a good deal of time heretofore given over to dreaming in trying to solve the riddle of their diss ppearance. Charlie Fox insisted upon keeping to the theory that they had merely strayed. Marthy grumbled sometimes over the loss, and Wardwell, Ward did not put in an appearance again that fall or winter and so did not hear of the incident. CHAPTER V. ■ The Little Devils of Doubt. THE spring had come, and Wolverine canyon, with the sun shining down aslant into its depths, was a picturesque gash in the hills, wild enough in all conscience, but to the normal person not in the least'degree gloomy. The jutting crags were sunlit and warm. The cherry thickets whispered in a light breeze and sheltered birds that sang in perfect content. Not a gloomy place surely when the peace of a sunny morning laid its Spell upon the land. Billy Louise, however, did not respond to° the canyon’s enticements. She brooded over her own discouragements and the tantalizing little puzzles which soischow would not lend themselves to any oenvlncing solution. She was in that condition of nervous depression where-she saw her finest cows dead by bloat in the alfalfa meadows—and how would she pay that machinery note then? She saw John Pringle calling unexpectedly and insistently for his “time,” and where would she find another man whom she could trust out of her sight? John Pringle was slow, and he was stupid and growled at poor Phoebe till Billy Louise wanted to shake him, but he was “steady,” and that one virtue covers many a man’s faults and keeps him drawing wages regularly.

Her mother had been mom and more inclined to worry as the hot weather came on. Lately her anxiety over small things had rather got upon the nerves of Billy Louise. She felt ill used and downhearted and as if nothing mattered much anyway. She passed her cave with a mere glance and scowl for the memories of golden days in her lonely childhood that dung around it She was in this particularly dissatisfied mood when she rode out of the eanyon at its upper end, where the hills folded softly down into grassy valleys where her cattle loved best to graze. Since the grass had started in the spring she had kept her little herd up here among the lower hills, and. by riding along the higher ridges every day or so and turning back a wandering animal now and then she had held them in a comparatively small area, where they would be easily gathered in the fall. A few head of Seabeck’s stock had Wandered In among hers and some of Marthy’s. And there was a big roan steer that bore the brand of Johnson, over on -Snake' river.' ‘Billy Louise knew them all, as a housewife knows her flock of chickens, and if she missed seeing certain leaders in the scattered groups she rode until she found them. Two old cows and one big red steer that seemed always to have a following wore bells that tinkled pleasant little sounds in the alder thickets along the cfeek as she passed by. She rode up the long ridge which gave her a wide view of the surrounding hills and stopped Blue, while she stared moodily at the familiar, shadow splotched expanse of high piled ridges, with deep, green valleysr and deeper hued canyons between. She loved them, every one. • But today they failed to steep her senses in that deep content with life which only the great outdoors can give to one who has learned bow satisfying is the draft and how soothing.

Billy Louise becomes very much discouraged over the state of family finances. She hears and sees things that make her doubt Ward. (TO BE CONTINUED.)

Crepes and Pongees.

Crepe de chine, in spite of its name does not come from China but from Japan, Italy and Franck. There are no factories for making silk piece goods in China, all the weaving being, don< by hand. With the exception of poo* gees, the products of the Chinese looms are not popular abroad, except in Oriental countries, being too heavy, although the patterns are wonderfully beautiful and the colors exceedingly rich. - r The pongees are woven in the homei of the peasants, and as they come from many looms no two pieces ever exactly alike in weight, fineness, coloi and texture. The Shantungs come froai the Llutang district, and the Nanabni from the Nighai district, t

A CITY TEACHER

By HELEN PATTERSON.

•Copyright, McClure Newspaper Syndicate.} Slowly the big ear stopped in front of the white schoolhouse that was perched upon a low hill. It was after school hours nnd there was nothing that indicated the house bad been filled with noisy boys and girls only a half-hour before. “Yes. this is the very place,” said the occupant of the ear aloud. — “Not inuch changed, either, since I ate in* dinner un that rock, barefooted and happy—r-New paint, shades and a hall give it a more ifiodern appearance. I wonder if the old desks are inside. I’m going to investigate.” mid suiting his actions to his words he was soon testing the hall door. To his surprise- . it yielded to his touch. "Janitor must he a little careless,” he thought, as he crossed the narrow hall and entered the schoolroom. In the dusk of the short, wintry afternoon he could seethat the room had changed. New desks, blackboards, pictures and sash curtains gave it an unfamiliar aspect.' The fire was not wholly otit In the big stove, and as the man warmed his fingers he became conscious that he was not alone. Turning, he faced the teacher’s desk. A slip of a girl, with traces of tears on an unusually pretty face, sat behind it, watching him. a moment the man looked at .her, and then in a kindly voice asked: “Lonesome?” “No,- not entirely that,” replied the girl, winking hard to keep back the tears. “Discouraged and tired?” he continued. “Yes.” quickly answered the girl. “Ah!” said the man. pausing to draw a chair nearer to the stool, “but I don’t believe it’s nearly as bad as you think.” “Yes, it is. This morning I was just as happy, thinking of all the beautiful Christmas stories I was going to teach the children and what a good time we would have illustrating them.” “And what marred your plans? Weren’t the children Interested?” “Interested? You ought to have seen them; but it’s a member of the school board. He had to visit us this afternoon and spoil everything. He didn’t want me elected because I had always lived in the city and this was my first year of teaching. Outside of a few small summer resorts I know nothing of the country, but I argued the children would be ignorant of city life, and I could give them that.—This—afternoon we had practical arithmetic, original problems. Some of the prices of grains, pigs (live weight), wood and fertilizers the older children didn’t agree on, and I knew nothing about them. Mr.P gave us the correct places. After school was dismissed he asked me if it would not he as well to acquaint myself with what the boys nnd girls were interested in. The new superintendent is a young man, and this is his first year also. Of course he will do just what the school board tells him to do, and I shall be asked to resign, and you don’t know how I hate to go home because I’ve failed.” “J think I do,” answered the man with a kind smile. For a few minutes they talked, the man telling humorous experiences that had happened when as a little boy he Jiad sat on the long board that served as a seat, and vainly tried to make his feet touch the floor, until the girl forgot about her troubles; then he took her to her boarding place. It was not until the car was out of sight that the girl"remembered she did noT" know the man’s name. Two weeks quickly passed. Busy wTfh' her'wbfki 'fhe'glrr had almost forgotten the new .superintendent, and that she had intended resigning her school. She faithfully studied farm products and could satisfy the most exacting member of the school board on their market values. School had just been dismissed. The girl, picking up papery was singing softly to herself, “O *Little Town of Bethlehem,” when a small boy who had been, clapping erasers rushed into the room. “Miss M ! Miss M !” he cried. “The new superintendent is out here in the dandiest car!” “Hush. Robert,” she said as she turned to greet the superintendent, who had followed close after the boy.' Slowly the color receded from her face only to rush back in a burning blush ns she looked at the man in front of her. “Miss M ,” he was saying in the same kind voice that had haunted her for two weeks, “I really intended to get here earlier, but a bad tire tained me. However, I thought I would get here before school dismissed. but/j’m ten minutes too late.” “Why—you are—if you are Mr. C , the superintendent, it was unfair,” said the girl, her eyes flashing. “Yes, I guess it was,” replied Mr. IC- , "but really, Miss M , it wasn’t an official visit and I had forgotten the fact myself untjil it was too late. So let us forget it and begin again today." “I can’t. It was so childish and stupid of me.” * "If your work is finished Td like very much to help make you forget by taking you for a ride. The air is cool and bristf? Besides I Wftnt to‘tell you your resignation will not be accented —at least this term.” “Say,” remarked precocious Robert a few minutes later, as he watched the big car out of sight. “I’ll het Miss M- won’t teach very long. She-ife Just the bestest, prettiest girl I know, »nd that’s the dandiest car.”