Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 63, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 March 1919 — THE RANCH AT THE WOLVERINE [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

THE RANCH AT THE WOLVERINE

A tale of the wild outdoor life of pioneer days that called forth all the cowrage and resourcefulness of men and women inured to danger and hardship

(Oopjilglit, Lit tie. Brawn * On.)

By B. M. BOWER

CHAPTER Xll.—Continued. Billy Louise's faith had compromised definitely with her doubts of him. Guilty or Innocent, she would be his Mend always. That was the condition her faith had laid down challenging!? before her doubts. But unless he were innocent and proved it to her she would never marry him, no matter how much she loved him. That was the concession her faith bad made to her doubts. Billy Louise had a wise little brain for all she idealized life and bersur-j roundings out of all proportion to reality. She told herself that if she married Ward with her doubts alive her: misery would be far -greater than if she gave him up, except as a friend. Of course her ideals stepped, in there with an Impracticable compromise She brought back the Ward Warren of her “pretend” life. She dreamed of him as a mutely adoring~friend who stood and worshiped her from afar and because of his sins could not cross the line of friendship. If be'Wero a rustler she would shield him and save him, if that were possible. He would love her always—Billy Louise could not conceive of Ward transferring his affections to another less exacting woman—and he would be grateful for her friendship. She could build long, lovely scenes where Mendltneaa was pur to the front bravely, while love hid behind the mask and only peeped out through the eyes now and then. She did not, of course, plan all this in sober reason: she Just dreamed it with her-eyes open. Some one came upon the doorstep and stood there for a moment, stamping snow off his feet Billy Louise caught her breath and waited, her eyes veiled with her lashes and shining expectantly. A little color came into her cheeks. Ward had been delayed somehow, but he was coming now because she needed him and be wanted her— It was only John Pringle, heavy bodied, heavy minded, who came in and squeaked the door shut behind him Billy Louise gave him a glance and dropped her head back on the red cushion. “Hello, John!” she greeted tonelessly. John grinned, embarrassed between his pleasure at seeing Billy Louise and his pity for her trouble. His white teeth showed a little under his scraggy, breath-frosted mustache. / “Hello! You got back, hey? She’s purty cold again. Seems like it's goin' storm some more.” He pulled off his mittens and tugged at the ice .dangling at the corners of bis lips. “You come stage; hey? I bet you freeze" He went over and stood with his back to the fire, his leathery brown hands clasped behind him, his face still undecided as to the most suitable emotion to reveaL “Well, how j-ou like town, bey? No good, I guess. You got plenty trouble now. Phoebe and me. we stick by you long as you want us to.” “I know you will, John." Billy Louise bit her Ups—against a suddenimpulse to tears. It was not Ward, but the cryde sympathy of this old haWvfeed was more to her than all the expensive flowers that had been stwek-cd upon mommle’s coffin. She picked up the.two letters she bad written Ward, brushed off the dust and eyed them hesitatingly. It certainly was queer that Ward had not ridden down for sodie.word from her. She hesitated, then threw the thin letter into the fire. Its message was no longer of urgent, poignant need. Billy Louise drew a long breath when the grief laden lines crumbled quickly and went flying up the wide throat of the chimney. The other letter she pinched between her thumbs and fingers. She smiled a Httle to herself. Ward would like to get that She had a swift vision of him standing over there by the window and reading it with those swift, shuttling glances. She remembered how she had begun It—" Brave Buckaroo”—end ner cheeks turned pink He should have it when he came. Something had kept him away. He would come Just as soon as be could. She laid the letter back upon the mantel and set a china cow on it so keep it safe there. Then she turned brightly and began to set the table for Phoebe and John and herself and came near setting a fourth place for Ward, she was so sure be would come as soon as he could- Mommie used to say that if you set a place for a person that person would come and eat with you in spirit if not in reality. h Phoebe glanced at her pityingly when she saw her hesitating with the fourth plate in her hands. Phoebe thought that Billy Louise had unconsciously brought it for mommie. Phoebe did not know that love is stronger even than grief, for at that moment Billy Louise was not thinking of mommie at aIL CHAPTER XIII. Seven Lean Klne. A y° n looke d good, all up ZX above here?” Billy Louise x x held Blue firmly in a curvedneck, circling stand, while she had a last word with John before she went off on one of her long rides. ‘ , “All up in the hills, and round over by Cedar creek, and all over,” John's gesture wfis even more sweeping than

his statement. “I guess mebby them rustlers git ’em." “Well, I’m going up to the Cove. J may not be back before dark, so don’t worry if I’m late. Maybe I'll look along the river. I know one place where I believe cattle can get down to, the bottom, if they’re crazy enough to try it. You didn’t look there, did you?" —— “No, I never looked down there. I know they can’t git down nohow.” “Well, all right; maybe they can’t.” Billy Louise slackened the reins, and Blue went off with short, stiff-legged jumps. It had’been a long time since he had felt the weight of his lady, and his mood now was exuberant. *■ Blue threw up his head, lifted his heels, and ran like a scared jackrabbit over the uneven ground. They were not keeping to the trail at all trails wefe too tame for them in that mood. They ran along the rim-rock at the last, where Billy Louise could glance down, now and then, at the river sliding like a bright blue ribbon with icy edges through the gray, snowspotted hills. . ’ “Hold on, Bluel" * Billy Louise pulled up on the reins. “Quit It, you old devil 1 A mile ought to be enough for once, I should think. There's cattle down there in that bottom, sure as you

live. And we, my dear sir, are going* down there and take a look at them.’’ She managed to pull Blue down to stiff-legged jumps and then to a walk. Finally she stopped him. so that, she could the better take to her surroundings and the possibilities of getting down. Blue bad-caught sightJif_the moving specks far down next the river amTuF the stream half a mile or more. He was a cow-horse to the bone. He knew those far-off specks for cattle, and he knew .that his lady would like a closer look at them. Blue chose his trail and crumpled at the knees with his hoofs on the very edge of the ledge; went down with a cat-jump and landed with all four feet planted close together. He had no mind to go on sliding in spite of himself, and the bluff was certainly steep enough to excuse a bungle. It was with a distinct air of triumph that Blue reached the bottom, even though he slid the last forty feet on his haunches and landed belly-deep in a soft snowbank. It was with triumph to match his perky ears that Billy Louise leaned and slapped him on the neck. “We made it!” she* cried, “and I didn’t have to walk a step, did I, Blue? You’re there with the goods, all right I” Blue scrambled out of the bank to firm footing on the ripened grass of the bottom, and with a toss of his head set off in a swinging lope, swerving now and then to avoid a badger hole or a half-sunken rock. They had done something new, those two; they had. reached a place where neither had ever been before, and Blue acted as if he knew it and gloried in the escapade quite as much as did his lady. The cattle spied them and went trotting.away up the river, anil Blue quickened his stride a little and followed after. Billy Louise left the reins upon his neck. Blue could handle cattle alone quite as skillfully as with a ' rider, if he chose. - The cattle began 'to swerve away from them, closer to the river. Blue pulled ahead a little, swerving also, and as Billy Louise tightened the reins, he slowed and circled them craftily until »they huddled on the steep bank, uncertain which way to go. Billy Louise pulled Blue down to a walk as she drew near and eyed the cattle sharply. They did not look like any of hers, after all There were fire dry cows and two steers. . One of the steers stood broadside to Billy Louise. The brand stared out from hiS dingy red side, the most con‘spicuous thing about him. Billy Louise caught her breath. There was no faintest line that failed to drive it*

message into her range-trained brain. She stared and stared. Blue looked around at her Inquiringly, reproachfully. Billy Louise sent him slowly forward and stirred up the hoddled little bunch. She read the brand on each one; read the story they shouted at her, of bungling theft. Finally she swung Blue on the downstream side and shouted the range cattle cry. The animals turned awkwardly and went upstream, as. they had been going before Billy Louise stopped them. Blue followed watchfully after, Content with the game he was playing. Where the bluffs drew cluse again to the river, the cattle climbed to a - narrow, shelving trail picking their way carefully along the bluff. Below them it fell sheer to the river; above them It rose steeply, a blackened jumble, save where the snow of the last storm lay drifted. Billy Louise had never known there was a trail up this gorge. She eyed it critically and saw where boulders had been moved here and there to make Its passage Her lips were set -close together and they still hope the imprint of her contempt. She thought of Ward. Mentally she abased herself before him .because of her doubts. How she had dared think Idm a thief? Her brave buckaroo! And she had dared think he would steal cattle! Her very remorse was a whip to lash her anger against the guilty. She hurried the cattle along the dangerous trail, impatient of their cautious pace. Since she had closed up on the cattleandhad read theirsMesithe shameful story of theft, Billy Louise had known that she would eventually come out at the lower end of the Cove; and that in spite of the fact that the Cove was not supposedto have ttny egress save through the gorge. What surprised her was the short distance; she had not realized that the bluff and the upland formed a wide curve, and that she had cut the distance almost in half by riding next the river. She seemed in no doubt as to what she would do when she arrived. Billy Louise was not much given to indecision at any time. She drove the cattle into the corral farthest from the house, rode bn to the stable, and" stopped Blue with his nose against the fence there and with his reins dragging. Then, tight-lipped still, she walked determinedly along the path to the gate that led through the berryjungle to the cabin. She opened thd gate and stepped through, closing it after her. She had not gone twenty feet when there was a rush from the nearest thicket, and Surbus, his hair ruffed out along his neck, growled and made a leap at her with bared fangs. Billy Louise had forgotten .about Surbus. She jumped back, startled, and the dog missed landing. When 4ie sprang again he met a .80-caliber bullet from Billy Louise’s gun and dropped back. It had been a snap shot, without any_ particular ..aiming; ElHy Louise retreated a few steps farther, watching the dog suspiciously. He gathered himself slowly and prepared to spring at her again. This time Billy Louise, being on the watch for such a move, aimed carefully before she fired. Surbus dropped again, limply—a good dog forever more. Billy Louise heard a shrill whistle and the sound of feet running. She waited, gun In hand, ready for whatever might come. “Hey I Charlie I Somebody’s come; the bell, she don’t reeng.” Peter Howling Dog, a pistol In his hand, came running down the path from the cabin. He saw Billy Louise and stopped abruptly, his mouth half open. From a shed near the stable came Charlie, also running. Billy Louise waited beside the gate. He did not see her until he was close, for a tangled gooseberry bush stood between them. “What was it, Peter? Somebody in the Cove? Or was it you—” ' "No, it wasn’t Peter; it was me,” Billy Louise infornfed him calmly and ungrammatically. “I shot Surbus, that’s all.” “Oh! Why, Miss Louise, you nearly gave me heart failure 1 How are you? I thought—” ~ “You thought somebody had gotten Into the Cove without your knowing it. Well, somebody did. I rode up from below, along the river.” . ’"“Oh—er—did ybu? Pretty ‘ rough going, wasn’t it? I didn’t think it could be doue. Come In; Aunt Martha wjH ?> “I don’t think she’ll be overjoyed to see me.” Billy Louise stood still beside the gooseberry bush, and she had forgotten to put away her gun. “I drove up those cattle you had dawn below. You’re awfully careless, Charliel I should think Peter or Marthy would have told you better. When a man steals cattle by working over the brands, it’s very bad form to keep them right on his ranch In plain sight It —isn’t done by the best people, you know." Her voice stung with the contempt she managed to put into ft. And though she smiled, it was such a smile as one seldom saw upon the face of Billy Louise. ;; “What’S all this? Worked brands I Why, Jllss Louise, >l—l wouldn’t kqow how to— f

—“I know. You did an awful punk Job. A person could tell in -the dark it was the work of a greenhorn. Why didn't you let Peter do It, or Marthy? You could have done a better job than that, couldn’t you, Marthy?” Poor old Marthy, with her rheumatic knees and a gray hardness in her leathery face, had come down the path and stood, squarely before Billy Louise,’ her hands knuckling her flabby hips, her hair blowing in gray, straggling wisps about her bullet head. “Better than what? Come to, Billy Louise. I'm right glad to see ye back and lookin’ so well, even if yuh do 'pear to be In one of your tantrums. How’s yer maw?” Billy Louise gasped and went white. “Mommle’s dead,” she said. “She died the ninth." She drew another gasping breath, pulled herself together, and went on before the others could begin the set speeches of sympathy which the announcement seemed to demand. “Never mind about that, now. I’m talking about those Seabeck cattle you folks stole. I was telling Charlie how horribly careless he is, Marthy. Did you know he let them drift down the river? And a blind man could tell a mile off the brands have been worked!” Billy Louise’s tone was positively venomous in its contempt. “Why didn’t you make Charlie practice on a cowhlde for a while first?” she asked Marthy cuttingly. Marthy ignored the sarcasm. Perhaps it did not penetrate her stolid mind at all. “Charlie never worked any brands, Billy Louise,” she stated with her glum directness. “Oh, I beg his pardon, I’m sure! Did you?” “No, I never done such a thing, neither. I don’t know what you’re talkin’ about.” “Well, who did, then?” Billy Louise faced the old woman pitilessly. “I d'no." Marthy lifted her hand and made a futile effort to tuck to a few of the longest wisps of hair. “Well, of all the —” The stern gray eyes of Billy Louise flew wide open at the effrontery of the words. If they expected her to believe that! “That’s it, Miss Louise. That’s the point we’d like to settle, ourselves. I know it sounds outrageous,. but It’s a fact Peter and I found those cattle up in the hills, with our brand worked over the V. On my word of honor, not one of us knows who did ft.” “But you’ve got them down here —” “Well —” Charlie threw out a hand helplessly. His eyes met hers with appealing frankness. “We couldn't rub out the brands; what else could we do? I figured that somebody else would see them If we left them out in the hills, and it might be rather hard to convince a man; you see, we can’t even convince you 1 But, so help me, not one of us branded those cattle, Miss Louise. I believe that whoever has been rustling stock around here deliberately tried to fix evidence against us. I’m a stranger in the country, and T don’t know the game very well; I’m an easy mark.” . “Yes, you’re that, all right enough!” Billy Louise spoke with blunt disfavor, but her contemptuous certainty of his guilt was plainly wavering. “To go and bring stolen cattle right down here —” “It seemed to me they’d be safer here than anywhere else,” Charlie observed naively. “Nobody ever comes down here, unknown to us. I had it sized up that the fellow who worked those

brands would never dream we’d bring the stock right Into the Cove. Why, Miss Louise, even I would, know better than to put our brand on top of Seabeck’s and expect It to pass inspection. If I wanted to steal cattle, I wouldn’t go at it that way!” .... Billy Louise glanced uncertainly at him. and then at Marthy, facing her grimly. She did not know what to think, and she showed IL “How do you mean—-the real rustlers?” she began hesitatingly; and ft • • ■ ' '

hesitation was not by any means a mental habit with Billy Louise. .136 just what I said.” Charlie’s manner was becoming more natural, more confident. “I’ve been riding through the hills a good deal, and I’ve seen a few things. And I’ve an idea the fellow got a little uneasy.” He saw her wince a little at the word “fellow,” and he went on, with an impulsive burst of confidence: “Miss Louise, have you ever, In your riding around up above Jones canyon, in all those deep little gulches, have you ever seen anything of a—corral, up there?” Billy Louise held herself rigidly from starting at this. She bit her lips so that It hurt. “Whereabouts Is It?” she asked, without looking at him. And then: “I thought you would go to any length before'you would accuse anybody.” “I would. But when they deliberately try to hand me the blame —and I’m not accusing anybody—anybody in particular, am I? The corral is at the head of a steep little canyon or gulch, back In the hills where all these bigger canyons head. Some time when you’re riding, up that way, you keep an eye out for it. That,” he added grimly, “is where Peter and I ran across these cattle; right near that corral.” The heart of Billy Louise went heavy In her chest. Was It possible? Doubts are harder to kill than cats or snakes. You think they’re done for, and here they come again, crowding close so that one can see nothing else. “Have you any idea at all, who—it Is?” She forced the words out of her dry throat. She lifted her head defiantly and looked at him full, trying to read the truth from his eyes and his mouth. Charlie Fox met her look, and in his eyes she read pity—yes, pity for her. “If I have,” he said, with an air of gently deliberate evasion, ’TH wait till lam dead before I name the man. Pm not at all sure Pd do it even then, Miss Louise; not unless I was forced to do It In self-defense. That’s one reason why I brought the cattle down here. I didn’t want to be placed in a position where I should be compelled to fight back.” Baffled and angry and hurt to the very soul of her, Billy Louise opened the gate and went out “If you know anything to tell, for heaven’s sake don’t hold back on my account I It’s nothing to me, one way or the other. I'm no rustler, and no friend of rustlers, if that’s what you’re hinting at” She left them with a proud lift to her chin and a very straight back, went to Blue, and mounted him mechanically. Billy Louise was “seeing red” Just then. She rode back past the gate, thp three were still standing there close together, talking. Billy Louise had ridden but a short distance when, with a sudden Impulse born of her stern instincts of justice, she jerked Blue around and galloped back. Charlie had disappeared, and Peter Howling Dog was walking sullenly toward the corraled cattle. Marthy was going slowly up the path to the cabin, looking old and bent and broken-spirited because of her bowed shoulders and stiff, rheumatic gait, but harsh and unyielding as to her face. Billy Louise stopped by the fence and called to her. Marthy turned, stared at her sourly, and stood where she was. . .....' ' . , — T ■- “Wall, what d’yuh Want now?” she asked uncompromisingly. Billy Louise fought back an answer* Ing antagonism. She must be just; she could not blame Marthy for feeling hard toward her. She had insulted them horribly and killed Marthy’s dog. “I -yant to tell you I’m sorry I was so mean, Marthy,” she said bravely. “I haven’t any excuse to make for it; only you must see yourself what a shock It would be to a person to find those cattle down here. But I know you’re honest, and so is Charl’e. And I know you’ll do what’s right. I’m sorry I shot your dog, Marthy.” Apologies did npt come easily tt Billy Louise. She wheeled then and rode aWay at-a furious gallop, before Marthy could do more than open her grim Ups for reply. (TO BE CONTINUED.)

Billy Louise Held Blue Firmly to a Curved Neck.

Her Voice Stung With the Contempt She Put Into It.