The Horse Raid
: The Gold GirlPatty did not know how long she had slept when she awoke, tense and
listening, sitting bolt upright in bed. Moonlight flooded the room
through the windows thrown wide to admit the chill night air. Beyond
the valley floor, green with the luxuriant second crop of alfalfa, she
could see the mountains looming dim and mysterious in the half-light.
The whole world seemed silent as the grave--and yet, something must
her thinly clad shoulders, and partly at the recollection of some of
the scenes those selfsame mountains had witnessed, during the
uprisings, and which her hostess had so vividly recounted. The girl
smiled, and gazing toward the mountains, pictured long lines of naked
horsemen stealing silently into the valley. She started violently.
Through the open window came sounds, the muffled thud of hoofs upon
the soft ground, the low rattle of bit-chains and spur-rowels, and the
creak of saddle leather. There were horsemen in the valley, and the
horsemen were passing almost beneath her windows--and they were moving
stealthily.
For a moment her heart raced madly--the fancy of those conjured
horsemen, and then the mysterious sounds from the night that were not
fancy, combined in just the right proportion to overcome her with a
momentary terror. She realized that the sounds were passing--growing
fainter, and leaping from the bed, rushed to the window and peered
out. Only silence--profound, unbroken silence, and the moonlight. In
vain she strained her ears to catch a repetition of the faint sounds,
and in vain she peered into the dark shadows cast by the bunk house
and the pole horse-corral. Her windows commanded the eastern wall of
the valley, and its upper reaches. Had there actually been horsemen,
or were the sounds part of her vivid vision of the long ago? "No," she
muttered, "those sounds were real," and she leaned far out of the
window in a vain effort to catch a glimpse of the trail that led down
the creek toward Pierce's.
For some time she remained at the window and then, shivering, crept
back to bed, where she lay speculating upon the identity of these
horsemen who passed in the night. She knew that a horse raid had been
expected. Could these raiders have had the audacity to pass through
the very dooryard of the ranch, knowing as they must have known, that
four armed and determined cowboys occupied the bunk house?
And who were these raiders? At Thompson's she had heard Monk Bethune's
name mentioned in connection with possible horse-thieving. Bethune had
spoken of hurried trips, "to the northward." She remembered that upon
the occasion of their first meeting, she had heard him dickering with
Watts for the rent of his horse pasture, and she recollected the
incident of the changed name. Then, again, only a few days before, she
had parted with him when he struck off the trail to the eastward with
the excuse that he was going over onto the east slope on a matter
having to do with some horses. Bill had mentioned, in talking to Mrs.
Samuelson, that he had been riding through the horses on the east
slope. Could it be possible that the suave Bethune was a horse-thief?
On the other hand, Bethune had openly hinted that Vil Holland was a
horse-thief--and yet, these other people all believed that he was
persistently on the trail of the horse-thieves.
For a long time she lay thinking, guessing, trying to recall little
scraps of evidence that would bear upon the case. Again, a slight
sound brought her to a sitting posture. This time it was the opening
of a door across the hall from her room. The sound was followed by the
soft padding of slippered feet in the hall, the low tapping, evidently
at another door, a few low-voiced words, and a return of the padding
steps. A few moments later other steps hurried along the hall past her
door and rapidly descended the stairs. Patty heard the opening of an
outside door, and once more stealing to the window she saw the
Chinaman hurry across the moonlit yard to the bunk house and throw
open the door. He entered to emerge a moment later and rush to the
horse-corral, where he peered between the poles for a moment and then
made his way swiftly back to the house.
Without lighting the lamp Patty dressed hurriedly. Was the Samuelson
ranch a place of mystery? What was the meaning of the light
sounds--the soft tramp of horses, and the padding of feet upon the
stairs? The footsteps paused at the door across the hall. There
followed a whispered colloquy and the steps retreated rapidly to the
lower regions. Patty opened her door to see Mrs. Samuelson, her face
expressing the deepest agitation, and one thin hand catching together
the folds of a lavender kimono.
"What is the matter?" asked the girl. "What has happened?"
The old lady closed the door from beyond which came sounds of heavy
breathing. "I am afraid he is worse," she whispered. "Wong Yie went to
the bunk house to send the boys for the doctor and for Mrs. Pierce,
and he says they are gone! Their horses are not in the corral. I don't
understand it," she cried. "I told them not to go away. They know,
that with my husband sick, we are in momentary danger from the
horse-thieves, and they know that their place is right here."
"You told Bill to stay until he heard from Vil Holland," reminded
Patty. "Maybe they heard from him, and left without disturbing you."
"That's it, of course!" cried the woman. "I ought to have known I
could trust them. But, for a moment it seemed that--" She stopped
abruptly and glanced anxiously into the girl's face, "But what in the
world will we do? Wong Yie can't ride a step, and if he could, I need
him here----"
"I'll ride to Pierce's!" exclaimed Patty. "And get Mr. Pierce to go
for the doctor, and bring Mrs. Pierce back with me. My horse is in the
corral, and I can get down there in no time."
"Oh, can you? Will you? And you are not afraid--alone at night in the
hills? Under any other circumstances I wouldn't think of letting you
do it, child--especially with the horse-thieves about. But, it seems
the only way----"
"Of course it's the only way! And I'm not a bit afraid."
Hurrying to the corral, Patty saddled her horse, and a few moments
later swung into the trail that led down the creek. She glanced at her
watch; it was one o'clock. The moon floated high in the heavens and
the valley was almost as light as day. Urging her horse into a run,
she found a wild exhilaration in riding through the night, splashing
across shallows and shooting across short level stretches to plunge
through the water again.
After what seemed an interminable wait, Pierce himself appeared at the
door in answer to her persistent pounding. Patty thought he eyed her
curiously as he stood aside and motioned her into the kitchen. Very
deliberately he lighted the lamp and listened in silence until she had
finished. Then, coolly, he eyed her from top to toe: "'Pears to me
I've saw you before," he announced. "Over on the trail, a while back.
An' you was a-ridin' with--Monk Bethune."
"Well?" asked the girl, angered by the man's tone.
"Well," mocked Pierce. "So to-night's the night yer figgerin' on
pullin' the raid, is it?"
"I'm figuring on pulling the raid! What do you mean?"
"I mean you, an' Bethune, an' yer gang. You be'n up a-spottin' the
lay, so's to tip 'em off, an' now you come down here an' tell me the
Old Man's worst so's I'll take out to town fer the doc--an' one less
posse-man in the hills. Yer a pretty slick article, Miss, but it
hain't a-goin' to work."
Patty listened, speechless with rage. When the man finished she found
her tongue. "You--you accuse me of being a--a horse-thief?" she
choked.
"Yup," answered the man. "That's it--an' not so fur off, neither.
Don't you s'pose I know that if the Old Man was worst one of his own
boys would of be'n a foggin' it fer town hisself? I'd ort to take an'
lock you up in the root cellar an' turn you over to Vil Holland, but I
guess if we get all the he ones out of yer gang we kin leave you
loose. 'Tain't likely you could run off no horses single-handed."
A woman whose appearance showed an evident hasty toilet had stepped
from an inner room, and stood listening to the man. Patty was about to
appeal to her when, from the outside came a thunder of hoofs, and
suddenly a man burst into the room. Patty recognized him as Bill, of
the Samuelson ranch. "Come on, Jack, quick! Git yer gun, while I slam
the kak on yer cayuse. The raid's on, they've cut out a bunch of them
three an' four-year-olds offen the east slope an' they're a-foggin'
'em off."
"Bill! Oh, Bill!" cried the girl, in desperation. But the man had
plunged toward the corral, followed by Pierce, buckling on his
cartridge belt as he ran. A moment later both men were in the saddle,
and the sound of pounding hoofs grew far away.
In tears, Patty turned to the woman. "Oh, why couldn't he have
believed me?" she cried. "He thinks I'm one of that detestable gang of
thieves! But, you--surely you don't think I'm a horse-thief?" In
broken sentences she related the facts to the woman, and finished by
begging her to go up to the Samuelson ranch. "I'll ride on to town
for the doctor myself!" she exclaimed. "And surely you can do that
much for your neighbor."
"Do that much fer 'em!" the woman exclaimed. "I reckon they ain't
nothin' I wouldn't do fer them. Mebbe Jack's right, an' mebbe he's
wrong. I've saw him be both, 'fore now. Anyways, it ain't a-goin' to
do Samuelsons no harm, nor the horse-thieves no good fer me to go up
there. You hit the trail fer town, an' I'll ride up the crick." The
woman cut short the girl's thanks. "You better take straight on down
Porky 'til it crosses the trail," she advised. "It's a little longer
but you won't git lost that way, an' chances is you would if I tried
to tell you the short cut. Thompsons is great friends with
Samuelsons," called the woman, as Patty mounted. "Better change horses
there! Or, mebbe Thompson'll go on to town fer you."
Below the Pierce ranch the trail was not so good but, unheeding, the
girl held her horse to his pace. In her heart now was no wild
exhilaration of moonlight, nor was there any lurking fear of unknown
horsemen, only a mighty rage--a rage engendered by Pierce's
accusation, but which expanded with each leap of her horse until it
included Vil Holland, Bethune, the Samuelson cowboys, and even Len
Christie and the Samuelsons themselves--a senseless, consuming rage
that caused the blood to throb hotly to her temples and found vicious
expression in driving the rowels into her horse's sides until the
animal tore down the rough, half-lit trail at a pace that sent the
loose stones flying from beneath his hoofs in rattling volleys.
Possibly, it was the rattling of loose stones, possibly her anger
dulled her sensibilities to the point where they were incapable of
taking note of her surroundings, but the fact remains that as she
approached the mouth of a wide coulee that gave into the valley from
the eastward, she did not hear the rumble of hundreds of pounding
hoofs that each second grew louder and more ominous, until as she
reached the mouth of the coulee a rider swept into the valley, his
horse straining every muscle to keep ahead of the herd that thundered
in his wake.
Apparently the horseman did not notice her, and the next moment Patty
was engulfed in the herd. The girl lived one wild moment of terror. In
front, behind, upon each side were madly plunging horses, eyes
staring, mouths agape exposing long white teeth that flashed wickedly
in the moonlight, manes tossing wildly, and air whistling through
wide-flaring nostrils. On and on they swept down the valley. The roar
of hoofs rose to a mighty crescendo of thunder, above which, now and
then, the terrified girl caught fierce yells from the flank of the
herd. So close were the terrorized horses running that it was
impossible for the girl to see the ground before her. Sweating,
plunging bodies surged against her legs threatening each moment to
scrape her feet from the stirrups. Gripping the horn with both hands
she rode in a sort of daze.
Glancing over her shoulder, she caught an occasional flash of white as
the men on the flanks waved sheets above their heads, whose flapping,
fluttering folds urged the maddened horses into a perfect frenzy of
action.
In front, and a little to one side of Patty, a horse went down, a big
roan colt, and she got one horrible glimpse of a grotesquely twisted
neck, and a tangle of thrashing hoofs as another horse plunged onto
his fallen comrade. A horrible scream split the air as he, too, went
down, and the sudden side-surge of the herd all but unseated the
clinging girl. In a second it was over and the herd thundered on.
Patty closed her eyes, and with white, tight-pressed lips, wondered
when her horse would go down. She pictured the bloody, battered
thing that had been herself, lying flattened and gruesome, in the
moonlight when the pounding hoofs swept past.
Time and distance ceased to be. Patty was carried helplessly on, a
part of that frenzied flood of flesh, muscles rigid, brain
tense--waiting for the inevitable moment--the horrible moment that was
to mark the climax of this ride of horrors. She wondered if it would
hurt, or would merciful unconsciousness come with the first impact of
the fall.
Suddenly she opened her eyes. She sensed a change in the rumble of
hoofs. Horses surged together and the pace slackened from a wild rush
to a wilder thrashing of uncertainty. In the forefront a thin red
spurt of flame leaped forth and above the pounding hoofs rang the
report of a shot. The leaders seemed to have stopped and the main body
of the herd pressed and struggled against the unyielding front. Other
spurts of flame pierced the night, and shots rang viciously from all
sides. The horses were milling, churning, about in a huge maelstrom,
in which Patty found herself being slowly forced to the outside as the
unencumbered free horses crowded to the center away from the
terrifying stabs of flame and the crack of guns. She could see a
mounted form before her. Evidently it was the man who had ridden in
the forefront of the herd. The rider was very close, now, his horse
keeping pace with her own which had nearly reached the outer rim of
the churning mass of animals. The brim of his hat shadowed his face
but Patty could see that the gauntleted hand held a six-gun. A shift
of position brought the moonlight full upon the man's front--upon a
scarf of robin's-egg blue caught together at the throat with the
polished tip of buffalo horn. No other horsemen were in sight, but an
occasional sharp report sounded from the opposite side of the herd.
"Vil!" she screamed. "Vil Holland!" The form stiffened in the saddle
and the girl caught the flash of his eyes beneath the hat brim. The
next instant the gun had given place to a heavy quirt in his hand, his
tall, rangy horse plunged straight toward her, the wild horses,
crowding frenziedly to escape the blows as the rider lashed furiously
to the right and to the left as he forced his mount to her side.
"Good God! Girl, what are you doing here? I thought you were one of
them--and I nearly--" The man leaned suddenly forward and grasped the
bit-chain of her bridle. As if knowing exactly what was expected of
them, side by side the two horses fought their way free of the herd,
the big buckskin with ears laid back, snapping viciously at the
crowding horses. A six-gun roared twice. Patty felt a sudden brush of
air against her cheek and the next instant the two horses plunged down
the steep side of a narrow ravine. In the bottom the man released her
bridle. "You stay here!" he commanded gruffly.
"But, the Samuelsons! Mr. Samuelson is--" The words were drowned in a
shower of gravel as the rangy buckskin scrambled up the bank and
disappeared over the top. The rapid transition from anger to terror,
and from terror to relief, proved too much for the girl's nerves and
she burst into a violent fit of sobbing. The tears enraged her and she
shouted at the top of her voice. "I won't stay here!" but the words
sounded puny and weak, and she knew that they had not penetrated
beyond the rim of the ravine. "I won't do it! I won't stay here!" she
kept repeating, the sentences broken by the hysterical sobbing.
Nevertheless, stay there she did, until with a mighty rumble of hoofs
and a scattering volley of shots, the horse herd swept northward, and
when finally she succeeded in gaining the upper level, the sounds came
to her ears faint and far away.
Hurriedly she glanced about her. What was that stretching to the
southward, a long ribbon of white in the moonlight? "The trail!" she
cried. "The trail to town--and to Thompson's!" Just beyond the trail,
upon the brown-yellow buffalo grass a dark object lay motionless.
Patty stared at it in horror. It was the body of a man. Her first
impulse was to put spurs to her horse and fly down that long white
ribbon of trail--to place distance between herself and the thing that
lay sprawled upon the grass. Then a thought flashed into her brain.
Suppose it were he? Vil Holland, the man whom everybody trusted--the
man who had calmly braved the shots of the horse-thieves to rescue her
from that churning maelstrom of horror.
Unconsciously, but surely, under the influence of those upon whose
judgment she knew she could rely, her suspicion and distrust of him
had weakened. She had half-realized the fact days ago, when at thought
of him she found herself forced to enumerate his apparent offenses
over and over again to keep the distrust alive. She thought of him now
as he had fought his way to her, lashing the infuriated horses from
his path. He had appeared, somehow--different. She closed her eyes and
clean cut as though chiseled upon her brain was the picture of him as
he forced his way to her side. Like a flash the detail of difference
broke upon her--The jug was missing! And close upon the heels of the
discovery came the memory of the strange thrill that had shot through
her as his leg pressed hers when their horses had been forced together
by the milling herd, and the sense of security and well being that
replaced the terror in her heart from the moment she had called his
name. A sudden indescribable pain gripped her breast, as though icy
fingers reached up and slowly clutched her heart. With staring eyes
and breath coming heavily between parted lips, she rode toward the
thing on the ground. As she drew near, her horse stopped, sniffing
nervously. She attempted to urge him forward, but he quivered, shied
sidewise, and, snorting his fear, circled the sprawling object with
nostrils a-quiver.
Fighting a terrible dread, the girl forced her eyes to focus upon the
gruesome form, and the next instant she uttered a quick little cry of
relief. The man's hat had fallen off and lay at some distance from the
body. She could see a shock of thick black hair, and noticed that he
wore a cheap cotton shirt that had once been white. There were no
chaps. One leg of his blue overalls had rolled up and exposed six
inches of bare skin which gleamed whitely in the moonlight above the
top of his shoe. The sight sickened, disgusted her, and whirling her
horse she dashed southward along the trail forgetting for the moment
the Samuelsons, the doctor, and everything else in a wild desire to
put distance between herself and that awful thing on the ground.
Not until her horse's hoofs rang upon the hard rock of the canyon
floor, did Patty slacken her pace. Thompson's was only a few miles
farther on. It was dark in the high walled canyon and she slowed her
horse to a walk. He stopped to drink in the shallow creek and the girl
glanced over the back trail. Where was he now! Thundering along with
the recaptured horse herd, or following the thieves in a mad flight
through the devious fastnesses of the mountains. Was it possible that
even at this moment he was lying upon the yellow-brown grass, or among
the broken rock fragments of some coulee, twisted, and shapeless, and
still--like that other who lay repulsive and ugly, with his bare leg
shining white in the moonlight? She shuddered. "No, no, no!" she cried
aloud, "they can't kill him. They're cowards--and he is brave!" Her
voice rang hollow and thin in the rocky chasm, and she started at the
sound of it. Her horse moved on, tongueing the bit contentedly. "They
were right, and I was wrong," she muttered. "And--and, I'm glad."
The canyon was left behind and before her the trail wound among the
foothills that rolled away to the open bench. She noticed that the
moon had sunk behind the mountains, yet it was not dark. Glancing
toward the east, she realized that it was morning. She urged her horse
into a lope, and reached Thompson's just as the ranchman and his two
hands were starting for the barn.
"Well, dog my cats, if it ain't Miss Sinclair!" exclaimed the man, and
stood silent for a second as if trying to remember something. He
rushed toward her excitedly. "You want that horse?" he cried, and
without waiting for an answer, turned to the astonished ranch hands:
"You, Mike, throw the shell onto Lightnin', an' git him out here, an'
don't lose no time about it, neither!
"Pete, git that rifle an' lay along the trail! An' if anyone comes
a-foggin' along towards town shoot his horse out from in under him!
Never mind chawin'--you git! Shoot his horse, an' I'll pay the bill.
Any skunk that would try fer to beat a lady out of her claim ain't
a-goin' to expect nothin' but what he gits around this outfit. An'
say, Pete--if it should be Monk Bethune--an' you happen to shoot a
leetle high fer to hit the horse--don't worry none--git, now!
"You come right along of me, an' git a snack from Miz T. while Mike's
a-saddlin' up. It's a long drag to town, even on Lightnin', an' you
ain't et yet. If the coffee ain't hot, you can wait a couple o'
minutes--that there Pete--he won't let nothin' git by--he kin cut a
sage hen's head off twenty rod with that rifle!" Patty had made
several unsuccessful attempts to speak--attempts to which Thompson
paid no attention whatever. At last, she managed to make him
understand. "No, no! It isn't the claim, Mr. Thompson--but, let him
saddle the horse just the same. Mr. Samuelson is worse and I'm riding
for the doctor."
"You!" exclaimed the astonished Thompson. "What's the matter with Bill
or some of Samuelson's riders?"
"They're after the horse-thieves. They ran off a lot of Mr.
Samuelson's horses last night, and they're after them. And they caught
them, and had a battle, and I was in it, and there is a dead man lying
back there beside the trail." Patty talked rapidly, and Thompson
stared open-mouthed.
"Run off Samuelson's horses--battle--dead man--you was in it!" he
repeated, in bewilderment. "Who run 'em off? Where's Vil Holland?
Who's dead?"
"I don't know who's dead. A horse-thief, I guess. And Vil Holland's
with them--with the Samuelson cowboys and that horrid Pierce, and
that's why I had to ride for the doctor--because the cowboys were with
Vil Holland, and Pierce thought I was one of the horse-thieves."
"If you know what you're talkin' about it's more'n what I do," sighed
Thompson, resignedly, as the girl concluded the somewhat muddled
explanation. "If the raid's come off, why wasn't I in on it--an' me
keepin' Lightnin' up an' ready fer it's goin' on three months? They's
a thing or two I do know, though. For one, you've rode fer enough." He
called to Pete, who, rifle in hand, was making for the trail. "Hey,
Pete, come back here with that gun, an' quick as Mike gits the hull
cinched onto Lightnin', you fork him an' hightail fer town an' fetch
Doc Mallory out to Samuelson's. Tell him the Old Man's worse. Better
fetch Len Christie along, too. If there's a dead man, even if he's a
horse-thief, it's better he was buried accordin' to the book. Take
Miss Sinclair's horse to the stable an' tell Mike to onsaddle him an'
give him a feed." He turned to Patty: "You come along in an' rest up
'til Miz T. gits breakfast ready. Then when you've et, you kin begin
at the beginnin' an' tell what's be'n a-goin' on in the hills."
A couple of hours later when Patty concluded her detailed narrative,
Thompson leaned back in his chair. "I got a crow to pick with Vil
Holland, all right, fer not lettin' me in on that there raid."
"Maybe he didn't have time," suggested the girl, and suppressed a
desire to smile at the readiness with which she sprang to the defense
of her "guardian devil of the hills."
Protesting that she needed no rest after her night of wild adventure,
Patty refused the pressing invitation of the Thompsons to remain at
the ranch, and mounting her horse, headed for the cabin on Monte's
Creek.
Once through the canyon, she turned abruptly into the hills and as her
horse, unguided, topped low divides, and threaded mile after mile of
narrow valleys, her thoughts wandered from the all-absorbing topic of
her father's location, to the man for whom she had so recently
experienced such a signal revulsion of feeling. "How could I ever have
been deceived by that disgusting Monk Bethune?" she muttered.
"Especially after he warned me against him. It's a wonder I couldn't
have seen him for the sleek oily devil that he is. I must have been
crazy." She shuddered at the recollection of that day in the little
valley when he boldly made love to her. "It's just blind luck
that--that something awful didn't happen. I could see the lurking
devil in his eyes! And I saw it again, when he sneered at Mr.
Christie. And when Pierce showed very plainly what he thought of him,
he cursed everybody in the hills, and then offered his glaringly false
explanation as to why people hate and distrust him." At the top of a
low divide, she turned her horse into a valley that was not, by any
means, the most direct route to the little cabin on Monte's Creek. A
half hour later she came out onto the plateau, upon the edge of which
Vil Holland's little tent nestled against its towering rock fragment.
For just an instant she hesitated, then, blushing, rode boldly across
the open space toward the little patch of white that showed through
the scrub timber. Pulling up before the tent door the girl glanced
about her. Everything was in its place. Her eyes rested approvingly
upon the well-scoured cooking utensils that hung in an orderly row.
Evidently the camp had not been used the night before. She drew off
her glove and, leaning over, felt the blankets that were thrown over
the ridgepole. They were still wet with the heavy dew, and the
dampened ashes showed that no fire had been built that morning. "Oh,
where is he?" whispered the girl, glancing wildly about, "Surely, he
has had time to reach here--if he's--all right." After a few moments
of silence she laughed nervously: "He's all right," she assured
herself with forced cheerfulness. "Of course, he wouldn't return here
right away. He probably had to help drive those horses back, or--or
help bury that man, or something. I wonder what he thinks of me?
Pierce will tell him his suspicions, and then--finding me mixed in
with those horses--he'll think I've 'thrown in' with Bethune, as he
would say. I must see him. I must!"
Deciding to return later in the day, Patty headed her horse for the
divide and soon found herself at the much trampled notch in the hills.
For some moments she sat staring down at the ground. She glanced
toward the cabin that showed so distinctly in the valley below. "He
certainly watches from here," she mused. "And not just occasionally
either." Suddenly, she straightened in her saddle, and her eyes
glowed: "I wonder if--if he has been watching--Monk Bethune? Watching
to see that no harm comes to--me? Oh, if I only knew--if I only knew
the real meaning of this trampled grass!" Resolutely, she gathered up
her reins. "I will know!" she muttered. "And I'll know before very
long, too. That is, I hope I will," she qualified, as the bay cayuse
began to pick his way carefully down the steep descent to Monte's
Creek.
More
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Good Indian was young, which means that he was not always logical, nor much given to looking very far into the future except as he was personally concerned in what he might see there. By the time Sunday brought Miss Georgie Howard and the stir of pr... You Re Going To Love Me Before We Get Through
The Swinton barbecue was over. The fiddles were silent, the steer was eaten, the barrel emptied, or largely so, and the tapers extinguished; round the house and sunken fire all movement of guests was quiet; the families were long departed homeward... A Meeting On The River Trail
About ten o'clock in the morning of a perfect day Sheila left the Double R ranchhouse for a ride to the Two Forks to visit Doubler. This new world into which she had come so hopefully had lately grown very lonesome. It had promised much and it had... A Parting And A Visit
The problem which filled Duncan's mind as he sat on the edge of the slope overlooking the river was a three-sided one. To reach a conclusion the emotions of fear, hatred, and jealousy would have to be considered in the light of their relative impo... A Woman On The Trail
Many disquieting thoughts oppressed Miss Sheila Langford as she halted her pony on the crest of a slight rise and swept the desolate and slumberous world with an anxious glance. Quite the most appalling of these thoughts developed from a realizati... Bethune Pays A Call
It was past noon when Patty sank into the chair beside her table and glanced about her with a sigh of satisfaction. Warm June sunlight streamed through the open door and lay in a bright oblique patch upon the scrubbed floor. The girl's glance st... Bethune Tries Again
For several days following the incident of the two struggling horsemen, Patty rode, extending her quest farther and farther into the hills, and thus widening the circle of her exploration. She had overhauled her father's photographic outfit and fo... Bogged Down
Each day during the two weeks that her father had been at the Double R Sheila had accompanied him on his rides of exploration. She had grown tired of the continued companionship, and despite the novelty of the sight she had become decidedly wearie... Converging Trails
It was the barking of a dog that brought Sheila out of a sleep--dreamless this time--into a state of semi-consciousness. It was Dakota's dog surely, she decided sleepily. She sighed and twisted to a more comfortable position. The effort awakened h... Dakota Evens A Score
With the thermometer at one hundred and five it was not to be expected that there would be much movement in Lazette. As a matter of fact, there was little movement anywhere. On the plains, which began at the edge of town, there was no movement, no... Doubler Talks
After the departure of the doctor Sheila entered the cabin and closed the door, fastening the bars and drawing a chair over near the table. Doubler seemed to be resting easier, though there was a flush in his cheeks that told of the presence of fe... Duncan Adds Two And Two
Had Langford known that there had been a witness to his visit to Dakota he might not have ridden away from the latter's cabin so entirely satisfied with the result of his interview. Duncan had been much interested in Langford's differences with ... For Dakota
Though in a state of anxiety and excitement over the incident of Duncan's attack on Doubler and the subsequent shooting, together with a realization of Dakota's danger, Sheila did not lose her composure. She ran to the river and secured the water,... In The Cabin
For a long time after the departure of her visitors, Patty Sinclair sat thinking. Was it true, all this man had told her? She remembered vividly the beautiful tribute he had paid her father and the emotion that had gripped him as he finished. Sure... Into The Unknown
After a time Sheila rose from the bunk on which she had been sitting and stood in the center of the floor, looking down at her father. Dakota had not moved. He stood also, watching Langford, his face pale and grim, and he did not speak until Sheil... Kindred Spirits
Looking rather more rugged than when he had arrived at the station at Lazette two weeks before, his face tanned, but still retaining the smooth, sleek manner which he had brought with him from the East, David Dowd Langford sat in a big rocking cha... Langford Lays Off The Mask
The sun was still an hour above the horizon when Sheila rode up to the corral gates. While removing the saddle and bridle from her pony she noted with satisfaction that the horse which her father had been accustomed to ride was inside the corral. ... Lord Clendenning Gets A Ducking
Patty awoke at dawn and dressed hurriedly. Shivering in the chill air, she lighted a match and pushed back a lid of the little cast iron cook stove. Instead of the "cold fire" of neatly arranged wood and kindlings that she had built before leaving... Patty Draws A Map
That evening after supper, Patty sat upon her doorstep and watched the slowly fading opalescent glow in which the daylight surrendered to encroaching darkness. "How wonderful it all is, and how beautiful!" she breathed. "The indomitable ruggedness... Patty Finds A Glove
Dismounting before her cabin, Patty dropped her reins, pushed open the door, and entered. Her eyes flew to the little dressing table. The packet was gone! With a thrill of exultation she carefully inspected the room. Everything was exactly as she ... Patty Makes Her Strike
It was noon, one week from the day she had returned from the Samuelson ranch, and Patty Sinclair stood upon the high shoulder of a butte and looked down into a rock-rimmed valley. Her eyes roved slowly up and down the depression where the dark gre... Patty Takes Precautions
During the next few days Patty Sinclair paid scant attention to rock ledges. Each morning she saddled her cayuse and rode into the hills to the southward, crossing divides and following creeks and valleys from their sources down their winding, twi... Prospecting
The gray of early morning was just beginning to render objects in the little room indistinguishable when Patty awoke. She made a hasty toilet, lighted the fire, and while the water was heating for her coffee, delved into the pack sack and drew out... Sheep Camp
If Patty Sinclair had anticipated annoyance from the forced attention of her tall horseman of the hills, she was disappointed, for neither at meals, nor during the shopping tour that occupied the whole of the following day, nor yet upon the long h... Sheila Fans A Flame
Sheila departed from the quicksand crossing nursing her wrath against the man who had rescued her, feeling bitterly vindictive against him, yet aware that the Dakota who had saved her life was not the Dakota whom she had feared during her adventur... Sheriff Allen Takes A Hand
The sheriff's posse--three men whom he had deputized in Lazette and himself--had ridden hard over the twenty miles of rough trail from Lazette, for Duncan had assured Allen that he would have to get into action before Dakota could discover that th... Some Memories
When Sheila recovered consciousness she was in Dakota's cabin--in the bunk in which she had lain on another night in the yesterday of her life in this country. She recognized it instantly. There was the candle on the table, there were the familiar... Strictly Business
For two or three quiet weeks Sheila did not see much of Duncan, and her father bothered her very little. Several nights on the gallery of the ranchhouse she had seen the two men sitting very close together, and on one or two occasions she had over... The Bishop Of All Outdoors
The days slipped into weeks, as Patty Sinclair, carefully and methodically traced valleys to their sources, and explored innumerable coulees and ravines that twisted and turned their tortuous lengths into the very heart of the hills. Rock ledges w... The Dim Trail
Sheila had been dreaming of a world in which there was nothing but rain and mud and clouds and reckless-eyed individuals who conversed in irritating drawls when a sharp crash of thunder awakened her. During her sleep she had turned her face to the... The Horse Raid
Patty did not know how long she had slept when she awoke, tense and listening, sitting bolt upright in bed. Moonlight flooded the room through the windows thrown wide to admit the chill night air. Beyond the valley floor, green with the luxuriant ... The Parting On The River Trail
"I'll be leaving you now, ma'am." There was a good moon, and its mellow light streamed full into Dakota's grim, travel-stained face as he halted his pony on the crest of a slope above the Two Forks and pointed out a light that glimmered weakly thr... The Race For The Register
Beside the little table Patty Sinclair listened to the sound of hoofs splashing through the shallows of the creek and thudding dully upon the floor of the valley beyond. When the sounds told her that the horseman had disappeared into the timber, s... The Samuelsons
Patty retired that night with her thoughts in a whirl. So, it was Monk Bethune who, all along, had been plotting to steal the secret of her father's strike? Monk Bethune, with his suave, oily manner, his professed regard for her father, and his bu... The Shot In The Back
For an instant after discovering Doubler lying in the doorway, Sheila stood motionless at the corner of the cabin, looking down wonderingly at him. She thought at first that he was merely resting, but his body was doubled up so oddly that a grave ... This Picture And That
IT was a scene of wild, virgin beauty upon which Sheila Langford looked as she sat on the edge of a grassy butte overlooking the Ute River, with Duncan, the Double R manager stretched out, full length beside her, a gigantic picture on Nature's can... Unmasked
At the Samuelson's ranch they found not only the doctor but Len Christie. Mr. Samuelson's condition had taken a sudden turn for the better and it was a jubilant little group that welcomed Patty as she rode up to the veranda. Vil Holland had mutter...