The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1902-11-25
Copyright. 1901, BY a. S. Richardson

'And you shan't be sorry, dearest, I"
answered Arch. you know yourself
it never got such hold on me before
| couldn't seem"-his sun and wind
tanned face flushing still darker red
Ito get back to myself, to sense my
self. 1t was all around me. Nearly all
the other fellows drink, and I'd get at
1t again before was really myself"
Il know, dear. Both of my brothers
back In old Missouri are the same.
That's what made daddy so bitter
about you and me-"
But six months up on the plains,
away from it all-and with you, Stella
it'll settle the whisky question for
ever. amt afraid to ask you, darling,
and you know I'd rather die than bring
trouble to you. | tell you, know my
self and you'll see; I'll make it stick"
What offer is 1t you have? Where
are you-are WEIGHING and what are
you going to dor
"Holbrook's going to send a herd of
5000 cattle on to the Staked plain to
range he's picked out up there. It's
raw country-Indians and buffalo bare
ly off it-and it's big wages to go up
with the herd and keep sign camp;
takes some sand to do it. you know
1t was in the latter part of the seven
ties In western Texas. while the range
was yet general and unfenced. The
string of sign camps. with its riders
circling the range a man had chosen
for his cattle, was the living fence
/ x1rIfa hal l.
or from drifting" before storms These
camps the cattleman placed as nearly
as the question of water supply admit
ted at equal distances around his range
or across such parts as had not the
natural barrier of river or canyon.
In every camp were two men whose
duty it was to ride out daily in oppo-
site directions until they met the riders
from the next adjoining camp looking
always for straying cattle and turning
them back into the range.
And the upper camp" Arch contin
ued eagerly. don't need but one rider,
because it's right against the Canadian
river. Holbrook will be glad to give it
to me if I'll only come. We can live
there the six months-it's big wages
and save every cent of the money.
Then, with the little bunch I've got al
ready running with Holbrooks cattle
we could begin for ourselves. Stella
oh, Stella" he broke off suddenly, I'm
the happiest man in Texas. It's like
| being taken out of hell and led plumb
straight into heavenw
They were married the next day.
! Stella's was the temperament which
when once the heart has been given
sends talents. abilities, the labor of the
hands, all gladly after 1t in devoted
service. Then came a happy. exciting
time buying Stella's outfit-that is to
say. the things which old Hank Pear
sail. head cook of the expedition. pro
nounced suitable to "a lady cowboy
a-keepin' sign camp"
Finally the great caravan started
lazily and ponderously up the trail 1t
was II marvellous pastoral panorama,
and Stella's quick artist soul reveled in
its quaint picturesqueness She per-
ceived 1t all-the country, the cattle
the means. the daily round-to be like
survival Il bit out of the life of some
old Indian owner of herds
There was the vast herd strung out
and moving very slowly that the cattle
might Craze as they travelled. the cow
boys riding along the sides, the six
great mess wagons. hitched two or
three together. with teams of eight and
ten and even twelve horses. bringing
up the rear. At night the cattle were
rounded into great mass and bedded
down, the men taking turns by twos
riding night herd. singing loudly to
keep the animals quiet Each mess
wagon had its two men, its stock of
provisions and tent or some mate
rails to build dugout camp
Stella came to have a sisterly affec-
ton and admiration for these big,
rough fellows in whose company she
Jared slowly northward on that strange
journey. She saw them day by day
and night after night cheerily enduring
hardships and facing dangers as great
as those of the campaigning soldier.
The riding of night herd. the crossing
of rivers with treacherous current and
quicksand bed. fighting to prevent or
to quell stampede-these things were
attended with no glory. They were
done with light hearts and testing
words daily and as a matter of course.
And In the evening these champions
came like great children to sit about
her, listening while she sang old songs
to the accompaniment of her guitar or
told stories from such classics as she
knew
They had been three months In their
little adobe house OH the open plain,
whose ingenious yet inscrutable face
Stella never wearled of studying The
Clean high air had been Gods own
medicine to her. and, with her heart
full of happiness she had thrived and
blossoIned. this dark beauty. in the
raking wind aud burning sun which
destroy blond delicacy And the grim.
menacing if which at first lay so
close behind her joy grew DINNER and |
DINNER. Every day when Arch came |
home to her or when. as often hap
pened she saddled up and rode out to |
meet him he shouted joyfully at sight |
of her: Great Scott but you're beau
ty, honey! You're bowling beauty. no
less,''
But today the terror was upon her. /
She had waited, at first eagerly, impa-
tiently. then anxiously and at last in
numb certainty of disaster. Four
o'clock came, then 3, 6. Z. and Arch had i
not returned.
In the coldness of despair she put her .
own saddle upon Buckshot and an old
one which Arch kept for emergencies
on Creeping Moses. Leading the extra
horse, she rode out as Arch had ridden
at sunrise almost due east toward the
adjoining camp. The great white moon
of the high plains country shone In aw-
full beauty over that waste of desolate
emptiness.
1T might be an accident" Stella
whispered. Something might have
happened to Arch or to Bob" Bob was
the rider from the next camp who met
Arch. why am so sure it is the one
thing? o God. let it be anything
anything but that! Not that Not now,
when we've lived In heaven together
all these months and he seemed saved
from it at lastp'
So she rode across the blank. mysteri-
GUS night alone straight toward the
splendid moon. She was stone cold,
cramped In the saddle and all her
senses stunned down to one aching ag-
ony of dread, when. after three hours
of fast riding she suddenly saw before
her silhouetted against the sky the fig
ure of a man-Bob, she divined-stand-
ing not far from saddled horse and
bending over another man, who lay
huddlad aud ,nSsxftI,, On +hc ,,ra,,nd