Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1907-07-30

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called her to him not once had he
!ikened her to the flower of the tree
OF his love-the spirit mother. She
4 clinched her long, narrow hands until
they tore the fringes of her robe.
The pleading. dumb look of her dark
eyes gave way to quick defiance; they
seemed to become chasms of gloom
unfathomable but Determines; they
! showed the decision and strength of
which her resolve was capable.
/ Her father was to sell that day a
large herd of cattle to Cash Hawkins.
Intnitively she knew what the two
Gays visit from Hawkins would mean
for them-despair when her fAther
realized the trick the white man had
played on him, scarcity of food ana
many privations for her, then long
weeks of silent suffering for both.
i Still she stood staring into the wind
ing, desclate land. the stretching hea.
yens, the stretching plains-both fat,
straight, unbroken, like two skies. A
! world might be above enc or under the
other. Gould this intermediate space
Iof ambient atmosphere lay claim 20
La life of fact and reality?
|. But no such thoughts came to Nat
.lof the country. She had toddlel
across its burning ground, following as
Ifar as her baby strength would permit.
her fathers pony In the solitude of
the waste land she had grown into
womanhood She knew that to-day's
ldreariness could be broken until the
entire place echoed and re-echoed to
the life of the men whose cattle thun.
|dered at their heels She had heard
the desert answer to the fanatical cut
i burst of her tribes; had seen the white
men drive her people farther and far
ther back, For her and her people it
had been their refuge.
/ Suddenly she stretched out her deli
cate arms Her figure grew erect.
\ From the distance came the distinct
beat of horses hoofs; it passed so
4 close within her vision that she could
easily distinguish the features of the
rider. He was stranger who had re-.
Gently settled there, the stranger
whom she had first met at bear
dance down at the agency.
%She remembered that with the
squaw's privilege of choosing her part
ner she had selected him. She remem.
/ bered his eyes. AS she did SO her own
turned and followed the man who. I'M
like the other horsemen of the prairie
rose in his stirrups, and into her
E.spiniX-lille face came a look of ua-
Isutterable yearning. She watched the
Jclouds of dust envelop him as they
had swallowed up her father, but this
time she no longer stood staring into
the prairie. Swiftly she caught her
.I'pony, mounted him. and let him gallop
EacroSS a. trai! that led to a short ,rt
to Maverick
! For a long time she lay fiat on her
animal. the hot sun sizzling down IN
her clinging figure. She only drew her
hair as a veil over hc. face, while her
Iwistful eyes watched the stranger
across the plains as she ped close 10
his track. She was glad that she was
gaining ground. too long had she lin.
lFered after her fathers departure.
She soon reached the SHORTCUT, andfa
wise smile lighted up her Face She
would be in Maverick ahead of the
man riding across the plains. and she
wondered whether she would see him
at the Long Horn saloon. Then the
smile died away; she was not going
to Maverick for that purpose First
she. must find and guard her father
from Cash Hawkins machinatiolS
and then
She frightened her hold on her pony
She, gave a curious low cry to the ami
NAL. His ears stood erect in answer
as Nat-uritch flashed across the sand
track. q
| The man on the horse only vaguely
Isaw Nat-u-ritch. His thoughts were
busy with the wearying business IF
the days shipping of cattle. 1t was
Iim's second year at his ranch. When
he left England he did net arrest his
journey until he reached the Far West
the Mecca of all Englsnmen With
| the small sum of money that he had
lifted from his bank he had purchased
a ranch near Green River and under
the name OF Carston had begun form.
! ing the ties that now made up his
| life
AS he rode his face and body showed
tie beneficial results of his work in
the open. The cowboy clothes seem
ed to have become almost part of him.
| A certain neatness and precision in
! his mode of wearing the picturesque
garments of the plains alone different
! lated him from the hundreds of wear
ers of tapping leather chaps, flannel
shirt, sombrero, and loosely knoted
kerchief.
Jim was wondering if his men had
reached Maverick. He had sent Big
Bill his foreman, on ahead of him
with a message from him cautioning
them to beware of being drown into
a quarrel with Cash Hawkins, who had
had learned would be there. For days
1.-The boys anger had been melted by
the discovery made by Jim and Big
Eli that Cash Hawlsins had been mix
ing his cattle with theirs for Hawkins
gain. This complaint of "rusting'' he
found was not uncommon. Its penalty
when proven was not a pleasant one;
the law was not consulted-punish-
ment was meted out by the COWBOYS
themselves. But for the present jim
preferred to avert fight with Haw-
kils In the future ne meant to take
greater precautions to protect his pro-
perty.
AS Jim rode he planned out manY de-
tails of his new LIES work, Tins
often for days all other thoughts would