Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1908-04-02

Zeke StubbS, addressed 10 tne hul
rying birds, Il think they ought TO
keep to the kitchen an not go to
%snoopin' aroun' tellin' growed-up men
how to take the shoes off'n horses,
An she a ~19-year-old gal! Did she
.larn about horses feet at that Salt
Lake seminary? I'd like to know!
If her nav and paw only was alive"
"Oh, don't take on, Zeke," said Uri
Wiggin, coming around a corner OF the
barn. May Window got a few extra
frills at the seminary, but she amt
spilled, not by a joyful. An she
knows all about horses"
Uri was the hired man on the Win
dom ranch and Zeke was his helper.
"An' she amt so dreadful stuck-up
as you think" added Uri, If she was
she wouldn't be a-goin' out with the
sheep"
Coin out with the sheep! Great
snakes! OF all the ram-butted idees!
An all alone among them men!
Guess you can count ne out this time.
/ don't want no woman boss on the
range. The idee! A m sheep
herder!"
"She amt a-goin' alone" said Uri.
"How them"
wal, you know Sandy Batin's
Gertie, that married Russ Bricker?
She's a-goin' along, too. Mays got
Russ to look out fer things fer her,
an Gertie's a-goin' to do the cookin'.
AM I'm a-goin' an SO are you-you
can't git out of it."
What does Russ Bricker know
about Sheep" asked Zeke contemptu-
ously. Been a freightin' all his life
"Oh, Russ won't have much ter say.
Miss WINDOWS goin' to run the hull
shootin' match herself"
Great guns! They'll git sick 'nough
O. women b~osses!" snorted Zeke.
when does this here fool expedition
start out?"
Week from mex Thursday. SnowTl
be pooty well off'n the range by that
time. Well hit Sky-Medder about the
fifth day out, if we have good luck.
Trouble is the's so DANCED many out
fits thatll be headed that way, an they
may git in ahead. We don't dast start
any sooner for that's the earliest any,
body ever goes; but We'll be in luck
if some range sneaks don't git in
ahead of u.s."
Precisely this it was that worried
Miss May Window. Russ had told
her that it would be a race for the
Sky-Meadow countryside best range
in the Wasatch mountains-and she
was intensely eager to get in first
with her band. She had been out on
the range several times before her
father died-once as long as a month.
This time she wanted to stay the
whole season. The seminary. with its
stilted diction and its stiff rule of
things generally, had irked her. She
had gone there because it was. her
dead fathers wish. Even now that it
was all behind her, the seminary
seemed TO be clinging to her skirts
She wanted to get away to the noun
tains. She loved the wild life and she
loved the sheep. Above all things she
was eager to get to the range ahead
of Lew Madden, who drove a large
herd of his own shearing up that way
every spring al soon as the season
opened. Lew was Objectionable to her
in no other way than that he had tried
to make himself particularly agreeable
to her, with the result that she had
sent him about his business. She
could hardly have told why she had
done this, for Lew was big and strong
and looked finer in his saddle thar
any other man in Juab county. Prob
ably she had refused him because he
had taken her for granted. Being ia
ken for granted was very odious tt
her.
Sing hey for the range! The sprins
vas in May WINDOWS blood when she
set out mounted on Fidget, her COW
boy hat tapping in the wind that blew
down from the cool uplands and he,
gray eyes alive with the thrill of thu
start. She rode beside the Brickers
while Uri and Zeke drove In the cam
wagons for the first few tame mile
along the lane from Zephi, the meel
sheep trotting passively ahead.
By evening they were well up int,
the foothills, having forced the shee]
forward at a very good pace.
Next morning Uri decided to tax,
the trail over the ridge. While 1t wa
steep and rough it cut off about eigh
miles Of the journey to the Sky-Mead
ow country and when they made cam
that night Zeke decided Lew Maddel
was a good five miles behind. :
"Coo-ee! Coo-ee!" yelled Uri as Ma.
Joined him. "The Madden outfit mus
abound another cutoff. But they'l
never get in ahead O us. See. Their
smokes. He pointed to where two cur
ing columns rose on the far side of tn
ridge. Wen drive EN- to the tor
hot-foot, an then along up the hos
back to the medder. They won't 81
in ahead O. us"
The spirit of the range was strong i
May. Her blood mounted warmly, an
her horse pressed sharply upon tn
sheep, while her voice rang loud an
clear.
But when the rapidly moving mas
of white backs scurried through tn
scrub pines near the top, not half
mile away owe the hill, she hear
faint sounding "Coo-ees!" that wer
growing nearer and coming up tn
ridge.
Xxi 49, vs. . WMMFMl HNH. .M i.
"Madden's herders, for money!" sh
heard Uri yell. But we'll git |
ahead. They won't dast come muc