Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1909-08-25

grades nearing the lands of the Dun
ing ranch. Right-of-way men had been
working for months with Lance Dun
ming over the line and McCIoud had
been called frequently into consulta-
ton to adjust the surveys to obJec-
lions raised by Dicksie's cousin to the
crossing of the ranch lands. Even
when the proceedings had been closed,
strong current of discomfort set
from the managing head of the Stone
ranch. RumOrs of Lance Cummings
dissatisfaction often reached the rail-
road people. Vague talk of an extern
sive irrigation scheme planned by Sim
clair for the Crawling Stone valley
crept into the newspapers, and it was
generally understood that Lance Dun
ming had expressed himself favorably
to the enterprise.
Dicksie gave slight heed to matters
as weighty as these. She spent much
of her time on horseback, with Jim
under the saddle; and in Medicine
Bend, where she rode with frequency,
Marion's shop became her favorite
abiding place. Dicksie ordered hats
until Marion's conscience rose and she
practically refused to supply any
mere. But the spirited controversy
on this point, as on many others
Dicksie's haughtiness and Marion's re-
straint, quite unmoved by any show of
displeasure- always in drawing
the two closer to each other.
One March afternoon, coming home
from Medicine Bend, she saw at some
distance before her party of men on
horseback. She was riding a trail
leading from the pass road that fol
lowed the hills, and the party was
coming up the bridge road from the
lower ranch. Dicksie had good eyes,
and something unusual in the riding
of the men was soon apparent to her.
Losing and regaining sight of them at
different turns in the trail, she made
out, as she rode among the trees, that
they were cowboys of her own ranch
and riding, under evident excitement
about a strange horseman. She rec
ognized in the escort Stormy German,
the ferocious foreman of the ranch,
and Denison and Jim Baugh, two of
the most reckless of the men. These
three carried rifles slung across their
pommels, and in front of them rode
the stranger.
Fragments of the breakfast-table
talk of the morning came back to
Dicksie's mind. The railroad graders
were in the valley below the ranch,
and she had heard her cousin say a
good deal on a point she cared little
about, as to where the railroad should
cross the Stone ranch. Approaching
the fork of the two roads toward
which she and the cowboys were rid
ing, she checked her horse IN the
shade of a cottonwood tree, and as
the party rode up the draw she saw
the horseman under surveillance. 1t
was George McCloud.
Unluckily, as she caught a glimpse
of him she was conscious that he was
looking at her. She bent forward to
hide a momentary confusion, spoke
briskly to her horse. and rode out of
sight At Marion's she had carefully
avoided him. Her precipitancy at their
last meeting had seemed, on reflec-
ton, unfortunate. She felt that she
must have appeared to him shockingly
rude, and there was in her recalling Of
the scene an unconfessed impression
that she had been to blame. Often
when Marion spoke of him, which she
did without the slightest reserve and
with no reference as to whether Dick
sic liked it or not, it had been in Dick
sizes mind to bring up the subject Of
the disagreeable scene, hoping that
Marion would suggest a way for ma
king some kind of embarrassing
amends. But such opportunities had
slipped away unimproved, and here
was the new railroad superintendent,
whom their bluff neighbor Sinclair
never referred to other than as the
college guy, being brought apparently
as a prisoner to the Stone ranch.
Busted with her thoughts, Dicksie
rode slowly along the upper trails
until long detour brought her around
the corrals and in at the back Of the
house. Throwing her lines to the
ground, she alighted and through the
back porch door made her way unob-
served to her room. From the office
across the big hall she heard mems
voices in dispute, and she slipped into
the dining room, where she could hear
and might see without being seen.
The Office was filled with cowboys.
Lance Dunning, standing with cigar
in his hand and one leg thrown over
a corner of the table, was facing Nc
Cloud, who stood before him with his
hand on a chair. Lance was spec king
as Dicksie looked into the room, and
in curt tones: my men were acting
under my orders"
"You have no right to give such or
ders," McCloud said, distinctly, NOR
to detain me, nor to obstruct our free
passage along the right of way you
have agreed to convey to us under our
survey"
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