The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1911-01-12
THE EVENING STORY
That LocIa-Party.
dow MichaeI Porter.l

l
81 wonder what makes the dance
music sound so sad said Dot La
zelle.
Its because you're going away
from u.s. replied Bud Pearce.
| Miss Lazelle shook her head. bud,
you mean all right, but you can't talk
romance CONTINGENCY. If you were a
poor cowboy and loved me-
But am a poor cowboy and DO
love you!" interrupted the indignant
Bud.
Behind them in the ranch house the
| fddles walled sadly. Before them
miles of level prairie stretched away,
beautiful and mysterious under the
brilliant moon. But Dot felt that the
| beauty and the mystery were sham,
for by day the vast plain was ugly and
dry and dusty. She was glad she was
going away from ito New York ana
( across the ocean. Though after time
she would be glad to come back to 1t
and Bud.
You may think you love me-" she
replied, calmly; ''but you're not a poor
cowboy. Papa and you, between you,
own most of three counties. A poor
cowboy-why, Bud. you're almost
millfonairei'
Bud hung his head apologetically.
! I'm sorry. Dot he said. This COW
business either makes a man poor or
makes him rich. He can't help him
!
| against me-"
"Oh, don't exactly hold it against
you,'' replied the girl, her eyes still
| dreamily fixed on the far horizon. "But
! II you were poor and prosecuted by my
| father. and dashed in and carried me
away like young Lochinvar-"
Bud turned to her. "Say, Dot he
| asked ominously, who's this-this
to me haven't met him infesting this
| ranch. Is he one of those Houston
dudes? %
Dot laughed. mo. Bud; Lochinvar
dead a few score years-if he ever
really lived. Sir Walter Scott wrote a
poem about him. Do you want to
hear it?''
Bud; sure I'd like to hear about him.
I'm partial to this poetry stuff
So she recited 'Lochinvar' spiritedly.
She might have faltered a bit had she
II noted how Buds handsome, boyisn
face stiffened into lines of resolution,
and how his eyes frightened as he
looked off across the prairie toward
where the village of Ok Bow squatted,
four miles away. For preacher lived
at Ok Bow. Bud frightened his belt
Say" he said enthusiastically, when
she had finished, that Loeb party sure
was a two-handed man, Ran away
from the whole roundup; must have
had some boss! He was there with hts
na1r IN a Drd1Q, all right. western
man, did 1 hear you say .
80, young Lochinvar is come out
of the west,'' quoted Dot, smiling.
Speaking of hosses,'' resumed Bud;
81 got a new .cayuse yesterday; traded
with Brazos Smith. Brazos says give
! him ten feet start and he can beat a
bullet over the state line. Come and
see him, Dot"
: They strolled around the corner of
the ranch house to where a bunch Of
IT.
stood patiently waiting for the return
of their masters. They had come far,
some of them. The Lazelles were just
ly popular in the district, and they
!, We're leaving in the morning for a trip
| abroad. Everybody was at the going
away party
The crafty Bud expatiated on the
points of his rangy cayuse. and Doe
: agreed with keen appreciation for she
loved a good horse. She was easily per-
. suaded to mount and try him. Bud
gathered up the reins for her as he
!. talked. The fiddles walled family; the
bland moon grinned-
Bud was on the horses back behipf!
q her with bound. He slipped his arms
about her and seized the reins; they
: were off at a run toward the distant
: lights of Ok Bow.
Dot cried out once, little scream
: more of anger and amazement than
fear After that she struggled silently
but desperately Soon the cow-man
was forced to abandon the reins in
e order to keep her from leaping from
= / the saddle. He guided the cayuse by
the pressure of his knees alone The
= night air rushed by. The pony was
o covering the ground with surprising
speed.
s sLet-me-go," painted the girl a
i last, as she wriggled and twisted and
fought with all her young strength
e "Let-me-go, YOU coward"
r It'll gamble that Loeb party's CIR
didn't say anything like that to him,
: was Buds only rejoinder.
e Hickory Fisher had come out of tht
f ranch house for a breath of fresl
air and smoke. He heard Dots or,
3 and saw the pony start With {
e whoop that brought the other merry
e makers tumbling out like a stamped
= ing herd, he vaulted onto his own pony
and was away in pursuit. reins loos,
T in one hand and a frontier gun hal
e as long as his arm in the other
e Hickory's mount. in the vernacular
/ was "some hoss." too; and it WASH
long before he gained on Buds cayus,
and its double burden. whereupon h.
gave the high-pitched yowl of tn,
+ | cowboy, partially to reassure Dot AM
d partially out of sheer joy of the pros
: pective fight.
a His yell spurred Buds horse t.
v greater exertions. For half mil
they Numbered along, Hickory tel
g yards YARDS behind and unable to gail
s an men. strung out along the moon
d lit prairie were the others giving al
d exhibition of wild riding that woul
Il have brought casual spectator u
# onto his toes
Il Dot still. fought her captor, but he
!. struggles lost some of their early vigo
]. when she saw they were pursued ]
IS is one thing to be carried off to rnatri
IT mony against your will and quite an
: other to have your friends attempt
Is rescue which means the shooting u
,e of your abdHctor. who really isn't
d bad fellow, after all
10 Bangi The pursuing Hickory snapsho,
< ted when Buds hand was thrown out I
maintain his threatened balance. The re
- port was followed by a swear word frof
Bud. Suspecting what had happened
Dot looked down apprehensively to see
dark spot growing on her captor's sleev,
He was wounded.