Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1915-03-12


a good partner, Miss Owen"
Would you promise to be as faith
full as you have been the past three
weeksf"
IN promise anything if you'll let
me stay" he retorted, with sudden
reeklessness, and Mollie at once dis
continued the personal circuit.
II.
She took him at his word. Dewing
was bought out the following week.
and Crittenden became partner at the
Upper Bend. Tacitly a basis of
friendship had been established be-
tween the two, however. He rarely
came to the home ranch. but spent his
time at the sheep camp. Mollie did
not mind not so very much.
One morning he rode back with a
brown and yellow pansy In the button
hole of his gray flannel shirt. The
dnsky petals reminded him of Mollie's
eyes.
That evening Mollie went out in the
moonlight and looked longingly up the
valley toward the sheep camp, four
miles away on the mountain side. She
caught a glimpse of the possible fu-
ture and bent to find another brown
and yellow pansy. warming to her fin-
ger tips at her own thoughts.
Instead. she found C~rittenden's latest
letter from London. carefully folded
as it had fallen from his pocket.
She sat down on the low stoop, chin
on palm. weighing her loves worth.
III the clear moonlight Lin Dewing
found her there. Mollie barely listen
ed while he explained how he had rid
den fifteen miles out of his way to see
her.
ITS on account of this here Critten.
den you've taken in as partner, Mol
lie." he told her. You've turned the
whole thing over to him, and he's made
a mess of it. The boys won't stand
for him any more. They're riding to.
night to clear him out of the valley,
and Goldspur''-
what. are you talking about, Lin
Dewing7' gasped Mollie holly, crush.
ing the letter in her hand. You know
he's never done a thing that was
crooked
HE don't know the game nor the
rules of sheep grazing. He's trespass.
ed on cattle land. The boys win make
him see light,''
1T isn't them-it's you, Lin Dew.
ing!'
Mollie caught up a lantern and start
ed ON a run for the corral. After het
went Lin. his horse following leisurely.
Neither spoke. He knew what she
meant to do. AS she seized the bride
and saddle from their hooks he caught
her arm.
Don't be a fool. kidd You can't stop
them now. What do you want with
him anyhow? only pushed you hard
on the payments because l wanted you
to have to ask me for help
Heaven help anybody who had to
ask you for help. You let me go!'
Il won't. Yell, yell all you want to-"
Mollie tore her wrist from his grasp
and whistled. Lin swung around at
the answering barks. but the big wolf
hounds were on him, and he went
down like a worried fox.
watch him, Scraggs!' Mollie called.
Easy. Monk. just watch him! Don't
let him get away!'
The pony was on its way before het
right foot had caught the stirrup, and
she bent low, laughing recklessly, ev.
cry nerve on fire at the thought OF
what lay ahead. She knew Lin Dew
ing and his crowd of men. They
would clean Out the sheep camp with.
out a qualm unless she could reach II
in time to warn Crittenden and the
herders.
So it happened that when the raid.
ers rode over the rim of the foothill
and looked down at the sheep, close
huddled in the moonlight, they met a
surprise. Mollie had begged for a re.
volver.
Its half my property and half my
fight" she told Crittenden. Il want to
help"
time to get the saddle off her steaming
pony and sling a n across its
back before Dewing's men came. but
even in those precious moments he had
managed to make her understand what
her coming meant to him.
But the fight was his own. Brief as
it was a keener sense of enjoyment
swept over him than he had known in
years. He WIS fighting for more than
Mollie's rights-for his own new hopes
and ambitions.
When it was over he m the herd
ers to look after the three silent figures
that lay OH the moonlight splashed hill
side and turned to Mollie. She saw his
eyes and the great longing in them
and handed him the letter from her
blouse.
Il found it by the pansy bed, John"
she told him with her old directness.
81 1sI,se ,..,1 "a IA,A - I.okto-o1 ~