Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1916-05-24
CHAPTER MI.
IN THE WOODS.

que IN large measure to the resentment
and desire of personal evenge of one
man.
That man was the cowpuncher, Bill
Grange, who had been taken on the RAJ
coon river outfit upon his dismissal
from the Loop. He had always been
an unpopular member of the Loop out
fit; and though not the sort Of man of
whom q dangerous criminal is usually
made, he was crafty and revengeful
over petty affronts.
Buck Brannon had incurred his jeal-
GUS enmity through Kilrain's marked
favor for the younger man.
His one attempt to render himself
an object of interest to Jess had been
nipped so ruthlessly in the bud that,
although Grange had never repeated
the audacity, he a never forgotten
the discontinue. He had lent him
self readily as an informer to Blass
C%ardross, INC it had been his fate to
meet disaster once again through Jess
kilrain's influence and her father.
Therefore. Grange had resolved to
harry the Loop to the limit of which
he might go with a due regard to his
w safety.
In this he succeeded in various WAYS.
nor at first did they at the Loop sus-
pect the source of the a~nnoyances. Cat
Tie ounded up for a certain purpose
overnight would be found scattered in
wild disorder in the morning.
They, suspected the Raccoon River
sheep dogs, but not as melted thereto
by a human marauder.
me milk COWS turned out overnight
IN the home runs would come up in the
morning to their calves wild eyed and
with scant milk, as though they had
been chased n terrified, and again
suspicion fell on the dogs. Now and
then, as of old, the slaughtered carcass
OF a calf would be discovered, sure sign
OF the presence on the Loop Of a MUIR
dering collie.
Then other things happened for
which a dog could not be blamed. A
shei1er house near the Raccoon River
Dorder burned down. Barbed wire
fences were cut and ruined.
Inc obnoxious sheep again began
their invasions; and in one conflict, en-
SUNG petWeen a vicious old ram and
d lohShorn bull more pugnacious than
wary, the bull had been left dead on
nero stampeded across the Owl creek,
where a steer. breaking over the low
bank, had plunged to his death in one
OF Bucks sunken h%ogsheads.
1t was Jess Kilrain who first defin-
ltely connected Grange with these and
other similar happenings.
That autumn morning the girl had
rldden out into the woods about the
creek where the persimmons. touched
by successive frosts, hung luscious
upon the trees or were dropping over
ripe 10 the ground. Pecan nuts, too,
glorylng in the crisp day. happy in her
sen imposed solitude. hitched her pony
10 a sapling, and, seating herself by he
trunk OF a cottonwood, cracked her Pc
cans in a dreamy leisure.
she was nursing these lays to her
heart.
Like a ripening flower, her own love
was coming to it's perfection. She
guarded 1T jealousy as yet-guarded it
TOT the fu!flllment of it's promise. She
sun held herself aloof from Buck, not
in coyness, nor in %coauetry. but as one
fingers on the threshold Of a Joy, all
most afraid to profane it by a glimpse
within.
III knew she could not continue to
hold herself SO for long.
More than once she had encountered
a look of determination in Bucks ewes
that had rendered her resistance as wa
ter In her veins. Since that day when
she a lain in his arms, there would
now and then come into his face a hint
OF conscious mastery that, had he but
known 1T. was as sweet as life to the
lrl-wa life in it's tremulous delight
and foreshadowing of a glad surrender.
Jess paused with the half of a pecan
on the way to her lips, and turned her
head slightly.
n could almost have been sure she
a heard a step in the dead leaves Of
the woods above her. Her pony, with
dropping head, stood immovable, its
ears. which had been indicating the ha-
bitual apathy of the COW pony when
not In movement. now alert.
What Is it, Buster?" she asked, and
saw the ears answer at the name.
Il reckon it's a rabbit, or a coon, or
a possum that can't wait till night to
get some of them sugary Simmons. But
it amt, thought"
There was more than surprise in the
sudden decision which, at the same
time, brought Jess to her feet.
There might have been nothing UNI
usual or to be startled by in the fact
of a man being in those woods at that
hour. but intuitively the girl felt there
was something to cause both surprise
and concern in the sudden turning
run almost upon her n her pony be-
fore aware of their proximity.
Something furtive, too, about the
mans action in quickly shifting the OBJ
ject he carried across the saddle horn.
n his s%louching body. gave Jess an
unpleasant shock.
bill Grange!" she called sharply.
What are you dom in these woods
with that brandin' rod?"
The man swung the long iron over
his shoulder n spun around.
What's that to ou, Jess Kilrain ?''
he demanded. Am I soilin' this prec-
ious land to ride over it?"
Jess climbed the slope that lay be-
tween them.
I'm not so sure that you amt, Bill.
Somebody's been soilin' 1t pretty often
lately. That's q Racoon River iron,'
she said, looking sharply from the
branding rod to the mans face. What
does you need It Owe on the Loop for ?'
The man laughed with a cover In
science.
Time was" he retorted. when you