Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1918-02-01

for once, I should think. There's cattle
down there in that bottom, sure as you
live. And we, my dear sir, are going
down there and take a look at them"
She managed to pull Blue down to
stiff-legged jumps and then to a walk.
Finally she stopped him, SO that she
could the better take in her surround
ings and the possibilities Of getting
down.
Blue had caught sight of the moving
specks far down next the river and up
the stream half a mile or more. He
was a cow-horse to the bone. He knew
those far-off specks for cattle, and he
knew that his lady would like a closer
look at them.
Blue chose his trail and crumpled
at the knees with his hoofs on the very
edge of the ledge; went down with a
cat-jump and landed with all four feet
planted close together. He had no
mind to go on sliding in spite Of him
self, and the bluff was certainly steep
enough to excuse q bungle.
1t was with a distinct air of triumph
that Blue reached the bottom, ever
though he slid the last forty feet on
his launches and landed belly-deep in
a soft %snowbank. 1t was with triumph
to match his perky ears that Billy Lou
Use leaned and slapped him on the
neck. "We made it !" she cried, land
I didn't have to walk a step, did 1,
Blue? You're there with the goods,
all right"
Blue scrambled out of the bank to
firm footing IN the ripened grass of
the bottom, and with a toss of his head
set off in a swinging lope, swerving
now and then to avoid a badger hole
or a ~half-sunken rock. They had done
something new, those two; they had
reached a place where neither had ever
been before, and Blue acted as if he
knew it and gloried in the escapade
quite as much as did his lady. E.
The cattle spied them and went trot-
ting away up the river, and Blue quick
Sned his stride a little and followed
after. Billy Louise left the reins upon
his neck. Blue could handle cattle
alone quite as skillfully as with a
rider, If he chose.
The cattle began to swerve away
from them, closer to the river. Blue
pulled ahead a little, swerving also,
and as Billy Louise frightened the
reins, he slowed and circled them craft
lily until they huddled ON the steep
bank, uncertain which way to go. Billy
Louise pulled Blue down to a walk as
she drew near and eyed the cattle
sharply. They did not look like any of
hers, after all. There were five dry
cows and two steers.
One of the steers stood broadside
to Billy Louise. The brand stared out
spicuous thing about him. BILLY Lou
Use caught her breath. There was no
faintest line that failed to drive its
message into her range-trained brain.
She stared and stared. Blue looked
around at her inquiringly, reproach-
fully. Billy Louise sent him slowly
forward and stirred up the hoddled
little bunch. She read the brand on
each one; read the story they shouted
at her, of bungling theft.
Finally she swung Blue On the down.
stream side and shouted the range
cattle cry. The animals turned awk-
wardly and went upstream, as they
had been going before Billy Louise
stopped them. Blue followed watch
fully after, content with the game he
was playing. Where the bluffs drew
close again to the river, the cattle
climbed to a narrow, shelving trail
picking their way carefully along the
bluff. Below them it fell sheer to the
river; above them it rose steeply, a
blackened tumble, save where the now
of the last storm lay drifted. /.
Billy Louise had never known there
was a trail up this gorge. She eyed 1t
critically and saw where boulders had
its passage possible. Her lips were
set close together and they still bore
the imprint of her contempt.
She thought of Ward. Mentally she
abased herself before him because of
her doubts. How she had dared think
him a thief? Her brave buckaroo I
And she had dared think he would
steal cattlei Her very remorse was
a whip to lash her anger against the
guilty. She hurried the cattle along
the dangerous trail, impatient of their
cautious pace.
Since she had closed up on the
cattle and had read on their sides the
shameful story of theft, Billy Louise
had known that she would eventually
come out at the lower end of the Cove /;
and that in spite of the fact that the
Cove was not supposed to have any
egress save through the gorge. What
surprised her was the short distance +;
she had not realized that the bluff
and the upland formed a wide curve,
and that she had cut the distance al
most in half by riding next the river.
She seemed In no doubt as to what
she would do when she arrived. Billy