Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1918-02-22

lie"
"Yes," said Marthy harshly, sit was
all Charlie. He was a thief, an l was
sech a simple-minded old fool l never
knowed what he was. 1 let him go
ahead, an I set in the house with a
white apurn tied on me an thought l
was havin' an easy time. I set here
and let him rob my neighbors that l
amt never harmed er cheated out of
a cent, and soon's he thought he was
found out, he-left ole Marthy to look
after herself. Never so much as fed
the hogs or done the milkin' first !
Looky here, Seabecki You'll git paid
back, an I'll take your figgers fer what
I owe, but If you git after Charlie,
Tll-kill yuh. You let i'm go. I'm the
one he hurt most-and l amt goin'-"
She laid her frowsy old head on her
arms, like one who is utterly crushed
and dumb.
"Oh, Marthy! !" Billy Louise knelt
and threw her arms aronnd Marthy's
shoulders.
Marthy's chin began to culver. Her
lips sagged with the pull of her aching
heart. For the third time in her life
Billy Louise saw big, slow tears gather
in Marthy's hard blue eyes and slide
down the leathery seams in her cheeks.
Billy Louise looked, found her vision
blurring with her OWL tears, and
turned from the room.
Seabeck was. gone somewhere on his
horse. Billy Louise guessed shrewdly
that he was down in the meadows,
looking over the cattle and trying to
estimate the extent of the thievery.
She put Blue in the stable and fed
him, with that half-mechanical habit
of attending to the needs of ones
mount which becomes second nature to
the range-bred. She would not go on
to the Wolverine; that needed no de-
cision; she accepted 1t at one as q
fact. Marthy needed her now more
than anyone. More eve than Ward,
though Billy Louise hated to think
of hin thee alone and practically
helpless. But Marthy must have her
tonight. Marthy was facing her bit
terest sorrow since Minervey died, and
Marthy was old. Ward, Billy Louise
reminded herself sternly, was not old,
and he was facing happiness-so far
as he or anyone knew. She wanted
very much to be with Ward, but she
could not delude her conscience into
believing that he needed her more
than did Marthy.
Seabeck returned after q while, and
Billy Louise, who was watching from
the doorway, met him at the little gate
as he was coming up to the house.
swell, how bad is it, Mr.. Seabeck?"
she asked sharply, just because she
felt the imperative need of facts-she
who had struggled so long in the quick
sands of suspicion and doubts and
fears and suspense.
"Hmmm-mm-how bad is it-in the
house?" he countered. 'The real crime
has been committed there, it seems to
me. A few head Of cattle, more or less,
don't count for much against the bro
ken heart Of an old woman"
"Ohl" Billy Louise, her hands
clenched upon the gate, stared up
wide-eyed into his face. And this was
the real Seabeck, whom she had known
impersonally all her life! This was
the real man of him, whom she had
never known; a flawless diamond of a
soul behind those bright blue eyes and
that pointed, grazing beard; poet, phi
1osopher, gentleman to the bone. "Oh!
You saw that, too! And they're your
cattle that were stolen! You say it
oh, you're-you're-"
"Hmm-mm-a human being, I hope,
Miss Macdonald, as well as a mere
cattleman."
Marthy did not attempt to rise when
Seabeck followed Billy Louise into the
sitting room. She caught up her apron
and wiped her eyes. After that she
faced Seabeck with harsh composure
and waited for the settlement.
"Hmm-mml I have been looking
over the CATTLE" he began, sitting on
the edge of a chair and turning his
black hat absently round and round by
the brim. "You-mm-mm-you tell
me there were seven head of grown
stock
"That they shot and throwed in the
river, with the brands cut out" inter-
polated Marthy stolidly. 81 heard 'em
say that's how they would git rid of
'em, an I heard 'em shootin' down
there"
"Hmm-mm-yesl Do you know just
what"
'Five dry cows m two steers-long
t~wo-year-oles, I lodged 'em to be-"
Marthy was certainly prompt enough
and explicit enough. And her lips were
grim, and her faded blue eyes hard
and steady upon the face of Seabeck.
"Hmm-mm-yes! I find aiso," he
went on in his somewhat precise voice
that had earned him the nickname of
deacon" among his %punchers, shat
there are more young stock vented and
rebranded than I-er-so sold your