Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1918-01-12
CHAPTER "!

| III
~HE spring had come, and Wolver-
inc canyon, with the sun shining
down aslant into its depths, was
a picturesque cash In the hills. wild
enough In all conscience, but to the
normal person not in the least degree
gloomy. The jutting crags were sun
lit and warm. The cherry thickets
whispered In light breeze and shell
tered birds that sang In perfect con-
tent. Not a gloomy place surely when
the peace Of a sunny morning laid Its
spell upon the land.
Billy Louise, however, did not re-
spond to the canyons enticements. She
brooded over her own discouragements
and the tantalizinS little puzzles which
somehow would not lend themselves to
any convincing solution. She was In
that condition Of nervous depression
where she saw her finest cows dead by
bloat In the alfalfa meadows-and how
would she pay that machinery note
then? She saw John Pringle calling
UNEXPECTEDLY and insistently for his
time" and where would she find an
other man whom she could trust out
of her sight? John Pringle was. slow,
and he was stupid and growled at poor
Phoebe till Billy Louise wanted to
shake him, but he was STEADY" and
that one virtue covers many a mans
faults and keeps him drawing wages
regularly.
Her mother had been more and more
inclined to worry as the hot weather
came on. Lately her anxiety over
small things had rather got upon the
nerves Of Billy Louise. She felt Ill
used and downhearted and as If moth
ing mattered much anyway. She pass
ed her cave with mere glance and
scowl for the memories Of golden days
In her lonely childhood that chung
around 1t.
T She was In this particularly dissatis-
fed mood when she rode out OF the
canyon at its upper end, where the
hills folded softly down into grassy
valleys where her cattle loved best to
Craze. Since the grass had started In
the spring she had kept her little herd
up here among the lower hills. and by
riding along the higher ridges every
day or 20 and turning back q wander
Ing animal now and then she had held
them In a comparatively small area,
where they would be easily gathered In
the fall. A few head Of Seabeck's stock
had wandered In among hers and some
Of Marthy's. And there was big roam
steer that bore the brand Of johnson.
over on Snake river. Billy Louise
knew them all. as housewife knows
her flock of chickens, and II she missed
seeing certain leaders In the scattered
groups she rode until she found them.
Two old cows and one big red steer
that seemed always to have a follow
ing wore bells that tinkled pleasant
little sounds in the alder thickets along
the creek as she passed by.
She rode up the long ridge which
gave her a wide View Of the surround
ing hills and stopped Blue, while she
stared modify at the familiar, shadow
splotched expanse Of high piled ridges,
with deep, green valleys and deeper
hued canyons between. She loved
them, every one. But today they fall
ed to steep her senses in that deep con-
tent with life which only the great out
doors can give to one who has learned
how satisfying is the draft and how
soothing.
Far over to the eastward black dot
moved up a green slope and slid out Of
sight beyond. That might be Ward
taking q short cut across the bill to bis
claim beyond the pine dotted ridge thst
looked purple in the distance. Billy
Louise sighed with q vague disQuiet
and turned to look away to the north,
where the tumble Of high hills grew
more rugged, with the valleys narrow
et and deeper.
Here came two other dots, larger and
more clearly defined as horsemen.
From mere objects that stood higher
than any animal and moved with q
purposeful directness they presently
became men who rode with the easy
swing Of habit which has become .
second nature. They must have seen
her sitting still upon her horse in the
midst of that high, sunny plateau, for
they turned and rode up the slope to-
ward her.
Billy Louise waited, too depressed to
wonder greatly who they were. Sea-
beck riders probably. And so they
proved. At least one Of them was q
Seabeck man-Floyd Carson, who had
talked with her at her own gate and
had told her Of the suspected cattle
stealing. The other man was stran-
ger, whom Floyd introduced as Mr..
Birken.
They had been "prowling around"