Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1918-02-19
CHAPTER xiv.
Billy Louise Gets a Surprise.

heart because her crowding doubts
and suspicious had suddenly de
veloped into black certainty just when
she had thought them dead forever
Billy Louise rode up the narrow,
rocky gorge. She had come to have a
vague comprehension of the teInpta-
ton Ward must have felt. She had
come to accept pityingly the possibility
that the canker of old influences had
eaten more deeply than appeared on
the surface. She had set herself
Stanchly beside him as his frien0, who
would help him win back, his self
respect. She felt sure that he must
suffer terribly with that keen. analyti-
cal mind of his, when he stopped to
think at all. He had no warped ethics
wherewith to ease his conscience. She
knew his ideas of right and wrong
were as uncOmprOmising as her own
and If he stole cattle, he did it with
his eyes wide open to the wrong he
was doing. And yet
That's bad enough, but to try and
fasten evidence on someone else y
Billy Louise gritted her teeth over the
treachery of 1t. She believed he had
done that very thing. How could she
help it? She had seen the corral and
had seen Ward ride away from it IN
the dusk of the evening; or lie te-
lieved she had seen him, which was
the same thing. And she knew what
lay behind him. Was his version of
the past after all the correct one?
Might not the paragraph she had
burned been nothing more than the
truth?
Billy Louise fought for him; fought
with her stern, youthful judgment
which was so uncOmprOmising. 1t takes
years of close contact with life to
give one a sure understanding of hu-
man weakness and human endeavOr.
At the ford, when Blue would have
crossed and taken the trail home, Billy
Louise reined him impulsively the
other way. Until that instant she had
not intended to seek Ward, but once
her fingers had twitched the reins
against Blues neck, she did not hest
tate; she did not even argue with her
self. She just glanced up at the sun,
saw that it was not yet noOn-so much
may happen In two or three hours -
and sent Blue up the hill at lOpe.
She did not know what she would
do or what she would say when she
saw Ward.
The two mares fed dispiritedly at
the lowest corner of the field, their
hair rough with exposure to the Win
ter winds and the storms, their ribs
showing. With all the hay he had put
up. Ward might at least keep his
horses in better shape, Billy Louise
Censured, as she passed them by.
Farther along, Billy Louise heard a
welcoming nicker and turned her head,
Here came Rather, thin-flanked and
gulley TO meet Blue. The two horses
Chummed together whenever Ward
was at the Wolverine. Billy Louise
pulled up and waited till Rather
reached her. He and Blue rubbed
noses, and Blue laid back his ears and
shook his head with teeth barred, in
playful pretense of anger. Rather
kicked up his heels in disdain at the
threat and trotted alongside them.
Billy Louise rode with puckered eye
brows. Ward might neglect mis- stock,
but he would never neglect Rather
like this. And he must be at home,
since here was his horse. Or else q.
She struck Blue suddenly with her
rein-ends and went Gathering up the
trail where the snow lay in shaded,
Crusty patches trimmed with dirt. The
trail was untracked save by the loose
stock. Where was Ward? What had
happened TO him2 She looked again
at Rather. There was no sign of re-
cent saddle marks along his side, no
telltale imprint of the cinch under his
belly. Where was Ward7
Blind, unreasoning terror filed Billy
Louise She struck Blue again and
plunged into the Icy creek crossing
near the stable She stopped there
just long enough to see how empty
and desolate it was, and how the
horses and cattle had huddled against
its sheltering wall out of the biting
winds; and how the door was shut
and fastened so that they could not
get in. She opened 1t and looked in,
and shut 1t again. Then she turned
and ran, white-faced to the cabin
Where was Ward? What had hap
pened to Ward? Thief or honest man,
treacherOus or true-what had hap
pened to him?
Billy Louise saw tire doorstep banked
over with old, crusted snow. Her
heart gave a jump and stopped still,
She felt her knees shake under her.
Her face seemed TO pinch together, the
flesh clinging close TO the bones. Her
whole being seemed TO contract with
the. deadly fear that gripped her. 1t
was like that ChiI morning when she
rad crept out of her cot and gone over
TO NOMINEES bed and had lifted NOM
mics hand that was hanging down.
She came to herself; she was run
ming up the creek, away from the
cabin. Running and stumbling over
rocks, and getting tripped with her
riding skirt. She stopped, as soon as
she realized what she was doing; she
stopped and stood with her hands
pressed hard against each side of her
face, forcing herself TO calmness again
or at least TO sanity. She had 10 20
back. She told herself SO, many times.
So Billy Louise went back TO the
cabin, slowly, with shaking legs and
a heart that fluttered and stopped.
fluttered and jumped and stopped, and
made her stagger as she walked. She
reached the doorstep and stood there
with her palms pressing hard against
her cheeks again. you've got TO do
1t. You've got tor she whispered TO
herself commandingly.
she never doubted that Ward was
inside. She thought she would find
him dead-dead and horrible, perhaps.
No other solution seemed TO fl the
circumstances. He was in there, dead.