American Falls press. [volume] (American Falls, Idaho) 1907-1937, 1918-02-26

She changed still more In the next two
months. however. There was the strain
Of her mother s precarious health
which kept Billy Louise always on the
alert and always trying to hide her
fears. She must be quick to detect the
first symptoms Of a return attack OF
the illness, and she must not let her
mother suspect that there was danger
of a return. That much the doctor had
made plain to her
Besides that, there was an undercur-
rent Of gossip and rumors of cattle
stealing whenever a man stopped at
the ranch. 1t worried Billy Louise in
spite of her rebuilt belief in Ward.
Doubt would seize her sometimes in
spite Of herself, and she did not see
Ward often enough to let his PERSONAL
ty fight those doubts. She saw him
just once in the mex two months and
then only for an hour or so.
A man rode up one night and stayed
with them until morning, after the
open handed custom OF the range land.
Billy Louise did not talk with him very
much. He had shifty eyes and a
coarse, loose Tipped mouth and a thick
neck, and, girl-like, she took a violent
dislike to him. But John Pringle told
her afterward that he was Buck Olney,
the new stock inspector, and that he
was prowling around to see If he could
find out anything.
Billy Louise worried a good deal aft
er that. Once she rode out early with
the intention of going to Wards claim
to warn him. But three miles of saner
thought changed her purpose. She
dared not leave her mother all day, for
one thing, and for another she could
scarcely warn Ward without letting
him see that she felt be needed warn.
ing, and ever Billy Louise shrank from
! what might follow.
The stock inspector stopped again on
his way back to the railroad. Billy
Louise was so anxious that she smoth.
J cred her dislike and treated him nice
ly, which thawed the man to an alarm
: ing amiability. She questioned him art
~fully-trust Billy Louise for that-and
| she decided that the stock inspector
J was either a very poor detective or q
very good actor. He did not. for in
? stance, mention any corral hidden in
blind canyon away back in the hills
q and Billy Louise did not mention it
d, either. He had not found any worked
brands. he said. And he did not appear
to know anything further about Ware
than the mere fact of his existence.
ffTharofr a fo11ru~ ha1dfnn dCurn q
claim away over on Mill creek hi
had remarked. "Tll look him up whel
I l come back, though Seabeck says he'l
all right"
o Ward is all right" asserted Billy
a Louise rather unwisely.
Haven't a doubt of it. I though
maybe he might have seen something
that might give us a clew." Perhaps
the stock inspector was wiser than she
e gave him credit for being. He did no
at any rate pursue the subject any fur
ther until he found an opportunity t
V talk to Mrs. Macdonald herself. Thel
t he artfully mentioned the fellow Of
l. Mill creek, and because she did no
d know any reason for caution he got a.
e the Information he wanted and more
e for mommie was in one of her gal
rulous humors.
II After hat the days drifted quietl
for a month and grew nippier at eac
IS end and lazier in the middle, whic
meant that the short summer was owe
and hat fall was getting ready t
II paint the wooded slopes with her gay
est colors and that one must prepar
Z for the siege of winter.
k 1t was some time in the latter PAL
4 Of September that Billy Louise got u
'e in the middle of a frosty night becaus
d she heard her mother moaning. Tha
a. was the beginning. She sent John Of
before daylight for the doctor, and bl
d fore the next night she stood with he
d lips pressed together and watched tn
it doctor count NOMINEES pulse and tax
d mommie's temperature and drew in he
to breath hardly when she saw how Ion
is he studied the thermometer afte
Re ward.
Of There was a month or so of goin
to and fro on her toes and of watchin
n the clock with a mind to medicine gil
so ing. There were nights and nights an
1t nights when the cabin window winke
like a star fallen into the coulee froI
h. dusk to red dawn. Ward rode ov'
once, stayed all night and went hon
in a silent rage because he could n,
do a thing.
er There was a week of huctuatiI
IT hope and a time when the doctor sa.
II mOmmie must go to a hospital-Bois
since she had friends there. And the
ut
be ~
to >N- $%W