Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1918-02-22
cAApTrR XIV.
Billy Louise eeta ! susprIse.
u

heart because her crowd{ng doubts
and suspicious had suddenly de-
veloped into black certainty just when
she had tEpught tNem dead forever.
Billy Louise rode up the narrow.
rocky gorge. She had come to have a
vague comprehension Of the tempta-
ton Ward must have felt. she had
come to accept pityingly the possibility
that the c8nier of old Influences had
eaten more deeply than appeared on
the surface She had set herself
stanehly beside him as his friend, who
would help him win back bis 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
we're as uncompromising as her own
aud 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
faslen evidence on someone else =
Billy Louise gritted her teeth over the
treachery of 1t. She believed he had
done that very thing. How could she
sleIp it? She had seen the corral and
had seen Ward ride away from 1t in
the dusk Of the evening; or she be-
aieved she had seen him, which was
the same thing. And she knew what
tay 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 sure understanding of hui
man we~7-7ess and human endeavor.
At the I'D, when Blue would have
crossed and token the trail home, Billy
Louise refined him impulsively the
other way. Until that instant she had
not intended to seek Ward, but once
her fingers had twftched the reins
against Blues neck, she did not hesi-
tate; she did not even argue with her
self. She just glanced up ali the sun,
saw that it was not vet noon-so much
may happen in two or three hours -
and sent Blue up the hin at a lope.
She did not know what she would
10 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
= !, r4r fnf Tsih
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 niclSer and turned he. head
Here came Rather, thip.lianked and
rough-coated, trotting down shallow
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 his stock.
but he would never neglect Rather
like this. And he must be at home,
since here was his horse. Or else .. :.
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 untracfcd save by the loose
stock. Where was Ward? What had
happened to him? she looked again
at Rather. There was no sign Of re-
cent saddle marks along his side, no
feiltale imprint of the cinch under his
belly. Where was Ward?
Blind, unreasoning terror flied 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 iesolate it was, and how the
horses and cattle ha huddled against
2ts slIsltering wall out of the biting
winds and how the door was shut
and fastened so that they could not
get in She opened it and looked in.
and shut it again Then she turned
and ran, white-faced. to the cabin.
Where Yves Ward? What had hap
penesi to Ward2 THIEF or honest man,
treacnerous or true-what had hap
pencil to lirn9
Billy Lcuise saw the doorstep banked
over with old, crusted snow. Her
heart gave a lamp 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 chill morning when she
had erept out of her cot and gone over
70 mommie's bed and had lifted NOM
mics hand that was hanging down.
She came TO herself; she was rum
ning up the creek, away from the
aaEaf@f =