The circle banner. [volume] (Circle, Mont.) 1914-1939, 1918-02-22
CHAPTER XIV.
Billy Louise Gets a Surprise.

heart because her crowding doubt
and suspicious had suddenly dc
veloped into black certainty just whe
she had thought them dead forever
Billy Louise rode up the narrow
rocky gorge. She had come to have
vague comprehension Of the tempta
ton Ward must have felt. She hat
come to accept pityingly the possibilit.
that the canker of old influences ha(
eaten more deeply than appeared or
the surface. She had set herself
stanchly beside him as his friend, 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 uncompFomising as her own,
aud If he stole cattle, he did it with
his eyes wide open to the wrong he
was doing. And yet
CHATS bad enough, but to try and
gasten evidence on someone else 7"
Billy Louise gritted her teeth over the
treachery of it. 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 she be-
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 q sure understanding of hui
man we"17ess and human endeavor.
At the ord, when Blue would have
crossed and taken the trail home, Billy /
Louise refined him impulsively the .
other way. Until that instant she had .
not intended to seek Ward. but once .
tle~ 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
10 or what she would say when she
saw Ward.
The two mares fed dispiritedly at
he lowest corner of the field, their
lair rough with exposure to the win
er winds and the storms, their ribs
moving. With all the hay he had put
lp, Ward might of least keep his
lorses in better shape, Billy Louise
ensured, as she passed them by.
Farther along, Billy Louise heard a
Welcoming nicker and turned her head. !
Here came Rather, thin-flanked and :
ough-coated, trotting down shallow 9
ulley to meet Blue. The two horses
hummed together whenever Ward
yas at the Wolverine. Billy Louise
ulied up and waited till Rather
cached her. He and Blue rubbed
oses, and Blue laid back his ears and
hook his head with teeth barred, in
layful pretense of anger. Rather
Icked up his heels in disdain at the
treat and trotted alongside them.
Billy Louise rode with puckered eye
'ows. Ward might neglect his stock, :
1t he would never neglect Rather
re this. And he must be at home, +
nee here was his horse. Or else 49,.
She struck Blue suddenly with her
in-ends and went Gathering up the l
all where the snow lay in shaded, .
usty patches trimmed with dirt. The Z
all was untracked save by the loose K
Dck. Where was Ward? What had T
opened to him? She looked again |.
Rather. There was no sign Of re- +
ut saddle marks along his side, no S
ltale imprint of the cinch under MS s
lily. Where was Ward? 5
Blind, unreasoning terror filed Billy 3
'uise. She struck Blue again and +
unged into the icy creek crossing +
ar the stable. She stopped there
st long enough to see how empty |
d desolate it was, and how the |
rises and cattle had huddled against L
sheltering wall out of the biting
nds; and how the door was shut
d fastened so that they could not w
In. She opened 1t and looked In, Oh
d shut it again. Then she turned la'
d ran, white-faced, to the cabin. ed
here was Ward? What had hap bill
ned to Ward? Thief or honest man, kit
acherous or true-what had hap rol
led to him? ca
Billy Louise saw the doorstep banked ale
sr with old, crusted snow. Her me
art gave jump and stopped still. ba
e felt her knees shake under her. hir
r face seemed to pinch together, the l
sh clinging close to the bones. Her Jur
ole being seemed to contract with I'm
!, deadly fear that gripped her. 1t bu'
8 like that chill morning when she
] crept out Of her cot and gone over Tn
NOMINEES bed and had lifted NOM Fo,
e's hand that was hanging down. -. wa
She came to herself; she was rum Ses
e up the creek, away from the yot
lin. Running and stumbling over the
KS, and getting tripped with her ha7
Ing skirt. She stopped, as soon as If
, realized what she was doing; she MI
pped and stood with her hands I'd
u IL L CO