Meade County news., 1918-04-04
CHAPTER XIV.


FRIGHTENED, worried, sick at
heart because her crowding doubts
and suspicious had suddenly de
Veloped into black certainty just wher
she had thought them dead forever
Billy Louise rode up the narrow
rocky gorge. She had come to have Q
vague comprehension of the tempta
<ion 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 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 uncompromising as her own,
aud If he stole cattle, he did 1t 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 r.
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-
iieved 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
t1uth2
Billy Louise fought for him; fought
with her stern, youthful judgment
which was 80 uncompromislng. 1t takes
years of close contact with life to
give one sure understanding of hu-
man we"R1ess and human endeavor.
At the ord, 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 hesi-
tate; she did not even argue with her
self. She just glanced up at the sun,
saw that 1t 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
welcoming nicker and turned her head.
Here came Rather, thin-nanked and
rough-coated, trotting down 4 shallow
Eulley 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
Feln-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 Ward1 What had
happened to him2 She looked again
ut Rather. There was no sign Of re-
cent saddle marks along his side, no
telltale imprint Of the clnch under his
belly. Where was Ward?
Blind, unreasoning terror filled 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 1t was, and how the
horses and cattle had huddled against
It's sheltering 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 was Ward7 What had hap
oened to Ward1 Thief or honest man,
:reacherous or true-what had hap l
1ened to him1 I
Billy Louise saw the doorstep banked I
,ver with old, crusted snow. Her l
leart gave q jump and stopped still
She felt her knees shake under her.
Her face seemed to pinch together, the
lesh clinging close to the bones. Her
Whole being seemed to contract with I
he deadly fear that gripped her. It /
vas like that chill morning when she
md crept out Of her cot and gone over ]
o mommie's bed and had lifted NOM I
nie's hand that was hanging down. .. v
She came to herself; she was rum
ing up the creek, away from the y
l..