The Dolores star., 1918-03-15

message Into her range-trained brain
She stared and stared. Blue looked
around at her inquiringly. reproach-
fully. Billy Louise sent him slowly
forward and stirred mp the hoddled
little bunch. She read the brand on
each one; read the story they shouted
at her. Of bungling theft.
Finally she swung Blue on the down
stream side and shouted the range
cattle cry. The animals turned awk-
wardly and went upstream. as they
had been going before Billy Louise
stopped them. Blue followed watch.
fully after. content with the game he
was playing. Where the BLUFFS drew
close again to the river. the cattle
climbed to Q narrow, shelving trail
picking their way carefully along the
blum. Below them 1t fell sheer to the
river; above them It rose steeply, a
blackened tumble, save where the snow
Of the last storm lay drifted.
Billy Louise had never known there
was trail up this gorge. She eyed It
critically and saw where boulders had
uccu iuONcu ucEc uuu thcFc " Auuhe
its passage possible. Her lips were
set close together and they still bore
the imprint Of her contempt.
She thought of Ward. Mentally she
abased herself before him because of
her doubts. How she had dared think
him q theft Her brave buckaroo
And she had dared think he would
steal cattle! Her very remorse was
whip to lash her anger against the
guilty. She hurried the cattle along
the dangerous trail, impatient of their
cautious pace. '
Since she had closed mp on the
cattle and had read on their sides the
shameful story Of theft, Billy Louise
had known that she would eventually
come out at the lower end Of the Cove ;
and that in spite of the fact that the
Cove was not supposed to have any
egress save through the gorge. What
surprised her was the short distance
she had not realized that the bluff
md the upland formed a wide curve,
and that she had cut the distance al
most in half by riding next the river.
She seemed In no doubt az to what
she would do when she arrived. Billy
Louise was not much given to inde-
cision at any time. She drove the
cattle into the corral farthest from the
house, rode on to the stable, and
stopped Blue with his nose against the
fence there and with his reins drag
cling. Then. tight-lipped still, ne
walked determinedly along the path to
the gate that led through the berry
jungle to the cabin. t
She opened the gate and stepped
through. closing It after her. She had
not gone twenty feet when there was
rush from the nearest thicket. and
Surbus, his hair ruffed out along his
neck, growled and made q leap at her
with barred fangs.
Billy Louise had forgotten about
Surbus. She jumped back, startled,
and the dog missed landing. When
he sprang again he met q .3O-callber
bullet from Billy Louise's gun and
dropped back. 1t had been snap shot,
without any particular aiming; Billy
Louise retreated few steps farther.
watching the dog suspiciously. He
gathered himself slowly and prepared
to spring at her again. This time Billy
Louise, being ON the watch for such a
move, aimed carefully before she fred.
Surbus dropped again. limply-a good
dog forever more.
Billy Louise heard a shrill whistle
and the sound of feet running. She
waited, gun in hand. ready for what
ever might come.
"Hey! Charlie! Somebody's come ;
the bell, she don't reeng." Peter
Howling Dog, pistol in his hand,
came running down the path from the
cabin. He saw Billy Louise and stopped
abruptly, his mouth half open.
From a shed near the stable came
Charlie, also running. Billy Louise
waited beside the gate. He did not
see her until he was close, for a tam
gied gooseberry bush stood between
them. ~
"what was 1t, Peterr Somebody in
the Cover Or was 1t you"
"No, It wasn't Peter; 1t was me-"
Billy Louise informed him calmly and
ungrammatically. II shot Surbus,
that's ALL"
"Oh! Why, Miss Louise. you nearly
gave me heart failurei How are you'll
I thought"
"You thought somebody had gotten
into the Cove without your knowing It.
Well, somebody did. I rode up from
below, along the river"
"Oh-er-did your Pretty rough
going, wasn't it? I didn't think It could
be done. Come in; Aunt Martha will
be-"
II don't think she'll be overjoyed to
see me-" Billy Louise stood still be.
side the gooseberry bush, and she had
forgotten to put away her gun. II
drove up those cattle you had down be.
low. You're awfully careless, Charlie
should think Peter or Marthy would
have told you better. When a man
steals cattle by working over the
brands, it's very bad form to keer
them right on his ranch in plain sight.
L.