The Hays free press. [volume] (Hays, Kan.) 1908-1924, 1919-11-20
CHAPTER III.


Dawes opportunity came sooner
than he had expected. After the de-
parture of the Hardys things at the
old ranch were, as both father and
son had predicted, very different.
They found themselves on g sort of
good BEHAVIOR behavior which, I'M
happily, excited In each other grave
suspicious as to purpose. The tension
steadily increased, and both looked
forward to the moment when some
thing must give way.
For several weeks the old man re-
manned entirely sober, but the call of
the appetite in him grew more and
more insistent as the days went by,
and at last came the morning when
Dave awoke to find him gone. He
needed no second guess; the craving
had become irresistible and his father
had ridden to town for the means to
satisfy it. The passing days did not
bring his return, but this OccasiOned
no anxiety to Dave. In the course of
q carOuSe his father frequently re-
NAMED away for weeks at a stretch.
He moped around the ranch build
fngs, sat modify by the little stream,
casting pebbles in the water, or rode
over the old trails on which she had
so often been his companion.
Then the old mans horse came
home. Dave saw it coming up the
trail, not running wildly but with
nervous gallop and many sidelong
turnings of the head. AS the boy
watched he found a strange emptf-
ness possess him his body seemed
phantom on which his head hung over
heavy He spoke to the horse, which
pulled up, snOrting, before him; noted
the wet neck and tanks. and at last
the broken stirrup. Then, slowly and
methodfcally, and still with that
strange sensation of emptiness, he
saddled his own horse and set out on
the search.
After the last rites had been paid to
the old rancher, Dave set about at
once to wind up his affairs, and ii
was not until then that he discovered
how deeply his father had been in
VOlved. The selling of the cattle and
the various effects realized only
enough to discharge the liabilities, and
when this had been done Dave found
himself with a considerable area of
unmarketable land, a considerable
bundle of paid bills and his horse,
saddle and revolver. He rode his
horse to town, carrying a few ar
ticles Of wear with him. It was only
after stiff fight that he could bring
himself to part with his one compan-
ion. The last miles into town were
ridden very slowly, with the boy fire.
quently leaning forward and stroking
the horses neck and ears.
He sold horse and saddle for sixty
dollars and took a room at a cheap
hotel until he should find work and
still cheaper lodgings.
In the evening he walked through
the streets of the little cow town. It
snubbed him with its indifference
He became aware that he was very
lonely. He realized that he had but
one friend in the world; but one, and
of her he knew not so much as her
address. He began to wonder
whether he really had q friend at all:
whether the girl would not discard
him when he was of no further use,
just as he had discarded his faithful
old horse. Tears of loneliness and re-
morse gathered in his eyes. and a mist
lamps now glimmering from their
poles. He felt that he had treated the
horse very shabbily indeed. He want
ed old SlOp-eye back again. He sud-
denly wanted him with a terrific long
ing; wanted him more than anything
else In the world. For the moment
he forgot the girl and all his home
sickness conferred about the beast
which had been so long his companion
and servant and friend.
"Pll buy him back in the mornin'
I will, sure as HI" he said, in a sud-
den gust of emotion. I'VE got to stick
together. I didn't play fair with him,
but I'll buy him back. Perhaps 1 can
get a job for him. too. pullin' a light
wagon or somethin'"
The resolution to ''play fair" with
Slop-eye gradually restored his cheer
fitness and he walked slowly back to
the hotel.
The mems sitting room now present.
ed a much more animated picture than
when he had registered earlier in the
evening. 1t was filled with ranchers.
cowboys and cattlemen of all de
grees-breeders, buyers, traders, own
erS and wage earners, with o sprin-
king Of townspeOple and others not
directly engaged in some phase of the
cattle business. Soon he was in q
group watching a gaudily dressed in
dividnai doing q sort OF sleight of
hand trick with three cards on a
table.
Smooth guy. that" said someone at
his side. The remark was evidently
intended for Dave, and he turned
toward the speaker. He was a man
somewhat smaller than Dave, two or
three years older, well dressed In
town clothes. with a rather puffy face
and a goin-fiiled tooth from which q
corner had been broken as though to
ACCOMMODATE the cigarette which
hung there.