South Bend news-times., 1921-05-22

splendid lope, giving the animal
free choice of direction. He will
take me somewhere" said Chicken
to himself.
II would have been a thing Of JOY,
that untrammelled gallop over the
mOOnIt prairie, even TO Chicken,
who loathed exertion. but that his
mood was not for it. His head
ached; a growing thirst was upon
him: the somewhere" wither his
lucky mount might convey him was
full Of dismal peradventure.
And now he noted that the horse
moved TO a definite goal. Where
the prairie lay smooth he kept his
course straight as an arrows toward
the east. DETECTED by hill or arroyo
or impractica.ble spinous brakes, ne
quickly flowed again into the cur
rent. charted by his unerring in
stinct At last, upon the side of a
gentle rise, he suddenly subsided 10
a complacent walk. A stones cast
away stood a little mott of coma
trees: beneat il a jacal such as the
MeXiCans ereCt-a One-rOOm house
Of upright poles daubed with clay
and rooted with grass or tule reeds.
An experienced eye would have es-
timated the spot as the headquar-
ters of a small sheep ranch. In the
moonlight the ground i'm the nearby
corral showed pulverized 20 a level
smoothness by the hoofs of the
sheep. Everywhere was carelcssly
distributed the Faraphernalia of the
place-ropes. briCles. saddles. sheep
pelts. wool sacks, feed trOughs. and
camp litter The barrel of drinking
water stood in the end Of the two
horse wagon near the door. The
harness was piled. promiscuous, upon
the wagon tongue. soaking up the
dew.
Shlcken slipped 20 earth, and tied
the horse 10 a tree. He halooed
again and again. but the house re-
manned quiet The door stood open,
and he entered cautiously. The light
was sufficient for him 20 see that no
one was at home. He struck a
match and lighted a lamp that stood
on a table. The room was that of
Ia bachelor ranchman who was con-
tent with the necesSaries Of life.
Chicken rummaeed iutelliEently until
he found what ne had hardly dared
20 hope fora small, brown jug that
still contained something near a
quart of his desire.
Half an hour later Chickeu-now
Ia Camecock OF hostile aspect
emerged from the house with un-
steady steps He 'sa drawn upon
the absent ranchman's equipment 90
replace his own raEEed attire. He
wore q suit Of coarse brown duCking
the coat being a sort of ra5ish
bolero. iaunty 10 a degree. Boots
he had donned. and squire that whir-
red with every lurching step.
Buckled around him was q belt full
OF cartridges with a big six-shooter
i'm each OF it's two holsters.
Proving about. he found blankets.
saddle and bride with which he
caparisoned his s.eed. Again mount
ing he rode swiftly away. singing
a loud and tuneless sons.
Bud Kings band OF desperadoes.
outlaws and horse and cattle thieves
were IN camp ar a secluded spot on
the bank OF the Frio. Their depreda-
tions I'm the Rio Grande country.
while no bolder than usual. had
been advertised more extensively,
and Capt. Kinney's company OF rang
ers had been ordered down 20 look
e. -. Ts-.---.-,... 4r-- ~ r-f
who was a wise general instead OF
cutting ont a hot trail for the up
holders Of the law. as his men
wished 20 do. retired for the time
TO the prickly Businesses Of the Frio
valley