The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1921-11-24

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sRudels repeated the ranciman
carelessly. sIt,s the only way 10 treat
snch cnttle a that. There Isn't i
worse loafef On tho range. Hes been
wire-cuttef. raider. and, Ii 4 beggars
when he isn't on the verge Of the de-
lirium trerne1s. It's all your fault
his coming here. You encourage him
by giving him d snack whenever he
takes the fancy 20 wander by, and now
he's making 4 regular station Of IL
I'll be back before midnight. Expect
your company about dark, don't your
Il think 90: ! hope so" replied
Ruth.
Before the evening was over she ex-
pected to welcome her lover, Rodney
Morse.
It must have been half an hour later
when there came a timid tap at the
door. Coyote Pete, his threadbare cap
In his hand, stood on the step in an
humble attitude.
"Why, won't you come in?' asked
Ruth In her usual cheerful, generous
way. "Ycu look tired, and-perhaps
hungry she insinuated gently.
"Not this time, Miss" replied Pete.
"You see your father don't welcome
me very heartily, and I don't want to
intrude. But you're the only critter
on the range yer takes time to give
me a bite when / need 1t, and I wanted
to do you folks a good turn. Your
father wouldn't listen to me after I'd
tramped twenty miles to give You 9
warning"
"A warning7" repeated Ruth vaguely.
II understand your young man and
some friends are coming through on
the stage this evening"
"Why-yes," replied Ruth slowly.
well, I overheard two half-breeds
down on the Taylor place talking early
this morning, planning to join two
other bad characters, hide, between
here and the railroad, and hold up
the stage COACH"
In q moment Ruth became alarmed.
Within a quarter of an hour she and
Pete had arranged to outwit the BAN
dts. He had been gone two hours
when the horse he had gone away with
came back rider1ess.
Instantly Ruth buckled a belt about
her slender waist, sprang to the saddle
and was soon on the trail. Ruth had
gone about twenty miles when at a
bend in the road she drew rein
promptly near some high bushes.
A flicker Of light, like that Of q
match, suddenly flaring in among some
heavy timbers ahead, had attracted
her atteution. Ruth tied the horse
and begaa a detour Of the vicinity.
Within five minutes, true daughter
Of the frontier that she was, she I'M
derstood the situation completely. She
had viewed four men smoking and re-
clining in q natural hide-out. It
seemed that during some recent storm
a large tree had been bent yer and
half uprooted by the force Of the
wind. f
Ruth crept cautiously around to the
spot where the top Of the tree was
caught. Her experienced eye told her
that this, once released, would shoot
back to it's original position with cat
apult force" For nearly an hour she
hacked and clipped.
R-rip-snap-crash! Like a strick-
en- giant rising from the dust, the
great tree at last tore from its fet'
tiers. There were shouts of dismay
and frantic yells of pain as the roots
sank back into place, shutting the
bafled plotters into a prison.
Ruth ran out into the road. The
stage coach came to a stop. Her
lover sprang out, and Ruth was In.
closed in his loving arms.
It did not take long for Ruth to ex'
plain. Crushed and subdued, the out.
laws were dragged out and secured
Ruth had saved the passengers injury
and her lover the little fortune he car
ried with him.
They searched for Pete, and found
him where the horse had thrown him
His head had struck a stone and he
was unconscious.
Long before the wedding the cut
laws were convicted. Then Pete be
zane the handy man about the Morse
place, where. his greatest satisfaction
seemed to be to enjoy the loving hap
piness of Rodney and his frontier
bride.