Mountain Home Republican. [volume] (Mountain Home, Idaho) 1915-1946, 1923-08-10
CHAPTER XVII
The Whistle of a Horse.

The Whistle of Horse.
At the ranch-hOuse at FOrlorn River
Bedding stood alone He took up the
gun belt from his table and with slow
hands buckled 1t around his waist He
seemed to feel something familiar and
comfortable and inspiring In the
weight of the big gun against his hip.
He faced the door as If to go out, but
hesitated, and then began slow,
plOdding walk up and down the length
of the room Presently he halted at
the table, and with reluctant hands he
unbuckled the gun belt and laid It
down.
The action did not have an afr of
finality and Bedding knew IT, He
had been a sheriff when the law in
the West depended on qulckness of
wrist he had seen many a man lay
down his gun for good and all. His
own action was not final. or late he
had done the same thing many times
and this last time 1t seemed a little
harder to do, a little more Indicative
of vaeilatiOn. There were reasons
why Belongs gun held for him a
gloomy fascination.
! The Chases. those grasplng and con-
scienceless agents Of a new force I'm
the development of the West, were
bent upon Belongs ruin, and, so far
as his fortunes at Forlorn River were
concerned, had almost accomplished
It. One by one he lost points for
4nL -
carried into the Tucson courts the
matter of the staked claims and min
ing claims, and water claims. and he
lost all Following that, he lost his
government position as inspector Of
and this fact, because
of what he considered Its injustice,
had been a hard blow. He had been
made to suffer a humiliation equally
as great. 1t came about that he ac-
tually had to pay the Chases for water
to irrigate his alfalfa fields. The
spring upon his land an
swered for the needs Of household
and horses, but no more.
These matters were unfortunate for
Bedding, but not by any means wholly |
accountable for his worry and unhap- |
piness and brooding hate. He be- |
lieved Dick Gale and the rest Of the /
party taken into the desert by the |
Yaqui had been killed or lost. Two |
before string of Mexican |
horses, riderless, saddled, starved for |
grass and wild for water, had come |
to Forlorn River. They were part
Of the horses belonging TO Rojas and |
his band. Their arrival complicated |
The mystery and strengthened cOnvic-
tons of the loss Of both pursuers and
pursued.
Belongs unhappiness could hardly
De laid to material loss. He had been
-ich and was now poor, but change Of
'ortune such as that could not have
made him unhappy. Something more
'omber and mysterious and sad than
he loss Of Dick Gale and their friends
lad come Into the lives of his wife
md Nell. He dated the time Of this
,hange back TO a certain day when
drs. Bedding recognized I'm the elder
Jhase an old schoolmate and a re
ected sutton. 1t took time for slow
Bedding TO discover anything
wrong In his household, but gradually
Ie had forced on him the fact of some
ecret cause for grief other than Gales
oss He was sure of it when his wife
ignified her desire to make a visit to
er old home back In Peoria.
A letter she had received contained
ews that may or may not have been 4
but 1t was enough, Bedding
bought, to interest his wife. An old
rospector had returned to Peoria,
nd he had told relatives of meeting
.obert Burton at the Sonoyta oasis
fteen years before and that Burton
ad gone into the desert never to re-