Askov American., 1929-05-30
CHAPTER VII

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There was q new cOntentment In
the eyes Of the Three Bar girl as she
sat her horse beside Carlos Deane and
looked off down the bottoms. A haze
Of smoke drifted above the little val
ley Of the Crazy Loop. Three mule
outfits were steadily ripping up the
sage flats. The two rode down to the
fields with the pungent sage smoke
drifting in their faces. Harris joined
them, and swept his arm across the
stretch Of plOwed ground.
"Can you picture that covered with
stand Of alfalfa hay?" he asked.
| The girl nodded.
"Yes-and cut and cured and in the
stack yards" she said. "And
straight red run Of Three Bar cows
wintering under fence"
Harris wondered il her new con-
tentmenr came wholly from the prog
ress the Three Bar was making or
was derived partly from the presence
OF Carlos Deane. Each man had rec.
Ognized the other as q contender for
the love of the Three Bar girl and
during the two days of Deane's stay
each one had been covertly sizing and
estimating the caliber Of the other
man.
For month prior to Deane's ar
rival Harris had been occupied from
dawn till dark with the details of the
new work. A hundred acres of plowed
ground lay mellOwing under the sun.
The cowhands were out working the
range in pairs, branding late-drOpped
calves and moving drifted stock back
to the home range. Forty white-face
bulls had been trail-herded from the
railroad and thrown out along the
foot of the hills to replace the other
bulls that had been rounded up and
brought in. In a few more days the
boys would come in from the range
and gather at the home ranch, pre-
paratory to going out once more on
the beef roundup.
I'm about to take q vacation"
Harris said. "The ranger is coming
over to mark out some more trees for
US and to run the q. S. brand on the
logs we've already cut I'm going
back up in the hills with him to sort
out valley or two for summer range.
We can get grazing permits on the
Forest now-right in the best grass
valleys. Each year We'll throw some
cows up there to hold our rights.
There'l always be good grass on the
Forest Reserves, for they won't per-
NIT overstocking. The day will come
when we'll be glad to have permits to
summer-feed q thousand or so head
on the Forest. I was thinking maybe
you and Deane would like to make
the jaunt."
"We1l Co." the girl decided.
"We'n start In an hour or two,"
Harris said. "Just as soon as Wilton
turns up. Wen only be gone five
days at the most"
"Then I'll stretch my stay to cover
it," Deane accepted. "Pd certainly
hate to pass up a chance for trip
In the hills"
Calico had sidled off the blowing
and was cropping grass at the edge
of it. As Harris moved toward him
Evans rode down the right-hand slope
and the three waited for him.
'Moore and l were working in close
and thought I'd ride over to tell you
that the wild bunch has lost a vet.
eran," he said. "Some one put Bar.
ton out over In the Breaks"
Barton, whose name was linked
with that Of Harper, had been found
with q rife bah through bis chest
His own gun, found by his out.
stretched hand, had showed one black.
ened cylinder, the empty shell suff.
cient proof that he had fred single
shot at his assailant
The girl could find no sorrow in
her heart over the passing Of Barton
but there was an uneasy feeling deep
within her-a vague suspicion that
she should be able to pronounce the
killers name. This elusive thought
was crowded from her mind when the
ranger rode up to the Three Bar &C
companied by Slade, each man lead
ing q pack horse.
'Slade's going to look over little
territory up on the Forest" Wilton
explained. $50 we can get 1t all done
on one trip"
There was no way to avoid this un-
6xpected addition to thsir party, and