White Bluffs spokesman. [volume] (White Bluffs, Wash.) 1907-1938, 1929-02-08
By HAL G. EVARTS
Copyright by Hal G. Evarts
WNU Service

land that will be worth more by Itself
than the whole brand Is today. Say
the word, girl, and we'll build up the
old outfit that both of our folks helped
to found"
The girl had closed her eyes as he
painted this picture of possibilities
and except for the difference of voice
1t might well have been old Cal War.
rem speaking; the views and senti.
ments were the same she had so often
heard her father express. Next to the
longed-for partnership with old Bill
Harris the dream of his life had been
to see the Three Bar fats a smooth
meadow of alfalfa.
I'll put bunch OF terriers in there
that will be hard for Slade to uproot,"
Harris said. "What do you say Billet
Let's give It try"
I'D like to see It done," she said
But so much depends on the out.
come. I'll have to write Judge Col.
ton first. He has all my affairs in
charge"
They mounted and rode back to the
wagon and the girl went straight to
Waddles with the proposition Harris
had urged.
"Tell him to go his BEST" Waddles
advised, when she had outlined Har
ris' scheme. "He'l put bunch OF
terriers on the Three Bar that viii!
cut SHADES claws. If they burn GU;
the boys Cal Harris puts on the place
then there'll be one real war staged
at the old Three Bar"
"Hes been telling you" she accused
"He did sort of mention it," Wad.
dies confessed
'"Then his idea is to import bunch
of gun-fighters," she said. II won't
have bunch of hired killers living at
the Three Bar"
"These boys will just be the sort
that's handy at knowing how to avoid
getting killed themselves" Waddles
evaded. "You can't rightly blame any
man for that And besides. Slade has
to be met on his own ground"
do you think Slade Is at the bot
tom Of the Three Bar losses every
year?" she asked.
Every hoof," Waddles stated.
Every last headl Maybe the abb.
nos layout rustles an odd bunch OIL
and off. But Slade is the man that's
out to wreck your brand" The big
cook heaved sigh as he reached
decision on matter which had been
troubling him for days. "That's what
Cal Warren was afraid of-Slaue's
branching out our way like he had
already toward the south. And that's
one reason he left things tied up the
way he did"
He tapped much-thumbed docu.
ment on his knee and handed it to the
girl.
You and Young Cal have been sor,
OF half-hostile," he said. "Cast an
eye over that and maybe it'll help
you two youngsters to get along
Three times the girl read every
word OF the paper while Waddes
smoked his pipe in silence. Then she
sat on the gate of the wagon and
gazed off across the sage; and she
was picturing again the long trail of
the Three Bar cows; but this time
she was reconstructing the scene at
the end Of 1t. Instead of one man
scheming to trick an old friend at
the last crossing OF their trails she
now visioned two old men regretting
that the lifelong hope of partner.
ship had never been fulfilled and
| planning to cement that arrangement
in the next generation. For old Bill
Harris had left her full half-inter.
est in everything he owned on earth
with the single stipulation that she re.
tain her half of the Three Bar for
five years after her fathers death.
"But why?" she asked presently
why did he do that for me? He'd
never seen me since | was three years
old"
HE did 1t for the girl of old Cal
Warren, the best friend he had top
side of ground" Waddles said "Your
dad and Bill Harris had been pals
since they was hatched They knew
there was hard times and changes
ahead and both hated to think of the