Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-12-22
The Story Of a
Co 70 hand Who
Had One Chance
to Be Kind and
Took 1t.
SKETCHES BY GEORGE CLARK.

SKETCHES BY GEORGE CLARK.
ENSEN suspected from the first that
the boy had run away from some
thing. Something that might catch
up to him any day and hale him
back. Jensen didn't ask him any
~ questions. But he watched.
Jensen was top cowhand on the Randolph
ranch. He had a reputation for hard-boiled-
ness. He was proud of it and lived up to it.
The boy Ralph had drifted in one cold eve
ming. a few weeks before Christmas, and had
asked to be taken on
Questioned if he could ride, he said: "A
little" Said it with little slight grin. Jen-
sen, watching even from the first, thought he
could probably sit horse better than some
and took him on
How old are YOU Buddy?" asked Jensen.
Nineteen"
RAISED around here?"
Nope. North. Panhandle-way."
Come from that away myself" said Jen-
sen. Amt been back for most 20 years"
The boy said nothing. He fair-haired
boy with bright blue eyes. And he had, of
course. splendid shoulders and a slim, hpless
shape, being cowboy.
That new hand sure can ride" they said
in the bunk house day or so later They'd
picked on him for the bad horses and he'd
sat them ALL
Jensen had watched each ride. He'd seen
green hands tried out before now and hadn't
cared a damn whether they stuck or not.
He'd laughed when they were thrown. But
when the boy Ralph rode he'd felt each buck
jump as though he'd been sitting the horse
himself. After the ride on Tornado the boy
had been white and faint and Jensen had
been the first to bring him whisky flask,
though he had never done anything like this
before in his life. You rode and you took your
medicine.
you sure are kind" said the boy as he
wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.
kind like Santa Claus!"
X IND! To Jensen, the sowing hard-boiled
one! Jensen wasn't sure he liked the
idea Of being thought kind"
Nights they played poker. The boy had a
way Of winning. Even Jensen lost to him.
And Jensen wasn't accustomed to leave
poker game poorer than when he went in.
Say, Buddy" he remarked after having
been cleaned out of SO bucks, you must be
gettin' quite a pile saved up"
Amin to- said the boy Ralph. IT expect
to be needin' it,"
cowboy saving money!
They were out after a bunch of cattle
rounding them up and getting them In for
the branding. Jensen hadn't gone with the
outfit. Something had gone wrong with the
windmills. He had to see about the repairs.
He was alone in the ranch house. The
hunks with their rough blankets were empty.
There was one under the window that seemed
to Jensen emptier than the rest. It was
Ralphs He remembered how the boys fair,
W1nd-burned face looked mornings with the
blond hair rumpled and the wildly blue eyes
blinking with sleep Once he'd raised himself
on his elbow in the night and had looked
across at Ralph's bunk The moon was round
and high and in the light of it the boys
face was pale and still Jensen had lain that
way long time, looking. There were SHORES
and restlesSneSs and mutterings all around
him, but the boy slept calmly and quietly.
He locked like girl sleeping there, Jensen
thought. His mouth soft and tender like
girls. Jensen hadn't noticed before how
curved it was. And suddenly, at some men,
DRY, Hard-boiled Jensen turned on his stomach
In his bunk and hid his face on his arms.
Next morning he was ashamed of himself.
Hearing Ralph swearing profuSely and more
than holding his own among the other cow
boys with a choice collection of profanity he
tried to forget that he'd been such a boob in
the night. Why, the boy pretty nearly as
hard-boiled he was himself. And he was
only 49,
Jensen, himself. had been rather soft at
10, he remembered. Too soft to face trial
for the money he hadn't stolen, but which
he couldn't prove he hadn't. That's why he
had called himself Jensen and had run away
70 Mexico. Mexico had taken all the softness
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