Red Lodge daily news combined with Carbon County news., 1932-01-14
Chapter %
A V RENDEZVOUS

NOVEL RENDEZVOUS
Rock cautiously stretched him
self on the ground, and putting his
head over the brink of the well
ne shifted like a tracking hound.
He caught a faint scent of some
thing that was not earth or brush
and certainly not rotting hides. And
it was rotting cattle hides which he
expected to smell.
Resting a moment, he tried
again. This time he caught the
( scent strongly enough to recognize
it. Quicklmel
Rock sat up, suddenly sweating,
tho he felt a cold chill. He felt
no doubt that down this well, hun
dreds, perhaps thousands, of cattle
hides had been dropped-not one Of
which bore the Preston brand.
The knowledge staggered him.
Suspicion, after all, was not fact.
And logic told him that until he
had actually e hidden hides, with
other brands than Preston's he had
no actual proof. Yet he would have
staked his life that his suspicious
were correct. He would bide his
time, and at favorable opportunity
he would come down here with a
hook of some kind, and plenty of
rope, and he would fish one of those
hides up out of the well.
Rock crawled on hand and knees
back along the edge Of the path,
making certain not to leave the
slightest mark. He found another
piece of quicklime, and several
smaller pieces. Nc doubt they had
spilled out of a sack. When he got
to the boot tracks he scrutinized
them with the photographing eyes
of a trailer of long experience. He
cut twigs from the under side of a
bush, and with minute care meas
ured the length and breadth of the
most clearly defined print. These
twigs he stored in his pocket.
He retraced his steps back to the
open, and saddling the horse the
boys had brought up before they
left, he mounted, and rode quickly
away to get out of the stencil.
More than one kind of a stink
there, | reckon" he muttered.
The daily phenomenon that gave
this Pass its name was in full and
glorious sweep when Rock reached
his cabin. Weary and worried as he
was, he had to sit down and watch
the beautiful end of day.
Rock shaved and changed his
clothes, thinking of everything he
could to keep away the tantalizing
and heart-depressing thot of the
interview with Thirty so soon to
come. Yet behind every vague and
swift idea that he called up lowered
the shadow of this girl and the I'M
fortunate circumstances in which
she must be involved, and the fate
that had lured him into her life.
He made sure, this evening, to
be on hand before the first supper
bell rang. All the younger members
of the family, except Thirty, came
at the call. The children romped
from one side and the boys raced
from the other. Alice, who had
rung the bell and called, gayly,
"Come and get it," took her seat
beside Rock.
"We're livelier when Ash and
Pa are away she said, smiling.
$50 I notice. Sure hope they stay
away long" he replied, remarking
how singularly she spoke of Ash
before her father. Rock kept rowing
eyes on the quest for Thirty. But he
was looking the wrong way when
her voice, almost at his elbow, gave
him a pang that was both pain and
JOY in one. She and Mrs. Preston
were bringing in the supper.
Mrs. Preston was the last to take
a seat at the table, and she occu-
pied her husbands place. Thirty, as
before, sat opposite Rock, and when
he could summon courage to look
straight at her he suffered another
twinge at the enhanced sadness of
her face.
Nevertheless, Rock had such hold
himself that he amused and in
terested Mrs. Preston, brought
smiles to Alice's face and shouts
of glee from the children. But as
soon as he had finished supper he
excused himself and seeking the
gloom Of the pines, he gave himself
up to turbulent anticipations.