Nogales international., 1934-02-24

"Oh, I'm so sorry" whined the
voice, "but jest can't open it"
"Well, why can't you open it-yer
arm broke?"
"I'm taking a BATH" said the voice
sweetly.
This was too much. Old Charley
planted the sole of his boot against the
door with all the force in his body.
The door flew inward and Will Thane
stepped to the threshold. Come right
in, Dad knew you'd call some day"
Old Charley sat down slowly on the
box, utterly needless of the wash
basin. After time he murmured
nournfully, IF you was only ten years
old again for about half an hour
Later, after he had eaten Wits
supper, the old man was somewhat
Modified. 'Will, you ornerry pup
DANCED if this amt the happiest day
I've seen! And you've already been
here month. You son-of-a gun
provin' up on your homestead. And
you're all through with real estate
Plumb through?"
"Plumb through, Dad. Turned
everything I had into cash a month
ago. Cash'll come in handy when we
buy that section south of us here and
pick up some more stock"
Old Charley nodded happily. T al
ways knew you'd be comm back
some Of these days. But what have
you been doing here the last month
Sleeping most of the day, | reckon.
I never saw you so fat an glossy"
+
Ruth slowly awoke and saw that it
was still dark. She wondered idly
why Ann was moving about in the
kitchen so late, and was luxuriously
slipping back to sleep when she heard
the thump OF boots, as Snavely came
from his room and walked across the
house to the kitchen. Suddenly Ruth
knew that it was morning-the long
awaited morning when the roundup
was to begin. AS she rose and strug-
gled into her riding clothes, the great
weight of anxiety which had lifted
during her sleep settled back upon her.
The round-up-would there be enough
cattle?
In the two months since she had ac-
cidentally placed poison in the spring
troughs no new harm had come to the
cattle-but, were they enough to meet
her note? Her desire 90 find the an
swer to this question increased with
each day, but she could not estimate
the number of salable animals scat
tered over the ranch; she could not
give an intelligent guess about weights
and quality and price. She only knew
that she had lost more than tenth
Of the value of her note.
Then, too, if her deal with Parker
was to do the ranch any good, only the
poorest Of the cattle could be sold
only the steers and the old cows. The
rest of the stock and the fine bulls
1aust remain for the improvement OF
the ranch. Ruth could not see much
advantage III selling all the cattle to
keep the man Witherspoon from fore
closing on the note-what good was
there in three-quarters' interest in a
cattle ranch with no cattle-or, in a
IanCn WHICH OiilF Drought Ill AAtGCl
hundred dollars a year2
She left David sleeping and went
into the dining room. She = and
Snavely breakfasted silently by lamp
light, then went to the corrals.
1t was just light enough at the cor
rails to distinguish one horse from an
other. The six Mexican cowboys were
waiting by the gate, each with ciga-
rette in his mouth and rope or bride
over his arm. Snavely indicated to
each CT the men the horse he was tc
ride for the day. The Mexican en-
tered the corral, caught his mount, and
led it to the saddle shed.
Ruth, Snaveiy and the Mexicans
rode into the north pasture. Abou;
three miles from the ranch house
Snavely gave each man his orders
then rode away to the west. To Ruth
he had said nothing, nor could she
understand mach of what Snavely hat
told the Mexicans. She stayed where
she was, on a hilltop. The men, she
supposed, would ride west and distrib-
ute themselves along the line fence as
il wound through the mountains. They
would then all start eastward driving
the cattle before them.