The Skyland post. [volume] (West Jefferson, N.C.) 193?-1988, 1937-12-23

"a W. s skSSS ~ eSN ~
where contentedly, in the sun; ex-
cept that he wanted to do this
thing, for me-"
IT know
BILLY, do we have a chance to
whip the coyote ring?"
He drew deep new breath. eve
can fight 'em to a standstill, fight
'em till they quit! I can clear the
81 of its debts at a stroke. The
next step may be little different
than what he would have done"
'Fa'd have wanted you to fight
the best way you knew-your own
way"
"Then-we can win. Next step
is to cut down the uncontrolled
herds in their place; make 40 mile
fence pasture Of that north land you
own"
I'VE own" she corrected him.
and use the fenced 40 miles
as a barrier, to hold the young
heifers clear; get in the best bulls
we can buy, by the hundred, at any
cost; dig tick dips, and set up
chutes; vaccinate all calves against
blackleg the day they're branded,
tits a gamble, Billy. If you go
del1orn all young stock, make al
iances with the feed pen outfits in
west Kansas; break through a trail
drive to Pahranagat, and ship our
own stock, taking the break of the
market"
Gut the coyote ring?"
Hire their best men-We'n need
a big outfit for the new ways; buy
out what little they still own in
the Red Rock country-and the
coyote ring is done"
We'll go broke together, then!
If we can't gamble togther-but
we will"
'This is what he would have
wanted, Billy; I know it is, I
know"
They sat quietly there for long
time, holding each other close. Bill
ly," Marian whispered, IT have to
know one thing more more"
"Yes?"
''How-did he die?"
'He died fighting, Marian; you
see-Wel1-"
''You mean he didn't wait for
us?"
''That was it. He tried to make
it on his own. He still had the der
ringer. Then it seems-this is an
extraordinary thing-he almost
made it look as if he had a chance!
He held up the sheriff with the der
ringer in his back, and got out of
tn Jail and broke clear; and died in
gunsmoke, weighted down with
lead"
did he:-did he get any of the"
THAT was the strangest thing of
all. He had shells for the derrin-
ger; out h left them in his cell. He
went through it all with an empty
gun-yet almost made it clear"
'He did that for me-" Marian
said in choked voice. "He knew
I hated guns and blood; if it hadn't
been for me"
: ut was his own idea; his own
way. What he wanted was pretty
plain. He, knew we would have
have been drawn in and mixed up
in it forever, if he'd waited for us
to get him clear. So he took the
only way out he knew"
I'm sorry for one thing more
than anything else If only I could
have known-could have changed
it"
would you have wanted it any
different" he said gently.
"Only this: I'm sorry that his gun
was empty, because of me-"
After little while she added,
"And one other thing. Before he
took his long trail, I wish he had
known that you and have found
each other"
II think he knew. And that was
what he wanted too, think"
''I'm sure he did"
when the coyote ring is
whipped we'll have built him such
a monument as few men have had;
monument built Of land and
cows, and good horses, and men in
the saddle"
"The Cattle Kingdom he dreamed,
and planned :"
They sat silent, close together,
their eyeys lost in the distances of
the range of tn "a; and the coyote
moon swung low over the Tuscaro-
ras, promising sunrise, the cool soft
colors Of dawn on the Red Rock,
and bacon and coffee cooked by
Tia Cara.
(The End)