The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1937-12-23
CATTLE KINGDOM
cept that he wanted to do this thing,


cept that he wanted to do this thing,
for me-"
81 know"
''Billy, do we have a chance to
whip the coyote ring?"
He drew a deep new breath. 1--WE
can fight 'em to a standstill, fight
'em till they quit! ! can clear the
81 of its debts at a stroke. The
next step may be a little different
than what he would have done"
He'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, and build better herds in
their place; make 40 mile fenced
pasture of that north land you
own"
eve 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 black
leg the day they're branded, de-
horn all young stock, make alliances
with the feed pen outfits in west
Kansas; break through trail drive
to Pahranagat, and ship our own
stock, taking the breaks of the mar
ket-"
"But the coyote ring?"
Hire their best men-we'l 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"
cts a gamble, Billy. If you go
into this-it may break you, before
you're through"
well go broke together, then!
If we can't gamble together-but
we will"
''This is what he would have
wanted, Billy; know it is, know!'
They sat quietly there for long
time, holding each other close. "Bil-
ly," Marian whispered, 81 have to
know one thing more"
"Yes?"
''How-did he die?"
HE died fighting, Marian; you
see-well-"
"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
the 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; but he 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
hated guns and blood; if it hadn't
been for me"
cit was his own idea; his own
way. What he wanted was pretty
plain. He knew we would have beer
drawn in, and mixed up in it for.
ever, if he'd waited for us to gel
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 CUR
was empty, because of me-"
After a little while she added
"And one other thing. Before he
took his long trail, I wish he had
known that you and I have found
each other"
81 think he knew. And that was
what he wanted too, I think"
"I'm sure he did,"
when the coyote ring is whipped
we'll have built him such a monu
ment as few men have had; mon
ument built of land and cows, ano
good horses, and men in the sad
de-"
"The Cattle Kingdom he dreamed
and planned -
They sat silent, close together
their eyes lost in the distances Of
the range of the "a; and the coyote
moon swung low over the Tus.
caroras, promising sunrise, the COO
soft colors of dawn on the Red Rock
and bacon and coffee cooked by Tia
Cara.
THE END