Henderson daily dispatch., 1938-06-11
4 T.. g Z, -
By OREN ARNOLD

CHAPTER I'D


BILL HAD been gone for eight
days when a letter came to Ellen
saying he would return to the
ranch on Tuesday. Pablo Rivera
brought the mail to her on Monday
night.
She was elated at the news. She
ran to tell Buckshot Brown and
the workmen and the Rivera fam
lily. All of them had a powwow
about it that night around a CEN
trail campfire. They hadn't quite
realized how much they depended
on the big Texan, how much he
meant to them. Some of them
knew the train schedules into
Nogales, and said Bill could be at
the ranch by next supper time.
An hour after breakfast on
Tuesday morning, a delivery truck
arrived from Nogales. All hands
stopped work, hoping it might be
Bill. But it wasn't.
Package here for Miss Ellen
Dale" the deliveryman announced.
Ellen came running. Bill had sent
her something!
It was a large crate, and inside
it was truly extraordinary arm
chair, a massive thing carved from
hardwood and covered almost en-
tirely by the raw hide of a
painted cow, hair out. 1t
weighed more than a hundred
pounds, and appeared to be quite
old. Ellen knew it must be an
heirloom, a valued item from some
body's collection, for it had a
striking old-time beauty, dignity
as of some don who must have
owned it. She wondered where Bill
found the thing, and opened the
envelope tied to it.
For rest and happiness in your
new home," the note read, land
for memory Of Sonora"
"Ohw Ellen was truly sur
prised, and not a little disap-
pointed. 'It is not from Bill. It
is from Felix. Felix Montoya."
"Arrmf!" snorted Buckshot
Brown. His disapproval was in
slant.
The deep shaded porch of her
new home had been covered and
finished by this time, and she had
the chair placed on it. It be-
lopged with an adobe home. Re-
CARELESS Of it's giver, the gift was
fine one. Ellen, sitting tenta-
lively in it, looked like a dainty
queen on a western throne. It al
most swallowed her small form.
Ellen was busy that day fitting
colored stones into the cement of
a huge fireplace. She had made
sketches of tentative designs for
the rocks, but found that getting
the color combination exactly right
was not so easy. Moreover, her
mind kept wandering. She was
excited over Bills coming home,
looking often down the road when
she knew she couldn't expect him
until late afternoon.
He surprised her, though, at
that. She was enjoying her siesta
the after-lunch nap had been
ordered" by Bill as a fine old
border custom-when an explosion
Of guns startled her.
BANG-BANG! "EE-YOW!"
Cowboys, it seemed, were shoot
ing up the camp. But Ellen knew.
She recognized the cowboys voice,
just one cowboy. She shrieked a
greeting through the canvas Of her
tent, dressed hurriedly, paused a
precious moment to snatch comb
through her curls, and ran to see
him.
She ran right up to him-and
stopped.
Each Of them had been holding
out their arms. Like lovers ?
Man and wife? Brother and sis
ter? Or what? /.
The peculiarly strained situation
between these two of late suddenly
came between them, not to do any
important harm but to cause a
moment of acute embarrassment.
Both Ellen and Bill blushed. They
had unconsciously moved almost
into an embrace. But they had
halted. Ellen had been aware of
Bills restraint in recent weeks
She knew her money was a barrier
between them, and that living in
camp as they were had caused Bill
to be especially careful of the con-
ventions. She respected him
nightly; but right now she
wanted to be greeted properly
wanted to be kissed as she had
never wanted it before.
H-hello!" she said, lamely
"How are you? And-everythingY
1. They shook hands. Big Bill was
smiling now. He held her hand a