The Bluffton news. [volume] (Bluffton, Ohio) 1875-current, 1939-01-19
uwe-eant let the "a 60 under; not

"We-can't let the "a go under; not
not now"
1T isn't going under" he said.
81 tell you, you and 7 can show this
coyote ring such fight as they've
never scent"
Marian said, "He gave me ell
his last years, while he was old
lie had just one great lasting dream
Ibis dream of 3 COW kingdom. But
somehow | think he could have
spent his last years sitting some
where contentedly in the sun; ex-
cept that he wanted to do this thing,
for me"
81 know"
Billy, do we have chance to
whip the coyote ring?"
lie drew deep new breath. eve
can fight EN- to a standstill, fight
'em till they quitl / can clear the
81 Of IFS 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 a 40 mile fenced
pasture Of that north land you
own"
"We 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 ell 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 q 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'H need
big outfit for the new ways: buy
out what little they still own in the
Red Rock country-and the coyote
ring is done"
''1t's a gamble, Billy. If you go
into this-it may break you, before
you're through"
''We'H go broke together. thenl
If we can't gamble together-but
we will "
"This is what he would have
wanted, Billy; know it is. knowl"
They sat quietly there for long
time, holding each other close. Bill
ly," Marian whispered, Il 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 chancel
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 a choked voice. He knew
hated guns and blood; if it hadn't
been for me"
''It was his own idea; his own
way. What he wanted was pretty
plain. He knew we would have been
drawn in, and mixed up in it for
ever, 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. wish he had