The Bluffton news. [volume] (Bluffton, Ohio) 1875-current, 1939-01-05

ern people have. Nobody but west
erners will ever be able to under
stand our dry land. They'll never
believe that country can be over
settled-and yet have nothing in it
but coyotes and jackrabbits and half
a dozen poor cows to the mile.'
He noticed that she called it "our
dry land" now.
"And So"
'I'm going to stay with my brand,
until there isn't one bit of the "a
left. After all, I'm my fathers
daughter. The country is part of
me, bred in"
'I know how you feel" he said
slowly. Butt isn't as If you could
really do anything here, now"
"I'll be able to keep you informed
of what's happening here, at least.
I hardly think Val Douglas would
take much interest in that, left to
himself. But it isn't that. It's SIM
ply-I can't always run away from
everything. I've run away from too
many things, and sometimes after
ward I've been sorry"
He could understand that, but it
surprised him to find her looking
at things in that way. He had to
respect her for it, but it didn't make
the set-up any easier for him. Il
suppose there isn't anything l can
do" he admitted regretfully.
you've already shown me that
when you set out to do thing,
you'll do it in spite of all hell and
the drouth."
Wouldn't you rather have me
that way?"
'I don't know as I could ever
bring myself to want you any diff
ferent than you are"
He made a cigarette, and lit it,
and gloomily studied its smoke. He
was thinking that it was pretty near
| too much to ask of a man to 60
off on a long trail, the way things
were here, and leave this child
Suddenly he realized that this girl
was not any longer a child. He
had not known that he had always
before seen her as a child, until
now he saw her as something else.
Her face had a color that was like a
child's color, clear and lovely, but
it's contours no longer suggested a
little girl. 1t was a quiet face,
thoughtful and awake, and somehow
competent looking; and her eyes,
looking into that distance beyond
the walls, were looking into the fu-
MISUNDERSTANDING, even SOM
berly, but unafraid.
He wondered why he had not real
lied before how changed she was.
Every movement she made, every
pose she took, was different from
what he had seen in the girl he
had made love to two years before.
Two years ago Marian Dunn would
not have been able to lounge re-
laxed upon his bunk, in pajamas
and an Indian blanket, thinking
about the factors of range war, and
the business affairs of men; she
would have been nervously con.
scious then of the fact that the man
she was with loved her-would have
worried about what he would do OF
say.
This girl did not worry, but stead
lily faced the situation in which they
found themselves.
He looked away from her, un
able any longer to think of murder
clues or COW mortgages while she
was in his eyes. He fixed his gaze
upon his thrown-down gunbelt ano
tried to think of what he must do
Bitterly he was blaming himself
that he could not see through this
killing case; for he had a persistent
hunch that everything necessary
for solution was in his hands
He blamed only himself that he
must now take long trail to dis
cover what might be obvious, here
and now, to more brilliant de
duction.
He tried to set his mind to the
factors he had discussed with Cof
fee, in one more supreme effort Il
shortcut the case, but his minc
would not work for him. Even will
his eyes upon saddle or a gun hi
could still see nothing but the girl
every CLINT of light in the loose
bush of her hair, the slim cording!
of wrist, the resting look of /;
hand that lay palm up upon tht
blanket.
1t was impossible for him not t.
wonder if things between then
might not have been different haC
he never known her two years be
fore at all but could have started
over again now, to win her in ;
new way. Then it occurred to hin
that it was a waste of time to b,
looking at a gun or a saddle blan
ket, trying to think, when he Nigh
be looking at her. Perhaps it woult
be long time before he would se
her again; perhaps he would neve
see her again at all.
So now he let murder and COW
and money slide into the lost shad
ows, and he turned to her; and a
he did so he found that her eye
were on his face. They looked a
each other steadily, while the me
ments passed.
If he had held her eyes so lon
. two years ago she would have fiushe,
and looked away, but she did no
look away now. Her eyes locke
lazy, but not sleepy; they were a
darkly blue as night sky, but h
found them unreadable at first
Then after a moment or two h
recognized that she was not think
t. ing about murder clues.
All at once he knew that there wa
no barrier between them any NOR