Coulee City dispatch. [volume] (Coulee City, Wash.) 19??-19??, 1941-08-14
W. N.U. Rcle a s e

L
his pony moving slowly up and down
to prevent it's stiffening up by too
rapid cooling after its run. and
Jody followed his example.
Listen here" Shoshone Wilce
said at last. He dropped his voice,
and sat motionless. For a moment
or two there was no sound there
except the rhythmic breathing of
the hard-run ponies. "I want to tell
you something" Shoshone resumed,
his voice low, husky, and strangely
unsteady. "It looks like I run away
and left you when your pony was
shot down. I see now it looks like
that. But l want you to know I
didn't 60 to do nothing like that,
Miss Gordon"
II know" she said, sit was the
only"
II shouldn't have done it," Sho-
shone said. II wouldn't do it if I was
doing it again. figured I'd be more
use to you if could keep my horse
on its feet. I figured 1 could best
handle it like an Indian would
pick 'em off one at a time, and make
sure. But I'd do different if I had it
to do again"
''What else could you have posi-
bly, done? There wasn't any chance
for anything else"
II should have stood and fought"
Shoshone said. Like he would have
done"
1T was better this way" Pody
told him. Don't you worry about it,
Shoshone."
Shoshone said vaguely, IT want
you to tell him about it. l want
you to tell him I'd do different if 1
had it to do again."
"Why don't you tell him your
self"
maybe 1 will, But if anything
comes up-so's l don't get the
chance
"Of course I'll tell him."
They fell silent, and after that a
long time passed. Shoshone stopped
walking his horse, and sat perfectly
motionless close to the wall of the
brush corral. The grey light in
creased, while they waited for what
seemed an interminable time.
1t seemed to Jody that in a few
minutes more they would have to
admit that daylight was upon them;
it seemed to her that an hour, two
hours, had passed, instead of the
half hour which Shoshone had de-
cided they could wait. But still Bill
Roper did not come.
'Do you suppose he could have
ridden past?" Jody asked.
'tNo," Shoshone said, very low in
his throat.
When she could stand the suspense
no more, Jody Gordon dismounted
the inaction and the cold was stiff
ening her in the saddle, and now she
led her pony while she stamped and
swung her arms.
She thought, CPL lead my pony
five times around the outside of the
corral. He'll be here by then; he
must be here by then"
She wondered, as she slowly led
her pony around the circle marked
by the walls of brush, what she
would do if Roper did not come-if
he never came. Perhaps 60 on?
Perhaps 60 back
Jody Gordon was fighting back an
overwhelming, impossible panic.
She knew the cool, hard sufficiency
of the men against whom Roper had
pitted himself. From the standpoint
of her father, who had turned against
him, she knew the unassuageable
bitterness, the vast sinister male
violence which Roper had raised
against himself by the miracles of
the Texas Rustlers' War. If he were
caught now in the grip of that malev-
| olence-
1t took all her will power to restrain
herself from breaking into run, or
from mounting her pony and racing
him-where? Any place, if only her
high-strung nerves could find express
sion in action. But she forced her.
self to lead her pony slowly, meas
uring her strides while the daylight
increased
Then, as she completed the cir
cult of the corral, and came again
TO Wnere SnOShone pony stood, she
saw that Shoshone Wilce no longer
sat the saddle. At first she thought
that he had tied his pony and walked
away; but as she came nearer she
saw that the little man was down
in the snow, huddled against the
rough brush of the corral barrier.
Jody sprang forward, calling out
his name.
She sprang forward, calling out
his name, and there was meaning
less, nightmarish quarter of min
ute while her pony reared backward
from the sudden jerk upon it's bride
and had to be quieted before she
could advance again.
"Shoshone! What's the matter?
Are you-are you-?"
Shoshone's eyes were half open;
he was not asleep, but he did not
answer. And now as she dropped
to her knees beside him in the snow
she saw that bright trickle of red
had traced line from the corner
of his mouth, crookedly across his
chin.