Browning chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1941-1953, 1944-05-26
w.N.u. RELEASE

WINDOWS. one LUX HeT udIlQ 1TOIu
his arm. Her eyes came up to his
then, shining with a moistness in
that light. "I'u write to you at
Ogallala. Well come by train az
soon as we can"
In a little while he was riding
from Dodge, leading her horse with
its empty saddle, and in that sad
dies emptiness was a symbol Of the
way he knew things were to be for
him. Loyalty was the strongest trait
she had. She would never desert
Clay Manning now.
Even with the guard of his extra
riders he felt no safety so close to
town. In camp, where they were all
waiting, he said, Some of you
haven't had much fun in Dodge this
trip. But you see how it is. We'd
better get on"
They eased the longhorns up from
the bed ground and trailed them
north until after midnight when the
moon set and darkness brought them
to halt. But the summers dawn
came between three and four o'clock
these mornings; at four they were
moving again.
Beyond Dodge they entered imme-
diately into what maps called the
Great American Desert. With the
dark line of the Arkansas down over
the rim of the world behind them
no other landmark broke the fiat
brown earth. Even the little far
apart streams at which they wa
tered were treeleSS and dried to
muddy pools. The grama grass was
cured and short and would not last
another month; yet its heads were
still full of black seeds and on them
the cattle grew fat.
Young Jim Hope was driving
joys mules now. But he had
stopped thinking about that. He had
dropped back into an old habit, To-
cusing all he had on working out one
thing at time. The one thing now
was to get these longhorns north.
For the first days and nights out
of Dodge he had kept close watch
on Steve and had posted Rebel John
and Joe Wheat to keep an eye on
him. He had thought then that
Steve might quit the herd and run
back. But there had been no sign
Of that. Instead he felt Steve was
thoroughly scared over what had
happened in town or thoroughly
whipped. 1t settled his first con-
Germ, and yet, remembering Clay's
tameness before he made his break
into Dodge, he would rather have
Steve in some open rebellion. Quiet
ness in his kind was never good.
On this last lap of the march he
held again far west of the trail, be-
yond sight of the dust flags of any
other herds. Even if the Open A
had left Dodge soon after he did
his long daily drives of twenty miles
would keep him in the lead.
Beyond the Solomon they travelled
gently rising plateau that lifted
them into a cooler air, and he rode
these days feeling that nothing could
stop them now. He was far enough
west to avoid the trap of settlers
fences when they crossed the Re-
publican on the fifteenth of August.
Boy" Quarternight grinned that
day, II guess we've got her licked!"
He thought so himself. This was
Nebraska. With two weeks left and
Ogallala only little more than a
week away he could see no hitch. II
it came to a last-minute fight, now
that he was bending east toward the
trail. he had plenty of men. Each
night he doubled the riders on guard
and during the day kept a flank of
scouts out mile from the herd.
They were going through, and yet
there was no exultant feeling in
him, no uprush of tremendous sat
lsfaction that man should have. 1t
would be the end of the trail; that
was all. There would be news for
him in Ogallala. Perhaps she would
be there herself with Clay. And
afterward? He didn't know. He
could still let the future wait a little
longer before he made his plans.
Thirty miles south of Ogallala a
high divide marked the Keith Coun.
ty line. Beyond that it would be like
rolling down hill. On the same day
that its straight ridge edged against
the sky ahead of him he saw four
mounted men come up from the
southeast, circle his herd off at a
distance and ride back the way they
had come. And that night from
his camp on creek still south of
the ridge he watched a chain of lit
tie fires break out along its crest.
Indians" somebody said, wait
ing for their beef"
But it wasn't Indians. In the cool
dawn next morning all of his men
were having breakfast for an early
start when group of eight or
ten riders trotted out of the north.
The two crouched circles around
the fires broke instantly and spread.
Then the trottng figures swung wide
of the longhorns. 1t wasn't an at
tack. In a moment he could make
out the leaders headgear, a stiff
rolled brim and center-creased
crown, known this country over as a
peace officers hat.