Browning chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1941-1953, 1944-03-31
CHAPTER TX

Clay Manning stood up and went
to the pit and kicked another log
onto the blaze. It was restless act;
the brief upward glow caught the
irritation on his face. With all the
other men quieted by a good meal
something was driving this big
blond and wouldn't let him rest.
He swung back almost as if a
hand had gripped his shoulders and
turned him with a sudden violence.
Its my guard, Lew. I'm going
out. The others needn't come till
they're ready"
PLENTY of time" he said. "Take
1t easy" But Clay's huge plunging
gait was carrying him on. He got
up and followed, urged by quick,
yet unshaped suspicion. "Wait a
minute" He caught up off in the
decreasing light. There was no heat
In him, only dull outrage against
this man who had so much and was
using it so badly. He could still
see joys look, grave and strange
and sweet, promising all that a
woman could promise, and yet Clay
could 60 on in his bullheaded secret
way surely toward some kind of
ruin. There's four men out now"
he said. Moonlight and Splann had
not come in. "Why are you going,
Clay?"
The answer came in surly growl.
There's storm blowing up. You
can see that yourself"
He could, but that wasn't it. He
waited, letting his eyes probe
through the dim light and seeing the
rudy face turn more and more
strained with it's controlled tenn
per. He let his words drop quietly.
eyes. If that was all. What is it?"
what else do you Think"
II think you'd better use your
head. Clay, wake up! You haven't
covered your tracks so much.
You've left trail ever since we
started and it's crooked as the
DEVIL"
He saw Clay's ruddiness flood sud-
denly dark, and then that color ebbed
and all the lose lines of his face
were drawn tight. Something
charged and desperate was like
strong force held violently inside
him.
Joy was coming toward them.
Lew" She nodded him aside and
raised her hands against Clay's
chest. "You can't go now! Aren't
you going to dance with me? Owl
Head promised to play his fiddle
after the show" She laughed; her
hands gave him quick pat. Nov
you come on!'
She pulled him back to her wagon
and raised her arms for him to lift
her inside. A key made seat in
front of the low cabinet organ. The
bellows wheezed, pumping in air,
and then she pressed out a long
chord.
Charley Storms muhled voice
came from beneath the chuck-wag-
on canvas. She changed at once
into the blue Danube Waltz"
The wagon flaps parted. Neal and
Charley jumped out into the fire.
light, joined hands and curtsied. In
waltz time they began to dance with
each other, coyly, like those girls of
Hates, teasing the men.
Young Jim Hope took it with a
whoop. Lew watched the older mems
faces. They were not remembering
that Joy Arnold had never seen men
60 it at Rowdy Hates.
Then he saw Clay start toward
her, his face angered. But when he
reached her wagon she laughed him
aside. She finished the waltz, and
as she dropped her hands from the
keys, still flushed and shaking with
that laughter, there came a far-off
clapping across the sky like applause
from some distant audience.
Someone said, Listen! Thunder"
The next instant, as if that thunder
clap had been signal, he caught
the repeated spurts of light low down
on the earth, even before the rattle
of guns reached him.
His horse was close to camp and
he was first in the saddle, with the
others delayed in running out to
their picketed animals. Alone, he
Riaii5So Aito liiS lilSllL D DldCk1leSS.
There had been no more shooting
after that ragged volley. No more
was needed. 1t had jumped the four
thousand longhorns in single star
tied mass. Slow and awkward as
they looked. they could outdistance
even a good horse for little while
in any sudden fright. He could only
follow them, guided by the rafting
drurnbeat of their split hoofs.
Beyond the creek they had con-
tinued running straight. He could
feel the fiat, unbroken land and
judged they were aimed along the
shelf between the low hills and the
river. Riding loose, giving the ami
NAL beneath him every chance to
keep on its feet, he waited for a
certain time. Running was not a
natural pace for cattle. When the