Browning chief., 1944-04-28
w.N.u. RELEASE


He pulled to a stop and let the
longhorns flow past, waving the men
on as the drag end came abreast.
Most of the crew were riding back
here now, each with a rifle scab-
bard thrust under his left stirrup
leather, stock forward, close to his
hand.
They had made a good start, beat
ing the dawn by an hour. The cat
tie had risen of their own accord
from the wet bed ground and would
not feed in the rain. They were
walking fast. He figured they had
already made better than ten miles.
Still his main hope had been that
when the wind came it would be
out Of the north-cold and stormy.
What he felt against his cheek was
warm, melting breath from the
| south. 1t would clear the skies too
| soon.
In dead silence, as the clacking
thud of the longhorns passed on, he
sat facing their back trail where
even in this short time breeze had
begun to tear the gray curtain into
| ShredS. AS far as he could see the
land was as fiat as floor, unbroken
by any creek or dangerous hollows
Of ground.
When he passed joys wagon,
drawn up close along the point be-
hind Owl-Head Jackson's, he saw
that she had her fathers frontier
forty-four lying on the seat. They
hadn't talked this morning. He was
going to ride on. She called him over.
Forget it. Lew" She smiled.
"Nothing's bad enough to make you
look like that"
WELL" he said, "I got you into
this"
"And you'll get us out"
She believed it. Her clear eyes
showed him that. He grinned at
her. He was suddenly warmed be-
meath his wet, soaked clothing.
Sure" he said. well get out!"
If only the fool longhorns could
grow wings! In another hour the
rain had stopped. The herd was
| grazing now, loose-kneed, heads
down, crawling at slow, torment
ing pace. A thick ground mist was
left blowing northward. 1t gave
them shelter until sometime past
| noon.
The lift came abruptly in layer
| of fog that rose and hung suspended
| overhead. He swung out from the
herd and looked beyond their close
| formation, hunting off southeast in
the way from which Joe Wheat
would come. But off there and on
behind him the land stretched emp
ty and fiat. He brought his eyes
around slowly to hold fixed gaze
on the back trail toward the dis
tant humps of the Wichita range.
That emptiness was too good.
| So far away that at first he hardly
caught it, looking like part of the
brown earth, darker spot of brown
was moving.
He yelled and crooked his arm at
the dragmen. They jumped their
mounts into run toward his side
of the point. Quarternight loped
around to him. Moonlight Bailey
and young Jim Hope began to drive
the leading horse herd back.
He waved the wagons over, and
under that pressure of mules and
horses and men the point began to
swing. Gradually four thousand
! longhorns were turning back upon
| themselves, until they made a great
| letter U. And then the gap closed
as the leaders joined the drags.
| There had been no confusion to
give them a scare. They milled
only little and came to a stop in
their compact pool. 1t had taken
perhaps ten minutes time.
Watching east, he had seen the
dark spot grow in size, coming on
swiftly in these minutes.
John" he said you're an old
timer at this. What would you
say"
"Take it easy" Quarternight an
swered. "Set like we are. They'll
have to do their fancy ridin' first.
If they get too close we can out
talk 'em some ways off"
They sat with men spread out at
intervals on either side, the two
wagons close behind them, the
horse herd punched between the
wagons and the cattle. Like that
they formed line facing the direc-
ton of attack, line that could
shift around the pool of longhorns
if the Indians swung.
He turned once and saw that Clay
was backed against joys wagon
seat, making himself her guard.
Then his buckskin's little black
tipped ears pricked up, swinging
forward. He felt the animals heart
pound beneath his leg. Even the
horse knew these were Indians,
somehow, from a mile off.
He wrapped his reins around the
horn and drew his rifle from its
scabbard. A cool fascination
gripped him, like the thing you felt
when you watched the rippled
movements of a snake. They made
Il