Browning chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1941-1953, 1944-02-04

Steve young 'un of Tom Arnold's,
was it him night ridin' up Crazy
Woman Creek not two hours after
the bank was robbed? Him and four
strangers here? Seems like I was
camped on Crazy Woman them"
Lew stared at him. 1.-THE bank in
Ok Bow?"
Willy nodded. But was man to
hunt some trouble now he'd see why
so many Cross T horses go loose
herded up Crazy Woman. That
would be at nighttime, early"
Tonight"
''No, already made it. Was some
gunshot late this afternoon which
must have hurried 'em. If it was
this niger tomorrow going down
the valley he'd keep to the east side.
That's talk, though. Maybe some
sort wouldn't listen"
Maybe he wouldn't" Lew agreed
and smiled. Maybe he'd like to
know"
Hell find tracks then," Willy Of
fered. They're plain enough. But
was it ne I'd have old Silverben
here ready" He stroked the slender
barrel of his needle gun.
Through a little silent time, while
Willy Nickle's head dropped and he
seemed to doZe, Lew sorted out the
old mans information.
He felt grimly troubled mean
ing in that none of these things had
| been in Tom Arnold's letter. The
bank in Ok Bow belonged to Arnold;
| its robbery, he knew, could be pref
| ty bad. What puzzled him, wholly
unexplainable, was this business OF
| loose horses being run up Crazy
Woman to the Staked Plain. If it
was rustling, Arnold or his fore
man, Clay Manning, should be more
on watch than that. The trail drive
would need every saddle animal the
Cross T had. And Steve
'Willy," he asked, you're sure
it was Steve riding that night of the
robbery"
Old Willy opened one eye. Ger
tan," he said and closed it.
| There was no answer to that.
Things happen in a year. Even
twelve months ago, Lew remem-
bered, Steve's young rebellion had
turned into violent ways.
He was coming back, perhaps,
just in time. For he and Steve had
grown up together in a close COM
partnership, more confiding than be-
tween father and son. Everything
Tom Arnold had built here in Texas
was planned around his boy. Still
there was that antagonism between
them, a reckless, high-strung nature
fighting the strict, unsparing one Of
the man.
Inevitably Steve brought up his
sister Joy. Lew bent forward and
knocked his pipe out against his boot
toe. Behind all his thinking tonight
was one question. He asked it now.
"Willy, when did Toms girl mar
ry Clay Manning?"
WHY'S head lifted. His gray eyes
squinted brightly. Never did.
There's been none of that on the
Cross T. Why not, this child couldn't
! say. But there's somebody could
make better man for her. Well,
he could!'
NO." Lew said. "Its the sleek
bucks they run to, Willy. You know
that"
In a moment when the old man
stood up to go he knew there was
no use offering a bed here. Willy
always slept alone. 1t might be ten
miles from Dripping Spring or only
off hundred yards: he wouldn't
know.
Standing with the ancient needle
/ gun cuddled again across his chest,
Willy took that quick glance all
around him into the shadows. He
stepped back. Raise your smoke"
he said, ''if you've a mind" That
was his promise and Lew under
stood. He'd not stray far from the
! Little Comanche for a while
Lew broke camp in the dark next
morning, saddled while his coffee
boiled, and in the cold sharp gray of
daylight he was travelling south.
This was the end of month long
trail. Even the tall black beneath
him stepped out with a home-com-
ing knowledge, and the red mule
with its white tarpaulin pack trotted
behind, needing no leash.
The Little Comanche had changed
even more, he saw, in his absence
of a year. Once a man could ride
down this valley through a waving
sea of bluestem grass knee-deep on
a horse. But Tom Arnold, like ev-
cry cattleman in Texas now, had
stocked his range beyond its limit in
this mad race to supply the northern
demand. The bluestem had van
ished, never to grow again. There
was left only the short curly buffalo
grass - natures last stand - even
that showing great dusty patches.
i The Little Comanche could be
wholly worthless in another five
years.
At least, he thought, he had
learned that lesson. and his own
land in Wyoming came into the drift
! ing gaze of his eyes. That was vir-
gin now as this once had been, a