The Skyland post. [volume] (West Jefferson, N.C.) 193?-1988, 1945-09-06

it's worth trying. Bye, now"
Red Star was off, but now Rus
ty had caught his rhythm and sat
secure, confident, her mind whirl-
ing with pictures.
There'd been time when the
Double R had been self-support-
ing, when nothing but coffee and
spices and calico had been brought
in from the town.
If only her mother would
She told the outline of her plan
to her mother, and Mrs. Rowland
listened with interest.
eve had to do that in Virginia
after the Civil War;" she said.
Rusty rode into the late after
noon, went on across the fields
until she found the barely de-
cipherable trail which led up the
Nopocos. Somehow she thought
better when she was up above
things.
Red Star snorted impatiently as
Rusty led him in over the shale
which marked the beginning of
the incline His mighty muscles
scorned slow pace on the upward
trail.
The prairie was a sea of amber
light. Rusty dropped rein, and
Red Star grazed contentedly. At
the edge of the ledge one could
catch a fairly comprehensive pan
Drama of the spread of the Dou-
bic r.
Rusty pulled Ralph's last letter
from her pocket and read it.
'FWhen you realize what an in
finitesimal part of the armed
forces are here at this camp" he
wrote, land yet what an amaz-
ing amount of food it takes to
keep the men in prime form, you
realize how important every
ranch, every farel, even every
backyard garden can be.
give talked to some of the
boys who've served overseas.
Rusty, if you could know what
food can mean to man fighting,
you would appreciate the weapon
you are producing there at the
Double R. Don't sell out, kid.
Even if we lose the ranch, we've
won, if we've provided fighting
food for the boys who need it."
Red Star came up to give Rus
tvs shoulder an impatient nudge.
The swift twilight of the southern
plains was falling.
Even if we lose the ranch,
we've won"
They needn't lose it!
AS Red Star started down the
trail, Rusty talked to him. Look,
you bull-headed rascal, all we
have to do is stick to our main
trail-no short cuts"
Wasn't that what she had to do,
stick to the main trail as she had
been doing?
AS Rusty reached the foot of the
trail, another horse and rider
emerged from the blue shadows.
Rusty held Red Star in.
Then she saw that the rider
was Herb Westmore.
miss Rusty" he called, as he
:neared her, your mother said I'd
find you here Why, what's
wrong?"
Rusty was staring at him, real
izing suddenly she had seen an
other man ride as he did.
"Your sister," she said auto
matically, said you'd been de-
ferred from active service. Once,
when l was fourteen, a man rode
in asking for work. My father
watched him ride and then took
him to the Fort. He was a de-
serter. Only cavalrymen ride the
way you do"
GO on-say it." Westmore's
voice was bitter.
my brother, who managed this
ranch which could provide thou
sands of pounds of fighting food
for fighting men, could not be de-
ferred."
The horses, unmindful of the
way in which a man rode as long
as he proved himself master,
touched noses, then swung to-
gether to start back to that yell
low-starred mound of twilight
purpled buildings where there
would be food
Rusty glanced at the man rid
ing beside her, who cooked red
eyebrow at her.
"Suspicioning, always suspi-
cioning," he accused her. II
know; it was like that at home.
Foreigners came in, men who
spoke with a different accent,
walked with a different gait"
They rode on Rusty. far from