Rimrock Trail

r with the sudden showing of his sound white teeth that made many friends. She was much too young, too frank, too like a boy to affect him w

of brown hair that she wore in a long braid wound twice about her well-shaped head. She was a combination of curves

miled at them it was like the flash of water in a tree-shady pond, when a trout leaps. Grit, entering with her, divided his attentions among the

day or so," he told the collie,

said Mormon, "he

sted. "He's never even seen one, 'less it was a mountain sheep, '

" Mormon answered

at. 'Less you should happen to want a woman to run the house. I don't know much about housekeepin' but I c'ud l'arn. It's a woman's job, chasin' dirt. I can coo

nce, a chip on the shoulder of her pride t

would have taken with a boy-"that's yore way of lookin' at it. Then th

but he'd never take it. Figgered he didn't want to split any strike he might make an' figgered

willin' to gamble those claims of his'll pan out some day. Until they do, ef you-all 'll stay on at the Three Star, stop Mormon stompin' in from the corral with dirty boots, ride herd on Sam an' me the same way, mebbe cook us up

on't use the worst ones. Dad w'udn't let me. I can read an' write,

s an' feather fuss. You'll want to learn the pianner. You'll want to know what to git an' how to wear it. Won't want folks laffin' at you like they laffed at Sam, time he

kets in 'em, neither, fo' him to hide his hands. Sam's laigs got warped when he was young, lyin' out nights in the rain

ld not be resisted. She laughed as Sam joined in, but the determin

be pardners, same as him an' me was. When the claims pan out

rtners exchanged a mutual c

, we split, half on 'count of the Three Star, half to you. Providin' you fall in line with the eddicatio

wered. "Jest what does that mean? I don't want to

till the increase of the herds starts to make a showin'. Not till after the fall round-up, anyway. So yore eddication'll have to be put off a bit. Meantime you'll learn to ride an' rope an' mebb

gamble with. Mebbe it ain't yore game, nor the on

him. We won this ranch on a gamble-him playin'. He gambles as he breathes. An' whatever hand he plays, me an' Mormon backs. Why, if

backed Sandy. "

ow of the circling buzzards in the gorge had darkened them. She fumbled at the waistband of her o

aned up good on a placer claim. Nex' time you gamble, will you play

superstition showed in Sandy's

ack much before sun-down. Mormon, he's goin' to be middlin' busy, too. Molly, you jest acquaint yorese'f with the Three Star. Riders won't

ss change to the gratefulness of a woman's spirit, looking out at him between her li

uckboard, with a tarp' to stow him under. Up to you to knock together a coffin an' dig a grave under the cottonwoods an' below the spring. Right where that li'l' knol

the buckboard drove off, he was busy planing boards in the

trees by the cistern. He had furnished her with his pet literature, an enormous mail-order catalogue from a Chicago firm. It was on the ground, the breeze ruffling the illustrated pa

t the cistern, he had made no sound arriving, but he tiptoed off, his kindl

oud, as he passed beyond the trees to

r when the lettering was decided upon. This done he buckled on the belt he had discarded, from which his holster and revolver swung. Sandy carried two guns, his partners one, habits of earlier,

and his exertions temporarily melted some of his superfluous adiposity

ee a nameless gra

Joe's amiab

ottonwoods, along a side of the corral, through the trees bordering the cistern. The girl was out of the hammock, facing a man in riding breeches and puttees, his face concealed for the moment by his hands. A sleeve of the girl's frock was torn away, the outworn fabric in streamers. The man's han

rmon's gun flashed from its sheath as he shouted at the man. Plimsoll wheeled, releasing Molly. His dark face was livid with rage, a

"what in hell do you figger yo're doin'?" Mormon's jovial face was tense, his voice stern and cold, he stood

he cheery blue of his eyes changed to the color of ice in the shade, the pupils

"I'd sooner hev rattlesnake-pizen on my lips!" She stopped rubbin

rom doin' it. I didn't notice you scratching like a wildcat either. Where's your dad

spell at the Three Star. Sandy Bourke, Sam Manning an' me is

ipped mouth sneer

--" The leer suddenly vanished from his face, the tip of his tongue licked his lips. Mormon's gun

t a foul word or a look about that gel, I'll take my chance of their bein' enough white men round here to 'quit me. There ought to be a bounty on yore

trees and the gambler turned and, with

er at Mormon, seemed to have halted any correlation of the s

our dad," he said, "I'm

rl took a step forward. Mormon's pupils contracted aga

business," said t

to the crouch that prefaced shooting. He faced toward t

hell-weasel. Your father and me had more than one deal togeth

gun spurted fire, the expensive Stetson broadrim seemed lifted from Plimsoll's hair by an invisible hand. With the

ast warnin',"

ie as he ran on to his horse, mounted and went galloping off. Mormon holstered his gun and swung a

all. He purtended to be awful strong for Dad, purtended to be fond of me, jest to swarm 'round Dad, for some reason. Brought me a doll once. I was thirteen. What in hell did I want with a doll?" she panted. "I b

li'l' gel, but the jury'd ring in a cold deck on me if I had. He's sure some sn

his irresistible grin, and she reflected it faintl

some money," she said. "You sure are quick, Uncle Mor

shot both the heels off that fo'-flusher, right an' left, 'thout you ever see his hands move. I ain't so bad, Sam's better, but we had to throw a lot of lead in pr

e toward them, his dipper of the spring water half emptied in the excitement. Plimsoll's horse was stirring up a dust-cloud on t

ordered cut by the half-breed. Molly Casey walked away alone, her head high, the corner of her lower lip caught under her teeth, eyes winking bac

ICK

s h

he gras

water

r gold in

ound

d Jun

9

er to Hereford who's a wolf on carvin'. My letterin's

elt a tug to take her in his arms and comfort her. Instead they looked at one another, as men of their breed do. Sa

open and soft footfalls stealing down the stairs. When he went later to the spring he