Rimrock Trail

t and clinging, the creek spouted and tore along as Sandy led the way on the mare to a shelving bench, a place where he had camped once long before and, with his out-of-doors-man's craft, ne

re was leaping and sending l

tanding born of loneliness, close companionship and mutual appreciation. Sandy was certain that his

let you stay long or we'll git all stiffened up, but Chuck Goodwin, down to Caroca, he knows hawses an' he's a pal of mine. He'll fix you with a hot mash an', after that, anything on the me

to be looked after. Her dad had been fond of her, but his words had lacked the silk, the caress that savored

ul of hot savory stew, made for the trip, warmed up hastily, the best kind o

t," he said. "But this snack'll do us no harm. We'll

through scrub oak and chaparral, the air sweet scented with wild spice, through slopes set with sleeping folded poppies and Mariposa lilies, past cactus groves, columnar, stately, mystic; the mesa slopes reced

nnounced Sandy. "There's the lights of Caroca blinkin'

she ad

ied Sandy c

Redding, how welcome she would make Molly and what she would do

y her 'stead of that

hed, whole

person, Molly, sailin' under my own colors, that means. I've allus had the saddle itch till Mormon

e woman-shy?"

a dawg is gun-shy. Must be the h

ou like

Never met the one I'd want t

'em pritt

rst-grade linoleum, the pattern wore clean through an' the stuff was top quality. She'd drifted with Pete over most of Idaho, Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, Arizony, Nevada and paht of New Mexico an' Texas, an' she warn't jest his wife, she was his pal an' fifty-fifty partner. Pete said the on'y time he ever

eddicated?"

ngs about plants and insects, or about the stars, things we'd never dreamed of. They say she c'ud play the pianny an

d Molly. "Sh

hat his own observation was a recognition based upon response. Now he figured that the low softness of her speech was due to her tired condition and a little

ere grown and shipped and flowers bloomed the year round wherever the water caressed the earth. Sandy rode the mare into th

on, but sheathed in flesh with the armor of ease and g

aloot, Sandy Bourke! Light off'n that cayuse, you an'

et me make you 'quainted with Chuck Goodwin, one time the best hawss-shoer in the seven Cactus St

s, Sandy. Miss, won't you come insid

ere Miss Casey is to visit fo' a spell, but we found the trail bad an' a cloud-bu'st finally set us b

she is now. But-" He looked at the wall clock. "It's a quarter of ten. Yore train's been altered to suit main line schedules. She don't come through till nine-th

hed for the telephone

my car an' we'll jest about make her. She don't do mu

ar stood by the curb. Molly and her few belong

, Chuck?" he said. "I'll probably be

s. Another car came limping down the street, flat on both rims of one side, its paint pla

ay to th

, foot on the clutch, was asto

ke of old. Out came the pedal, the gears engaged and the car shot ahead, beneath a swinging arc light. Sandy's hat-rim did not sufficiently shade his face or Molly

wed, he could. If not, never mind. He slid his gears into high and dodged around corners recklessly. A red lantern showed ahead in the mid

akin' my own rules but I figger that broken

dded. A third tire blew out and as Goodwin swung a corner with two wheels in the air the sheriff'

d Goodwin. "There she

e conductor swinging from a platform to glance at the "clear" board. He waved "ahead" as Sandy and Molly raced up and clambere

Sandy, surveying the

flashed on the breast of one of them, a star dulled with mud. Goodwin had disappeared. J

he conductor again.

uthwestern. What's the charges? No reservations, but

ntern. And Sandy's smile was worth much more than ordinary currency. It stamped him bona-f

"Change there for El Paso. I can gi

ing at the Pullman Afro-American, flashing eyes a

enough fo' me. He's got a bed for y

ver with wonder but she never showed loss of wits or poise. She might have traveled so a hundred times. Back of the curtain

igarettes. Presently the conductor came in t

" he ask

e Star Ranch, n

e days? Beef's high

right happy an' prosperous an' then ag'in," he added with a

reckon that's a bad man fo' suah. Carryin' two of t

urveyed his aid

" he said. "Eloping with that young girl? I wouldn't hint it t