I Conquered""

rs

n the range without brands, and the two rode constantly, searching every gulch and break for the stray

sure he is. It'll help us, too. When we come takin' these here willow tails off this ridge t

emarked Young VB as they

ery winter, when things gets squared away, he takes his wife an' goes to Califor

ack. He was curious as he had been whenever he heard of or thought of her, and as he had been when he had once seen her. But somehow

ding; more knowledge of the barren area in his own heart wit

only the hopeless floundering of a man in quicksands-life on the

day as he saw the Captain standing against the sky on a distant ridge. "His b

s, else why this emulation of the stallion, why this feeling th

s the plaint of men! Could we only know and go out to meet them in spirit proper! And yet that very s

compensations, and inability to foretel

ent and lack of faith, Young VB went out to

and. VB was left alone, and for days the young fellow saw no one. In the natural loneliness that followed, the assault came upo

the necessary work of the ranch, trying to stifle the loud voice that begged

Was it not his first impulse to go on

such a twister of words and terms, and its ally, the thirst, raged with such virility that he was forced

t, letting the stanch animal under him cover the ground at a swinging trot. In three hours he was miles from the ranch, far back in the hills, and climbing to the top of a stretching ridge. He breath

ted in a thicket of cedars, sharply repentant that his own torment had led him to for

he was not fagged, he was still alert and eager. His ears were set

sked, trying to make out the

ze, stopped his breathing, and VB, a hand on the

the animal to tremble, and the sight

VB, for he looked in other directions, moving his head from point to point, scanning every nook of the country below him.

ging through him, blotting out that other desire, that torment, making hi

il the rider came clear of the

ion stood as though his feet were imbedded in the rock under him, his head full toward the rushing rider, nose up, astonishment in the very angle of

nning. They drew close together, frightened by the abruptness of the alarm, scuttling aw

even long enough to scatter the band, that he would only run his mount down, good horse that he was. But the lust urged him on, tugging at his

ally to be whipped away by the breeze. They tore down stiff sagebrush in their flight;

xtended himself to the last fiber, and with astonishment-a glad astonishment that brought a wh

tween them at every thundering leap, was drawing closer to his slower mares, lip stretched back ov

. He hung far forward over the fork of his saddle, leaning low to offer the least possible r

ught the rump of a scurrying mare; surely he heard the stallion's scream of rage as, after nipping mare after mare, running to and fro behind them, he found that they had opened their hea

oming in from the dry country to the west for water and better feed. He did not know that the band had been filling their bellies with great quant

catter the band, but what of it? When the last hope had been cast the Captain would strike out alone, would turn all the energy that now went

y leap of the laboring beast under him must bring him closer to the huddle of frantic horses, nearer to

forward. His lips were parted, his eyes strained open with exciteme

h!" he s

ing, rushing bodies with its fringes of fluttering hair. Her legs seemed to poise a moment; then they went down slowly. The

he could have slashed her with his quirt. Yet he had no eyes for her,

ight, to be rid of him, and disappeared through a clump of trees. The stallion shrilled his anger and

se in the air and, stretching to his o

to flank of the band were longer. By the time he had spurred the gray at the left back into the lead the brown three-year-old on the

e-e

now it-no more than he knew that his hat was gone or tha

ed from VB's lips the black nose was flung high and an eye which glared o

words at the animal, to c

essed him, but it was useless, for she was spent. The water and luscious grass in her dammed up the reservoirs of her vitality, would not let her respond. When

weeping curve. The uneven galloping of the horse under him, the gulps for breath the pony made as the footing fooled him and he jolted sharply, the shifting

s face was whipped to rawness by smaller branches, and one knee throbbed dully where i

d not slacken his speed, did not even scream his rage. Only four remained, and he gambled on them as against th

, then from willingness; now they tried from fear as their lord tortured them. But though the will was there, the ability could not come, not even when the Captain pushed through them, and in a desperate maneuver set the pac

d the Captain's band, accomplishing all that the best of

es into escape, but their hearts were burstin

ane flaunting, tail trailing gracefully behind him, beauty in every

the time of one set of conquests but free-free to go on and make hims

im and the rider behind, narrowed by such tremendous exertion

visage two eyes glowed abnormally brilliant. For the Captain was taking off the ridge where it bent and struck into the north, was plunging down over the pitch into the shadows. He was going his best, in long, keen strides that would carry him to the b

ontrol of himself, and on time! As they dropped off the ridge, down through the sliding shale and scattered brush, VB's right hand, upraised

. But you did not reckon on an obstruction, on the thing your eyes encountered when halfway down that height and going with all the power within you. Those fresh posts and the wires strung between them!

any direction as the footing gave, he struggled to stop his progress. It was no simple matter; indeed, checking that flight was far more difficult than the attaining of that speed. In the midst of rolling, bounding stones,

h, snapping back and forth to hold him erect, rope dangling from it crazily. He

e did, it required longer for him to reach the bottom in possession of his equilibrium than it did the slower-moving horse that bore

mighty lunge, he made as though to turn and race down along the line of fence before VB could get within striking distance. The great muscles contract

wing his head up to confront VB. His nostrils flared, that orange hate in his eyes m