The Ranch at the Wolverine

poke with her elbow and lay still, numbed by a sudden dread. She moved cautiously out of the bed and half across the cramped room before sh

im of the Cove. He lay rigid under the coarse, gray blanket, the flesh o

e did the milking and turned out the cows into the pasture. She gathered an apron full of chips and started a fire, just as she had done ev

nvenient crotch for their nest. Finally she rose stiffly, as if she had grown older within the last hour, and went outside to the place where she had been mending the irri

deep into the yellow soil. She worked slowly and methodically and steadily, just as she did everything else. When she had dug down as deep as she could and still manage to climb out

r of one who dreads doing what must be done, she went

And though in life she had given him few words save in command or upbraiding, with never a hint of love to sweeten the days for either, yet she went whimpering away from that grave. She broke off three branches of preci

birds, she had no other means of expression at hand. Blue's feet sank to the fetlocks in the rich, black soil of the little meadow that lay smooth to the tumbling sweep of the river behind its own little willow fringe. His ears perked forward, his eyes rolling watchfully for strange sights and sounds, he stepped softly forward, ready to wheel at the slightest alarm and gallop back up the gorge to more familiar ground. It was long since Billy Lo

lly thing. Mud's a heap easier than lava rock,

cks, and would have turned back. Mud he despised instinctively, sin

so that the threat did not sound very savage, after all. She sniffed at the branch of cherry blossoms and reined the horse back

er or later-so you might just as well-" Blue reared and whir

with her own; and since the obstinacy of Billy Louise was stronger and finer and backed by a surer understanding of the thing she was fighting aga

aving deep, black prints in the soft green of the meadow. So they came headlong upon Marthy, just as she w

g like that, and big, slow tears sliding down the network of lines on Marthy's leat

soil clinging still to the shovel in her hand. The wide eyes of Billy Louise sent seeking glances up the slope where the soil was yellow; went to the lo

be. I dunno what woulda become of him if I'd went first." There, at last, was a note of tenderness, stifled though it was and flee

n with her. Billy Louise glanced furtively at the raw, yellow ridge under the rock wall and rode on to the stable. She pulled off the saddle and bridle and turned Blue into

ips. "They's goin' to be lots of it, too, if we don't git a killin' frost." So she closed

ersational door, even when it had been closed decisively in her face. "You can't get on here

to come most any time. I ain't going to hire nobody. I kin git along alone. I might as well of been alon

ouse. She hasn't been a bit well, all winter. And I've turned all the stock out for the summer and have to do a lot of riding on them; it's that or let them scatter all over the country and then have to hire a rep for every round-up. I can't afford that, I haven

o jest what the pasture'll keep. I'm gittin' too old to l

sly to keep her thoughts away from the pitifulness of the sordid little tragedy i

. I've never had a chance to git ahead any; but if Charlie'l

ve done awfully well, Marthy. What can I do now?

y dishes. I'm goin' on down into the medder and work on a ditch I'm puttin' in. You jest do what you're a mind to." She picked

out dingy blankets and hung them over the fence under a voluptuous plum-tree. The next hour was so disagreeably employed that she wondered afterward how even her sympathy could have driven her to the things she did. She carried more water, after she had scrubbed that bedroom, and opened

te patch of fruit-trees. She was trying, as the young will always try, to solve the riddle of life; and she was baffled and unhappy because she could not find any answer at all that pleased both

tirrup and han

cowboy eve

youpy, youp

i youpy,

der her breath; that shows how quickly we throw off the burdens of our neighb

my outfit s

h cattle for

youpy, youp

yi youpy

ck to town to

k to town to

ti

head, and his whole attitude one of absolute content with life. He saw Billy Louise almost as soon as she glimpsed him-and she had been watch

grave, ran down the slope to meet him-an unexpecte

singing that come-all-ye at the top

ical taste in the last week, Miss William Louisa?" Ward stopped his horse before her, and with his ha

close and stopped. "Jase died last night; that's his grave up there. Isn't it perfectly pitiful? Poor old Marthy was here all solitary alone with him. And-Ward! She dug that grave her own self, and took him up and buried him-and, Ward! She-she wheele

hief emotion was one of resentment against anything that brought tears to Billy Louise; she had not hidden them from him; they were the first and m

f life is awful. But it's done, and Mrs. Martha appears to be a woman with a whole lot of grit, so the chance

n in the face of that grave. "Marthy was always kicking about him, and he about her. But all the same they

rd looked down at her and did not miss one little light or shadow in her face. He had been alon

of course; you

tracks coming down; so I just sort of trailed along, seei

and recognized Blue's tracks coming into the gorge. She would have observed and recognized instantly the tracks made by his horse, anywhere. Those thin

course nothing was done in the cabin, and I've been doing a little house-clea

He stood with his hat on the back of his head, a cigarette between his lips, and wiped the dishes with much apparent enjoyment. He objected strongly to Billy Louise's assertion that she

on him, while she looked in a dark corner for the mop, he suddenly seized her under the arms and lifted her upon the table; and before she

k the broom and proceeded to give that floor a real man's scrubbing, refusing to quarrel with Billy Louise, who scolded li

ation from the young woman on the table with her feet tucked under her, and he made her forget poor old Jase up

ks just about as comfortable and happy as mommie's daughter looks right now-and get busy with the broom and good creek water." He resettled his hat on the back of his head and went to work again. "Mill Creek goes dry down below, on the days when

still, staring round-eyed through the doorway. Ward stepped back-e

"You missed some of it, didn't you?" His tone

on the table, and took off his hat. He was well plastered with dirty water that ran down and left strea

ard, glancing at her from the corner of his eyes, stepped considerately between her an

his is it." He picked up another pail of water and

n of craning, but he certainly did try to get another gli

he meadow," Bill

st go down past the stable and follow on down-" he waved a hand vaguely before

be Marthy's nephew.

of a lot what he thinks?" Ward wen

lly Louise went on nervously. "He's going to live here with Marthy and run the

rrected cheerfully. "Q

es he look like, Ward? You sto

a pretty mad young man with nose, eyes, and

d Billy Louise reprovingl

n top." Ward chuckled and swept more water outside. "I expect

y own, I wonder?" Billy Louise leaned and inspected th

eyes was dangerous to their cal

ollege youth comes back to be shocked silly again. I wan

owever-" He lifted her in his arms and set her down outside the

mbered its latest service, and got up hastily.

scrubbing with the mop, which he handled with quite surprising skill f

led down a budded lilac branch and sniffed at it. "I

I have never met the lady." Ward hastily returned the mop to its corner, rolled down his sleeves, and picked up his gloves. Then he ste

schance, such as muddy water flirted upon him from a broom. He grinned reminiscently as he came up, shook hands with

is even more picturesque than that homey-looking ranch we passed a few miles back, down in that little valley. I was hoping that was your ranch when I f

id Marthy, with the first hint of apology Billy Louise had eve

now on. And if I can't make good here, I ought to be booted all the way up that spooky gorge. Isn't that ri

e, all right," Ward agreed ne

d like to see it," bega

fussed up over this place, honest. I thought I was coming to a shack in the middle of the sage-brush; I was primed to buckle down and make good even in the desert. And bumping into this sort of thing without warning has gone to my alleged brain a bit. What I don't know about ranching would fill a library; but there's this

harlie Fox went with him. His manner when they were alone was

Ward saddled Blue. "I don't know a hell of a lot about this ranch game; but if that old lady can put it across, I guess I can wobble along somehow. Too bad the old man

ive mood, chiefly for the reason that this man was a s

ure distances out here. I'm likely to need a little coaching, n

you won't need to go ou

a proposition like she did to-day and handle it alone, is no mental weakling; to say n

uise or from asking any questions even remotely personal. He knew enough about men to appreciate the tactful silences of the stranger, an

e said. "He seems to have his sights raised to

n who comes out here to astonish the natives-he's almost human. I was so afraid that M