Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page. It is also available as plain text as well as XML.

THE PEOPLE, BARNWELL, S. C. JUDITH TAKES POSSESSION OF BLUE LAKE RANCH ''You wildcat!” he cried. And his two big hands flew out, seek ing her shoulders. v “Stand back!” called Judith. “Just because you are bigger than I am, don't make any mistake! Stand back. 1 tell you!” Hud Lee marveled at the swiftness with which her hand hail gpn* into her blouse and out again, a small-caliber revolver in the . steady fingers now. He had never known a mmi—himself possibly excepted—gnicker at the draw. Hut Hayne Trevors, from whose makeup cowardice had been omitted, laughed sneeringly at her and did not stand back. His two hands out before him, his face crimson, he came oh. “Fool!” cried the girl. “Fool!” Still he came on. Lee gathered himself to spring. Judith fired. Once, and Trevors’ right arm fell to his side. A second time, and Trevors’ left arm hung limp like the other. The crimson was gone from his face now. It was dead white. Little beads of Sireat began to form on his brow. J.ee turned adonished eyes Jo Judith. “Now you know who’s running this outfit, don’t you?” she said coolly. "Leei have a team hitched up to carry Trevors wherever he wants to go. lie's not hurt much; I just winged him. And go tell the cook about my breakfast ” . <-—4^— But Lee stood and looked at her. He had no remark to offer. Then he turned to go upon her bidding. As he went down to the bunkhouse he said softly utuler his breaths “]Yell, Tin d—d. 1 most certainly am!” Meet hero, heroine and villain—Bud Lee, Judith Sanford and Bayne Trevors! Rather an,energetic and efficient young woman is Judith, isn't she? But, Just the same, she is what we Am^rkrafis call “a nice girl,” to say nothing of being a beauty when dressed up for a ball. , You see, Judith has te get busy. Part owner of the big ranch, she comes to the realization that she is being robbed by her foreman, Bayne Trevors. She euddenly appears at the ranch, discharges him and takes the management Into her own hands. Judith wins the favor of the men’s leaders by taming an outlaw horse. Bud Lee, daring foreman of the horse department, about whom there ie a considerable element of mystery, is Judith's principal aid in ferreting out and checkmating the sehemes of Trevors. Finally Lee realizes that he is in love with Judith. The girl ■urprieee similar feeling in herself toward him, but keeps him at a distance until their mutual trials and dangers force a showdown and a declaration of affections. Jackson Gregory, the author, was born In Salinas, Cal., In 1882, and makes his home at East Auburn in that state. He once served a« a principal of schools in California and has worked at a newspaper re porter in the larger cities of the United States and Canada. He writes from an intimate knowledge of the West and his books are deservedly popular. He is the author of “Under Handi9ap,” “The Outlaw,” “The Short Cut,” “Wolf Breed," “The Joyous Trouble Maker,” “Six Feet Four,” “The Bells of San Juan,” “Ladyfingers,” “Man to Man,” “Desert Valley,” “The Everlasting Whisper,” and many abort stories and stories for fea ture photoplays. CHAPTER I Bud Lee Wants to Know Hud Lee, hurst* foreman of tla* Blue Lake ranch, sat upon the gate of the home corral, huilded a cigarette with slow brown tinkers, and stared across the broken -fields of the upper valley to ( the rosy ulow above the pine-tim bered ridKe where the sun was com ing up. His customary gravity was unusually pronounced. "If a man's got the hunch an eg# Is bad’" be mused. "Is that a good and Sufficient reason- why be should, go poking his lingers Inside the shell? I want to know !” *•' Tommy Burkltt, the youngest wage- earner of the outfit and a profound admirer of all that taciturnity, good humor and quick capability which went info the makeup of Hud Lee, ap proached from the ranch-house on the knoll. “Hi, Hud!" lie called. “Tre vor’s wants you. on the jump.” Hurkitt stopped tit the gate, looking up at Lee. "on the jump, Trevors said," he repeated, For a moment Lee sat still, Ids cigarette unlighted. Ids broad black hat ftir buck upon Ids dose-cropped hair, his eyes sorenely contemplative upqn the pink of the sky above the pines Then he slipped from his place and, though each single move* ment gave an impression of great 1 ieisurellness. it was but a tbish of time until he stood beside Hurkitt. "Stick around a wee bit, laddie,” he said gentiv, a lean brown hand rest- -9 ing lightly on the hoy’s square shoulder. “A .man can’t see what is on the cards until they’re tipped, hut It’s always a fair gamble that between dawn and dusk I’ll gather up my string of colts and crowd on. If I do, youTl want trfi come along?” ^ He smiled at young Biirkitt’s eagerness and turned away toward the ranch-house and Hayne Trevors, finis putting an early end to an en thusiastic acquiescence. “They ain't no more men evor foaled like him," meditated Tommy, in an nppn^hl so profound as to be little less than out-and-out devotion. And. indeed, one might ride up 1 and 1 down the world for many a day and not find a man who was Hud Lee’s superior in "the things that countA As-tnll ns most, with sufficient shoul ders, a slender body, narrow-hipped, he carried himself as perhaps his forebear walked in the days when open forests or sheltered v '?fH'erns housed them, with a lithe graceful ness horn of the perfeet play oif su perb physical development. His muscles, even in the slight movement, flowed llquidly; he hud slipped from big place on the corral gate less like a man tha^i like some great, splendid cat. The 4kln of bands, face, throat, the unlimited authority of a dictator over a petty principality. In a moment Trevors lifted his frowning eyes from the table, turning in his chair to confront Lee, who stood lounging in leisurely manner ^merely saying, “Shoot. against the door jamb "That young idiot wants money again,” lie growled, his voice as sharp and quick as his eyes. "As if I didn’t have enough to contend with already.” ^ « "Meaning young Hampton, I take It?” said Lee quietly. ' Trevors nodded savagely. “Telegram, (’aught it over the line the last thing last night. We’ll have to sell some horses this time, Lee.” Tree’s eyes narrowed imperceptibly. “I didn’t plan to do any selling for six months yet," he said, not. in ex postulation hut merely In explanation. •‘They’re pot ready.” “How many three-year-olds have you got In your string down In the Big meadow?” asked Trevors crisply. “Counting those eleven Red Duke colts?” "('ounting everything. How many?" “ S e v en,ty -1 h ree. ” The general manager’s pencil wrote upon the pad in front of him "73,” then swiftly multiplied it by 50. Lee saw the result, 3,650 set down with the dollar sign in front of it He said nothing. “What would you say to fifty dollars a head for them?” asked Trevors, whirling again In his^ swivel chair. ‘"Three thousand six fifty for the bunch?" “I’d say the same,” answered Lee deliberately, “that I’d say to a man that offered me two bits for Daylight or Ladybird. I Just naturally wouldn’t say nothing at all." Trevors smiled cynically. “What are the seventy-three colts worth, then?” "Right now, when I’m Just ready to break ’em in,” said Bud Lee thought fully, “the worst of that string Is worth fifty dollars. I’d say twenty of the herd ought to bring fifty dol lars a head; twenty more ought to Bud,” he said good-humoredly, an ob vious seriousness of purpose under the light tone. “I want to talk with you before you do anything rash. Sit down.” But Lee remained standing. was very dark, whether by inheritance or because of long exposure to sun and wind, It would have been difficult to say. The eyes were dark, very keen, and yet reminiscently grave. From ( under their black brows they had tiie habit of appearing to he re luctantly withdrawn front some great distance to come to rest, steady and calm, upon the man with whom he chanced to lie speaking. The gaunt, sure-looted form was lost to Tommy’s eyes; Lee had passed beyond the clump of wild-lilacs whose glistening, heart-shaped leaves screened the open court about which the ranch-house was built. A strangely elaborate ranch-house, this one. set here so far apart from the world of rich residences. There was a score of rooms In the great, one-story, rambling edifice of rudely squared timbers set in field-stone and cement, rooms now closed and locked; there were flow er-gardftns still cultivated daily by Jose, the half-breed ; a pretty court with a fountain and many roses, out upon which a dozen doorways looked; wide verandas with glimpses beyond of fireplaces and long ex panses of polished floors. For, until recently, this had been not only the headquarters of Blue Lake rand), hut I lie home as well of the chief of its several owners. Luke Sanford, whose own efforts alone had made him at forty-tiye a man to he reckoned with, had followed his fancy here exten sively and exnensively, . allowing him self this one luxury of his many lean, hard years. Then, six months ag<?. just as his ambitions were stepp'ng to fresh heights, just as his hands were tUTing with newer, greater endeavor, there had come the—mishap in fit** mountains and Sanford’s tragic death. Lee passed silently through—t-he- courtyard and came to the door at the far end. The door stood- open; within was the office of Hayne Tre vors, general manager. Lee entered. ids hat still far back upon his head. The sound of his hoots upon the bare floor caused Trevors to look up Wait gpod for a hundred and a quar otTier four Red Dukes and tl * null whole ^ jndred/ 1 “What Would You Say to Fifty Dollars a Head?” bring sixty; ten are worth seventy- five; ten are worth an even hundred; seven of the Red Duke stock are rter; the he three Robert the Devils are worth~a hun dred ami fifty a head. The bunch, an easy fifty-seven bun little iron men,” He stared hard at Trevors a mo ment. And then, partially voicing the fhiihglit with which he had grappled upon the corral gate, he added medi tatively: “There's something al mighty peculiar about an outfit that will listen to a man offer fifty bucks on a string like that." His eyes^—pool anti Trevors’ in a long look which was little short of a challenge. ‘‘Just how fat* does that go, Lee?" I wonder,” explained Trevors, “If the hoys understand Just the size of the Job I’ve got In my hands? You know that the ranch Is a million- dollar outfit; you know that you can ride fifteen miles without getting off the home-range; you know that we are doing a dozen different kinds of farming and stock-raising. ' Hut you don’t know Just how short the money is! There’s that young Idiot now, Hampton. He holds a third Interest and I’ve got to consider what he says, even If he Is a weak-minded, Inbred pup that can’t do anything hut spend an Inheritance like the horn fool he Is. His share Is mortgaged; I’ve tried to pay the mortgage off. I’ve got to keep the Interest up. Interest alone amounts to three thousand dollars a year. Think of that! Then there’s Luke Sanford dead and his one-third Interest left to another young fool, a girl! Every two weeks she’s writing for a report, eternally butting In, making suggestions, hampering me until I’m sick of the Job." "That would he Luke’s girl, Judith?” “Yes. Two of the three owners’ kills, writing me at every turn. And the third owner, Timothy Gray, the only sensible one of the lot, has Just up and sold out his share, and I sup pose I’ll he hearing jiext that some superannuated female In an old lady’s home has Inherited a fortune and bought him out And now you, the best man I’ve got, throw me down!’’ *T don’t see," said Lee slowly, after a brief pause, “just what good It does to sell a good string of horses like they were sheep. Half of that herd Is real horse-flesh, I tell you.” “Well," snapped Trevors, “suppose you are right. I’ve got to raise three thousand dollars In a hurry. Where will I get It?” "Who Is offering fifty dollars a head for those horses?” asked I^ee abruptly. “It might be the Big Western Lumber company?” “Yes.” “Uh-huh. Well, you can kill the rats In your own barn, Trevors. I’ll go look for a Job somewhere else.” Bayne Trevors, his lips tightly com pressed, his eyes steady, a faint, angry flush In his cheeks, checked what words-were flowing to his tongue and looked keenly at his foreman. Lee met his regard with cool uncon cern. Then, just as Trevors was about to speak, there came an interruption. The quiet of the morning was broken by the quick thud of a horse’s shod hoofs on the hard ground of the courtyard. Bud Lee In the doorway., turned to see a strange horse drawn up so that upon Its four hunched hoofs It slid to a standstill; saw a slender figure, which In the early light he mistook for a boy, slip out nf a saddle. And then, suddenly, a girl, the spqrs of her little riding-hoots making Jingling‘music on the veranda, her riding-quirt swinging from her wrist, bad stepped by him and was looking with bright, snapping eyes from him to Trevors. *T am Judith Sanford," she an nounced briefly,‘and there was a note In her young voice which went ring ing, hell-like, through the still air. “Is one of you men Bayne Trevors?" A quick, shadowy, smile came and w:ent upon the lips of Hud Lee’. It struck him that she might have said in Just that way: “I am the queen of England and I am running my own kingdom !" He looked at her w ith eyes filled with oi>en Interest and curiosity, making swift appraisal of the Jlush In the sun-browned cheeks, the confusion of dark, curling hair disturbed by hey- WRKUYS After Every Meal If 4 the longest-lasting confection yon can buy —and If s a help to di gestion and a cleanser for the month and teeth. quickly. “Hello, Lee," he said quietly a minute, will you?" Quire a different type from Lee, Hayne Trevors was heavy and square and hard. His eyes wore the glinting gray eypfj. of a man who is forceful, dynamic, ‘the sort of man who Is a better captain than lieutenant, whose hands are strong to grasp life by the throat and demand that she stand and deliver. Only because of his wide and successful experience, of his initiative, of his way of quick, decisive action mated to a marked executive ability, had Luke Sanford chosen Hayne Trevors ns his right-hand man In so colossal a venture as the Blue Lake ranch. Only because of the same pushing.‘vigorous, personality! was he this morning general manager, with ’’gentle and were hard. asked the manager curtly. “As far as you like," replied the horse foreman coolly. “Are you going t«> sell those three-year-olds for thirty- six hundred?’’ “Yes," answered Trevors bluntly, "I am. What are you going to do about it?" “Ask for my time, I guess,"’ and altlfough his voice was even pleasant, his eyes “I’ll take my own little string and move on.” % ‘‘(’urse It!” cried Trevors heatedly. “What difference does It make to you? What business is It of yours how I sell? You draw down your monthly pay, don’t you? I raised you a notch lust month without your asking for It. didn’t I?” - “That's so," agreed the foreman equably. “It’s a cinch none of the boys have any kick coming at the wages." For a moment Trevors sat frown ing up at Lee’s Inscrutable face. Then he laughed shortly. “Look hare. I don’t give,” she said, for a moment turning her eyes upon Lee. And to Trevors; “Busy or not busy, you take time right now to answer my ques tions, I’ve gut your reports and all they tell me Is that you are going In the hole ns fust as you can. What business have you got selling off my young steers at a sacrifice. "Go, get those boc^s, Ix)e,” said Trevors, Ignoring her?- -r~ Again she spoke to Lee, saying crisply: “What horses Is he talking about?" With his di*ep gravity at Its deepest. Hud Lee answered: "All DS stock. The eleven Red Duke three-year-olds; the tw’o Robert the Devil colts;. Brown Babe’s filly, Comet—’’ “All mine, every running hoof of ’em," she said, cutting In. “What does Trevors want you to do with them? Give them away for ten dol lars a head or cut their throats?’’ "Look here—’’ cried Trevors an grily, on his feet now. —™— “You shut up!” commanded the girl sharply. "Lee, you answer me.” “He's sidling them fifty dollars a head,” he said with a secret Joy In his heart as he glanced at Trevors' flushed face. “Fifty dollars!” Judith gasped. “Fifty dollars for s Red Duke colt like Comet!" She stared at Lee as thopgh she could not believe It. He merely stared hack at her, wondering Just how much she knew about horseflesh. Then, sudden!/, she whirled again upon Trevors. “I came put to see If you were a crook or Just a fool," she told him, her w'ords like a slap In his face. "No man could be so big a fool as that! You—you crook!" The muscles under Bayne Trevors' Jaws corded. “You’ve said about enough," he shot back at her. “And even If you do own a third of'this out fit, I’ll have you understand that I am the manager here and that I do what I like.” From her bosom she snatched a big envelope, tossing It to the table. “Look at that," she ordered him. “You big thief! I’ve mortgaged my holding for fifty thousand dollars and I’ve bought In Timothy Gray’s share. I swing two votes out of three now, Bayne Tre vors. And the first thing I do Is run you out, you great big grafting fat head ! You would chuck Luke San ford’s outfit to the dogs, would you? Get off the ranch. You’re fired!” “You can’t do a thing like this!" snapped Trevors, after one swift glance at the papers he had whisked out of their covering. “I cant, can’t I?" she Jeered at him. “Don’t you fool yourself for one Uttlfi minute! Pack your little trunk and hammer the trail.” *T’ll do nothing of the kind. Why, I don’t know even who you are! Tout say that you are Judith Sanford.” tie' shrugged his massive shoulders. "How do I know what game you Sre up to?" -s, “You can’t bluff me for two sec onds, Bayne Trevors," she blazed at him. "You know who I am, all right Send for Sunn/ Harper,” she ended sharply. “Discharged three months ago,” Trevors told her with a show of teeth. “Johnny Hodge, then." she com manded. "Or Tod Bruce or Bing Kelley. They all know rne." “Fired hxig ago, all of them," laughed Trevors, “to make room for competent men.” “To make room for more crooks!’’ she cried, her own brown hands balled into fists scarcely less hard than Tre vors’ had been. Then for the third time she turned upon Lee. "You are one of his new thieves, I suppose?" “Thank you, ma’am,” said Bud Lee Wrtgley*a benellt as well mm Scaled in its Purity Package sm IJUICY^X^W' I ■ "IE SPRINGLESS SHADES Last Longt*r_Look Better furious riding, the vivid, red-blooded beauty of her. Mouth and eyes and the very carriage of the dark head upon her superb white throat an nounced boldly and triumphantly that here was qo-wax petaled Illy of a lady hut rather a nmid whose blood, like the bjood of the father before her, was steady,—TTTet'f+ m ^ ) " ,1 ’ n L itnd hot and must troit Tike a wild mountain-stream at opposition. Her eyes, a little darker than Tre vors’, were the eyes of fighting stock. Trevors, Irritated ^already, turned hard eyes up at her from under cor rugated brows. He did not mow In his chair. Nor did Lee stir except that how he removed hls.ijJit- "I am Trevors,” sajd.the general malinger curtly. “And, whether you are Judith Sanford or the qheen of Siam, I am busy right now."j3 “You talk soft with me, Trevors!" cried the girl passionately, “if you want to hold your Job five minutes! I’ll tolerate none of your high and mighty airs!" . “Well, answer me. Are you?” "No, ma'am,” he told her, with no hint of a twinkle In his calm eyes. “Leastwise, not his exactly. You see, I do all my killing and highway rob bing on my own books. It’s Just a way I have." ./^fords Champions have been standard equipment on Ford cars for 12 years. They are also equipment on Ford trucks and Fordaon t factors. Champion X is sold by90,000dealers at 60 cents. Champion Spark Plug Co* ToUde, Ohio CHAMPION- PtftmdtHr ftr tftff tafia* Distributed to the automotive trade by < C AROLIN AS AUTO SUPPLY HOUSE - Box 555%t Charlotte Write for our wholesale catalog. Send us your orders for Standard Replacement Parts Gift a and alms are the expression, not the essence, of this virtue.—Addi son. Hall*s Catarrh Medicine Treatment, both local and internal, and has been success ful in the treatment of Catarrh for over forty yean. Sold by all druggists. F. J. CHENEY &. CO., Toledo, Ohio Yes; Judith has fired Trevora, but will he go? What if he says, “No”? No matter how'Tong you may have been tortured and disfigured by some itching, burning skin eruption, Just apply a little of that soothing, healing Resinol Ointment to the irritated sur face and see if the suffering is not re lieved at once. Healing usually be gins that very minute, and the skin —gets well quickiy-^and easily unless the trouble is due to some serious in ternal disorder. , , * ' .. ~"L, Doctors prescribe Resinol widely, so when ycu try it, you are using a remedy of proven value. (TO B12 CONTINUED.) Trevors laughed at her, a sneer In ids laugh. “I talk the way I talk,” he answered roughly. "If people don’t like the sound of It they don’t have to listen! Lee, you round up those seventy-three horses and crowd them over the ridge to the lumber camp. Or, If you want to quit, quit now and I’ll send a sane man.” The hot color mounted higher In the girl’s face, a b ew unger leaped up In her eyes. -iA-v* “Take no orden this morning that American Literature. First Bifocal Lens Benjamin Franklin Invented the bi- ^ focal eyeglasses—one of the greatest of j blessings—to fit his own_needs. At faris be frequently dined, out where there were beautiful women In the com pany. 1 Like all ■sensible men, he was fond of good food, and fond of looking | at lovely women. He declared It to be Important to see your food before you put It Into your mouth; but he also wished to see the faces of the guests that decorated the table. It was Incon venient'to put on one pair of spectacles to eat, and another pair' every time anybody spoke to him. He therefore hit upon the device of having the upper part of his glasses consist of one lena, and the lower of another, which proved In practice, Like nearly everything he thought of, eminently satisfactory.— W. L. Pheips In "Some Makers of Resinol Soap is ideal for general toilet use. It is unsurpassed for the bath and shampoo. When Baby Frets from teething, feverishness, cold, colic or stomach and bowel irregularities there is nothing that will give it quicker relief than DR. THORNTON’S EASY TEETHER A famous baby’s specialist’s prescription, successfully used for 15 years. A sweet, powder that' children like—takes the place of castor oil. CoaUina no opiates or * fnl drugs. Package, 25c, at your druggist If it fails to help* your money refqoM