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i mnr.nr*i»— riMWtMMNH PAGE TWO THE BARNWELL PEOPLE, BARNWELL, SOUTH CAROLINA THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 1924. I I "I’LL STICK” SYNOPSIS.— Hud Lee, horse foreman <»f the Blue Ij<ke ranch, convinced Bayne Trevors, man ager, is deliberately wrecking the property owned by Judith Sanford, a young woman, her cousin Pollock Hampton, anil Timothy Gray decries to throw up his Job, Judith arrives" and announces she has bought Gray s share in the ranch'"anil will run it She discharges Trevors, after shooting him twice in self-de fense The men on the ranch dislike taking Aorders- from a girl, but by subduing a vicious horse and'proving her thorough knowledge of ranch life, Judith wins the beat of them over la j e decides to stay, for a while at least Judith becomes convinced that her veterinarian, Bill ('row dy, Is treacherous She discharges him and gets back Hoc Tripp, h< r dead father's man. Pollock Hampton, part owner, comes t(| stay "for good." Trevors accepts Hamptons invitation to visit the ranch Judith's messenger Is held tip and robbed of the monthly pay roll Bud Lee goes to the city for more money, getting hack safely with It. though his horse Is killed under him Both he and Judith see Trevors' hand In the crime Hog cholera, hard to account for breaks out on the ranch Judith and kee Investi gate the scene of the holdup A cabin in a flower-planted clear ing excites Judith's admiration It Is !<ee's though he does not say so They are tired on from ambush and l-ee wounded. An swering the fire, they make for the cabin Here they find: Rill Crowdv wounded • Bragging him Into the building, they find ,he has the money taken from |iu- dlth's messenger They are be sieged in the cabin all night. Hampton arrives in time to drive the attackers off and captures "Shorty." who later escapes from the ranch. the bottom of bis heart lie liked her. But she was not the lady, of his dreams. She rode like a man, she shot like a man. she gave her orders By Jackson Gregory Copyright by Charles Scribner'^ Sons of defiance. *Tve got a right to, If I want to, haven’t I? What do you look at me like that for?" “Sure," he answered hastily. "It like a man. She was efficient. She I dUh, to beg an advance against his I you good to cry j I know, (treat was as square as a die; tinder fire site ( wages or allowance or dividends or I thln f AI1 l » ,1I(, s do, sometimes—” CHAPTER VIII—Continued Carson blamed himself for the es cape. "Qulnnion might have let him loose," he mused as he went slowly to thf house to tell Judith what had hap pened. “An’ then he mightn't. If he didn’t, then who the devil did?" Judith received the news Sleepily and much more quietly than Carson had expected. “Well have to keep our eyes open after this, Carson." was her criticism. "We’ve got to keep an "eye on our own men. Some one of our crowd, taking my pay, is double-crossing us. Now, get your men on the jump and we won’t bother about the milk-spilling. If we are in luck we ll get Shorty yet. And ijiilnnion, (’arson! Don’t forget Qulnnion. And we’ve still got Bill (’rowdy; we’ll get everything out of him that he knows.” During the day Kmmet Sawyer, the Rocky Bend sheriff, came, and 'with him Doctor Brannun. Sawyer assured Judith flint lie_ would he followed shortly by a posse led by a deputy and that they wyhld hunt through the mountains until they got the outlaws. To all questions put him, Bill (’row dy answered with, stubborn denial of knowledge or not at all. He had been alone; he didn’t know any man named Qulnnion, he didn’t know anything about Shorty. And he hadn't robbed Miller. That canvas hag, then, with the thousand dollars in it? He bail found It; picked It up in a gully. (’rowdy, at Doctor Branmin's orders, \vas taken to Rocky,Bend, where Saw yer promised him a speedy trial, con viction and heavy sentence unless he changed his mind and turned state's evidence. And—to l>e done with Bill (’rowdy for good and all—he never came to stand trial. A mad attempt at escape a week later, another bullet- hole given him In his struggle with his Jailer, and with lips still stubbornly locked, he dted^ without "snitching on a pal." • •••••• I'nder fire In the dark cabin with life grown suddenly tense for them, Bud Lee and Judith Sanford-, had touched hands lingeringly. No One who knew them guessed it; certainly one of them, perhaps both, sought to forget it. There had been that strange thrill which comes sometimes when a man's hand and a woman's meet. Bud Lee grunted at the memory of It ; Ju dith. remembering, blushed scarlet. hVr, at that moment of deep, sympa thetic understanding touched with ro nntnee which young life will draw even from a dark night fraught with danger, there had beep in Bud Lee's heart hut an acceptance, eager as it was, of a "pardner." For the time be ing he thought of her—or, rather, he I thought that he thought of her - as a man would think of a companion of his own sex. He approved of tier. But 1 he did not approve of her as it girl, as a woman. He had said ; "There are two kinds of women." And Judith, knowing that his ideal was an impossible hut poetic She, rich in subtle feminine graces, steeped in that vague charm of her sex like a rose in- its own perfume, had accepted his friendship during a dark hour, allowing herself to forget that upon the morrow, if morrow came to them at all, he would hold her In that gentle scorn of Jiis. “A narrow-hdhded, bigoted fool!’’ she cried in the seclusion of her bed room. ‘Til shovi you where you get off. Mr. Bud Lee)! Just you wait." In the long, quiet hours whlch^came during the few days following the end of a frultleaa aearch for Qnlnnion and Shorty, ha had ample time to analyze kia own amotion. Ha liked her; from was a pardner for any man. But she was not a little lady to Is* thought of sentimentally. He wondered what she would look like if she sited hoots and broad hat and riding-habit and ap peared before a man In an evening gown—"all lacy and ribbony, you know." He couldn't Imagine her dal lying. ns the lady of his dreams dal lied. in an atmosphere of rose-leaves, perhaps a volume of Tennyson on her knee. “Shucks!” he grinned to himself, a trille shamefacedly. “It's just the springtime in the air.” * In stieh a mood there appeared to Bud Let* a vision. Nothing less. He was In the little meadow hidden from the ranch-house by gentle hills still green with young June, lit* had been working Lovelady, it newly broken saddle mure. Standing with Ids back to a tree, a cigarette in the making in liis hands. Ids black lint far hack upon Ids head, he smilingly watHied Lovelady as with regained freedom she galloped hack across the meadow to her herd. Then a shadow on the grass drew Lee’s eyes swiftly away from the mare and to the vision. Over the verdant flooring of the meadow, stepping daintily in and out among the big golden buttercups, came one who might well have been that lady of ills dreams. A milk-white hand held up a pale-pink skirt, disclosing the lacy flounce of a fine underskirt, pale-pink stockings and mincing little slippers; a [link parasol cast the most delicate of tints upon a pretty face from which big blue eyes looked out a little timorously upon,the tall horse foreman. He knew that this was Marcia Langworthy. He had never known until now Just, how pretty she vhts, how like a flower. Marcia paused, seemed to hesitate, dodged suddenly ns a noisy bumblebee sailed down the air. Then the bee btir./ed on 'and Marcia smiled. Still stepping daintily she came on until, with her parasol twirling over her shoulder, she stood in the shade with Let*. ‘ You’re Mr. Lee. aren't you?" asked Marcia. She vyns still smiling and looked cool and fresh and very allur ing. „ Lee dropped the makings of his cig arette, ground the paper into the sod with his heel and removed his hat I with n gallantry little short of rev erence. .“‘Yes," * he answered, his gravity touched with the hint of a responsive smile. "Is there something I can do for you. Miss Lungwortliy?" “Oh !" cried Marcia. "So you know ■who I am? Yet I have never seen you. I think." "The star doesn’t always see the moth, you know," offered Lee. a little intoxicated by the first "vision" of tills kind he had seen in many years. "Oil!" cr'ed Marcia again and then stopped, looking at him. frankly puz zled. She knew little first-hand of horse foremen. But site had seen Oar- son, even talked with hifn. And site had seen other workmeri. She would, until noyv, have summed them all up as Illiterate, awkward and Impossibly backward and shy. A second long, curious glance at Lee failed to show that he was embarrassed, though in truth he had had time to he a hit ashamed of that moth-and star obser vation of his. Instead, lie appeared quite self possessed. And he was good- looking. remarkably good-looking. And he didn’t seem illiterate; quite the contrary* Marcia thought. In an^in stant she catalogued this tall, dark, calm-eyed man as interesting. She twirled her parasol at him and laughed softly. A strand of blond hair that was very becoming where it was, against her delicate cheek, she tucked hack -where it evidently be- longed, sjnee there it looked even more becoming. "Mr Hampton isn't here. Is he?" she asked. "No. Come to think of It, he did say (his morning that he would he out whatever you call It. Judith was out somewhere tit the Lower End, Mrs. Simpson thought. Hampton saddled his own horse and went to find her. All this Marcia was to learn that eve ning. After tiie swift passing of a few bright minutes, Marcia and Bud Lee ^rolled together across the meadow to the spring. Marcia, it seemed, was interested in,everything. Lee told her much of the ways of horses, of break ing them, of a score of little ranch matters, not without their color. Mar cia noted that he spoke rather slowly, and guessed that lie was choosing his words with particular care. She was delighted when they came to the bank under tile willows where a pipe sent forth a clear, cold stream of water from a shady recess in the hillside. Here, at Lee's solicitous suggestion, she rested after her long walk- it was nearly a half-mile to the ranch-house—disposing her skirts fluf- fily about her, taking tier seat upon a convenient log from whiehr w'ifli his hat, Lee had swept the loose dust. 'T’m dreadfully improper, am I not?" said Marcia. “But I am tired, and it is hot. isn't It? Out there in the fields. I mean. Here it’s just lovely. And I do so love to hear about all the tilings you oknow which are so won derful to me. Isn't life narrow in the cities? Don't you think so, Mr! Lee?" The breeze playing gently with the ribbons of her sunshade brought to him Hie faintest of violet perfumes. He lay at ‘her feet, obeying her tardy command to have the smoke which she had interrupted. His eyes were full of her. “I'd so love.” went on Marcia dreamily, "to live always out-of-doors. Out here I feel so sorry for the people I know in town. Here women must grow up so sweet and pure and Innocent; men must be so fine and manly and strong!” Arid she meant it. It was perfectly clear that she spoke in utter sincerity. For this long, summer day. no matter how she would fee! tomorrow. Marcia was in tune with the open, yearned for the life blown clean with the air of the mountains. In the morning her mood-had been one of rebellion, for her mother had said things which both hurt anti shocked the girl. Her mother was so mercenary, so unro mantic, Now.ifjis a hit of reaction, the rebellious spirit had grown teftder; opposition had been followed by list- lessness ; and into tin* mood of tender listlessness there had come a man. A man whom Marcia had never noted until now and who was an anomaly, almost a mystery. Fate, in the form of old Carson, turned a herd of bellowing steers out Into the fields lying 'between the meadow and the ranch-hoijse that aft ernoon just as Marcia, making a late concession to propriety, was shaking her skirts and lifting her parasol. It was scarcely to tie wondered at that the steers seemed to Marcia a great herd of bloodthirsty beasts. Then there were her pink gown and sun shade 1 "Oh, dear, oh, dear!" cried Marcia. So It was under Lee's protection that she went hack through the mead ows and to the house. At first she was frightened by the strange noises his led horse made, little snorts which made her Jump. But In the end s..e put out a timid hand and stroked the velvet nose. When finally Bud Lee lifted itis hat to her at the base of the 2» knoll upon which the h(HJSe stood Marcia thanked him for his kindness. ‘T’ve been terribly unconventional, haven't I?" she smiled at him. "But I mustn't again. Next time we meet. Mr. Lee, I am not even going to speak to you. Unless." relenting brightly, “you come up to the house a.nd are properly introduced !" As-slu went through the Hines Lee saw her wave her parasol to him. • * ■ • # * * • Three days later Bud Lee learned that Judith Knnfohl was. after all. “just a girl, you know"; that at least right after lunch to help me break ; for onee in her life she had slipped Loye+ady, But I haven't seen him." ! away to lie by herself and to cry. He "He wanted me to stroll out here , stopped dead In “his—tracks when he with him." Marein explained. "And came unexpectedly upon iter, became I wouldn't. It was too. hot. Didn't you find It terribly hot about an hour ago. Mr. Lee?" As a matter of fact Bud Lee had been altogether too busy an hour ago with the capers of Lovelady to note | whether it W'as hot or cold. But In* ! <'ourteousl\ agreed with Miss Lang worthy. ’Then." she ran on brightly, "It got cool all of a sudden. Or at least I did. And I thought that Roily had come out Were, so I walked oift to surprise him. And now, he isn't here!" Marcia looked up at Lee helplessly, smilingly, fascinatingly. It was quite as though she had added: “Oh, dear! What shall I do?" Bollock Hampton had full$ meant to come. But by now he had forgotten all about Bud Lee and horses to ride and to be bucked off by. A telegram had come from a nasty little tailor in San Francisco who hud discovered Hampton’s retreat and who was dev ilishly Insistent upon a small nintter- oh, some suits and tilings, you know The whole thing totaled scarcely s *vcr hundred dollars. He wcut to find .It: suddenly awkward, embarrassed, a mo merit uncertain, hut yielding swiftly to an impulse to run for it. \ "Come here. Bud Lee!" commanded Judith sharply, dabbing at her eyes. "I want to talk-with you." lie was at the Upper End where he had ridden for half a dozen young horses w hich were to. he taken down into the meadow for their education And lien* she was, on a bench outside the old cabin, indulging herself In a hearty cry. "I—I didn't ’know you were here." lie stammered. "I was going to make some coffee and have lunch here. • I do, sometimes. \ It's a real fine day isn’t It, Miss Sanford! Nice and warm and—" His voice trailed off Indis tlnctly. “Oh. sent!” cried Judith at him, half laughing, still half crying. She had wiped her eyes but s^ll! two big tears, untouched, trembled' on her '•hecks.. In spite of him Le^_couldn’t ' eep Ids eyes off them. * ‘I'm 'ust crying." Judith told him '■it. v ' : '' i' sudden assumption^ of hieh had in it souietlaog Judith sniffed. “You know all Hint there is to he known about ‘ladies,’ don’t you? In your vast wisdom all you’ve got to do is lump ’em in one of your brilliant generalities. That’s the man of you!” Lee went into the cabin without looking hack. Judith, watching him, saw that he ran his hand across his forehead. She sniffed at him again. But when Lee hail the coffee ready she had washed her face at the spring, had tucked her tumbled hair hack un der her hat, and, looking remarkably cool, cairie into the cabin. "You can make coffee," Judith nodded her approval ns she sipped at Hie black beverage, cooled a little by condensed milk. I.ee was busied with a tin containing potted meat. “Now, have you got over your shock so that I can talk with you?" He smiled at Iter across the little oilcloth-covered table, and answered lightly and with his old assurance that he guessed he hail steadied his nerve. Hadn’t he told iter a cup of coffee would do wonders? “Would It go to your head." began the girl abruptly, "if I were to tell you that I size you up as the best man I’ve got* on my pay roll?" "I’d try to keep both feet on the ground," he said gravely, though he wondered w hat was coming. "I’ll explain," she continued, her tone impersonally businesslike. "Next to you. I count on Doc Tripp; nnjt to Tripp, on Carson. They are good men; they are trustworthy; they un derstand ranch conditions and they know what loyalty to the home-range means. But Tripp Is just a vet erinarian; simply that and nothing more. His horizon isn’t very wide. Neither is Carson’s." "And mine?" he grinned at her. "Read me my horoscope, I£tsr San ford." "You have taken the trouble to he something more than Just a horse foreman," she told him quietly. "I don’t know what your advantages A Mad Attempt at Escape, Another Bullet Hole. have been; if you haven’t gone through high school, theq at least you have been ambitious enough to get books, to read, to educate yourself. You have developed further than Car- son ; you have broadened more than Tripp." “Thanks," he offered dryly. "Oh, I’m not seeking to intrude Into your .private affairs, Mr Bud Lee!” "die cried warmly at his tone. “I have no desire to do so, having no interest in them. First of all, I want one rhing clear: You said when I first came that you’d stay a few days, long enough for me to get a man in your' place. We have both been rather too busy to think of your leaving or my seeking a substitute. Now what? Do you want to go? Or do you want to stick?" What did he want? He hpd antici pated an interference from the girl in tils management of the duty allotted him and no such interference had come. She left him unhampered, even as slu* did Tripp and Carson. He had his interest in his horses. It was pleasant here. This cabin was a sort of home to him. Besides, he had the idea that Qulnnion and Shorty might again he heard from—that if Trevors was hacking their play, there would tie other threats offered the Blue Lake outfit from which he tiad no desire to run. There was such a thing as loy alty to the home-range, and in the half-year he had worked here it had become a part of him. v •Tll#stick," he said quietly. "I’m glad of that," repfted Judith. "Oh, you’ll have your work cut out for you. Bud Lee. and. that you “may he better fitted to do It, I want you to know just what I am up against: “It’s a gamble, with us broking the 'ong odds. Dad left me a third In- erest, clear, valued, counting stock, t a good deal more than four hun- ired thousand dollars. He left me no •ash. Dad never had any cash. Just io soou as he got his bands on it he put it to work. I knew he had planned taking over another one-third Interest and I went on with his plans. . ] mortgaged my share for two hundred thousand dollars, which I got at 5 per cent. That means I have to dig up each year, Just interest, ten thousand dollars. That’s a pfietty big lump, you know.” “Yes,’’ he admitted slowly. "That’s big; mighty big.” "With the money I raised,” Judith continued. T bought out the third owner, Timothy Gray. He let his holding go for three hundred and fifty thousand. It was a bargain for me— if I can make a go of it. I still owe. on the principal, one hundred and fifty thousand. Total of my indebted ness, three hundred and fifty thousand dollars. And that’s bigger. Bud Lee.” “Yes. That's bigger figures than I can quite get the hang of." No wonder she had been crying. Even if everything went smooth on the Blue Lake site; too. had her work cut out for iter. “Now," she ran on, her voice stirring him with tiie ringing note In it. "I can make a go of it—if they will just let me alone! I am playing close to tlje table, Lee, close! I have a little money in the bank, enough *o run along for two or three montlrs, that's all. I have about two thousand." "Close hauled," grunted Lee. And to himself, lie remarked as he had re marked once before: "Kite’s got her sand.” yuite naturally Bud Lee thought swiftly of his horses. He hud told Trevors that he wanted to make no sale for at least six months. Given until then—if Judith could make n go of it without forcirig~TT sale—he’d show her the way to at least seven or eight thousand, with a good percent* age of clear profit. “To begin with," Judith's voice in terrupted his musings, "1 am going to have trouble with Carson. I adndt that he's an exceptionally good cattle foreman ; I admit, too, that he has his limitations. He is of the old school, and lias got to learn something. He'll be coming to me in August or Septem ber, telling me i’ve got to begin selling. That's the way they all do! And the result is that beef cattle drop and tiie market clogs with them. What I am going to do is to make Carson start in buying then." "Were pretty well stocked up,” Lee offered gently. “Turning Hie hilispover to the hogs makes a difference, too We’re going to he short of feed lon> before September is over." “Short of range feed, yes,” she re torted warmly. "But we're going to put our trust In our silos, Lee, and make them do such work for us an they have never done before. Then, when other folks are forced to sell oft' for what they can get, we’ll hold on and buy. We won’t sell before Decern her or January, when the market !u up." He shook his head. Though not of tiie old school which had produced Carson, still he put little faith In those tall towers into which alfalfa and In dian corn were fed to make lush fod tier. “I don’t know a whole lot about si los." he admitted. "Neither does Carson,” said Judith "He looks at such things as siios-and milking-machines and tractors and fences even as the old Indians must have looked at -the inroads of the white npin. But, do you know when lie has been these last few days?" “In' Kan Francisco? Heard him saj he was going to take a few days off.’ Judith laughed. ‘ "That’s Carson for you! He wouldn’t admit where he was going. I sent him down to Davis, where the state experimental farm and labora tories are. He’s going to see silo, study silo, think silo until lie gets a new idea Into his head. I have ordered a big extension In our Irrigated area. I have begun the construction of twe more silos. When Carson gets bad he’s going to look around for 8oro< more shortitorns at bargain prices. 1 have an idea it wouldn’t do you any harm, either, to look lover what we are doing down at the Lower End." FREE To Housewives Send us your name and we will send you,FREE and POSTPAID a 10 rent bottle of LIQUID VENEER. 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