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The Wingham Advance-Times, 1940-02-22, Page 6» WINGHAM ADVANCE-TIMES Thursday, February 22, 194t> ILLS OF OE5TINY 7JGNE5 LOUISE PJWOST s SYNOPSIS Tee Hollister, returning from a trip abroad to the Circle V ranch, owned by* Matt Blair, who for twenty years had been like a father to Lee, decides to surprise the family. He sends them no wprd of his coming and rides over the hills to the ranch on horseback. When he finally sees the wide Tanch- Ijnd before him, he is astonished at the unusual aspect of the place. He is troubled, too, when he meets Slanty Gano on Matt’s land. Then Joey—-old prospector befriended by Matt—tells him Matt is dead by his own hand, , . Joey says the ranch is going to ruin under Lawler, manager appointed by Virginia, Matt’s daughter, who is liv­ ing in New York with her aunt and. Unde in New York—the Archers. Lee goes east and persuades Virginia to return to the ranch to save it .... . Mrs. Archer follows her, accompanied by Stanley, son of Milton Bradish. Stanley thinks he may be able to dis­ credit Lee in Virginia’s eyes. . , , ward him. “Hello, Hollister/’ he said- indiffer­ ently. “That you? I thought I heard voices out here/’ “Did you?” Lee was .noncommittal, but his eyes searched the darkness back of the house. “I was probably mistaken. Coming in?” Stanley tossed his lighted cig­ arette aside and started on. Lee’s eyes were on the half-smoked cigarette where ’it had landed, still glowing. “When you’ve been in this part of. the country a little longer,” he said evenly, “you’ll use better judgment than that. A fire, like some other things, is easy to start, but not so easy, to put out.” Stanley’s annoyed stare followed, him as he strode off. “Now what the devil,” he mused thoughtfully, “did the cow hand mean by that?” The recollection of the intended slur made her kinder to Lee than she had meant to be. She danced three more times with him. Toward the end of their last dance Virginia turned her head and laughed softly. “Look, Lee! Just outside the door. I’m. going to bring her in.” His eyes followed hers, them was an open door, its light cutting into the outer and, caught in the edge of the light, they saw a gay little figure, with a dark, vivid face, black eyes that burn­ ed with excitement,’ and a scarlet mouth. The slim body- swayed slight­ ly to the music, with a. rippling anim­ al grace. As Lee looked at her she slid hast­ ily out of sight with an impudent lift of her chin. He .laughed. “The little’devil! She’s Josefa Ra­ mirez, and her father is- Francisco Ra­ mirez who used to be a sheep herder and has now risen to the dignity of his own ranchito. Matt helped him to get.it. You can count on Francisco. His father was,a servant to Don Luis Ceballos.” ‘’Very interesting," said Virginia sweetly. “But not much of it seems to be about the girl. You’re holding out on me, Lee.” “Nothing to hold.” Lee was a little eurt about it. Someone else claimed her and she left him, her smile cool and sweet. Lee hesitated, a trifle ruffled by the uncertain ways of women, and then -went out by the door where the girl Josefa had stood. There was no sign of her. Lee leaned comfortably against the side of the house and rolled a cigarette. Voices drifted to him, a man’s, low and laughing, a girl’s in smoothered remonstrance, more coquettish than angry. Lee flicked out his match and strode lightly around the corner of the house. He thought he saw a flitting shad­ ow, but it vanished and he could not lie sure. A cigarette made a point of light in the darkness about ten feet away,. Stanley Bradish strolled to­ sultry stillness before a storm. . had known Francisco for years; entire household exploded into hospi­ tality at his approach and poured its joys and troubles into his ears. Jos­ efa was merely Francisco’^ pretty kid to him, Josefa pouted and sulked, and con­ soledr herself with the others. There­ fore she was flattered, but not partic­ ularly surprised when an agreeable young man caught her hands and said teasingly pretty things to her when she was fleeing discovery on the night of the dance/nor even when a swift grey car, a long, fascinating monster that was a haughty rich relation of all fhe cars Josefa had ever seen, appear­ ed out of shimmering distance a few days later. It stopped before, the straggling adobe buildings where a pretty girl leaned against the plaster­ ed wall. The young man apparently had no other errand than to ask his way, but he lingered, talking to the vulnerable (Maria, and left presently with a quick', oblique glance at the girl. A day or two later the car passed that way again, and yet again, Once some’one was with the agreeable driv­ er—that girl, favored among mortals, with the shining hair and rose-leaf skin, the girl with riches in her'hands * * * The next day Stanley made a trip to Saunders alone a«d found his way to the office of Gideon Morse, Coun­ sel or-at-Law, “I’m Stanley Bradish,” he said cas­ ually. “I’m staying at the Circle V ranch. That little matter of the other woman—suppose you leave it to me/’ Gideon blinked, but forebore com­ ment. He had a letter from the elder ] and. Lee Hollister at her feet. He the Beyond shaft of shadows “How you know I worry my head weeth Lee Hollister?” Bradish, as definite as a letter could be, considering how much of it lay be­ tween the lines. “My son is spending a few weeks at the Blair place. He is not yet assoc­ iated with me in business and is not acquainted with the details of the pro­ posed purchase? It looked where ,.. 1J like a bad leak some- ♦ ♦ Josefa glowing black eyes, a ♦ Ramirez was aAt fifteen beauty, with dusky flush under an olive skin, and a slim, gay, dancing body. ■ Young Mexicans arrayed themselves in holi­ day best and rode miles out of their way to spend an hour or so at Fran­ cisco’s ranchito and knives had flash­ ed more than once for her favor. Only when Lee Hollister stopped at the sheep ranch was there something noticeably different about her, like the Josefa let the car pass with a sulky stare, but the next day it came again, and this time Stanley was alone. They were conveniently out .of sight of the, ranch house, and he stopped and in­ vited her for a,ride. She went, thrill­ ed with luxuriousness and arrogant speed. After that there were'other meet­ ings, boxes of sweets, small gifts that Josefa prudently hid. He was amus­ ing and gay, an ardent young man,, with a facile tongue for compliments and a taste for kisses. He teased Jo­ sefa, not very delicately. “I’m jealous of that fellow Hollist­ er; you like him better than you do me. He was coming to the Circle V this morning when I left. He’s there a good deal, isn’t he? You’re no Span­ ish girl, Josefa, or you’d never let an­ other girl walk off with your man like that,” “How you know J wprry my head weeth Lee Hollister? J, got plenty fel­ la—--ten, twenty, hondred! Eef I love, I fight for my man—-fight any wo­ man!” “That's because you’re Spanish/’ he said persuasively. “But eastern girls are different, They’re cold, Josefa. They’d throw over the best kind of a chap if they eaught him making a lit­ tle harmless love to another girl. Why I know a case ...” Amusing for Stanley, and not with* out the flavor of adventure; dangerous enough for Josefa, storm-swept -by jealousy of a girl from another world. If Mrs. Arpher was firmly convinc­ ed, and Stanley Bradish cynically sure —> that Lee Hollister was working tp establish himself comfortably at the Circle V,^either fry marrying- Virginia or otherwise making himself indispen­ sable to her, certainly his -actions did not go far to disprove their suspic­ ions. He seemed to be merely hang­ ing around, with no apparent affairs of his own that demanded, attention nor any disposition to acquire them. He had established himself in an ab­ andoned miner’s cabin just beyond Turkey Gulch, making it weather- tight and sufficiently ship-shape fpr simple needs, and came and went at will. # . There were no bolts nor bars, and in his absence the curious could-in­ spect as, they pleased. Slanty Gano did it. - Sp did Lawler, nursing a grievance and only too anxious to find something to satisfy it. So, quite pri­ vately, had Stanley Bradish, critically surveying the. ground for reasons of his own. None of them found evi­ dences Of dark motives or hidden ac; tivities, unless, perhaps, the large rough chunk of quartz lying?, in full view on a shelf might be so classified, On it was pasted a bit of paper with this pimple legend: Matt Biair A Man Died October 15, 1933 Slanty Gano knew what -that sam­ ple was. He had watched Lee Hollis­ ter swinging a pick to get it. It had come . from the^ spot where Matt Blair’s will-o’-the-wisp samples had been dug. Slanty stood glowering at it- for some minutes before he slid out, cau­ tiously, with no wish to "meet a man he both hated and feared.* * ♦ If Slanty Gano was curious enough to pry into Lee Hollister’S affairs, Lee was equally observant of Slanty’s. He did not like Slanty .and he did not trust him. He clid ndt care for Law­ ler, either. Therefore, ..when he caught a glimpse of Slanty and Lawler slip­ ping behind a cedar thicket one day, he picketed his horse a safe distance away and followed. Moving lightly, with an eye for betraying stones und- erfot, Lpe swung down to a shelf just above the point where they had dis- 'door to- visit old friends in the b,unk Linocuts By The Public School Pupils - • . < Edward Fitzpatrick, Grade VIII.Elizabeth Hare, Grade VIII Muriel Evans, Grade VIII.Marjorie Kreuger, Grade VII. warned .him belligerently. “I’m going to be rich sonjfe day, you see if I ain’t. And I ain’t aimin’ to work like a dog for it/neither. I’m going to use my brains. I know a man that’s going to hand me anything -I say. I got him just where I want him. <1 got—”** He checked himself abruptly, as.if realizing that he was talking too much. “I got a big idea,” Slanty finished carftily, “That’s what brings the mon­ ey in. Come on, let’s be movin’,” He yawned and stretched, the sob­ ered man of the two. The ‘watchful face above drew back just in time as Slanty looked up and around. When the two men went on down the slope the rock shelf was empty. For nearly a week Lee’s cabin had been empty. Virginia began forworn der why she had no daily glimpses of a tall figure riding her ranges as if he owned it, or going calmlj'' past, her appeared, dropped flat on it and then wormed cautiously out to the edge. Voices came to him. He could just see the two'men about thirty feet be­ low. Both men were half drunk, Law­ ler morose, Slanty argumentative, an’d boastful. Lee heard Slanty’s taunting voice, “Takin’ orders from Lee Hollister yet? Ye’ve been keepin’ yourself so scarce I thought ,he must have fired ye.” “I ain’t fakin’ anybody’s orders. I’m boss around tbete. I take notice that you keep tolerable scarce yoreself when that hombre is around.” “Don’t worry about, me!” Slanty house. She rode over to see Joey and dropped a diplomatic question or two, but Joey had not seen Lee for days. Odd that he had not said anything to Joey about his plans. Perhaps he .was. ill’up there in his cabin, and’alone. Someone ought to go . . . She turned Black Lightning’s head and touched him into quicker action. The /little cabin looked, lonely and deserted as she neared it. Inside were orderliness and simplicity. The bunk on the other side of the room was neatly made and a Navajo blanket lay across it. " She went around slowly, looking at this thing and that. Before the shelf where the lump of quartz lay she paused with a startled exclamation. She knew how Lee cherished her fa­ ther’s memory, but still that was an odd thing to do, to put her father’s name and the date of his death on that piece of quartz, like an epitaph—or> a grim 'reminder. ’ (Continued Next Week) k J. -----------—----- Advance-Times Want Ads Bring • Results. MAY GOVERN CANADA The. Marquis of Lothian, British; ambassador to the United States, is- being mentioned in official circles in Washington, as a possible successor to the late Lord Tweedsmuir as gover­ nor-general of Canada. Wellington Mutual Fire Insurance Co. 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