about you in her sleep last night. She called you Loney, and she wanted
you to come and get her. I was going to kill you first chance I got. I
coulda loved this little girl. I--could----"
He was down, bleeding and coughing and trying to talk. Swan had shot
him, and two of the deputies who had been there through half of Al's
bitter talk. Lorraine, unable to get up and run, too sturdy of soul to
faint, had rolled over and away from him, her lips held tightly
together, her eyes wide with horror. Al crawled after her, his eyes
pleading.
"Little Spitfire--I shot your Loney--but I'd have been good to you,
girl. I watched yuh all night--and I couldn't help loving yuh.
I--couldn't----" That was all. Within three feet of her, his face toward
her and his eyes agonizing to meet hers, he died.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
ANOTHER STORY BEGINS
This chapter is very much like a preface: it is not absolutely
necessary, although many persons will read it and a few will be glad
that it was written.
The story itself is ended. To go on would be to begin another story; to
tell of the building up of the Quirt outfit, with Lone and Lone's
savings playing a very important part, and with Brit a semi-invalided,
retired stockman who smoked his pipe and told the young couple what they
should do and how they should do it.
Frank he mourned for and seldom mentioned. The Sawtooth, under the
management of a greatly chastened young Bob Warfield, was slowly winning
its way back to the respect of its neighbors.
For certain personal reasons there was no real neighborliness between
the Quirt and the Sawtooth. There could not be, so long as Brit's memory
remained clear, and Bob was every day reminded of the crimes his father
had paid a man to commit. Moreover, Southerners are jealous of their
women,--it is their especial prerogative. And Lone suspected that, given
the opportunity, Bob Warfield would have fallen in love with Lorraine.
Indeed, he suspected that any man in the country would have done that.
Al Woodruff had, and he was noted for his indifference to women and his
implacable hardness toward men.
But you are not to accuse Lone of being a jealous husband. He was not,
and I am merely pointing out the fact that he might have been, had he
been given any cause.
Oh, by the way, Swan "proved up" as soon as possible on his homestead
and sold out to the Quirt. Lone managed to buy the Thurman ranch also,
and the TJ up-and-down is on its feet again as a cattle ranch. Sorry and
Jim will ride for the Quirt, I suppose, as long as they can crawl into a
saddle, but there are younger men now to ride the Skyline Meadow range.
Some one asked about Yellowjacket, having, I suppose, a sneaking regard
for his infirmities. He hasn't been peeled yet--or he hadn't, the last I
heard of him. Lone and Lorraine told me they were trying to save him for
the "Little Feller" to practise on when he is able to sit up without a
cushion behind his back, and to hold something besides a rubber rattle.
And--oh, do you know how Lone is teaching the Little Feller to sit up on
the floor? He took a horse collar and scrubbed it until he nearly wore
out the leather. Then he brought it to the cabin, put it on the floor
and set the Little Feller inside it.
They sent me a snap-shot of the event, but it is not very good. The film
was under-exposed, and nothing was to be seen of the Little Feller
except a hazy spot which I judged was a hand, holding a black object I
guessed was the ridgy, rubber rattle with the whistle gone out of the
end,--down the Little Feller's throat, they are afraid. And there was
his smile, and a glimpse of his eyes.
Aren't you envious as sin, and glad they're so happy?
THE END
[Illustration]
NOVELS BY B.M. BOWER
* * * * *
=THE RANCH AT THE WOLVERINE=
A ringing tale full of exhilarating cowboy atmosphere, abundantly
and absorbingly illustrating the outstanding feature of that
alluring ranch life that is fast vanishing.--_Chicago Tribune_.
=JEAN OF THE LAZY A=
A spirited novel of ranch life in which the fascinating heroine poses
for film pictures that she may make money necessary to prove her father
innocent of a crime for which he has been convicted.
It possesses all the popular ingredients--a quick-action plot,
color and picturesqueness aplenty, and an unflagging interest--to
be found in Bower's earlier successes.--_Philadelphia Public
Ledger_.
=THE PHANTOM HERD=
Another western tale in which the Happy Family become real "movie"
actors.
There has been so much truck written in the last few years about
motion pictures, that it is a positive relief to find a book by an
author who knows exactly what to talk about in an entertaining
manner with a knowledge of actual conditions as they
exist.--_Boston Post_.
=THE HERITAGE OF THE SIOUX=
A Flying U story in which the Happy Family get mixed up in a robbery
faked for film purposes.
Altogether a rattling story, that is better in conception and
expression than the conventional thriller on account of its touches
of real humanity in characterization.--_Philadelphia Public
Ledger_.
=RIM O' THE WORLD=
An engrossing tale of a ranch-feud between "gun-fighters" in Idaho.
=THE LOOKOUT MAN=
A tale of action, excitement and love, full of the charm of the great
outdoors, in which the story of the life at a Forest Reserve Station on
top of a California mountain is vividly portrayed.
The signature of B.M. Bower is a valuable trade-mark. It stands for
fiction filled with the spirit of ranch life in the
northwest.--_Boston Herald_.
=CABIN FEVER=
How Bud Moore and his wife, Marie, fared through their attack of "cabin
fever" is the theme of this B.M. Bower story.
The author has put some real sentiment into a story that gives a
rapidly filmed "movie" of Western life.--_Philadelphia Public
Ledger_.
=STARR, OF THE DESERT=
A story of mystery, love and adventure, which has a Mexican revolt as
its main theme.
The tale is well written, with the fine art of artlessness, and of
unflagging interest; a book worth the reading which it is sure to
get from every one who begins it.--_New York Tribune_.
=THE FLYING U'S LAST STAND=
What happened when a company of school teachers and farmers encamped on
the grounds of the Flying U Ranch.
The Northwestern cattle country has never had a better chronicler
in fiction of its deeds and its people than B.M. Bower.--_New York
Times_.
=GOOD INDIAN=
A story named for its half-breed hero, who dominates this stirring
Western romance.
There is excitement and action on every page.... A somewhat unusual
love story runs through the book.--_Boston Transcript_.
=THE UPHILL CLIMB=
How a cowboy fought the hardest of all battles--a fight against himself.
Bower knows the West of the cowboys, as do few writers to-day....
The word pictures of Western life are realistic, and strongly
suffused with local color.--_Philadelphia North American_.
=LONESOME LAND=
A story of modern Montana, giving a wholly different phase of life among
the ranches.
Montana described as it really is, is the "lonesome land" of this
new Bower story. A prairie fire and the death of the worthless
husband are especially well handled.--_A. L. A. Booklist_.
=SKYRIDER=
A cowboy who becomes an aviator is the hero of this new story of Western
ranch life.
An engrossing ranch story with a new note of interest woven into
its breezy texture.--_Philadelphia Public Ledger_.
=THE THUNDER BIRD=
Further aeronautic adventures of "Skyrider" Johnnie Jewel.
"A good story with numberless thrills and a humorous quality
throughout its pages."--_New York Sun_.
* * * * *
LITTLE, BROWN & CO., Publishers, Boston, Mass.