_Alec_
Alec never acted without first planning, and the action he took depended
on whatever his plan called for. Right now, he decided, he'd have to
move swiftly if he hoped to catch Cindy before she was out of sight. He
bridled Pete's sorrel pony, whose name was Carrots, and leaped astride
him. Then he shouted his intentions to his mother and whirled Carrots
toward Oklahoma.
At once, though it had taken less than a minute to reach and bridle the
pony, he knew that he was too late. He'd noticed the running men and
depended upon them to delay Cindy. But he had not counted on his
sister's skill as a rider. Cindy was nowhere to be seen.
Immediately Alec formed another plan. As soon as he did so, he put it
into effect. Riding cautiously so as to hit none of the running men, he
crossed the border into Oklahoma. After he'd passed most of the men, he
let Carrots canter and drew farther ahead. Safely in advance of the
crowd, Alec slowed his mount.
It would be exciting to fly over the grasslands as fast as Carrots could
run. But it would not be sensible, and it would not help find Cindy. The
situation, in Alec's opinion, called for clear thinking.
He knew that Pete Brent had in mind definite claims to which he was
taking Mr. Simpson. But Alec hadn't the faintest idea how to find those
claims. However, there was certain logic which could not fail to guide
him correctly.
North lay the Cherokee Strip, in which no lands were open, so surely
Pete would not go north. It stood to reason that, knowing of claims he
wanted to stake, Pete would have camped as near to them as possible.
However, it did not necessarily follow that the claims lay due south.
Pete might travel southeast or southwest. But since time was so
important, he would not go very far to the east or west.
Alec decided that, if he rode an estimated quarter of a mile east, then
turned Carrots and rode the same distance west, and kept working south,
he would be sure to find Cindy. And find her he would if it took him six
months and he had to cover all of Oklahoma.
He did not hurry, for the time for hurrying was past. Carrots might have
a very long trip ahead of him, and it was well to save his strength.
Letting the pony choose his own pace, Alec tried to see everything.
He passed a wagon with a broken wheel. There were no horses or mules
hitched to it and nobody around. Evidently, when the wagon broke down,
whoever owned it had cut his team loose and ridden on into Oklahoma.
Alec guided Carrots around a homesteader who had marked his claim with a
huge white sheet. The homesteader was looking frantically for the
corners.
Most of Oklahoma seemed to be very good land. But Alec had a farmer's
eye, and he was glad his father had gone on. In a year of abundant
rainfall, any fertile land would grow good crops. In a year of drought,
water would be necessary. Alec hoped his father would find a claim near
a stream.
As soon as he had traveled what he thought was a sufficient distance,
Alec turned Carrots and started in the other direction. Carrots flicked
his ears forward and snorted softly. Alec looked with interest at a
little grove of trees that rose above the grass. He swung Carrots toward
them. As soon as he was near, he heard two men arguing.
One, stripped to the waist and sweating, had been digging in a huge
hole. Over the hole, Alec understood, he would build a dugout to serve
as a dwelling place until he could erect a house. The other man, mounted
on a sweating horse, must have started from the border and ridden in the
Run.
"You got out here and dug that big a hole since noon?" asked the man who
was astride the horse.
[Illustration: _"You dug that big a hole since noon?" asked the man on
the horse_]
"Yup," said the other man.
"You couldn't have!" the horseman flared. "You're a Sooner!"
"Prove it," the other said.
"I'll do better than that!" the horseman exclaimed. "I'll bring soldiers
and let them see what you've done! If they think you're a Sooner, then
you're out and this is my claim!"
The horseman wheeled and rode back toward the border to find soldiers.
The man who had been digging the hole looked worriedly after him.
Wanting no part of this or any other trouble, Alec rode on. But he saw
why the disputed claim was valuable, for the trees surrounded a
sparkling water hole. In a dry year, when wells might fail, whoever
owned such a water hole could easily have every neighbor at his mercy.
All about were men who had staked claims, and they were busy hunting the
corners or building up those they had found. One white-haired man had a
little mountain of rock and was feverishly making it higher. Alec formed
his own opinions. Some of the people who had staked here thought that
all they had to do to be well settled was to claim a homestead. They
knew nothing of better lands farther on. Others, who did know, had been
unable to keep up with the Run. Instead of getting what they wanted,
they were taking what they could get. There were some choice claims,
such as the one with the water hole.
"Boy! Hey, boy!"
Alec stopped Carrots. He waited for a lanky, excited man who was shaking
his fist and talking to himself.
"Do you know what I aim to do, boy?" the man called.
"No," said Alec.
"Goin' to law," the man said. "Goin' to law soon's I can find me a
lawyer. Claim jumpers run me off my claim!"
Still shaking his fist and talking to himself, the man walked on. Alec
slacked Carrots' reins. He shivered. Gramps had said that the settlement
of Oklahoma was a fine and wonderful thing, and it was. But it had
already given rise to quarrels. Alec rode on. He wondered what other
ways would be used to settle the question when two or more people staked
a claim. Already he had seen a man who intended to challenge a Sooner,
and another who was going to court. Alec thought that some of the
arguments might not be settled for months, or even years.
He reined Carrots toward someone he knew. It was the old man with the
sorry-looking mule, which now stood with drooping head and switching
tail. The old man looked up.
"Hello, boy," he said happily.
"Hello," Alec replied.