The Groom News (Groom, Tex.), Vol. 12, No. 30, Ed. 1 Thursday, September 23, 1937 Page: 6 of 8
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THE GROOM NEWS, GROOM, CARSON COUNTY, TEXAS
CATTLE KINGDOM
By ALAN LEMAY
© Alan. Le May
WNU Service
SYNOPSIS
Billy Wheeler, wealthy young cattleman,
arrives at the 94 ranch, summoned by his
friend Horse Dunn, its elderly and quick-
tempered owner, because of a mysterious
murder. Billy is in love with Dunn’s niece
Marian, whom he has not seen for two
years. She had rejected his suit and is still
aloof. Divnn’s ranch is surrounded by ene-
mies, including Link Bender, Pinto Halliday
and Sam Caldwell, whom he has defeated in
his efforts to build a cattle kingdom. Dunn
directs his cow hands, Val Douglas, Tulare
Callahan and others to search for the killer’s
horse. He explains to Billy that the morn-
ing before he had come upon bloodstained
ground at Short Creek and found the trail of
a shod and unshod horse. The shod horse’s
rider had been killed. The body had dis-
appeared. Link Bender had arrived at the
scene and read the signs the way he had.
Dunn reveals that because of a financial
crisis the ranch may be in jeopardy; his
enemies may make trouble since Sheriff
Walt Amos is friendly with them. He says
he has asked Old Man Coffee, the country’s
best trailer, to join them. Dunn and Billy
meet Amos, Link Bender, his son “the Kid”
and Cayuse Cayetano, an Indian trailer,
pit Short Creek. Bender has found the slain
tnan’s horse, but the saddle is missing.
Almost supernaturally, cattle attracted to
the scene by the blood-stained ground,
stamp out all the traces. Dunn is angered
when Amos tells him not to leave the
county. Following an argument, Bender
draws his gun, but Dunn wounds him in
the arm. Back at the ranch Old Man Coffee
arrives, with a pack of hounds. Coffee goes
In search of the dead man’s saddle. Dunn
tells Billy that Marian is incensed at him
for trying to settle disputes by bloodshed.
He reveals that the ranch is really hers.
CHAPTER II—Continued
Wheeler was silent. He could not
altogether agree with Horse Dunn.
He had seen range quarrels settled
by gunfire—but never to the ad-
vantage of either winner or loser.
However, he wasn’t going to argue
with the Old Man.
“What if she ties my hands?”
Dunn demanded. “I’ve got to fight
this thing my own way. For myself
I wouldn’t so much mind. But ain’t
the outfit hers, to begin with?”
“Hers?” Wheeler repeated.
“Sure, it’s hers. Didn’t you know
that?”
Wheeler had not known it. “But
look here! You’ve run this brand
ever since I can remember. You
must at least have some part in-
terest here.”
“Not a penny or a head of stock,”
Dunn told him.
“But I happen to know,” Wheeler
declared, “that you’ve always had
an outfit, another outfit, down in Ari-
zona. Yet your Arizona outfit hasn’t
seen you four times in a dozen
years.”
“I’ve had my hands full here,”
Dunn said.
“You mean,” Billy Wheeler said,
“you spent the last twelve-thirteen
years neglecting your own outfit to
build up a brand that don’t belong
to you?”
Dunn shrugged. “Somebody had
to take holt. My brother died—sud-
den. He didn’t leave the 94 in very
good shape. For two years it was
run by different bosses I hired. But
this same Link Bender—he had a
big outfit then—he was stealing the
04 blind. Pretty soon there wouldn’t
have been any 94. And it was all
the kid and her mother had.”
Billy Wheeler stared at Horse
Dunn. Once he had heard it ru-
mored that Horse Dunn had loved
Marian’s mother, long ago.
“Marian’s mother always hated
and feared this country. She
brought up Marian to feel some sim-
ilar. That’s why the kid can’t stand
gunsmoke, or anything done by
force. You see—my brother died
with a gun in his hand.”
Wheeler, unable to endorse the
Old Man’s leaning toward violence,
expressed a belief that there ought
to be some way to avoid smoking up
the range. “If we can hold the 94
steady on the finance side,” he said,
“what can Link Bender’s crowd
do?”
“God knows I’ve took all the steps
I know to steady the finance side,”
Horse Dunn said. “A minute ago
you spoke of my having an outfit
in Arizona. Well, I had an outfit
in Arizona. Six weeks ago I sent
word to Bob Flagg, my partner
there, to sell her out. She’s sold.
For the last ten days I've been look-
ing for Bob Flagg. He’s supposed
to show here with $50,000, as good as
in cash; another $50,000 in different
obligations and notes. Everything
I’ve got goes to the bracing of the
04.”
Horse stared out the open door-
way toward the corrals; and now
Billy Wheeler saw Horse Dunn’s
rocky face slowly relax, and soften.
Out at the far corral Marian had
caught the quiet old pony that Horse
had given her, and was preparing
to saddle. Horse Dunn watched her,
his eyes gentle. There was always
a shy humility about that strapping
big old man when he looked at this
girl, this daughter of his dead broth-
er. It was almost as if he might
have been looking at his own daugh-
ter, who had grown up away from
him. After all, she might have been
his daughter, if things had broken
differently once.
“You go ride with her,” Dunn
said with a certain awkwardness.
“You talk to her. Try to make her
see that—that this is a—a different
country, kind of.”
“She doesn’t take any stock in
me, Horse.”
“You go, anyway,” Dunn insist-
ed. “I don’t like to have her riding
this big range alone.”
With a curious reluctance Wheeler
picked up his hat and walked out
to the stable where his saddle was.
CHAPTER III
A rise of dust was going up on the
Inspiration road as Wheeler sad-
dled; he knew the approaching car
must be driven by Steve Hurley.
For a moment he hesitated, for he
would have liked to hear the latest
word from the camp of Horse
Dunn’s enemies. Marian Dunn, how-
ever, was loping eastward along an
old trail not far off the Inspiration
road. Steve Hurley would be able
to signal to him from road to trail
if any new word concerned him. He
let his pony lope out and caught up
with Marian within the mile.
“Do you mind if I ride your
way?”
“Maybe,” Marian said, “you’ll
show me where Short Creek is.”
Wheeler was startled. “Short
Creek?”
“Sometimes,” the girl said, “it’s
easier to look at a thing than to
imagine it.”
“I was thinking some of riding
over that way,” he conceded. “Only
—I wish you’d let somebody know
when you set off to ride a distance
like that, so somebody could go
with you.”
She looked at him sidelong for a
minute. “Sometimes it seems to
me you people do everything you
can to make this into an unfriendly
country.”
“I don’t know what you mean.”
“These Red Hills, with the sun
on them, are the background of the
“Wait Here,” Wheeler Said to
the Girl.
very earliest memories I have.
When I came here again it was as
if I were coming home. I felt free
and natural, here—at first. And
Horse Dunn is almost exactly like
my father, what little I can remem-
ber of him—so nearly like my fa-
ther that I can’t remember my
father’s face any more; because my
uncle’s face comes in between.”
“He worships the ground you
walk on,” Wheeler said.
“I know.” A little shiver ran
across her shoulders, anomalous in
the blaze of the sun. “Then he turns
and does some wild, awful thing—
like yesterday; and it gives me the
strangest feeling of being complete-
ly lost in a country I don’t under
stand.”
“Yesterday? What awful thing?’
“He—he shot Link Bender.”
“It was kind of unfortunate, sure.
But I don’t know what else he could
do. Link drew on him. And all
your uncle did was to nick him in
the arm, so that he dropped the
gun.”
Marian’s tone was curiously de-
tached, unforgiving. “He admitted
he set out to goad Link Bender into
fighting.”
That was not exactly what Horse
Dunn had said, but essentially the
girl was right. It was like Horse
Dunn too that he could in no part
lie to this girl, but would put him-
self conscientiously into the worst
possible light.
“He said more,” Marian added.
“He said that if it hadn’t been for
me he would have killed Link
Bender there at Chuck Box Wash.
Billy Wheeler started to say, “Oh,
I don’t think—” It was no use. It
was futile to try to hide from this
girl certain things which she was in
no way equipped to understand, yet
was sure to see clearly. “This is a
different country than you’re used
to, Marian. Dry country men
learned long ago to depend on them
selves; they’ve lived that way for
a long time.”
The car that had been an ap-
proaching funnel of dust upon the
Inspiration road now came careen-
ing around a rutty bend 200 yards
below them. Steve Hurley leaned
from behind his dusty windshield to
wave at them, then brought his car
to a long-rolling stop. He signaled
Wheeler to ride to him.
“Wait here,” Wheeler said to the
girl. He wheeled his horse, then
hesitated to say over his shoulder,
Don’t worry; we’ll work every-
thing out all right.”
He put his horse down to the
road, jumping it through the red
rocks. From behind the wheel Steve
Hurley thrust a big square hand at
him, and Steve’s big beefy face
flashed a quick grin. “Glad to see
you, Billy; the Old Man said he
figured you’d sit in. As soon as I
see who it was, I pulled up.”
Wheeler glanced at the boiling
radiator. “What’s broke in Inspira-
tion, Steve?”
‘The Old Man may be wanting to
call his riders in. Thought I’d stop
and tell you what it was, so’s you
could signal in any of the boys you
might see while you’re out.”
“I’m listening.”
“It’s all over Inspiration that
Sheriff Walt Amos will make an ar-
rest within three days. They’re say-
ing the sheriff knows who’s dead;
that it’s a man Dunn swore to kill
if ever he found him on 94 range.”
Steve Hurley’s sun-squinted eyes
rested steadily and keenly on Billy
Wheeler.
‘Steve,” said Wheeler, “will
Horse Dunn submit to arrest?”
Steve Hurley looked away a mo-
ment before he answered. “I don’t
know,” he said at last. “But I
guess maybe. Am I right he’ll want
his riders in?”
“I’d sure think so. This thing is
coming faster than I figured it
would, Steve.”
The girl’s eyes were questioning
as Billy Wheeler returned to her
side. “Don’t worry,” he said; “it’s
all going to work out.”
They turned off, no longer paral-
leling the Inspiration road; and for
a long while as the miles slowly un-
rolled under the fox-trotting hoofs
of the ponies neither had anything
to say.
They were near Short Creek when
the girl spoke unexpectedly. “I’m
glad you came. You make things
seem straighter and smoother, just
the way you pace your horse along,
without any worry or fret.”
“There isn’t anything to worry
about.”
“You’ve changed since two years
ago,” the girl told him. “Some-
how you’re nicer to ride with—
quieter, more restful.”
He glanced at her but didn’t an-
swer.
“You used to be a stampedey
sort of person,” she explained, “al-
ways rushing your horse at things.
Whatever you went at, you always
went at it by the same way—thun-
der of hoofs, taking all obstacles by
storm. I think I used to be afraid
of you.”
For a moment he wondered if
things would have gone differently
between them if he had been less
eager, less turbulent. When you
wanted a thing too much you over-
played your hand and lost out alto-
gether. Maybe you could love a
girl too much, too soon, and de-
feat yourself the same way. Per-
haps if—
A quarter of a mile away within
the sharp-cut bed of Short Creek
something moved, held steady a
moment, then disappeared. It was
a rider there, who was watching
them; but it was not a rider who
meant to rise in his stirrups and
hail.
“Well,” he said briskly, “this is
Short Crick.
“You see,” he said, pulling up his
horse at the spot the cattle had
trampled, “this is nothing but a
place where it just happened that
somebody took a shot at somebody.
What is there to see? Nothing. I
want you to think of this place as
just a crick where horses come to
drink.”
Marian Dunn sat very quiet, star-
ing at the shallow water. He won-
dered what things, terrible to her,
she might be picturing.
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“I’m glad I came,” Marian said.
“But especially I’m glad you came.
You—”
“Listen,” he said.
A horse as yet unseen was com-
ing fast down the cut. Its unshod
hoofs padded quietly in the sand at
the margin of the water, so that its
thudding lope was sensed less by
sound than by shock—the faint dis-
tant tremor of the ground.
“What is it?” the girl asked.
“Don’t you hear? A horse is com-
ing up.”
“I don’t—” She started to say
that she didn’t hear anything; but
just then the unseen rider cut
through the shallows with a sud-
den sharp sound of thrown water
and the ring of hoofs on stone.
“Who is it?”
“Quien sabe? Turn and ride back
the way we’ve come,” he told her
without emphasis. “I’ll be along in
a minute.”
Without a word Marian turned her
horse; she was at the two hundred
yards as a hard-run horse surged
up over the lip of the cut. The rider
was Kid Bender.
The Kid half wheeled his pony,
drove close to Billy Wheeler’s
horse; his lean figure swayed back-
wards as he brought his pony to a
sliding stop, very close. Across the
back of his right hand showed the
heavy purple welt that Wheeler’s
quirt had laid there; and in his face
was the joyous anger of a man
who takes payment for a past hu-
miliation.
“What you doing here?”
Wheeler ignored the question.
“You’re a little off your range,
Kid,” he said. “This range comes
under the head of the 94. Maybe
I’ll be ordering you off it pretty
quick. I haven’t decided yet.”
“No,” said Kid Bender. “I don’t
think you will. You’re dealing with
a peace officer—patroling the scene
of a crime.”
“Peace officer?”
Kid Bender flipped over the tail
end of his neckerchief to reveal a
nickel-plated shield. It was cheap
and it was new; but as it flashed in
the sun Wheeler felt his scalp stir
oddly, as if he had glimpsed fire
behind smoke. Horse Dunn’s view
of the situation was shaping up fast-
er than Horse himself had imag-
ined.
“Yesterday,” said the Kid, “you
knocked a gun out of my hand.”
Billy Wheeler said distinctly,
“With a quirt. I whipped it out of
your hand with a quirt.”
Kid Bender’s face darkened for
an instant but the hard gleam of a
joyous anticipation immediately re-
turned to his eye. “I have orders,”
he said, “to see that the hired men
of the 94 don’t trample over the
scene of this crime any more. I’m
starting with you; I’ll give you fel-
lers something to remember orders
by. I’m taking your horse and your
gun. Maybe your girl there will
give you a lift after you’re afoot.
Or maybe I’ll send her on home—I
haven’t decided that yet.”
“No,” said Wheeler, “you’re not
taking either horse or gun.”
“You’re against an officer of the
law. You know what that means?”
“I know,” Billy Wheeler said,
“what I hope it means.”
For a moment Kid Bender hesi-
tated; they sat watching each other,
two men in a situation from which
neither could withdraw. One of
them had sought this meeting—the
other welcomed it. Both knew that
something peculiarly personal had
to be settled here, now, between the
two of them alone.
“I see your girl has stopped a
little way up here,” the Kid said;
“seems like she sets watching from
the hill.” .
Wheeler suppressed in time an
impulse to glance over his shoul-
der. Instead his eyes never left
Kid Bender as he jerked his chin
sharply toward his shoulder as if he
glanced away.
(TO BE CONTINUED) •
By D. R. Dodd, Extension Agronomist, Ohio
State University.—WNU Service.
Farmers are advised to take ad-
vantage of favorable weather and
crop conditions this season as a
means of establishing increased
soil-conserving grass and legume
acreages on their farms.
Not only will such seedings even-
tually provide live stock feed and
forage crops, but they will supply
a valuable land covering for the
winter months and prove of advan-
tage to farmers who intend to par-
ticipate in the 1938 Agricultural Con-
servation program.
While summer seedings of le-
gumes and grasses are not generally
the preferable practice, good stands
can be attained on lands from which
an early crop has been harvested, on
land which has been summer-fal-
lowed, on land which has produced
an emergency forage crop this sea-
son, and on land which failed to pro-
duce a stand of conserving crops
seeded in the spring. In hilly sec-
tions there is danger of serious ero-
sion and the breaking of long slopes
as a unit should be avoided. Such
slopes are best handled in strips and
on the contour.
A fine firm seedbed with a good
moisture content to plow depth and
a good supply of available nutrients
are essential. The seedbed is best
completed by use of a cultipacker.
The seed may then be broadcast
and covered very lightly. Usually,
a 2-12-6 or 0-14-6 fertilizer, at the
rate of 250 to 350 pounds per acre,
should be used before seeding.
Winter cover crops are particu-
larly valuable, serving to hold win-
ter snows on the cropland, conserv-
ing moisture, reducing leaching, re-
tarding runoff, and reducing ero-
sion. Lime is a first essential and
must be used where needed.
Dog as Pet Is Aid to Nervous People;
Philosophy of Animal Simple, Logical
Nerve specialists contend that
driving an automobile, especially
through heavy traffic, tends to re-
lieve the condition of nervous peo-
ple. But the problem of the bad-
tempered motorist who unnecessari-
ly blares his horn and says many
bad things to other drivers re-
mained one of the great un-
solved puzzles until an official of
The American Kennel club, (gov-
erning body of pure-bred dogs) com-
mented on the subject. He told that
it is recorded in contemporary and
historical dog writings that a hot-
tempered person who becomes in-
terested in a dog improves in dis-
position.
The dog has such an infinite
capacity to take punishment that he
shames his master into calmer re-
actions to annoyances. The dog
may look reproachfully at the
master who has struck him, but will
attempt no retaliation. This sit-
uation is true, of course, only be-
tween the dog and the master he
loves — often unreasonably. The
pure-bred dog will not tolerate an
indignity from a stranger.
The philosophy of the dog is very
simple, but very logical. If he gives
his affection, it is given whole-
heartedly. He dislikes trouble, and
will avoid it as long as possible. Yet
his defense mechanism is quickly
stirred by malignant forces. The
curious part of dog and human re-
lationships is that the human being
invariably learns something from
his dog—the degree of knowledge
varying according to the intel-
ligence of the person.
Motorists of the petulant species
are not the only ones who benefit
from the dog. The diabetic, who
also is really of an explosive, worri-
some disposition has a greater ex-
pectation of life if he becomes in-
terested in a dog. Doctors have
recommended dogs as pets especial-
ly for children suffering from dia-
betes.
Horse Deaths From Heat
Can Be Reduced on Farm
Giving the farm work horses as
much consideration as possible dur-
ing hot weather will go a long way
in preventing horse deaths fly heat
prostration, states H. G. Zavoral,
extension animal husbandman, Uni-
versity farm, St. Paul.
Ordinarily many horses die from
heat prostration during the season,
but much of this can be prevented
by proper feeding and manage-
ment. To reduce some of this loss,
care should be exercised in keep-
ing the horses in good physical con-
dition. Keeping plenty of fresh salt
always available and giving each
horse a bran mash once a week or
adding about 10 per cent of bran to
the grain ration will help keep the
horses in good condition. Hay should
be fed, for grass alone is too wa-
tery; at noon, however, hay should
be fed sparingly. After feeding at
night, horses will rest better if
turned out on pasture.
Watering the horses often is es-
sential during extreme hot weather,
every hour or so in the fields if pos-
sible. Water can be taken to the
fields in barrels or cans. Horses
that do not sweat should be watched
carefully, for the danger sign is
out when sweating ceases on hot
days. Washing the horses’ shoul-
ders with salt water once or twice
a day will add much to their pro
tection.
Agricultural Notes
Total crop land in the country is
approximately 36,000,000 acres.
* * *
Cats, fed some milk at the barn,
usually take care of the mice.
* * *
Eggs generally weigh from 23 to
25 ounces to the dozen, but they
may vary from 18 to 32 ounces.
* * *
About 10 acres out of every 36
acres of crop land in the United
States is planted to corn and about
one out of each 36 is planted to cot-
ton.
* * *
A serious problem of the poultry
industry is the lack of proper feath-
ering of broilers in many of the
heavy breeds.
* * *
Thorough grooming of horses
cleans and thins the hair and thus
reduces sweating and prevents ex-
cessive fatigue.
* • *
Milk is one of the most valuable
feeds for poultry. Skimmed and
buttermilk, if not diluted with wa-
ter, are almost as valuable and
much cheaper than whole milk.
* * *
The most practical method of
checking bindweed is to spray it
with sodium chlorate.
* * *
It requires approximately 70 to 75
million pounds of animal protein to
raise to maturity the chicks hatched
annually in Oklahoma.
* * *
Size of the eggs is partly due to
the period of laying, partly to he-
redity. Pullet eggs are small, but
increase in size as the pullets be-
come older until they reach full ma-
turity.
Pattern 1475
scarfs or kitchen curtains. Tulips
are in single stitch. Use gay floss.
Pattern 1475 contains a transfer
pattern of two motifs 6V2 by 8XA
inches; two motifs 5 by 0x/2 inches
and four motifs 6 by 6*4 inches;
and four motifs SYs by 514 inches;
color suggestions; illustrations of
all stitches used; material re-
quirements.
Send 15 cents in stamps or coins
(coins preferred) for this pattern
to The Sewing Circle Needlecraft
Dept., 82 Eighth Ave., New York.
Please write plainly your name,
address and pattern number.
Jlsk Me .Another
0 A General Quiz
1. What are the seven natural
wonders of the western world?
2. Where are the airplanes car-
ried on the U. S. S. Lexingtonf
3. Since the word “sunset” is-
used, why is there no similar word,
“moonset”?
4. How much more than gold is
radium worth?
5. How should the width of the
human ear compare with its
length?
6. Is it correct to say, “I de-
toured my car”?
Answers
1. Niagara falls, Yellowstone-
park, Mammoth cave of Ken-
tucky, Garden of the Gods, Giant
trees of California, Yosemite val-
ley and Natural bridge of Vir-
ginia. The Grand canyon is not
usually included.
2. They are carried below the
deck in the hangar. When the
planes are ready to take off they
are raised to the deck on ele-
vators.
3. The word “moonset” is in
good usage, but is not heard so
often as sunset.
4. Radium is worth 25,000 times
as much as gold.
5. An ear should be twice as
long as it is wide.
6. No. The verb detour is in-
transitive and does not take an
object. You can say, “I detoured
in my car.”
HOW OFTEN
CAN YOU KISS AND
MAKE UP?
T7TEW husbands can understand
f why a wife should turn from a
pleasant companion into a shrew
for one whole week in every month.
You can say “I’m sorry” and
kiss and make up easier befor®
marriage than after. If you're wis®
and if you want to hold your hus-
band, you won’t be a three-quarter
wife.
For three generations one woman
has told another how to go “smil-
ing through” with Lydia E. Pink-
ham’s Vegetable Compound. It
helps Nature tone up the system,
thus lessening the discomforts from
the functional disorders which
women must endure in the thre®
ordeals of life: 1. Turning from
girlhood to womanhood. 2. Pre-
paring for motherhood. 3. Ap-
proaching “middle age.”
Don’t be a three-quarter wife;
take LYDIA E. PINKHAM’S
VEGETABLE COMPOUND and
Go “Smiling Through.”
WNU—H
38—37
HELP KIDNEYS
To Get Rid of Acid
tnd Poisonous Waste
Your kidneys help to keep you-well
by constantly filtering waste matter
from the blood. If your kidneys get
functionally disordered and fail to
remove excess impurities, there may be
poisoning of the whole system and
body-wide distress.
Burning, scanty or too frequent uri-
nation may be a warning of some kidney
or bladder disturbance.
You may suffer nagging backache,
persistent headache, attacks of dizziness,
getting up nights, swelling, puffiness
under the eyes—feel weak, nervous,- aU
played out.
In such cases it Is better to rely on a
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Wade, W. Max. The Groom News (Groom, Tex.), Vol. 12, No. 30, Ed. 1 Thursday, September 23, 1937, newspaper, September 23, 1937; Groom, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth637767/m1/6/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Carson County Library.