Adventure, February 20, 1922 — page 162: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

160 enough grass above that fence to winter the cattle on the upper Verde.” , Gorham turned his horse down the trail. “It looks bad, but no game is ever played out till the last card falls.” _ He turned in his saddle and grinned at the | others amiably. ae ‘‘Wonder if I dare talk to this Newton - like I talked to his foreman.” ay ee Their arrival attracted no attention as ____ they rode through the archway. — A bunch of saddled horses stood on the Other side of the court, their heads to- _ gether, lazily switching their tails. Half a - dozen punchers sat cross-legged around a ~ Navaho blanket spread in a shady spot, in- ____ tent on a game of Mexican monte. To their right, in front of what was evi- dently the quarters of the owner, was a cov- ered porch, sheltered with sun-blinds and awnings, and furnished with couches, ham- _ mocks and easy chairs, and in one of these a girl sat reading. Gorham gave a low whistle. _ “YT didn’t know that Newton had a fam- ily,”’ he whispered. ‘“‘Leave your guns on _. your saddles, boys; no breaks, you know, iS ¥ i ee La . A ' : TH +” _.. when there’s women around,” and he un- <- buckled his belt and hung it over the saddle- horn. a As they approached the girl looked up - and Gorham took off his hat, as did the __ others. 2 “excuse me, miss,” he said. ‘‘Is Mr. New- ton anywhere around?” = _.-__‘The girl rose. ae “My father is in his office, where you see 3. _ that open door,” she said, pointing. “Walk “ right in.’ Newton, a stocky man nearing fifty, his _ hair tinged with gray, rose as the three en- tered. His smooth-shaven face was not un- pleasing, but his eyes at once attracted at- tention. For they were the yellow eyes of the wolf, with a cold ferocity in their fixed glare which few men could meet without an as ANE ‘Wa $ a Heit ' [Avs ¥ eae 1.3 a ‘ : ae um. WY y oh = — = involuntary shiver. = “How do you do, gentlemen,” he said, —___- Will you sit down?” tae But Gorham remained-standing. pee “Not just yet, thanks,” he said. ‘We're E here with a belt—and it isn’t white,” he me added meaningly. > “Ah! said Newton. “T think that I un- —_ derstand.” _ “Mr. Newton,” went on Gorham, “I’m Frank Gorham of the Boot outfit on the 4 , D i 4 : y } ny V- Lary Fhe Adventure upper Verde. We’ve just come down with a drive of beef and find that you have the _ desert trail fenced at the Sand Springs, and a bunch of gunmen there to hold the fence, so we dropped over to see what it means?” Newton turned toa large map on the wall, “Mr. Gorham,” he explained, ‘‘if you will look at that map you will see that the gov- ernment gave to the railroad, as a bonus for building, every other square mile, like the black squares on a checker-board, for twenty miles on each side of the line. Ihave bought the railroad lands, and I can runa a continuous fence, east or west, north or south, anywhere inside the railroad grant, and never go off my own land, so long as I keep on the section lines.” “But,”’ objected Gorham, “if you can do that, you can stop any one from crossing the grant, or getting to the railroad, or from having any use of the other half of the lands, which belong to the government and are © open range, free to all.” ““Mr. Gorham,” said Newton, “T have left the stage and freight road to the railroad open, as the law provides. Otherwise what you say seems to be the case.’ Gorham put on his hat, as did the others. “It’s war, then?” he said quietly. “It’s whatever you péople want to make it, Mr. Gorham. If you should find that the loss of the Winter range is going to make the cattle business unprofitable, you will find me willing to make an offer for your ranches and cattle, although the ranches are worth little or nothing if you have no Win- ter range.” He smiled grimly. “Can’t I offer you gentlemen something to eat before you go? It’sa long ride to the Sand Springs.” But Gorham declined with thanks. “The outfit is back at Grass Creek by this time, and the upper Verde cowmen ride good horses, as the Broken Bow has found out once before,”’ he said. ‘‘So we'll say good day until the next time we meet.” ONCE outside the house Gorham took off his hat and apps his head. ‘Solid, perfectly solid,’ ” he reinieced: “Here the railroad has been trying to sell these lands for twenty years at a dollar an’ acre on long time, and everybody laughs and says that they aren’t worth a ——. And along comes this Newton man—I take off “a Gomichboo (@) (E(@) <S