Argosy All-Story Weekly, April 4, 1925 — page 64: what you’re looking at

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

304 ‘And you seem to have got a lame arm,” she insinuated. Again she was net- tled by his failure to resent her goading. “You and me ought not to fight this way, Hazel,” he pointed out. ‘It seems like we done nothin’ but fight since we was kids, an’ it’s foolish.” He read accurately the repulsion with which her eves greet- ed this overture, and hastened to over- come it.” “Now, I ain’t trying to cover up that I was always to blame,” he protested. ‘“ The trouble was, I got to lookin’ on you like a kid sister. J didn’t give you the respect I ought to, see? ‘That’s natural, ain’t it? An’ I’ve been wild.” He seemed bent upon giving himself no mercy upon inviting her reprobation, indeed demanding it. “I’ve been wild,” he said penitently; “but I can change that over.” Hazel had been watching him with her head a little tilted, as though she were fas- cinated by this spectacle of Cliff Lederer penitent. She gave him no credit for sin- ceritv, and he deserved none. ‘“Oh, no, Cliff,” she said; ‘ you can’t change that over. Because it isn't wild- ness; it’s beastliness.” He frowned fleetly, for an instant dis- concerted by her frankness; then he re- claimed his smile. ‘That's as you say, Hazel,” he re- marked. ‘ But I wish you would see dif- ferent. You see, now, between us we own two-thirds of the Bar Nothing Ranch.” With that he sat up erect in the rocker, leaning a little forward. It was as if he had pronounced an ultimatum. ‘ You an’ me,” he said. “ Well?” his meaning. “ Well, you know what your dad always wanted to see. He wanted to see you an’ me married. That was natural,” he hur- ried on, preventing her from voicing her indignation. “‘ He wanted to see the ranch go on, in the family, you might say. Now, why shouldn’t we do that, Hazel? Can’t you see that I’d be different settled down? A man’s got to some time.” But while he spoke she had been gazing without illusion upon a picture of the man as limned by his past. .A wastrel of the She pointedly refused to see ARGOSY-ALLSTORY WEERLY. range was the Clifford Lederer she knew— Gambler, bully, professional murderer, and profligate. , She could not remember a single scene in his turbulent career which presented him in any finer guise than as a brutal but su- perb master of horses, and even in that role his cruelty had appalled her. She knew there was no good in him. ‘Tf that’s all you got to say, Cliff,” she said, “I wish you would go. You ought to realize that I know you too well for any such pretense on your part to succeed.” “Well, what does that signify? You know me. All right—you got to marry some time; every girl has. And I’m your partner on the ranch. You can't change that. Whoever you marry, it’s goin’ to be me that’s with you all the time, at yore side all the time, runnin’ the cattle for you. “And what better man do you know than me? Who else on the range is a better man than I am?” He was on his feet now, and there was a threat in his voice. What other man would dare come to share the Bar Nothing Ranch with him? And she knew one who was finer, more cultured, than any native of the range she had met. And he was a man who could, and would, and had already, dared dispute with this gun-toting bully the outrageous claim he made. But that was a chord upon which she could not play. ‘You seem to overlook my uncle,” she parried. ‘ He has a share in the Bar Noth- ing Ranch, too.” He grinned, finding something in her words which cooled his temper. Unwitting- ly she had led to his trump card, and he plaved it. ‘That's why you’d better go in with me,” he said. ‘“ You ain’t got any reason to love Wert Farlev, an’ if you an’ me stick together we can fix things so he'll be a lot glad to get out of his share and leave us to run the ranch alone. There’s a combina- tion to think about, Hazy. The Bar Noth- ing Ranch ts something to own.” The confidence with which he set forth this idealistic enterprise, the patronage which he tendered her in this inclusion with his plans, stirred her to anger. (CO) lDOOlK