Raw Land by Luke Short

Author:Luke Short [Short, Luke]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Becky listened to Phipps's quiet story in the office that morning. She saw it as the tragic story of her father, aging and too ambitious, blinding his conscience to take a short cut to the ease which most men worked a lifetime for. He'd paid for it. Every hour of these last ten years had been payment. Death was welcome to him, she knew and she couldn't feel much sorrow. Right now she couldn't even hate the man who'd killed him.

Phipps agreed with her when she said she wanted the burial that morning. Two of the three people Angus Case cared for most — his daughter and his friend, John Phipps — were there. Chap Hale was already dead. To get the crew in for the funeral would mean leaving roundup, and it would take days. And Becky couldn't, wouldn't wait that long.

It was a quiet service, only a handful of people attending. Angus Case had been an unfriendly and proud man during his lifetime, a person the town and the ranchers didn't understand and didn't like. And few would really mourn him, Becky knew.

Afterward she rode back to town in Phipps's buggy. There was only one person in the world she wanted to see now, and that was Will. But Will was leaving. Or was he? Wouldn't she inherit the land now, and couldn't she give it back to him? She was almost ashamed of her lightness of heart when she thought of that.

First, though, she remembered she was mistress of the Nine X. There was buying to do, for the ranch must run as it had always run under her father. She stopped in at Dunn's, ordered supplies, had a special sack of grub put up for Will, and then called for the Nine X mail.

She wanted to ride to see Will first, but she knew she wouldn't. She must first ride out to the ranch, tell the men of her father's deaths give orders to Tip. Afterward, her duty done, she could see Will.

The Nine X was deserted, except for Tomas and one of the punchers Becky had sent for last night when she'd got news of her father's illness. Now that her father was dead, she wondered if she should go on with this roundup, which was the whim of a man who feared his cattle had been stolen. But if the crew returned Will might be discovered. She told the puncher of her father's death and sent word to Tip to keep on with the roundup.

Afterward she went into the house. Will's grub she put on the table, and then she remembered the mail. She stepped to the door, called to the puncher, who was just riding out, to wait a moment, and then she returned to the mail. She began to sort it, and when she came to Pres's letter, put it aside. Then she put the crew's mail in a sack and gave it to the puncher, who rode off.

Coming back to the kitchen table, Becky looked again at Pres's letter, which Mr.

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