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Updated: May 17, 2025
I been wantin' to meet you," he said harshly. "Same here, Houck." Bandy Walker pushed to the front, jerking a forty-five from its scabbard. Houck's hand shot forward and caught the cowpuncher by the wrist. "What's bitin' you, Bandy? Time enough for that when I give the word." The yellow teeth of the bow-legged man showed in a snarl of rage and pain. "I'd 'a' got Dillon if you'd let me be."
"Jake Houck. He was down at the camp for dinner to-day came in with the boss." "He's no friend of mine," she said sulkily. "Don't blame you a bit. Mr. Houck looks like one hard citizen. I'd hate to cross him." "He's as tough as an old range bull. No matter what you say or do you can't faze him," she replied wearily. "You still hate him?" "More 'n ever. Most o' the time. He just laughs.
"But we haven't money enough to go on the stage, have we?" "If there was a bull team going out mebbe I could work my way." "W-e-ll." She considered this dubiously. "If we stayed here Mrs. Gillespie would let me wash dishes an' all. She said she'd give me two dollars a week an' my board. Tha's a lot of money, Bob." He looked out of the window. "I don't want trouble with Jake Houck.
A gate made of three strands of barbed wire and two poles barred the wagon trail. For already the nester was fencing the open range. As Houck moved forward to the gate the moon disappeared back of the banked clouds. June's eye swept the landscape and brightened. The sage and the brush were very thick here. A grove of close-packed quaking asps filled the draw. She glanced at Jake.
The savage oaths that reached her now and again were evidence enough that the fellow was in a vile temper. If he should find her now, she felt sure he would carry out his vow as to the horsewhip. The night was cold. June shivered where she lay close to the ground. The rain beat in uncomfortably. But she did not move till Houck drove away. Even then she descended to the road cautiously.
June might have added another reason, a more potent one. She knew Jake Houck, what a game and desperate villain he was. They could not capture him alive. It was not likely he could be killed without one or two men at least being shot by him. Driven into a corner, he would fight like a wild wolf. "Tha's the way to talk, June. Help me outa this hole. You can if you're a mind to.
June took up the gage, instantly, defiantly. "You've got nothing to do with us, Jake Houck. We're married." The news had reached him. He looked at her blackly. "Married or single, you're mine, girl, an' you're going with me." "My husband will have a word to say about that," June boasted bravely. Houck looked at his rival, and a sinister, mocking smile creased the hard face.
"Why have you?" "I can't tell you why, Bob. But that's how it is." "And you still hate Houck?" "Ump-ha. Except sometimes." She did not explain that elusive answer. "But it don't matter about how I feel. When he comes back I've got to do like he says." June broke down and began to weep. The boy's tender heart melted within him. "Don't you. Don't you," he begged. "We'll find a way, li'l' pardner.
Her dark eyes blazed. They looked at him straight enough now. "Take yore hand off'n me. D'you hear?" He laughed, slowly, delightedly. "You're a spunky li'l' devil. Suits me fine. Jake Houck never did like jog-trotters in harness." "Lemme go," she ordered, and a small brown fist clenched. "Not now, nor ever. You're due to wear the Houck brand, girl."
Gary glanced at Pete, who stared at him, but made no gesture of greeting. But Pete had read Gary's unspoken thought. "Bailey had sent a couple of kids over to the Blue to help survey the line." And Pete did not intend to let Gary "get by" with the idea that his attitude was not understood. "Where's Houck?" asked Pete, naming the foreman of the T-Bar-T.
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