Frontier and pioneer life -- Idaho -- Fiction; Siblings -- Fiction; Western stories
He came down very slowly and stood before her much as he had stood
before Rob, with his eyes smouldering under his half-shut lids.
"Well, come to fetch me my dog?" he drawled.
"Your dog! Didn't my brother tell you not to feed down here? This is
our pasture."
"Is it?"
"Yes, you know it is. And you had better drive your sheep off right
away, too."
"Had I?"
"Yes, at once." Even as she spoke Harry felt how empty her words were.
"You know perfectly well that you have no right on our land. You're
spoiling the pasture, and the stream, too. I wondered what had made
the water taste so queer. It's because your sheep have been in it."
"If you don't like it, I reckon you can dip out of another spring.
There's plenty in these hills."
"How dare you talk so!" Harry was trembling nervously. "You shall see
whether we'll put up with such lawlessness!"
She flew home, with her cheeks hot with anger, and with the sheep
herder's laugh echoing in her ears. When she entered the tent she found
Rob there.
"Oh," she cried breathlessly, "you remember that herder you told not to
come in here? He's up in the glen now. I've just seen him. I told him
to go, but he won't. He laughed."
Rob walked to the door. "Will dinner be ready by twelve, sis?"
"I guess so. Why?"
"I'm hungry," he said quietly. "It's eleven now."
Harry stared at him. "You aren't going up there?"
"Yes, after dinner. He'll be there until then, won't he? If I knew
where to find the camp tender, I'd tell him a thing or two about that
herder--make the whole outfit clear out. I don't care if Joyce has put
him on the next homestead, I filed here first, and he has no right to
put the man on there, anyway. I don't know whether there's any law in
this country, but if there is----"
He left the tent abruptly.
Harry began mechanically to get dinner. When it was ready, she blew
the horn and Rob came in. He said nothing about the sheep herder, but
ate his dinner calmly. At the end of the noon hour he rose, went to the
door, and stood looking out.
"I don't know how I'm going to keep those fellows off," he said, half
to himself. "I can't let my work go, to be chasing them all the time."
He pushed up his hat and scratched his head dubiously.
"Of course not; but if they're going to ruin our drinking water and eat
all the grass----"
"Oh, I'm going to drive this outfit away!" he said, as he went out.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account