"
"Lordy me! Jim, you needn't worry about it; you ought to know you can't
keep a thing like this quiet, on a ranch. It doesn't matter much how he
got that whisky here, either; I know well enough you didn't haul it out.
I'd figured it out about as Walt says.
"Say, it looks as if you'll have to wrastle with the pots and pans till
to-morrow. The lower fence I'll ride, this afternoon; did you get clear
around the Pinnacle field?"
"I sure did--and she's tight as a drum. Say, Mose is a good cook, but
he's a mighty punk housekeeper, if you ask me. I'm thinking of getting
to work here with a hoe!"
So life, which had of late loomed big and bitter before the soul of
Ford, slipped back into the groove of daily routine.
CHAPTER XV
The Climb
Into its groove of routine slipped life at the Double Cross, but it did
not move quite as smoothly as before. It was as if the "hill" which Ford
was climbing suffered small landslides here and there, which threatened
to block the trail below. Sometimes--still keeping to the simile--it was
but a pebble or two kicked loose by Ford's heel; sometimes a bowlder
which one must dodge.
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