ousand dollars between them, which Lawler give 'em for makin' the
drive. An' they sure did celebrate. Except Lawler. He went right home,
an' I ain't seen him since. But I reckon Warden an' the rest of them
ain't had no regrets. I ain't never seen no mournfuller sight than them
folks sneakin' away from the station. All but Della Wharton. She was
a-grinnin' sorta slylike, as though somethin' pleased her."

CHAPTER XVI

A "NORTHER"

When Lawler returned to the Circle L ranchhouse he found that Mary had
gone East, to school. She had left for Willets on the second day
following Lawler's departure; and Mrs. Lawler had already received two
letters from her. Mrs. Lawler watched her son keenly when she told him
that Joe Hamlin had brought a letter stating that Hamlin was to be
permitted to take a number of mixed cattle from the Circle L--and that
he had driven away one hundred. She smiled gently when she told Lawler
that on the day before her departure Mary had visited Ruth Hamlin--had
spent the whole day with her, and had come home, mysteriously delighted.
Ruth had given up the school.

"Mary loves her, Kane," said Mrs. Lawler. And she smiled again when she
saw a flush reach Lawler's face.

Lawler intended to ride to the Hamlin cabin this morning. It was the
third day following his arrival at the ranch; and until now he had had
no time for anything except to attend to the many details of work that
had been neglected during his absence.

There were still three thousand head of cattle on the Circle L
range--the men had held them in the valley for a time during his absence
on the trail, but the grass had grown sparse, and the herd was now
grazing on the big plain beyond the northern slope of the valley.

During the time he had been home the outfit had been busy. The Circle L
had a dozen line camps--little adobe cabins scattered over the range,
occupied during the winter by Circle L cowboys whose duty it was to
guard the cattle against the aggressions of timber wolves, rustlers,
cold, and starvation.

For two days the chuck-wagon had been sent rattling to the various line
camps, stocking them with supplies against the winter. As the weather
was threatening the hoodlum wagon had been pressed into service this
morning; and all the men, with the exception of the blacksmith--who was
working diligently in his shop near the corral; and two punchers--Davies
and Harris, who had been assigned to Number One camp--were away w