The Fighting Shepherdess

Kate was sitting on a rock--a dark picturesque silhouette against the sky. See page 235. LINK TO FULL-RESOLUTION IMAGE The Fighting Shepherdess By CAROLINE LOCKHART With Frontispiece By M. LEONE BRACKER A. L. BURT COMPANY Publishers New York Published by arrangement with Small, Maynard & Company Copyright, 1919, By SMALL, MAYNARD & COMPANY ( Incorporated ) SECOND PRINTING, FEBRUARY, 1919 THIRD PRINTING, MARCH, 1919 FOURTH PRINTING, MARCH, 1919 FIFTH PRINTING, MAY, 1919 SIXTH PRINTING, JUNE, 1919 Contents PAGE I The Sand Coulee Roadhouse 1 II An Historic Occasion 13 III Prouty 28 IV Disillusionment 40 V For Always 52 VI The Wolf Scratches 58 VII The Blood of Jezebel 75 VIII The Man of Mystery 85 IX The Summons 98 X The Bank Puts on the Screws 109 XI Kate Keeps Her Promise 120 XII The Dude Wrangler 131 XIII Mrs. Toomey’s Friendship is Tested 139 XIV Like Any Other Herder 156 XV One More Whirl 165 XVI Straws 175 XVII Extremes Meet 189 XVIII A Warning 207 XIX An Old, Old Friend 212 XX The Fork of the Road 228 XXI “Heart And Hand” 253 XXII Mullendore Wins 263 XXIII When the Black Spot Hit 274 XXIV Toomey Goes Into Something 283 XXV The Chinook 298 XXVI Taking Her Medicine 309 XXVII The Sheep Queen 322 XXVIII The Surprise of Mr. Wentz’s Life 333 XXIX Toomey Distinguishes Himself 344 XXX Her Day 353 THE FIGHTING SHEPHERDESS THE SAND COULEE ROADHOUSE A heavily laden freight wagon, piled high with ranch supplies, stood in the dooryard before a long loghouse. The yard was fenced with crooked cottonwood poles so that it served also as a corral, around which the leaders of the freight team wandered, stripped of their harness, looking for a place to roll. A woman stood on tip-toe gritting her teeth in exasperation as she tugged at the check-rein on the big wheelhorse, which stuck obstinately in the ring. When she loosened it finally, she stooped and looked under the horse’s neck at the girl of fourteen or thereabouts, who was unharnessing the horse on the other side. “Good God, Kate,” exclaimed the woman irritably; “how many times must I tell you to unhook the traces before you do up the lines? One of these days you’ll have the damnedest runaway in seven states.” The girl, whose thoughts obviously were not on what she was doing, obeyed immediately, and…