Max Brand

Alcatraz Max Brand

Having reached this conclusion, the logical thing, of course, was for Marianne to pack and gowithout waiting to see the race or hear the bidding for the Coles horses; but she could not leave. Hope is as blind as love. She had left the ranch saying to her father and to the foreman, Lew Hervey: "The bank account is shrinking, but ideals are worth more than facts and I shall improve the horseson this place." It was a rather too philosophical speech for one of her years, but Oliver Jordan hadmerely shrugged his shoulders and rolled another cigarette; the crushed leg which, for the past threeyears, had made him a cripple, had taught him patience. Only the foreman had ventured to smile openly. It was no secret that Lew Hervey disliked the girlheartily. The fall of the horse which made Jordan a semi-invalid, killed his ambition and self-relianceat the same instant. Not only was it impossible for him to ride since the accident, but thefreeswinging self-confidence which had made him prosperous disappeared at the same time; his verythoughts walked slowly on foot since his fall. Hervey gathered the reins of the ranch affairs moreand more into his own hands and had grown to an almost independent power when Marianne camehome from school. Having studied music and modern languages, who could have suspected inMarianne either the desire or the will to manage a ranch, but to Marianne the necessity for followingthe course she took was as plain as the palm of an open hand. The big estate, once such a moneymaker, was now losing. Her father had lost his grip and could not manage his own affairs, but whohad ever heard of a hired man being called to run the Jordan business as long as there was a Jordanalive? She, Marianne, was very much alive. She came West and took the ranch in hand. Her father smiled and gave her whatever authority she required; in a week the estate was hers tocontrol. But for all her determination and confidence, she knew that she could not master cattleraising in a few weeks. She was unfemininely willing to take advice. She even hunted for it, andthough her father refused to enter into the thing even with suggestions, a little help from Herveyplus her indomitable energy might have made her attempt a success