CHAPTER ONE THE OLE
VIRGINIA
The ring around the sun had thickened all day long, and the turquoise
blue of the Arizona sky had filmed. Storms in the dry countries are
infrequent, but heavy; and this surely meant storm.
We had ridden since sun-up over broad mesas, down and out of deep
canons, along the base of the mountain in the wildest parts of the territory.
The cattle were winding leisurely toward the high country; the jack rabbits
had disappeared; the quail lacked; we did not see a single antelope in the
open. "It\'s a case of hole up," the Cattleman ventured his opinion. "I
have a ranch over in the Double R. Charley and Windy Bill hold it down.
We\'ll tackle it. What do you think?" The four cowboys agreed. We
dropped into a low, broad watercourse, ascended its bed to big
cottonwoods and flowing water, followed it into box canons between rimrock
carved fantastically and painted like a Moorish facade, until at last in
a widening below a rounded hill, we came upon an adobe house, a fruit
tree, and a round corral. This was the Double R.