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diff --git a/23244-8.txt b/23244-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c6db824 --- /dev/null +++ b/23244-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10268 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Dude Wrangler, by Caroline Lockhart, +Illustrated by Dudley Glynne Summers + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: The Dude Wrangler + + +Author: Caroline Lockhart + + + +Release Date: October 29, 2007 [eBook #23244] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DUDE WRANGLER*** + + +E-text prepared by Roger Frank and the Project Gutenberg Online +Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net) + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustration. + See 23244-h.htm or 23244-h.zip: + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/3/2/4/23244/23244-h/23244-h.htm) + or + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/3/2/4/23244/23244-h.zip) + + + + + +THE DUDE WRANGLER + +by + +CAROLINE LOCKHART + +Frontispiece by Dudley Glyne Summers + + + + + + + +[Illustration: "Wallie swung the frying pan with all his strength ... +knocking the six-shooter from Boise Bill's hand as he jumped across the +fire at him"] + + + +Garden City, N. Y., And Toronto +Doubleday, Page & Company +1921 + +Copyright, 1921, by +Doubleday, Page & Company +All Rights Reserved, Including That of Translation into Foreign +Languages, Including the Scandinavian + +Copyright, 1921, by Street & Smith Corporation + + + + +CONTENTS + +CHAPTER PAGE + + I. The Girl from Wyoming 3 + II. "The Happy Family" 10 + III. "Pinkey" 18 + IV. The Brand of Cain 24 + V. "Gentle Annie" 33 + VI. "Burning His Bridges" 42 + VII. His "Gat" 47 + VIII. Neighbours 62 + IX. Cutting His Eyeteeth 69 + X. The Best Pulling Team in the State 81 + XI. Merry Christmas 92 + XII. The Water Witch 112 + XIII. Wiped Out 131 + XIV. Lifting a Cache 142 + XV. Collecting a Bad Debt 156 + XVI. The Exodus 168 + XVII. Counting Their Chickens 176 + XVIII. The Millionaires 182 + XIX. A Shock for Mr. Canby 196 + XX. Wallie Qualifies as a First-Class Hero 207 + XXI. "Worman! Worman!" 221 + XXII. "Knocking 'Em for a Curve!" 231 + XXIII. Rifts 247 + XXIV. Hicks the Avenger 261 + XXV. "And Just Then----" 301 + + + + +THE DUDE WRANGLER + +CHAPTER I + +THE GIRL FROM WYOMING + + +Conscious that something had disturbed him, Wallie Macpherson raised +himself on his elbow in bed to listen. For a full minute he heard +nothing unusual: the Atlantic breaking against the sea-wall at the foot +of the sloping lawn of The Colonial, the clock striking the hour in the +tower of the Court House, and the ripping, tearing, slashing noises like +those of a sash-and-blind factory, produced through the long, thin nose +of old Mr. Penrose, two doors down the hotel corridor, all sounds to +which he was too accustomed to be awakened by them. + +While Wallie remained in this posture conjecturing, the door between the +room next to him and that of Mr. Penrose was struck smartly several +times, and with a vigour to denote that there was temper behind the +blows which fell upon it. He had not known that the room was occupied; +being considered undesirable on account of the audible slumbers of the +old gentleman it was often vacant. + +The raps finally awakened even Mr. Penrose, who demanded sharply: + +"What are you doing?" + +"Hammering with the heel of my slipper," a feminine voice answered. + +"What do you want?" + +"A chance to sleep." + +"Who's stopping you?" crabbedly. + +"You're snoring." Indignation gave an edge to the accusation. + +"You're impertinent!" + +"You're a nuisance!" the voice retorted. Wallie covered his mouth with +his hand and hunched his shoulders. + +There was a moment's silence while Mr. Penrose seemed to be thinking of +a suitable answer. Then: + +"It's my privilege to snore if I want to. This is my room--I pay for +it!" + +"Then this side of the door is mine and I can pound on it, for the same +reason." + +Mr. Penrose sneered in the darkness: "I suppose you're some sour old +maid--you sound like it." + +"And no doubt you're a Methuselah with dyspepsia!" + +Wallie smote the pillow gleefully--old Mr. Penrose's collection of +bottles and boxes and tablets for indigestion were a byword. + +"We will see about this in the morning," said Mr. Penrose, +significantly. "I have been coming to this hotel for twenty-eight +years----" + +"It's nothing to boast of," the voice interrupted. "I shouldn't, if I +had so little originality." + +Mr. Penrose, seeming to realize that the woman would have the last word +if the dialogue lasted until morning, ended it with a loud snort of +derision. + +He was so wrought up by the controversy that he was unable to compose +himself immediately, but lay awake for an hour framing a speech for Mr. +Cone, the proprietor, which was in the nature of an ultimatum. Either +the woman must move, or he would--but the latter he considered a remote +possibility, since he realized fully that a multi-millionaire, socially +well connected, is an asset which no hotel will dispense with lightly. + +The frequency with which Mr. Penrose had presumed upon this knowledge +had much to do with Wallie's delight as he had listened to the +encounter. + +Dropping back upon his pillow, the young man mildly wondered about the +woman next door to him. She must have come in on the evening train while +he was at the moving pictures, and retired immediately. Very likely she +was, as Mr. Penrose asserted, some acrimonious spinster, but, at any +rate, she had temporarily silenced the rich old tyrant of whom all the +hotel stood in awe. + +A second time the ripping sound of yard after yard of calico being +viciously torn broke the night's stillness and, grinning, Wallie waited +to hear what the woman next door was going to do about it. But only a +stranger would have hoped to do anything about it, since to prevent Mr. +Penrose from snoring was a task only a little less hopeless than that of +stopping the roar of the ocean. Guests whom it annoyed had either to +move or get used to it. Sometimes they did the one and sometimes the +other, but always Mr. Penrose, who was the subject of a hundred +complaints a summer, snored on victoriously. The woman next door, of +course, could not know this, so no doubt she had a mistaken notion that +she might either break the old gentleman of his habit or have him +banished to an isolated quarter. + +Wallie had not long to wait, for shortly after Mr. Penrose started again +the tattoo on the door was repeated. + +In response to a snarl that might have come from a menagerie, she +advised him curtly: + +"You're at it again!" + +Another angry colloquy followed, and once more Mr. Penrose was forced to +subside for the want of an adequate answer. + +All the rest of the night the battle continued at intervals, and by +morning not only Wallie but the entire corridor was interested in the +occupant of the room adjoining his. + +Wallie was in the office when the door of the elevator opened with a +clang and Mr. Penrose sprang out of it like a starved lion about to hurl +himself upon a Christian martyr. While his jaws did not drip saliva, the +thin nostrils of his bothersome nose quivered with eagerness and anger. + +"I've been coming here for twenty-eight years, haven't I?" he demanded. + +"Twenty-eight this summer," Mr. Cone replied, soothingly. + +"In that time I never have put in such a night as last night!" + +"Dear me!" The proprietor seemed genuinely disturbed by the information. + +"I could not sleep--I have not closed my eyes--for the battering on my +door of the female in the room adjoining!" + +"You astonish me! Let me see----" Mr. Cone whirled the register around +and looked at it. He read aloud: + +"Helene Spenceley--Prouty, Wyoming." + +Mr. Cone lowered his voice discreetly: + +"What was her explanation?" + +"She accused me of snoring!" declared Mr. Penrose, furiously. "I heard +the clock strike every hour until morning! Not a wink have I slept--not +a _wink_, Mr. Cone!" + +"We can arrange this satisfactorily, Mr. Penrose," Mr. Cone smiled +conciliatingly. "I have no doubt that Miss--er--Spenceley will gladly +change her room if I ask her. I shall place one equally good at her +disposal---- Ah, I presume this is she--let me introduce you." + +Although he would not admit it, Mr. Penrose was quite as astonished as +Wallie at the appearance of the person who stepped from the elevator and +walked to the desk briskly. She was young and good looking and wore +suitable clothes that fitted her; also, while not aggressive, she had a +self-reliant manner which proclaimed the fact that she was accustomed to +looking after her own interests. While she was as far removed as +possible from the person Mr. Penrose had expected to see, still she was +the "female" who had "sassed" him as he had not been "sassed" since he +could remember, and he eyed her belligerently as he curtly acknowledged +the introduction. + +"Mr. Penrose, one of our oldest guests in point of residence, tells me +that you have had some little--er--difference----" began Mr. Cone, +affably. + +"I had a hellish night!" Mr. Penrose interrupted, savagely. "I hope +never to put in such another." + +"I join you in that," replied Miss Spenceley, calmly. "I've never heard +any one snore so horribly--I'd know your snore among a thousand." + +"Never mind--we can adjust this matter amicably, I will change your room +to-day, Miss Spenceley," Mr. Cone interposed, hastily. "It hasn't +_quite_ the view, but the furnishings are more luxurious." + +"But I don't want to change," Miss Spenceley coolly replied. "It suits +me perfectly." + +"I came for quiet and I can't stand that hammering," declared Mr. +Penrose, glaring at her. + +"So did I--my nerves--and your snoring bothers me. But perhaps," with +aggravating sweetness, "I can break you of the habit." + +"I wouldn't lose another night's sleep for a thousand dollars!" + +"It will be cheaper to change your room, for I don't mean to change +_mine_." + +The millionaire turned to the proprietor. "Either this person goes or I +do--that's my ultimatum!" + +"I will not be bullied in any such fashion, and I can't very well be +put out forcibly, can I?" and Miss Spenceley smiled at both of them. Mr. +Cone looked from one to the other, helplessly. + +"Then," Mr. Penrose retorted, "I shall leave _immediately!_ Mr. Cone," +dramatically, "the room I have occupied for twenty-eight summers is at +your disposal." His voice rose in a crescendo movement so that even in +the furthermost corner of the dining room they heard it: "I have a peach +orchard down in Delaware, and I shall go there, where I can snore as +much as I damn please; and don't you forget it!" + +Mr. Cone, his mouth open and hands hanging, looked after him as he +stamped away, too astonished to protest. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +"THE HAPPY FAMILY" + + +The guests of the Colonial Hotel arose briskly each morning to nothing. +After a night of refreshing and untroubled sleep they dressed and +hurried to breakfast after the manner of travellers making close +connections. Then each repaired to his favourite chair placed in the +same spot on the wide veranda to wait for luncheon. The more energetic +sometimes took a wheel-chair for an hour and were pushed on the +Boardwalk or attended an auction sale of antiques and curios, but mostly +their lives were as placid and as eventful as those of the inmates of an +institution. + +The greater number of the male guests of The Colonial had retired from +something--banking, wholesale drugs, the manufacture of woolens. The +families were all perfectly familiar with one another's financial rating +and histories, and although they came from diverse sections of the +country they were for two months or more like one large, supremely +contented family. In truth, they called themselves facetiously "The +Happy Family," and in this way Mr. Cone, who took an immense pride in +them and in the fact that they returned to his hospitable roof summer +after summer, always referred to them. + +Strictly speaking, there were two branches of the "Family": those whose +first season antedated 1900, and the "newcomers," who had spent only +eight, or ten, or twelve summers at The Colonial. They were all on the +most friendly terms imaginable, yet each tacitly recognized the +distinction. The original "Happy Family" occupied the rocking chairs on +the right-hand side of the wide veranda, while the "newcomers" took the +left, where the view was not quite so good and there was a trifle less +breeze than on the other. + +The less said of the "transients" the better. The few who stumbled in +did not stay unless by chance they were favourably known to one of the +"permanents." Of course there was no rudeness ever--merely the polite +surprise of the regular occupants when they find a stranger in the pew +on Sunday morning. Sometimes the transient stayed out his or her +vacation, but usually he confided to the chambermaid, and sometimes Mr. +Cone, that the guests were "doodledums" and "fossils" and found another +hotel where the patrons, if less solid financially, were more +interesting and sociable. + +Wallace Macpherson belonged in the group of older patrons, as his aunt, +Miss Mary Macpherson, had been coming since 1897, and he himself from +the time he wore curls and ruffled collars, or after his aunt had taken +him upon the death of his parents. + +"Wallie," as he was called by everybody, as the one eligible man under +sixty, was, in his way, as much of an asset to the hotel as the +notoriously wealthy Mr. Penrose. Of an amiable and obliging disposition, +he could always be relied upon to escort married women with mutinous +husbands, and ladies who had none, mutinous or otherwise. He was +twenty-four, and, in appearance, a credit to any woman he was seen with, +to say nothing of the two hundred thousand it was known he would inherit +from Aunt Mary, who now supported him. + +Wallie's appearance upon the veranda was invariably in the nature of a +triumphal entry. He was received with lively acclaim and cordiality as +he flitted impartially from group to group, and that person was +difficult indeed with whom he could not find something in common, for +his range of subjects extended from the "rose pattern" in Irish crochet +to Arctic currents. + +The morning on the veranda promised to be a lively one, since, in +addition to the departure of old Mr. Penrose, who had sounded as if he +was wrecking the furniture while packing his boxes, the return from the +war of Will Smith, the gardener's son, was anticipated, and the guests +as an act of patriotism meant to give him a rousing welcome. There was +bunting over the doorway and around the pillars, with red, white, and +blue ice cream for luncheon, and flags on the menu, not to mention a +purse of $17.23 collected among the guests that was to be presented in +appreciation of the valour which, it was understood from letters to his +father, Will had shown on the field of battle. + +The guests were in their usual places when Wallie came from breakfast +and stood for a moment in the spacious double doorway. A cheerful chorus +welcomed him as soon as he was discovered, and Mrs. C. D. Budlong put +out her plump hand and held his. He did not speak instantly, for his eye +was roving over the veranda as if in search of somebody, and when it +rested upon Miss Spenceley sitting alone at the far end he seemed +satisfied and inquired solicitously of Mrs. Budlong: "Did you sleep +well? You are looking splendid!" + +There were some points of resemblance between Mrs. Budlong and the +oleander in the green tub beside which she was sitting. Her round, fat +face had the pink of the blossoms and she was nearly as motionless as if +she had been potted. She often sat for hours with nothing save her +black, sloe-like eyes that saw everything, to show that she was not in a +state of suspended animation. Her husband called her "Honey-dumplin'," +and they were a most affectionate and congenial couple, although she was +as silent as he was voluble. + +"My rest was broken." Mrs. Budlong turned her eyes significantly toward +the far end of the veranda. + +"Did you hear that terrible racket?" demanded Mr. Budlong of Wallie. + +"Not so loud, 'C. D.,'" admonished Mrs. Budlong. Mrs. Budlong ran the +letters together so that strangers often had the impression she was +calling her husband "Seedy," though the name was as unsuitable as well +could be, since Mr. Budlong in his neat blue serge suit, blue polka-dot +scarf, silk stockings, and polished tan oxfords was well groomed and +dapper always. + +"She's driven away our oldest guest." Mr. Budlong lowered his indignant +voice a little. + +"He _was_ a nuisance with his snoring," Wallie defended. + +"She could have changed her room," said Mrs. Budlong, taking her hand +away from him. "She need not have been so obstinate." + +"He was very rude to her," Wallie maintained stoutly. "Sleeping next +door, I heard it all--and this morning in the office." + +"Anyway, I think Mr. Cone made a mistake in not insisting upon her +changing her room, and so I shall tell him." Mr. Budlong, who had made +"his" in white lead and paint and kept a chauffeur and a limousine, felt +that his disapproval would mean something to the proprietor. + +"Oh, Wallie!" + +Wallie felt relieved when he saw Mrs. Henry Appel beckoning him. As he +was on his way to Mrs. Appel Miss Mattie Gaskett clutched at his arm and +detained him. + +"Did you see the robins this morning, Wallie?" + +"Are they here?" + +"Yes, a dozen of them. They do remind me so of my dear Southland." Miss +Gaskett was from Maryland. + +"The summer wouldn't be the same without either of you," he replied, +gallantly. + +Miss Gaskett shook a coquettish finger at him. + +"You flirt! You have pretty speeches for everyone." + +Wallie did not seem displeased by the accusation as he passed on to Mrs. +Appel. + +The Appels were among the important families of The Colonial because the +richest next to Mr. Penrose. They were from Mauch Chunk, Pennsylvania. +Mr. Appel owned anthracite coal land and street railways, so if Mr. +Appel squeezed pennies and Mrs. Appel dressed in remnants from the +bargain counter their economies were regarded merely as eccentricities. + +Mrs. Appel held up a sweater: "Won't you tell me how to turn this +shoulder? I've forgotten. Do you purl four and knit six, or purl six and +knit four, Wallie?" + +Wallie laughed immoderately. + +"Eight, Mrs. Appel! Purl eight and knit four--I told you yesterday. +That's a lovely piece of Battenburg, Mrs. Stott. When did you start it?" + +"Last month, but I've been so busy with teas and parties--so many, many +things going on. Don't you think it will make a lovely dresser-scarf? +What would you line it with?" + +"Pink, absolutely--that delicate shade like the inside of a sea-shell." + +"You _are_ such an artist, Wallie! Your taste is perfect." + +Wallie did not contradict her. + +Strictly, Mrs. Stott did not belong in the group in which she was +seated. She had been coming to The Colonial only eleven years, so +really, she should have been on the other side of the veranda, but Mrs. +Stott had such an insidious way of getting where and what she wanted +that she was "one of them" almost before they knew it. + +Mr. Stott was a rising young attorney of forty-eight, and it was +anticipated that he would one day be a leading trial lawyer because of +his aggressiveness. + +Wallie's voice took on a sympathetic tone. He stopped in front of a +chair where a very thin young lady was reclining languidly. + +"How's the bad heart to-day, Miss Eyester?" + +"About as usual, Wallie, thank you," she replied, gratefully. + +"Your lips have more colour." + +Miss Eyester opened a handbag and, taking out a small, round mirror +which she carried for the purpose, inspected her lips critically. + +"It does seem so," she admitted. "If I can just keep from getting +excited." + +"I can't imagine a better place than The Colonial." The reply contained +a grain of irony. + +"That's why I come here," Miss Eyester sighed, "though I'm _pining_ to +go somewhere livelier." + +Wallie wagged his head playfully. + +"Treason! Treason! Why, you've been coming here for--" Miss Eyester's +alarmed expression caused him to finish lamely--"for ever so long." + +"Wallie!" It was his aunt's voice calling and he went instantly to a +tall, austere lady in a linen collar who was knitting wash-rags with the +feverish haste of a piece-worker in a factory. + +He stood before her obediently. + +"Don't go in to-day." + +"_Why_, Auntie?" In his voice there was a world of disappointment. + +"It's too rough--there must have been a storm at sea." + +"But, Auntie," he protested, "I missed yesterday, taking Mrs. Appel to +the auction. It isn't very rough----" + +"Look at the white-caps," she interrupted, curtly, "I don't want you to +go, Wallie." + +"Oh, very well." He turned away abruptly, wondering if she realized how +keenly he was disappointed--a disappointment that was not made less by +the fact that her fears were groundless, since not only was it not +"rough" but he was an excellent swimmer. + +"The girl from Wyoming," as he called Miss Spenceley to himself, had +overheard and was looking at him with an expression in her eyes which +made him redden. It was mocking; she was laughing at him for being told +not to go in bathing, as if he were a child of seven. + +He sauntered past her, humming, to let her know that he did not care +what she thought about him. When he turned around she had vanished and a +few minutes after he saw her with her suit over her arm on the way to +the bath-house on the exclusive beach in front of The Colonial. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +"PINKEY" + + +The train upon which Will Smith was expected was not due until +twelve-thirty, so, since he could not go swimming and still felt +rebellious over being forbidden, Wallie went upstairs to put the +finishing touches on a lemonade tray of japanned tin which he had +painted and intended presenting to Mr. Cone. + +The design was his own, and very excellent it seemed to Wallie as he +stopped at intervals and held it from him. On a moss-green background of +rolling clouds a most artistic cluster of old-fashioned cabbage roses +was tossed carelessly, with a brown slug on a leaf as a touch of +realism. + +The gods have a way of apportioning their gifts unevenly, for not only +did Wallie paint but he wrote poetry--free verse mostly; free chiefly in +the sense that his contributions to the smaller magazines were, +perforce, gratuitous. Also he sang--if not divinely, at least so +acceptably that his services were constantly asked for charity concerts. + +In addition to these he had manlier accomplishments, playing good games +of tennis, golf, and shuffle-board. Besides, Mr. Appel was his only +dangerous opponent on the bowling alley, and he had learned to ride at +the riding academy. + +Now, as he worked, he speculated as to whether he had imagined it or +"the girl from Wyoming" really had laughed at him. He could not dismiss +her from his mind and the incident rankled. He told himself that she had +not been there long enough to appreciate him; she knew nothing of his +talents or of his popularity. She would learn that to be singled out by +him for special attention meant something, and he did not consider +himself a conceited man either. + +Yet Wallie continued to tingle each time that he thought of the laughter +in her eyes--actual derision he feared it was. Then he had an idea, a +very clever one it seemed to him. By this time she would have returned +from bathing and he would go down and exhibit the cabbage roses. They +would be praised and she would hear it. It was nearly time for Will +Smith to arrive, and he had to stop painting, anyhow. + +Bearing the lemonade tray carefully in order not to smudge it, Wallie +stepped out of the elevator and stood in the wide doorway, agreeably +aware that he was a pleasing figure in his artist's smock and the +flowing scarf which he always put on when he painted. + +No one noticed him, however, for everyone was discussing the return of +the "Smith boy," and the five dollars which Mr. Appel, the railway +magnate, had unexpectedly contributed to the purse that he was going to +present to him on behalf of the guests. + +Miss Spenceley was on the veranda as he had surmised she would be, and +Wallie debated as to whether he should wait until discovered and urged +to show his roses, or frankly offer his work for criticism. + +While he hesitated, the clatter of hoofs and what appeared to be a +serious runaway on the side avenue brought everyone up standing. The +swaying vehicle was a laundry wagon, and when it turned in at the +entrance to the grounds of The Colonial, the astonished guests saw that +not only had the horse a driver but a rider! + +It was not a runaway. On the contrary, the person on the horse's back +was using his heels and his hat at every jump to get more speed out of +the amazed animal. + +The wagon stopped in front of the hotel with the driver grinning +uncertainly, while a soldierly figure sprang over the wheel to wring the +hand of Smith, the gardener. Another on the horse's back replaced his +service cap at an extraordinary angle and waited nonchalantly for the +greetings to be over. + +Before he went to the army "Willie" Smith had been a bashful boy who +blushed when the guests spoke to him, but he faced them now with the +assurance of a vaudeville entertainer as he introduced his "buddy": + +"Pinkey Fripp, of Wyoming--a hero, ladies and gentlemen! The grittiest +little soldier in the A.E.F., with a medal to prove it!" + +Followed an account of the deed of reckless courage for which Pinkey had +been decorated, and the Smith boy told it so well that everyone's eyes +had tears in them. Mrs. Appel, fumbling for her handkerchief, dropped +her ball of yarn over the railing, where the cat wound it among the rose +bushes so effectively that to disentangle it were an endless task. + +The subject of the eulogy stared back unabashed at the guests, who +stared at him in admiration and curiosity. Unflattered, unmoved, he +sagged to one side of the bare-backed horse with the easy grace of one +accustomed to the saddle. No one just like him ever had come under the +observation of the august patrons of The Colonial. + +Pinkey Fripp was about five feet four and square as a bulldog. +"Hard-boiled" is a word which might have been coined specially to +describe him. The cropped hair on his round head was sandy, his skin a +sun-blistered red, and his lips had deep cracks in them. His nose did +not add to his beauty any more than the knife-scar around his neck, +which looked as if someone had barely failed in an attempt to cut off +his head. + +The feature that saved the young fellow's face from a look of +unmitigated "toughness" was his pale gray eyes, whose steady, fearless +look seemed to contend with a whimsical gleam of humour. + +Pinkey listened, with the disciplined patience of the army, to the +recital of the exploit that had won the War Cross for him, but there was +a peculiar glint in his light eyes. As Smith drew to a conclusion, +Pinkey slowly lifted his leg, stiffened by a machine-gun bullet, over +the horse's neck and sat sideways. + +The applause was so vociferous, so spontaneous and hearty, that nothing +approaching it ever had been heard at The Colonial. But it stopped as +suddenly, for in the middle of it Pinkey gathered himself and sprang +through the air like a flying-squirrel, to bowl the Smith boy over. "You +said you wouldn't tell about that 'Craw de gare,' ner call me a hero, +an' you've gone and done it!" he said, accusingly, as he sat astride of +him. "I got feelin's jest like grown-up folks, and I don't like to be +laughed at. Sorry, Big Boy, but you got this comin'!" Thereupon, with a +grin, Pinkey banged his host's head on the gravel. + +The two were surrounded when this astonishing incident was over and it +was found that not only was the Smith boy not injured but seemed to be +used to it and bore no malice. The guests shook hands with the boys and +congratulated them; they examined the War Cross that Pinkey produced +reluctantly from the bottom of the flour-sack in which he carried his +clothing, and finally Mr. Appel presented the purse in a speech to which +nobody listened--and the Smith boy shocked everybody by his extravagance +when he gave five of it to the driver of the laundry wagon. + +"I was shore pinin' to step in the middle of a horse," was Pinkey's +explanation of their eccentric arrival. "It kinda rests me." + +While all this was happening Wallie stood holding his lemonade tray. +When he could get close, he welcomed the Smith boy and was introduced to +Pinkey, and stood around long enough to learn that the latter and Helene +Spenceley knew each other. + +Nobody, however, was interested in seeing his roses. Even Miss Mattie +Gaskett, who always clung like a burr to woollen clothing with the +least encouragement, said carelessly when he showed her the lemonade +tray: + +"As good as your best, Wallie," and edged over to hear what Pinkey was +saying. + +There was nothing to do but withdraw unobtrusively, though Wallie +realized with chagrin that he could have gone upstairs on his hands and +knees without attracting the least attention. For the first time he +regretted deeply that his eyesight had kept him out of the army, for he, +too, might have been winning war crosses in the trenches instead of +rolling bandages and knitting socks and sweaters. + +Wallie almost hated the lemonade tray as he slammed it on the table, for +in his utter disgust with everything and everybody the design seemed to +look more like cabbages than roses. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE BRAND OF CAIN + + +There never was a nose so completely out of joint as Wallie's nor an +owner more thoroughly humiliated and embittered by the fickleness and +ingratitude of human nature. The sacrifices he had made in escorting +dull ladies to duller movies were wasted. The unfailing courtesy with +which he had retrieved their yarn and handkerchiefs, the sympathy and +attention with which he had listened to their symptoms, his solicitude +when they were ailing--all were forgotten now that Pinkey was in the +vicinity. + +The ladies swarmed around that person, quoted his sayings delightedly, +and declared a million times in Wallie's hearing that "he was a +character!" And the worst of it was that Helene Spenceley did not seem +sufficiently aware of Wallie's existence even to laugh at him. + +As the displaced cynosure sat brooding in his room the third morning +after Pinkey's arrival he wished that he could think of some perfectly +well-bred way to attract attention. + +He believed in the psychology of clothes. Perhaps if he appeared on the +veranda in something to emphasize his personality, something suggesting +strength and virility, like tennis flannels, he could regain his hold on +his audience. + +With this thought in mind Wallie opened his capacious closet filled with +wearing apparel, and the moment his eyes fell upon his riding breeches +he had his inspiration. If "the girl from Wyoming" thought her friend +Pinkey was the only person who could ride a horse, he would show her! + +It took Wallie only so long to order a horse as it required to get the +Riding Academy on the telephone. + +"I want a good-looking mount--something spirited," he instructed the +person who answered. + +"We've just bought some new horses," the voice replied. "I'll send you +the pick of them." + +Wallie hung up the receiver, fairly trembling with eagerness to dress +himself and get down on the veranda. He looked well in riding +togs--everyone mentioned it--and if he could walk out swinging his crop +nonchalantly, well, they would at least _notice_ him! And when he would +spring lightly into the saddle and gallop away--he saw it as plainly as +if it were happening. + +Although Wallie actually broke his record he seemed to himself an +unconscionable time in dressing, but when he gave himself a final survey +in the mirror, he had every reason to feel satisfied with the result. He +was correct in every detail and he thought complacently that he could +not but contrast favourably with the appearance of that "roughneck" from +Montana--or was it Wyoming? + +"What you taking such a hot day to ride for?" Mrs. Appel called when she +caught sight of Wallie. + +The question jarred on him and he replied coolly: + +"I had not observed that it was warmer than usual, Mrs. Appel." + +"It's ninety, with the humidity goodness knows how much!" she retorted. + +Without seeming to look, Wallie could see that both Miss Spenceley and +Pinkey were on the veranda and regarding him with interest. His pose +became a little theatrical while he waited for his mount, striking his +riding boot smartly with his crop as he stood in full view of them. + +Everyone was interested when they saw the horse coming, and a few +sauntered over to have a look at him, Miss Spenceley and Pinkey among +the others. + +"Is that the horse you always ride, Wallie?" inquired Miss Gaskett. + +"No; it's a new one I'm going to try out for them," Wallie replied, +indifferently. + +"Wallie, _do_ be careful!" his aunt admonished him. "I don't like you to +ride strange horses." + +Wallie laughed lightly, and as he went down to meet the groom who was +now at the foot of the steps with the horses he assured her that there +was not the least cause for anxiety. + +"Why, that's a Western horse!" Miss Spenceley exclaimed. "Isn't that a +brand on the shoulder?" + +"It looks like it," Pinkey answered, ruffing the hair then smoothing it. +"Shore it's a brand." He stepped off a pace to look at it. + +"Pardon me, but I think you're mistaken," Wallie said, politely but +positively. "The Academy buys only thoroughbreds." + +"If that ain't a bronc, I'll eat it," Pinkey declared, bluntly. + +"Can you make out the brand?" asked Miss Spenceley. + +Pinkey ruffed the hair again and stepped back and squinted. Then his +cracked lips stretched in a grin that threatened to start them bleeding: +"'88' is the way I read it." + +She nodded: "The brand of Cain." + +Then they both laughed immoderately. + +Wallie could see no occasion for merriment and it nettled him. + +"Nevertheless, I maintain that you are in error," he declared, +obstinately. + +"I doubt if I could set one of them hen-skin saddles," observed Pinkey, +changing the subject. + +Wallie replied airily: + +"Oh, it's very easy if you've been taught properly." + +"Taught? You mean," wonderingly, "that somebody _learnt_ you to ride +horseback?" + +Wallie smiled patronizingly: + +"How else would I know?" + +"I was jest throwed on a horse and told to stay there." + +"Which accounts for the fact that you Western riders have no 'form,' if +you'll excuse my frankness." + +"Don't mention it," replied Pinkey, not to be outdone in politeness. +"Maybe, before I go, you'll give me some p'inters?" + +"I shall be most happy," Wallie responded, putting his foot in the +stirrup. + +He mounted creditably and settled himself in the saddle. + +"Thumb him," said Miss Spenceley, "and we'll soon settle the argument." + +"How--thumb him? The term is not familiar." + +"Show him, Pinkey." Her eyes were sparkling, for Wallie's tone implied +that the expression was slang and also rather vulgar. + +"He'll unload his pack as shore as shootin'." Pinkey hesitated. + +"No time like the present to learn a lesson," she replied, ambiguously. + +"Certainly--if there's anything you can teach me," Wallie's smile said +as plain as words that he doubted it. "Mr. Fripp--er--'thumb' him." + +"You're the doctor," said Pinkey, grimly, and "thumbed" him. + +The effect was instantaneous. The old horse ducked his head, arched his +back, and went at it. + +It was over in less time than it requires to tell and Wallie was +convinced beyond the question of a doubt that the horse had not been +bred in Kentucky. As he described an aërial circle Wallie had a +whimsical notion that his teeth had bitten into his brain and his spine +was projected through the crown of his derby hat. Darkness and oblivion +came upon him for a moment, and then he found himself being lifted +tenderly from a bed of petunias and dusted off by the groom from the +Riding Academy. + +The ladies were screaming, but a swift glance showed Wallie not only Mr. +Appel but Mr. Cone and Mr. Budlong with their hands over their mouths +and their teeth gleaming between their spreading fingers. + +"Coward!" he cried to Pinkey. "_You_ don't dare get on him!" + +"Can you ride him 'slick,' Pinkey?" asked Miss Spenceley. + +"I'll do it er bust somethin'." Pinkey's mouth had a funny quirk at the +corners. "Maybe it'll take the kinks out of me from travellin'." + +He looked at Mr. Cone doubtfully: "I'm liable to rip up the sod in your +front yard a little." + +"Go to it!" cried Mr. Cone, whose sporting blood was up. "There's +nothin' here that won't grow again. Ride him!" + +Everybody was trembling, and when Miss Eyester looked at her lips they +were white as alabaster, but she meant to see the riding, if she had one +of her sinking spells immediately it was over. + +When Pinkey swung into the saddle, the horse turned its head around +slowly and looked at the leg that gripped him. Pinkey leaned down, +unbuckled the throat-latch, and slipped off the bridle. Then, as he +touched the horse in the flank with his heels, he took off his cap and +slapped him over the head with it. + +The horse recognized the familiar challenge and accepted it. What he +had done to Wallie was only the gambolling of a frisky colt as compared +with his efforts to rid his back of Pinkey. + +Even Helene Spenceley sobered as she watched the battle that followed. + +The horse sprang into the air, twisted, and came down +stiff-legged--squealing. Now with his head between his forelegs he shot +up his hind hoofs and at an angle to require all the grip in his rider's +knees to stay in the saddle. Then he brought down his heels again, +violently, to bite at Pinkey--who kicked him. + +He "weaved," he "sunfished"--with every trick known to an old outlaw he +tried to throw his rider, rearing finally to fall backward and mash to a +pulp a bed of Mr. Cone's choicest tulips. But when the horse rose Pinkey +was with him, while the spectators, choking with excitement, forgetting +themselves and each other, yelled like Apaches. + +With nostrils blood-red and distended, his eyes the eyes of a wild +animal, now writhing, now crouching, now lying back on his haunches and +springing forward with a violence to snap any ordinary vertebra, the +horse pitched as if there was no limit to its ingenuity and endurance. + +Pinkey's breath was coming in gasps and his colour had faded with the +terrible jar of it all. Even the uninitiated could see that Pinkey was +weakening, and the result was doubtful, when, suddenly, the horse gave +up and stampeded. He crashed through the trellis over which Mr. Cone had +carefully trained his crimson ramblers, tore through a neat border of +mignonette and sweet alyssum that edged the driveway, jumped through +"snowballs," lilacs, syringas, and rhododendrons to come to a halt +finally conquered and chastened. + +The "88" brand has produced a strain famous throughout Wyoming for its +buckers, and this venerable outlaw lived up to every tradition of his +youth and breeding. + +There never was worse bucking nor better riding in a Wild West Show or +out of it, and Mr. Appel declared that he had not been so stirred since +the occasion when walking in the woods at Harvey's Lake in the early +'90's he had acted upon the unsound presumption that all are kittens +that look like kittens and disputed the path with a black-and-white +animal which proved not to be. + +Mrs. C. D. Budlong was shedding tears like a crocodile, without moving a +feature. Mr. Budlong put the lighted end of a cigar in his mouth and +burned his tongue to a blister, while Miss Eyester dropped into a chair +and had her sinking spell and recovered without any one remarking it. In +an abandonment that was like the delirium of madness Mr. Cone went in +and lifted Miss Gaskett's cat "Cutie" out of the plush rocker, where she +was leaving hairs on the cushion, and surreptitiously kicked her. + +Altogether it was an unforgettable occasion, and only Pinkey seemed +unthrilled by it--he dismounted in a businesslike, matter-of-fact manner +that had in it neither malice toward the horse nor elation at having +ridden him. He felt admiration, if anything, for he said as he rubbed +the horse's forehead: + +"You shore made me ride, Old Timer! You got all the old curves and some +new ones. If I had a hat I'd take it off to you. I ain't had such a +churnin' sence I set 'Steamboat' fer fifteen seconds. Oh, hullo----" as +Wallie advanced with his hand out. + +"I congratulate you," said Wallie, feeling himself magnanimous in view +of the way his neck was hurting. + +"You needn't," replied Pinkey, good-naturedly. "He durned near 'got' +me." + +"It was a very creditable ride indeed," insisted Wallie, in his most +patronizing and priggish manner. He found it very hard to be generous, +with Helene Spenceley listening. + +"It seemed so, after _your_ performance, 'Gentle Annie'!" snapped Miss +Spenceley. + +Actually the woman seemed to spit like a cat at him! She had the tongue +of a serpent and a vicious temper. He hated her! Wallie removed his hat +with exaggerated politeness and decided never to have anything more to +say to Miss Spenceley. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +"GENTLE ANNIE" + + +Wallie had told himself emphatically that he would never speak again to +Helene Spenceley. That would be an easy matter since she had glared at +him, when they had passed as she was going in for breakfast, in a way +that would have made him afraid to speak even if he had intended to. To +refrain from thinking of her was something different. + +He sat on a rustic bench on The Colonial lawn watching the silly robins +and wondering why she had called him "Gentle Annie." It was clear enough +that nothing flattering was intended, but what did she mean by it? There +was no reason that he could see for her to fly at him--quite the +contrary. He had been very generous and gentlemanly, it seemed to him, +in congratulating Pinkey when it was due to them that he, Wallie, was +thrown into the petunias. His neck was still stiff from the fall and no +one had remembered to inquire about it--that was another reason for the +disgruntled mood in which the moment found him. The women were making +perfect _fools_ of themselves over that Pinkey--they were at it now, he +could hear them cackling on the veranda. + +What he could not understand was why they should act as if there was +something _amusing_ about a woman who came from west of Buffalo and then +make a hero of a man from the Wild and Woolly. Yet they always did it, +he had noticed. Why, that Pinkey could not speak a grammatical sentence +and they hung on his every word, breathless. It was disgusting! + +Wallie picked up a pebble and pelted a robin. + +He wished the undertow would catch that Spenceley girl. If he should +reach her when she was going down for the third time she would _have_ to +thank him for saving her and that would about kill her. He decided that +he would make a point of bathing when she did, on the very remote chance +that it might happen. + +"Gentle Annie! Gentle Annie! Gentle Annie!" The name rankled. + +Wallie pitched a pebble at another robin and accidentally hit it. +Stunned for an instant, it keeled over, and Wallie glanced guiltily +toward the hotel to see if by any chance Mr. Cone, who encouraged +robins, was looking. + +Pinkey was crossing the lawn with the obvious intention of joining him. + +"Gee!" he exclaimed, sinking down beside Wallie, "I've nearly sprained +my tongue answerin' questions. 'Is it true that snakes shed their skin, +and do the hot pools in the Yellowstone Park freeze in winter?' I'm +goin' to drift pretty pronto--I can't stand visitin'." + +"Do you like the East, Mr. Fripp?" inquired Wallie, formally. + +"I'm glad they's a West," Pinkey replied, cryptically. + +"You and Miss Spenceley are from the same section, I take it?" + +"Yep--Wyomin'." + +"Er--by the way"--Wallie's tone was elaborately casual--"what did she +mean yesterday when she called me 'Gentle Annie'?" + +Pinkey moved uneasily. + +"Could you give me the precise significance?" persisted Wallie. + +"I could, but I wouldn't like to," Pinkey replied, drily + +"Oh, don't spare my feelings," said Wallie, loftily, "there's nothing +_she_ could say would hurt them." + +"If that's the way you feel--she meant you were 'harmless'." + +"I trust so," Wallie responded with dignity. + +"I'd ruther be called a--er--a Mormon," Pinkey observed. + +Shocked at the language, Wallie demanded: + +"It is, then, an epithet of opprobrium?" + +"I can't say as to that," replied Pinkey, judicially, "but she meant you +were a 'perfect lady'." + +"It's more than I can say of her!" Wallie retorted, reddening. + +Pinkey merely grinned and shrugged a shoulder. + +He arose a moment later as if the conversation and company alike bored +him. + +"Well--I'm goin' to pack my war-bag and ramble. Why don't you come West +and git civilized? With your figger you ought to be good fer somethin'. +S'long, feller!" + +Naturally, Wallie was not comforted by his conversation with Pinkey. Now +he knew himself to have been insulted, and resented it, but along with +his indignation was such a feeling of dissatisfaction with his life as +he had never known. His brow contracted while he thought of the monotony +of it. Just as this summer would be a duplicate of every other summer so +the winter would be a repetition of the many winters he had spent in +Florida with Aunt Mary. After a few months at home they would migrate +with the robins. He would meet the same people he had seen all summer. +They would complain of the Southern cooking and knit and tat while they +babbled amiably of themselves and the members of their family and their +doings. The men would smoke and compare business experiences when they +had finished flaying the Administration. Discontent grew within him as +he reviewed it. Why couldn't he and Aunt Mary do something different for +the winter? By George! he would suggest it to her! + +He got up with alacrity, cheerful immediately. + +She was not on the veranda and Miss Eyester was of the opinion that she +had gone to her room to take her tonic. + +"I have turned the shoulder, Wallie." Mrs. Appel held up the sweater +triumphantly. + +"That's good," said Wallie, feeling uncomfortable with Miss Spenceley +within hearing. + +"Wallie," Mrs. Stott called to him, "will you give me the address of +that milliner whose hats you said you liked particularly? Somewhere on +Walnut, wasn't it?" + +"Sixteenth and Walnut," Wallie replied, shortly. + +"What do you think I'm doing, Wallie?" + +"I can't imagine, Mrs. Budlong." + +"I'm rolling!" + +"Rolling?" + +"To reduce. C. D. says I look like a cement-mixer in action." + +Wallie was annoyed by the confidence. + +Miss Gaskett beckoned him. + +"Have you seen Cutie, Wallie?" + +"No," curtly. + +"When I called her this morning she looked at me with eyes like saucers +and simply _tore_ into the bushes. Do you suppose anybody has abused +her?" + +Mr. Cone, who was standing in the doorway, went back to his desk +hastily. + +"I'm not in her confidence," said Wallie with so much sarcasm that they +all looked at him. + +Miss Spenceley was talking to Mr. Appel, who was listening so +attentively that Wallie wondered what she was saying. They were sitting +close to the window of the reception room and it occurred to Wallie that +there would be no harm in stepping inside and gratifying his curiosity. +The conversation was not of a private nature and in other circumstances +he would have joined them, so, on his way to the elevator to find his +aunt, he paused a moment to hear what the girl was saying. + +Since she was speaking emphatically and a lace curtain was the only +barrier, Wallie found out without difficulty: + +"I have no use for a squaw-man." + +"You mean," Mr. Appel interrogated, "a white man who marries an Indian +woman?" + +"Not necessarily. I mean a man who permits a woman to support him +without making any effort on his part to do a man's work. He may be an +Adonis and gifted to the point of genius, but I have no respect for him. +He----" + +Wallie did not linger. He remembered the ancient adage, and while he did +not consider himself an eavesdropper or believe that Miss Spenceley +meant anything personal, nevertheless the shoe fit to such a nicety that +he hurried to the elevator, his step accelerated by the same sense of +guilt that had sent Mr. Cone scuttling to his refuge behind the counter. + +"Squaw-man"--the term was as new to him as "Gentle Annie." + +As Miss Eyester had opined, Miss Macpherson was taking her tonic, or +about to. + +"I've come to make a suggestion, Auntie," Wallie began, with a little +diffidence. + +"What is it?" Miss Macpherson was shaking the bottle. + +"Let's not go South this winter." + +"Where then?" She smiled indulgently as she measured out the medicine. + +"Why not California or Arizona?" he suggested. + +"I don't believe this tonic helps me a particle." She made a wry face as +she swallowed it. + +"That's it," he declared, eagerly. "You need a change--we both do." + +"I'm too set in my ways to enjoy new experiences, and I don't like +strangers. We might catch contagious diseases, and there is no place +where we could be so comfortable as in Florida. No," she shook her head +kindly but firmly, "we will go South as usual." + +"Oh--_sugar!_" The vehemence with which Wallie uttered the expletive +showed the extent of his disappointment. + +"Wallie! I'm surprised at you!" She regarded him with annoyance. + +"I'm tired of going to the same places year after year, doing the same +thing, seeing the same old fossils!" + +"Wallie, you are speaking of my friends and yours," she reminded him. + +"They're all right, but I like to make new ones. I don't want to go, +Aunt Mary." + +She said significantly: + +"Don't you think you are a little ungrateful--in the circumstances?" + +It was the first time she had ever reminded him of his dependency. + +"If you mean I am an ingrate, that is an unpleasant word, Aunt Mary." + +She shrugged her shoulder. + +"Place your own interpretation upon it, Wallace." + +"Perhaps you think I am not capable of earning my own living?" + +"I have not _said_ so." + +"But you mean it!" he cried, hotly. + +Miss Macpherson was nearly as amazed as Wallie to hear herself saying: + +"Possibly you had better try it." + +She had taken two cups of strong coffee that morning and her nerves were +over-stimulated, and perhaps with the intuition of a jealous woman she +half suspected that "the girl from Wyoming" had something to do with his +restlessness and desire to go West. The time she most dreaded was the +day when she would have to share her nephew with another woman. + +Wallie's eyes were blazing when he answered: + +"I shall! I shall never be beholden to you for another penny. When I +wanted to do something for myself you wouldn't let me. You're not fair, +Aunt Mary!" + +Pale and breathing heavily in their emotion, they looked at each other +with hard, angry eyes--eyes in which there was not a trace of the +affection which for years had existed between them. + +"Suit yourself," she said, finally, and turned her back on him. + +Wallie went to his room in a daze, too bewildered to realize immediately +what had happened. That he had quarrelled with his aunt, permanently, +irrevocably, seemed incredible. But he would never eat her bread of +charity again--he had said it. As for her, he knew her Scotch +stubbornness too well to think that she would offer it. No, he was sure +the break was final. + +A sense of freedom came to him gradually as it grew upon him that he was +loose from the apron-strings that had led him since childhood. He need +never again eat food he did not like because it was "good for him." He +could sit in draughts if he wanted to and sneeze his head off. He could +put on his woollen underwear when he got darned good and ready. He could +swim when there were white caps in the harbour and choose his own +clothing. + +A fine feeling of exultation swept over Wallie as he strode up and down +with an eye to the way he looked in the mirror. He was free of petticoat +domination. He was no longer a "squaw-man," and he would not be one +again for a million dollars! He would "show" Aunt Mary--he would "show" +Helene Spenceley--he would "show" _everybody!_ + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +"BURNING HIS BRIDGES" + + +Wallie opened his eyes one morning with the subconscious feeling that +something portentous was impending though he was still too drowsy to +remember it. + +He yawned and stretched languidly and luxuriously on a bed which was the +last word in comfort, since Mr. Cone's pride in The Colonial beds was +second only to that of his pride in the hotel's reputation for +exclusiveness. With especially made mattresses and monogrammed linen, +silken coverlets and imported blankets, his boasts were amply justified, +and the beds perhaps accounted for the frequency with which the guests +tried to get into the dining room when the breakfast hours were over. + +A bit of yellow paper on the chiffonier brought Wallie to his full sense +as his eyes fell upon it. It was the answer to a telegram he had sent +Pinkey Fripp, in Prouty, Wyoming, making inquiries as to the possibility +of taking up a homestead. + +It read: + + They's a good piece of ground you can file on if you got + the guts to hold it. + PINKEY. + +Wallie grew warm every time he thought of such a message addressed to +him coming over the wire. Though worse than inelegant, and partially +unintelligible, it was plain enough that what he wanted was there if he +went for it, and he had replied that Pinkey might look for him shortly +in Prouty. + +And to-day he was leaving! He was saying good-bye forever to the hotel +that was like home to him and the friends that were as his own +relatives! He had $2,100 in real money--a legacy--and his clothing. In +his new-born spirit of independence he wished that he might even leave +his clothes behind him, but he had changed his mind when he had figured +the cost of buying others. + +His aunt had taken no notice of Wallie's preparations for departure. The +news of the rupture had spread quickly, and the sympathies of the guests +were equally divided. All were agreed, however, that if Wallie went West +he would soon have enough of it and be back in time to go South for the +winter. + +Helene Spenceley had left unexpectedly upon the receipt of a telegram, +and it was one of Wallie's favourite speculations as to what she would +say when she heard he was a neighbour--something disagreeable, probably. + +With the solemnity which a person might feel who is planning his own +funeral, Wallie arose and made a careful toilet. It would be the last in +the room that he had occupied for so many summers. The hangings were +handsome, the chairs luxurious, and his feet sunk deep in the nap of the +velvet carpet. The equipment of the white, commodious bathroom was +perfection, and no article of furniture was missing from his bedroom +that could contribute to the comfort of a modish young man accustomed to +every modern convenience. + +As Wallie took his shower and dusted himself with scented talcum and +applied the various lotions and skin-foods recommended for the +complexion, he wondered what the hotel accommodations would be like in +Prouty, Wyoming. Not up to much, he imagined, but he decided that he +would duplicate this bathroom in his own residence as soon as he had his +homestead going. Wallie's knowledge of Wyoming was gathered chiefly from +an atlas he had borrowed from Mr. Cone. The atlas stated briefly that it +contained 97,890 square miles, mostly arid, and a population of 92,531. +It gave the impression that the editors themselves were hazy on Wyoming, +which very likely was the truth, since it had been published in Mr. +Cone's childhood when the state was a territory. + +What the atlas omitted, however, was supplied by Wallie's imagination. +When he closed his eyes he could see great herds of cattle--his--with +their broad backs glistening in the sunshine, and vast tracts--his +also--planted in clover, oats, barley, or whatever it was they grew in +the country. For diversion, he saw himself scampering over the country +on horseback on visits to the friendly neighbours, entertaining +frequently himself and entertained everywhere. As for Helene +Spenceley--she would soon learn the manner of man she had belittled! + +This frame of mind was responsible for the fact that when he had +finished dressing and gone below he spoke patronizingly to Mr. Appel, +who paid an income tax on fourteen million. + +It was a wrench after all--the going--and the fact that his aunt did not +relent made it the harder. It was the first time he ever had packed his +own boxes and decided upon the clothes in which he should travel. But +she sat erect and unyielding at the far end of the veranda while he was +in the midst of a sympathetic leave-taking from the guests of The +Colonial. There were tears in Mrs. Budlong's eyes when she warned him +not to fall into bad habits, and Wallie's were close to the surface when +he promised her he would not. + +"Aw--you'll be back when it gets cold weather," said Mr. Appel. + +"I shall succeed or leave my bones in Wyoming!" Wallie declared, +dramatically. + +Mr. Appel snickered: "They'll help fertilize the soil, which I'm told +needs it." His early struggles had made Mr. Appel callous. + +Miss Macpherson, looking straight ahead, gave no indication that she saw +her nephew coming. + +"Will you say good-bye to me, Aunt Mary?" + +She appeared not to see the hand he put out to her. + +"I trust you will have a safe journey, Wallace." Her voice was a breath +from the Arctic. + +He stood before her a moment feeling suddenly friendless. "This makes me +very unhappy, Aunt Mary," he said, sorrowfully. + +Since she did not answer, he could only leave her, and her failure to +ask him to write hurt as much as the frigidity of the leave-taking. + +The motor-bus had arrived and the chauffeur was piling his luggage on +top of it, so, with a final handshake, Wallie said good-bye, perhaps +forever, to his friends of The Colonial. + +They were all standing with their arms about each other's waists or with +their hands placed affectionately upon each other's shoulders as the bus +started, calling "Good-bye and good luck" with much waving of +handkerchiefs. Only his aunt sat grim-visaged and motionless, refusing +to concede so much as a glance in her nephew's direction. + +Wallie, in turn, took off his girlish sailor and swung it through the +bus window and wafted kisses at the dear, amiable folk of The Colonial +until the motor had passed between the stately pillars of the entrance. +Then he leaned back with a sigh and with the feeling of having "burned +his bridges behind him." + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +HIS "GAT" + + +"How much 'Jack' did you say you got?" Pinkey, an early caller at the +Prouty House, sitting on his heel with his back against the wall, +awaited with evident interest an answer to this pointed question. He +explained further in response to Wallie's puzzled look: +"Kale--dinero--the long green--_money_." + +"Oh," Wallie replied, enlightened, "about $1,800." He was in his blue +silk pajamas, sitting on the iron rail of his bed--it had an edge like a +knife-blade. + +There was no resemblance between this room and the one he had last +occupied. The robin's egg-blue alabastine had scaled, exposing large +patches of plaster, and the same thing had happened to the enamel of the +wash-bowl and pitcher--the dents in the latter leading to the conclusion +that upon some occasion it had been used as a weapon. + +A former occupant who must have learned his art in the penitentiary had +knotted the lace curtains in such a fashion that no one ever had +attempted to untie them, while the prison-like effect of the iron bed, +with its dingy pillows and counterpane and sagging middle, was such as +to throw a chill over the spirits of the cheeriest traveller. + +It had required all Wallie's will power, when he had arrived at +midnight, to rise above the depression superinduced by these +surroundings. His luggage was piled high in the corner, while the two +trunks setting outside his doorway already had been the cause of threats +of an alarming nature, made against the owner by sundry guests who had +bruised their shins on them in the ill-lighted corridor. + +Pinkey's arrival had cheered him wonderfully. Now when that person +observed tentatively that $1,800 was "a good little stake," Wallie +blithely offered to count it. + +"You got it with you?" + +Wallie nodded. + +"That's chancey," Pinkey commented. "They's people in the country would +stick you up if they knowed you carried it." + +"I should resist if any one attempted to rob me," Wallie declared as he +sat down on the rail gingerly with his bulging wallet. + +"What with?" Pinkey inquired, humorously. + +Wallie reached under his pillow and produced a pearl-handled revolver of +32 calibre. + +"Before leaving I purchased this pistol." + +Pinkey regarded him with a pained expression. + +"Don't use that dude word, feller. Say 'gun,' 'gat,' 'six-shooter,' +anything, but don't ever say 'pistol' above a whisper." + +A little crest-fallen, Wallie laid it aside and commenced to count his +money. Pinkey, he could see, was not impressed by the weapon. + +"Yes, eighteen hundred exactly. I spent $250 purchasing a camping +outfit." + +Pinkey looked at him incredulously. He was thinking of the frying-pan, +coffee-pot, and lard-kettle of which his own consisted. He made no +comment, however, until Wallie mentioned his portable bath-tub, which, +while expensive, he declared he considered indispensable. + +"Yes," Pinkey agreed, drily, "you'll be needin' a portable bath-tub +something desperate. I wisht I had one. The last good wash I took was in +Crystal Lake the other side of the Bear-tooth Mountain. When I was done +I stood out till the sun dried me, then brushed the mud off with a +whisk-broom." + +"That must have been uncomfortable," Wallie observed, politely. "I hope +you will feel at liberty to use my tub whenever you wish." + +"That won't be often enough to wear it out," said Pinkey, candidly. "But +you'd better jump into your pants and git over to the land-office. We +want to nail that 160 before some other 'Scissor-bill' beats you to it." + +Under Pinkey's guidance Wallie went to the land office, which was in the +rear of a secondhand store kept by Mr. Alvin Tucker, who was also the +land commissioner. + +The office was in the rear and there were two routes by which it was +possible to get in touch with Mr. Tucker: one might gain admittance by +walking over the bureaus, centre-tables, and stoves that blocked the +front entrance, or he could crawl on his hands and knees through a large +roll of chicken-wire wedged into the side door of the establishment. + +The main-travelled road, however, was over the tables and bureaus, and +this was chosen by Pinkey and Wallie, who found Mr. Tucker at his desk +attending to the State's business. + +Mr. Tucker had been blacking a stove and had not yet removed the traces +of his previous occupation, so when Pinkey introduced him his hand was +of a colour to make Wallie hesitate for the fraction of a second before +taking it. + +Mr. Tucker being a man of great good nature took no offense, although he +could scarcely fail to notice Wallie's hesitation; on the contrary, he +inquired with the utmost cordiality: + +"Well, gents, what can I do for you this morning?" His tone implied that +he had the universe at his disposal, and he also looked it as he tipped +back his swivel chair and regarded them. + +"He wants to file on the 160 on Skull Crick that Boise Bill abandoned," +said Pinkey. + +Tucker's gaze shifted. + +"I'm not sure it's open to entry," he replied, hesitatingly. + +"Yes, it is. His time was up a month ago, and he ain't even fenced it." + +"You know he's quarrelsome," Tucker suggested. "Perhaps it would be +better to ask his intentions." + +"He ain't none," Pinkey declared, bluntly. "He only took it up to hold +for Canby and he's never done a lick of work on it." + +"Of course it's right in the middle of Canby's range," Tucker argued, +"and you can scarcely blame him for not wanting it homesteaded. Why +don't you select a place that won't conflict with his interests?" + +"Why should we consider his interests? He don't think of anybody else's +when he wants anything," Pinkey demanded. + +"Your friend bein' a newcomer, I thought he wouldn't want to locate in +the middle of trouble." + +"He can take care of himself," Pinkey declared, confidently; though, as +they both glanced at Wallie, there seemed nothing in his appearance to +justify his friend's optimism. He looked a lamblike pacifist as he sat +fingering his straw hat diffidently. + +Tucker brought his feet down with the air of a man who had done his duty +and washed his hands of consequences; he prepared to make out the +necessary papers. As he handled the documents he left fingerprints of +such perfection on the borders that they resembled identification marks +for classification under the Bertillon system, and Wallie was far more +interested in watching him than in his intimation that there was trouble +in the offing if he made this filing. + +He paid his fees and filled out his application, leaving Tucker's office +with a new feeling of importance and responsibility. One hundred and +sixty acres was not much of a ranch as ranches go in Wyoming, but it was +a beginning. + +As soon as they were out of the building, Wallie inquired casually: + +"Does Miss Spenceley live in my neighbourhood?" + +"Across the mounting!" Which reply conveyed nothing to Wallie. Pinkey +added: "I punch cows for their outfit." + +"Indeed," politely. Then, curiosity consuming him, he hazarded another +question: + +"What did she say when she heard I was coming?" + +"She laughed to kill herself." Pinkey seldom lied when the truth would +answer. + +In the meantime, Tucker, in guarded language, was informing Canby of the +entry by telephone. From the sounds which came through the receiver he +had the impression that the land baron was pulling the telephone out by +the roots in his exasperation at the negligence of his hireling whom he +had supposed had done sufficient work to hold it. + +"I'll attend to it," he answered. + +Tucker thought there was no doubt about that, and he had a worthy +feeling of having earned the yearly stipend which he received from Canby +for these small services. + +"We'd better sift along and git out there," Pinkey advised when they +were back at the Prouty House. + +"To-day?" + +"You bet you! That's no dream about Boise Bill bein' ugly, and he might +try to hold the 160 if he got wind of your filing." + +"In that event?" + +"In that event," Pinkey mimicked, "he's more'n likely to run you off, +unless you got the sand to fight fer it. That's what I meant in my +telegram." + +"Oh," said Wallie, enlightened. "'Sand' and--er--intestines are +synonymous terms in your vernacular?" + +Pinkey stared at him. + +"Say, feller, you'll have to learn to sling the buckskin before we can +understand each other. Anyhow, as I was sayin', you got a good +proposition in this 160 if you can hold it." + +"If I am within my rights I shall adhere to them at all hazards," +declared Wallie, firmly. "At first, however, I shall use moral suasion." + +"Can't you say things plainer?" Pinkey demanded, crossly. "Why don't you +talk United States? You sound like a Fifth Reader. If you mean you aim +to argue with him, he'll knock you down with a neck-yoke while you're +gittin' started." + +"In that event, if he attempted violence, I should use my pistol--my +'gat'--and stop him." + +"In that event," Pinkey relished the expression, "in that event I shall +carry a shovel along to bury you." + +Riding a horse from the livery stable and accompanied by Pinkey driving +two pack-horses ahead of him, Wallie left the Prouty House shortly after +noon, followed by comments of a jocular nature from the bystanders. + +"How far is it?" inquired Wallie, who was riding his English saddle and +"posting." + +"Twenty for me and forty for you, if you aim to ride that way," said +Pinkey. "Why don't you let out them stirrups and shove your feet in +'em?" + +Wallie preferred his own style of riding, however, but observed that he +hoped never to have another such fall as he had had at The Colonial. + +"A feller that's never been throwed has never rid," said Pinkey, sagely, +and added: "You'll git used to it." + +This Wallie considered a very remote possibility, although he did not +say so. + +Once they left the town they turned toward the mountains and +conversation ceased shortly, for not only were they obliged to ride +single file through the sagebrush and cacti but the trot of the livery +horse soon left Wallie with no breath nor desire to continue it. + +The vast tract they were traversing belonged to Canby, so Pinkey +informed him, and as mile after mile slipped by he was amazed at the +extent of it. Through illegal fencing, leasing, and driving small +stockmen from the country by various methods, Canby had obtained control +of a range of astonishing circumference, and Wallie's homestead was +nearly in the middle of it. + +Although they had eaten before leaving Prouty, it was not more than two +o'clock before Wallie began to wonder what they would have for supper. +They were not making fast time, for his horse stumbled badly and the +pack-horses, both old and stiff, travelled slowly, so at three o'clock +the elusive mountains seemed as far away as when they had started. + +Unable to refrain any longer, Wallie called to ask how much farther. + +"Twelve miles, or some such matter." Pinkey added: "I'm so hungry I +don't know where I'm goin' to sleep to-night. That restaurant is reg'lar +stummick-robbers." + +By four o'clock every muscle in Wallie's body was aching, but his +fatigue was nothing as compared with his hunger. He tried to admire the +scenery, to think of his magnificent prospects, of Helene Spenceley, but +his thoughts always came back quickly to the subject of food and a +wonder as to how soon he could get it. + +In his regular, well-fed life he never had imagined, much less known, +such a gnawing hunger. His destination represented only something to eat +and it seemed to him they never would get there. + +"What will we have for supper, Pinkey?" he shouted, finally. + +Pinkey replied promptly: + +"I was thinkin' we'd have ham and gra-vy and cowpuncher perta-toes; and +maybe I'll build some biscuit, if we kin wait fer 'em." + +"Let's not have biscuit--let's have crackers." + +Ham and gravy and cowpuncher potatoes! Wallie rode along with his mouth +watering and visualizing the menu until Pinkey came to a halt and said +with a dramatic gesture: + +"There's your future home, Mr. Macpherson! That's what _I_ call a +reg'lar paradise." + +As Mr. Macpherson stared at the Elysium indicated, endeavouring to +discover the resemblance, surprise kept him silent. + +So far as he could see, it in nowise differed from the arid plain across +which they had ridden. It was a pebbly tract, covered with sagebrush and +cacti, which dropped abruptly to a creek-bed that had no water in it. +Filled with sudden misgivings, he asked feebly: + +"What's it good for?" + +"Look at the view!" said Pinkey, impatiently. + +"I can't eat scenery." + +"It'll be a great place for dry-farmin'." + +Wallie looked at a crack big enough to swallow him and observed +humorously: + +"I should judge so." + +"You see," Pinkey explained, enthusiastically, "bein' clost to the +mountings, the snow lays late in the spring and all the moisture they is +you git it." + +"I see." Wallie nodded comprehensively. "Why didn't you take it up +yourself, Pinkey?" + +"Oh, I got to make a livin'." + +There was food for thought in the answer and Wallie pondered it as he +got stiffly out of the saddle. + +"Can I be of any assistance?" he asked, politely. + +"You can git the squaw-axe and hack out a place fer a bed-ground and you +can hunt up some firewood and take a bucket out of the pack and go to +the crick and locate some water while I'm finding a place to picket +these horses." + +Because it would hasten supper, it seemed to Wallie that wood and water +were of more importance than clearing a place to sleep, so he collected +a small pile of twigs and dead sagebrush, then took an aluminum kettle +from his camping utensils and walked along the bank of Skull Creek +looking for a pool which contained enough water to fill the kettle. He +finally saw one, and planting his heels in a dirt slide, shot like a +toboggan some twenty feet to the bottom. Filling his kettle he walked +back over the boulders looking for a more convenient place to get up +than the one he had descended. + +He was abreast of the camp before he knew it. + +"Whur you goin'?" Pinkey, who had returned, was hanging over the edge +watching him stumbling along with his kettle of water. + +"I'm hunting a place to get up," said Wallie, tartly. + +"How did you git down?" + +"'Way back there." + +"Why didn't you git up the same way?" + +"Couldn't--without spilling the water." + +"I'll git a rope and snake you." + +"This doesn't seem like a very convenient location," said Wallie, +querulously. + +"You can cut out some toe-holts to-morrow," Pinkey suggested, +cheerfully. "The ground has got such a good slope to drain the corrals +is the reason I picked it to build on." + +This explanation reconciled Wallie to the difficulty of getting water. +To build a fire and make the coffee was the work of a moment, but it +seemed twenty-four hours to Wallie, sitting on a saddle-blanket watching +every move like a hungry bird-dog. He thought he never had smelled +anything so savoury as the odour of potatoes and onions cooking, and +when the aroma of boiling coffee was added to it! + +Pinkey stopped slicing ham to point at the sunset. + +"Ain't that a great picture?" + +"Gorgeous," Wallie agreed without looking. + +"If I could paint." + +"Does it take long to make gravy?" Wallie demanded, impatiently. + +"Not so very. I'll git things goin' and let you watch 'em while I go and +take a look at them buzzard-heads. If a horse ain't used to bein' on +picket he's liable to go scratchin' his ear and git caught and choke +hisself." + +"Couldn't we eat first?" Wallie asked, plaintively. + +"No, I'll feel easier if I know they ain't tangled. Keep stirrin' the +gravy so it won't burn on you," he called back. "And set the coffee off +in a couple of minutes." + +Wallie was on his knees absorbed in his task of keeping the gravy from +scorching when a sound made him turn quickly and look behind him. + +A large man on a small white pony was riding toward him. He looked +unprepossessing even at a distance and he did not improve, as he came +closer. His nose was long, his jaw was long, his hair needed cutting and +was greasy, while his close-set blue eyes had a decidedly mean +expression. There was a rifle slung under his stirrup-leather, and a +six-shooter in its holster on his hip was a conspicuous feature of his +costume. + +He sat for a moment, looking, then dropped the bridle reins as he +dismounted and sauntered up to the camp-fire. + +Wallie was sure that it was "Boise Bill," from a description Pinkey had +given him, and his voice was slightly tremulous as he said: + +"Good evening." + +The stranger paid no attention to his greeting. He was surveying Wallie +in his riding breeches and puttees with an expression that was at once +amused and insolent. + +"Looks like you aimed to camp a spell, from your lay-out," he observed, +finally. + +"Yes, I am here permanently." Wallie wondered if the stranger could see +that his hand was trembling as he stirred the gravy. + +"Indeed! How you got that figgered?" asked the man, mockingly. + +Wallie replied with dignity: + +"This is my homestead; I filed on it this morning." + +"Looks like you'd a-found out if it was open to entry before you went to +all that trouble." Boise Bill shuffled his feet so that a cloud of the +light wood-ashes rose and settled in the gravy. + +Wallie frowned but picked them out patiently. + +"I did," he answered, moving the pan. + +"Then somebody's lied to you, fer I filed on this ground and I ain't +abandoned it." + +"You've never done any work on it, and Mr. Tucker has my filing fees and +application so I cannot see that there is any argument about it." + +Wallie was very polite and conciliatory. + +"You'll find that filin' is one thing and holdin' is another in this +man's country." Quite deliberately he scuffled up another cloud of +cinders. + +"I will appreciate it," said Wallie, sharply, "if you won't kick ashes +in my gravy!" + +"And I will appreciate it," Boise Bill mocked him, "if you'll git your +junk together and move off my land in about twenty minutes." + +"I refuse to be intimidated," said Wallie, paling. "I shall begin a +contest suit if necessary." + +"I allus fight first and contest afterward." Boise Bill lifted his huge +foot and kicked over first the pan of ham and then the gravy. Wallie +stood for a second staring at the tragedy. Then his nerves jumped and he +shook in a passion which seemed to blind and choke him. + +Boise Bill had drawn his six-shooter and Wallie was looking into the +barrel of it. His homestead, his life, was in jeopardy, but this seemed +nothing at all compared to the fact that the ruffian, with deliberate +malice, had kicked over his supper! + +"Have I got to try a chunk o' lead on you?" Boise Bill snarled at him. + +For answer Wallie stooped swiftly and gripped the long handle of the +frying-pan. He swung it with all his strength as he would have swung a +tennis racket. Knocking the six-shooter from Boise Bill's hand he jumped +across the fire at him. Scarcely conscious of what he was doing in the +frenzy of rage that consumed him, Wallie whipped his little +pearl-handled pistol from his breeches pocket and as Boise Bill opened +his mouth in an exclamation of astonishment, Wallie shoved it down his +throat, yelling shrilly that if he moved an eye-lash he would pull the +trigger! + +This was the amazing sight that stopped Pinkey in his tracks as +effectively as a bullet. + +Wallie heard his step and asked plaintively but without turning: + +"What'll I do with him?" + +"As you are, until I pull his fangs." + +Pinkey threw the shells from Boise Bill's rifle and removed the +cartridges from his six-shooter. Handing the latter back to him he said +laconically: + +"Drift! And don't you take the beef-herd gait, neither." + +The malevolent look Boise Bill sent over his shoulder was wasted on +Wallie who was picking out of the ashes and dusting the ham for which he +had stood ready to shed his blood. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +NEIGHBOURS + + +The modest herring had been the foundation of the great Canby fortune. +Small and unpretentious, the herring had swum in the icy waters of the +Maine coast until transformed into a French sardine by Canby, Sr. It had +brought wealth and renown to the shrewd old Yankee, who was alleged to +have smelled of herring even in his coffin, but the Canby family were +not given to boasting of the source of their income to strangers, and by +the time Canby, Jr., was graduated from Harvard they were fairly well +deodorized. + +In the East many things had conspired to make the young Canby the +misanthrope and recluse he had come to be in Wyoming, where he was fully +aided and abetted in his desire for seclusion by his neighbours, who +disliked him so thoroughly that they went out of their way to avoid +speaking to him. + +Having been graduated without distinction, he concentrated his efforts +upon an attempt to become one of a New England coterie that politely but +firmly refused to do more than admit his existence. + +In pursuance of his ambition he built a castle-like residence and +specialized in orchids and roses, purchased a yacht, became an exhibitor +at the Horse Show. Society praised his roses, but their admiration did +not extend to Canby; he went on solitary cruises, in his floating palace +and the Horse Show, which had proved an open sesame to others, in his +case was a failure. + +Finally he married a girl who had the _entrée_ to the circle he coveted, +but his wife received invitations which did not include her husband. The +divorce court ended the arrangement, and Canby had the privilege of +paying a king's ransom in alimony into one of Boston's first families. + +Petty, unscrupulous, overbearing, Canby never attributed his failure to +the proper cause, which was his unpleasant personality, but regarded it +as a conspiracy on the part of Society to defeat him in his ambition and +accordingly came to hate it. + +When he was not travelling he spent his time on the feudal estate he had +created in Wyoming, where he had no visitors except Helene Spenceley and +her brother, who came occasionally when invited. Protecting himself from +invasion from the smaller cattlemen and homesteaders was in the nature +of a recreation to Canby, who had various methods of ridding himself of +their presence. + +Boise Bill was one of those he kept for the purpose of intimidating +prospective settlers and was considered by him his ablest lieutenant. +Theretofore when that person returned and stated that the job of running +off the newcomer was one he did not care to tackle further, Canby could +not fail to be impressed by the declaration. + +Among traits less agreeable, Boise Bill had a strong sense of humour, +albeit of a somewhat ghoulish brand, usually. As he rode back to report +to Canby, the ludicrous side of the encounter grew on him until it +outweighed the chagrin he first had felt at getting the worst of it. + +Thinking of Wallie in his "dude" clothes, his face pale and his eyes +gleaming, swinging the frying-pan in his rage at the loss of his supper, +when a more experienced man would have thrown up his hands promptly, +Boise Bill slapped his leg and rocked in the saddle as he chuckled: + +"That's the closest queak I ever had; he might a trembled his gun off +and killed me!" + +To Canby he declared with a face that was unsmiling and solemn: + +"I 'low I got my share of nerve when it comes to a show-down, and I ain' +no skim-milk runt, neither, but that nester--he's a giant--and hos-tile +as they make 'em! He had me lookin' at my hole card from the outset." + +"Are you afraid of him?" Canby demanded, incredulously. + +"I wouldn't say I'm actually _afraid_ of him, but I got an old mother in +southern Idyho that's dependin' on me and I can't afford to take +chances." + +"I'll go myself," said Canby, curtly. + +"Don't let him git the drop on you," Boise Bill warned him. "I never +_see_ anybody so quick as he is. He had out his weepon and was over the +fire at me before I knew what was happenin'," with conviction. "He gets +'ringy'--that feller." + +Canby's cold gray eyes glittered, though he said nothing of his +intentions. + + * * * * * + +Pinkey put up Wallie's silk tent and staked it, showed him how to hobble +and picket his horse and to make baking-powder biscuit, and left him. + +"It'll be lonesome at first, and the work'll come hard on you, but +you'll be jest as happy as if you was in your right mind, onct you git +used to it," he assured Wallie. + +"The work doesn't bother me, but I imagine it will be lonesome." + +"You ought to git some kind of an animal and tame it," Pinkey suggested. +"I mind one winter when I 'bached' I tamed and halter-broke two +chipmunks so I could lead 'em anywhur. You wouldn't believe what company +they was for me." + +Wallie agreed that it was an idea, but he was privately of the opinion +that there would be a limit to the pleasure which the company of +chipmunks, however accomplished, could afford him. + +"If only I had a congenial neighbour," he sighed, "it would make a great +difference." + +"There's Canby--you might call on him," Pinkey suggested, grinning. "Or +if you ketch yourself pickin' at the bed-clothes you can saddle up and +scamper over and see me. 'Tain't fur--forty miles across the mounting. +Jest below that notch--you can't miss it." + +Wallie had looked at the notch often since then. He was staring at it +the evening Canby rode down on him--staring and thinking so hard of +Helene Spenceley that Canby had checked his horse and was looking at him +before he saw him. + +It would be impossible to say which was the more astonished. + +Instead of the fearsome person Canby had anticipated, he saw one so +different and at the same time so extraordinary that he could not +immediately collect himself. + +Wallie's trunks had followed him, together with a supply of provisions, +and now, his day's work done, he was sitting in front of his tent on a +patent camp-chair garbed in whatsoever had come handiest. + +Canby's eyes rested upon a mild-looking young man in a purple silk +lounging robe, hob-nailed mountain boots, and a yachting cap with a +black patent-leather visor. He was smoking a cigarette with a gold tip +and a monogram, held in a hand that was white and carefully manicured. + +In his surprise, Canby said: "Good evening," almost amiably. + +Wallie, in turn, saw a visitor who looked as if he might just have +returned from a canter through Central Park. His appearance was so +homelike and familiar that Wallie went forward with a radiant smile of +welcome. Before he knew it Canby found himself shaking hands vigorously +with the person he had come to quarrel with. + +Wallie was sure that it was Canby but it flashed through his mind that +perhaps he was not so black as he was painted and Pinkey was given to +exaggeration, and very likely Boise Bill had acted upon his own +initiative. At any rate, after four days of solitude Wallie would have +been delighted to see his Satanic Majesty; so, with his most engaging +smile, he invited Canby to dismount and stated that his name was +"Macpherson." + +Canby could do nothing less than give his name also, though he refused +the invitation. Whereupon Wallie declared heartily: + +"I take this as very nice and neighbourly of you, Mr. Canby, and please +believe I appreciate it!" + +Canby bowed but said nothing. + +"You see, I'm a newcomer," Wallie babbled, "and I have so many things to +learn that you can teach me. I consider myself fortunate in having a +neighbour of your experience, and if you will let me I shall come to you +for advice often." + +"Don't hesitate to call on me." In Canby's eyes there was something like +a glint of amusement. + +Wallie went on guilelessly, finding it an extreme relief, after his +enforced silence, to have an ear to talk into. + +"The fact is," confidentially, "I may not look it but I am a good deal +of a tenderfoot." + +"Indeed?" Canby raised a politely surprised eyebrow. + +"Yes," he prattled on, "I am totally ignorant of agricultural matters; +but I hope to learn and make a good thing, ultimately, out of this +dry-farming proposition. I've got a little money, and I intend to invest +it in developing this homestead. By mixing brains with industry I hope +by next fall to get an ample return upon my money and labour. I trust I +am not too optimistic?" + +"It would not seem so," Mr. Canby replied, guardedly. "How are you fixed +for horses?" + +"I was just going to ask you about that," Wallie exclaimed. "I want to +plow, and haul some fence posts, and I shall need horses. Can you +recommend a team that would suit me?" + +"Next Thursday at two o'clock there will be a stock sale at my place and +I have no doubt that you will be able to pick up something there for +your purpose." + +"That's splendid!" Wallie cried, delightedly. "I shall seek you out, Mr. +Canby, and ask you to assist me in making a selection. I've been +thinking of buying a cow, too--this is rare good luck, isn't it, to be +able to purchase what I need without going so far for it!" + +"I shall be present--hunt me up--two o'clock, Thursday." + +With a smile and a nod Canby gathered up his reins and departed while +Wallie with a glowing face looked after him and declared aloud: + +"That's what I call real Western sociability!" + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +CUTTING HIS EYETEETH + + +A widely advertised stock sale was an event in the country for the +twofold reason that it furnished the opportunity for neighbours with +fifty and more miles between them to exchange personal news and +experiences and also to purchase blooded animals for considerably less +than they could have been imported. + +This was particularly true of the Canby sale, where the "culls," both in +horses and cattle, were better than the best animals of the majority of +the small stockmen and ranchers. In consequence, these sales were +largely attended by the natives, who drank Canby's coffee and ate his +doughnuts while calling him names which are commonly deleted by the +censor. + +It was the custom also for such persons as had a few head of horses or +cattle to dispose of, but not enough for a sale of their own, to bring +them to be auctioned off with Canby's. So it had come to pass that the +stock sale at Canby's ranch was second only in importance to the county +fair to which all the countryside looked forward. + +Therefore Wallie, whose notion of a stock sale was of the vaguest, was +much surprised when after riding in the direction his visitor had +indicated and spending hours hunting for gates in wire fences, had come +upon an assembly of a size he would not have believed possible in that +sparsely populated district. + +Unless they denned in the rocks, the question as to where they lived +might have puzzled a person more familiar with this Western phenomenon +than Wallie. + +There were Ford cars which might have been duplicates of Henry's first +model--with trailers containing the overflow of children--together with +the larger cars of the more prosperous or more extravagant, as happened. +Top buggies were in evidence, relics of the Victorian period, shipped +out from Iowa and Nebraska--serviceable vehicles that had done duty when +their owners were "keeping company." Lumber wagons were plentiful, with +straw and quilts in the bottom to serve as shock-absorbers, while saddle +horses were tied to every hitching post and cottonwood. + +When Wallie arrived in his riding boots and breeches he immediately +shared attention with a large, venerable-looking Durham that was being +auctioned. The Durham, however, returned the stare of the crowd with +blasé eyes which said that he had seen all of life he wanted to and did +not care what further happened, while Wallie felt distinctly +uncomfortable at the attention he attracted, and wished he might find +Canby. + +As he stood speculating as to whether the folds of skin around the +Durham's neck might be an indication of his age--a year for a fold, +after the manner of snake-rattles--his attention was diverted to a group +that was interested in the efforts of one of its members to pry a +horse's mouth open. + +It seemed to Wallie an excellent opportunity to learn something which +might be of future use to him, so he joined it. + +A man who looked capable of selling a runaway horse to his grandmother +was saying emphatically: + +"Eight, next spring, I tell you. We raised her a pet on the ranch, so I +ought to know what I'm talkin' about." + +The person who had managed to separate the horse's jaws laughed +uproariously: + +"If she ever sees sixteen again----" + +"She ain't over eight, and I'll take my oath on it," interrupted the +owner, with a fine show of indignation. + +"If I could believe you, I'd buy her." + +A piping voice from the group interjected itself into the conversation. +It came from under the limp brim of a hat that dropped to the speaker's +shoulders. + +"Why, I knowed that harse when I first come to the country. She was +runnin' with her mother over in the Bighorns, and Bear George at +Tensleep owned her. Some said that Frank McMannigle's runnin' harse, +'Left Hand,' was her father, and others said she was jest a ketch colt, +but I dunno. Her mother was a sorrel with a star in her forehead and the +Two-pole-punkin' brand on her left shoulder. If I ain't mistaken, she +had one white hind stockin' and they was a wire cut above her hock that +was kind of a blemish. She got a ring bone and they had to kill her, but +Bear George sold the colt, this mare here, to a feller at Kaysee over on +Powder River and he won quite considerable money on her. It was about +thirteen year ago that I last seen her, but I knowed her the minute I +laid eyes on her. She et musty hay one winter and got the tizic, but you +never would know it unless you run her. One of her stifle j'ints----" + +The mare's owner interrupted at this juncture: + +"You jest turn your mouth on, don't you, Tex, and go off and leave it?" + +"I happened to know a little somethin' about this harse," apologetically +began "Tex," whose other name was McGonnigle, "so I thought----" + +"So you thought you'd butt in and queer the sale of it. I suppose you'd +suffer somethin' horrible if there was a horse-deal on and you had to +keep your mouth shut?" + +Mr. McGonnigle protested feebly that he had no such idea when he gave +the horse's history, and Wallie was much interested in the wrangle, but +he thought he caught a glimpse of Canby through one of the doorways of a +stable so he hurried across the yard and found him in conversation with +Boise Bill, who was grooming a work-horse which quite evidently was to +be auctioned. + +Boise Bill grinned when he saw Wallie and nodded. Canby stepped out and +greeted Wallie with some affability. + +"I've been watching for you. Have you bid on anything?" + +"Not yet. But I saw a fine-looking cow that I mean to buy if she is all +she ought to be," Wallie replied with a touch of importance. "It seems +to me that a good cow will help out wonderfully. I am very fond of milk +and it will be useful in cooking. With a cow and a hen or two----" + +Canby and Wallie crossed the yard to where a mild-eyed Jersey was being +dressed in a halter preparatory to being led forward and put up at +auction. + +"Will you be good enough to permit me to examine this animal?" Wallie +asked of her caretaker. + +"Shore," he replied, heartily, though he looked puzzled. + +Wallie drew off his riding gloves and stepped up briskly in a +professional manner and pried open the mouth of the protesting cow. + +He exclaimed as he let go abruptly: + +"Why--she's old! I don't want her. She hasn't a single tooth left in her +upper jaw. It's a fortunate thing I looked at her." + +A small boy roosting on the corral snickered. The cow's guardian smiled +broadly and openly and deliberately winked at Canby. + +Offended, Wallie demanded: + +"Am I in error as to her age?" + +"Well--if a cow ever had a set of teeth in her upper jaw she'd be in a +side-show. They don't have 'em. This cow is only three--a young animal." + +"That's true," Canby assented. + +"I declare! It seems very curious," Wallie exclaimed, astounded. He +added, with all his importance punctured: + +"I fear I have much to learn." + +"This is a good place to learn it," observed the cow's valet. + +Wallie bought the Jersey at private sale, and needless to say, paid its +full value. + +"She'll be fresh in January," the man said to him. + +Wallie looked bewildered, so the other explained further: + +"She'll have a calf." He said it in such a confidential manner that +Wallie thought it was a secret and lowered his voice to answer: + +"I'm glad of it." He had a notion that he had gotten the best of Canby +and wished that Miss Spenceley and The Colonial folk knew he had made a +shrewd bargain and gotten a herd started. + +To Canby, who accompanied him on his tour of inspection, he said +eagerly: + +"Where I wish your assistance is in the selection of my work-horses. +What would you advise? Have you a pair in mind, Mr. Canby?" Canby +reflected. + +"That was a good horse Boise Bill was currying," he suggested. + +"Yes, I noticed him. Is there another like him?" + +"I believe he is one of a team." + +Canby was correct in his surmise. The pair were well matched and, +impressed by their looks and strength, Wallie was delighted and +determined to have them if possible. + +"Fourteen hundred is a good weight for your purpose--above that they are +apt to be clumsy," said Canby. + +Wallie agreed enthusiastically. + +"My own idea exactly. You see, I'll have to use them for driving as well +as working, until I can afford a motor." + +The gathering was composed mostly of good, honest folk but plain ones. +They did, however, seem to know exactly what they were buying and why +they wanted it, and Wallie was fearful that a pair of such exceptional +horses would be run up to a figure beyond his resources. He wished they +would bring them out and end the suspense which was momentarily growing +greater as he thought of losing them. + +Boise Bill drove the pair from the stable finally, just as a powerful +machine arrived and took a place in the outer circle. New arrivals had +no interest at the moment for Wallie, who was as nervous as a young +opera singer. + +As Boise Bill walked behind the team slapping them with a rope-end to +drive them forward, it occurred to Wallie that it would have been much +simpler to have led them, but as every one had his own way of doing +things in this country he gave no further thought to the matter. + +If he had not been so anxious and intent upon what was about to happen, +he might also have observed an interchange of knowing looks among the +gentlemen whose clothes were secured mostly with shingle-nails and +baling-wire. + +The team looked all the auctioneer declared them to be as they stood +head to head--young, strong, perfectly matched--and he defied all +Wyoming to find a blemish on them. + +The gentlemen in patched overalls seemed willing to take his word for +it, since no one stepped forward to examine the team, and they listened +with such attention while he extolled their virtues that it sickened +Wallie, who already felt the thrill of ownership as he looked at them. + +"The greatest pullers in the State"; the auctioneer made a point of it, +repeating it several times for emphasis. + +Wallie scanned the faces of the crowd to see if he could detect any +special interest that would denote a rival bidder, and he wished the +auctioneer would stop harping on their good qualities. It surprised him +a little that he saw none of his own eagerness reflected in the varied +expressions, also it relieved him somewhat. If he had had an unlimited +bank account it would have been different, but he realized that any +determined opponent could outbid him, so he found himself in a +perspiration as he waited. + +"How high do you think I should go?" he asked of his friend and advisor. + +"That depends on how badly you want them." + +"They suit me exactly." + +"Horses of that class are selling around $500, but you might venture a +little more, since you like them." + +"That's just about what I am able to pay. My goodness, but I hope I'm +not outbid! You wouldn't believe how nervous I am. It's such a new +experience that I am really agitated." + +The statement was unnecessary, since Canby could see Wallie's knees +trembling in his riding breeches. + +"How much am I offered for this pair of magnificent young horses?" asked +the auctioneer, ingratiatingly. + +Wallie, who had not such a case of stage-fright since he first sang in +public "Oh, that we two were Maying," bid instantly: + +"Two hundred dollars!" His voice sounded like the squeak in a telephone +receiver. + +The auctioneer cupped his hand behind his ear and leaned forward: + +"What?" + +The incredulity in his tone prompted Wallie to raise the bid to two +hundred and twenty-five when he repeated it. + +The auctioneer struck his forehead with his clenched fist and staggered +back dramatically, demanding: + +"Am I insulted?" + +"That ain't possible," croaked a voice among the spectators. + +"Two hundred and fifty!" The bid came from a ministerial-looking person +who was known as a kind of veterinary occasionally employed by Canby. + +"Three hundred!" Wallie challenged him. + +"That's more like it, but still an insult to these noble brutes I'm +selling. Who says three and a quarter?" + +"And a quarter!" came from the veterinary. + +"And a quarter--and a quarter--gentlemen, what ails you?" He looked at +the "bone and sinew of the nation," who prodded each other. + +"Three hundred and fifty," Wallie responded. + +"Three-fifty! Boost her faster, gentlemen! Boost her right along! Am I +offered four hundred?" + +"Four hundred!" The bid was the veterinary's. + +Wallie quavered: + +"Four hundred and fifty!" + +"Five hundred!" his opponent came back at him. + +Wallie hesitated. + +"Think of it! Going for five hundred!" + +The auctioneer looked at Wallie, who could not have been paler in his +coffin. + +"Five twenty-five!" + +"Good! Now, sir," to the veterinary. + +"Five-fifty!" + +He turned to Wallie: + +"Am I done, gentlemen?" + +Wallie stared at him, his throat too dry to answer. + +"Must I give away the best pullin' team in the State for a puny, +piddlin' five hundred and fifty dollars?" he pleaded. + +"SIX HUNDRED!" Wallie cried in desperation. + +With the bid Canby raised his hat and ran his fingers through his hair +casually and the veterinary stopped bidding. + +"Done!" cried the auctioneer, "Sold to Mr.--the name, please--ah, +Macpherson, for six hundred dollars---- A bargain!" + +Between relief and joy Wallie was speechless, while Canby congratulated +him and the crowd bestowed upon him glances of either derision or +commiseration, according to the nature of the individual. + +While he stood trying to realize his good fortune and that he was the +owner of as good a pair of work-horses as ever looked through a halter, a +figure that made his heart jump came swiftly forward, and with her hands +in the pockets of her long motor coat, stopped in front of his team and +scrutinized them closely. + +Helene Spenceley looked from one of the horses to the other. She saw the +dilated pupils, the abnormally full forehead, the few coarse hairs +growing just above the eyelid, and they told her what she had suspected. + +"I am sorry I did not know it was you who was bidding on these horses," +she said, turning to Wallie. + +"Did you want them, Miss Spenceley? I am sorry----" + +"Want them? You couldn't give them to me. They are locoed!" + +"Locoed!" He could only stare at her, hoping never again to feel such +dismay as filled him at that moment. + +He had only the vaguest notion as to what "locoed" meant, but it was +very clear that it was something highly undesirable. And he had been +cheated by Canby, who had known of it and advised him to buy them! Such +duplicity was without his experience, and sickened him nearly as much as +the thought of the $600 he had invested in horses so radically wrong +that Helene Spenceley would not take them as a gift. + +The single thought which came to solace him as he stood humiliated and +panic-stricken was that she resented the dishonest trick that had been +played upon him. + +Canby came forward to greet her, with his hand out. She ignored it and +said indignantly: + +"I should have spoiled this sale for you, Mr. Canby, if I had seen who +was bidding on these locoed horses." + +Though Canby flushed, he shrugged a shoulder and replied callously: + +"We all had to get our eyeteeth cut when we came to the country." + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE BEST PULLING TEAM IN THE STATE + + +Leading the cow, and aided by "Tex" McGonnigle, who boasted that he had +a heart as big as the country he lived in and was willing to prove it by +helping him with the locoed horses, Wallie made fair progress as far as +the gate in the last wire fence, where "Tex" had to leave him. + +"'Tain't fur now," said that person, passing over the rope with a knot +in the end with which he had belaboured the horses he had driven ahead +of him. "Mog along stiddy and you'd ought to make it by sundown." + +"I think I'll lead 'em," Wallie remarked. + +"Locoed horses won't lead--you've got to drive 'em." + +Nevertheless, on the chance that "Tex" might not know everything, Wallie +tried it after his helper had galloped in another direction. + +"The best pulling team in the state!" the auctioneer had declared, and +truthfully. Wallie had a notion they could have moved the Capitol +building if they had laid back on it as they did their halters when he +tried to lead them. + +There was nothing for it but to tie their heads together and drive them +as Tex had done, but with even less success. They missed either Tex's +voluble and spicy encouragement or the experienced hand which laid on +the rope end, but the chief difficulty seemed to be that they were of +different minds as to the direction which they should take, and since +the cow was of still another, Wallie was confronted with a difficult +situation. + +Dragging the mild-eyed Jersey, which had developed an incredible +obstinacy with the cessation of Tex's Comanche yells behind her, Wallie +applied the rope he had inherited, with the best imitation he could give +of the performance, but futilely. + +The cow and the horses pulling in opposite directions went around and +around in a circle until the trampled earth looked as if it had been the +site of a cider-press or a circus. + +After they had milled for twenty minutes without advancing a step Wallie +lost patience. + +"Oh, sugar!" he cried. "This is certainly very, very annoying!" + +The cow was as much an obstacle to the continuance of their journey as +the horses, since, bawling at intervals, she planted her feet and +allowed her neck to be stretched until Wallie was fearful that it would +separate, leaving only her gory head in the halter. + +With this unpleasant possibility confronting him, Wallie shrank from +putting too much strain upon it with the result that the cow learned +that if she bawled loud enough and laid back hard enough, he would ease +up on the rope by which he was dragging her. + +Wallie had been taught from infancy that kindness was the proper method +of conquering animals, therefore he addressed the cow in tones of +saccharine sweetness and with a persuasive manner that would have +charmed a bird off a tree. + +"Bossy! Bossy! Good bossy!" he cajoled her. + +Immune to flattery, she looked at him with an expression which reminded +him of a servant girl who knows she is giving notice at an inopportune +time. Then she planted her feet still deeper in the sand and bawled at +him. + +"Darn it!" he cried, finally, in his exasperation. + +As he sat helpless in his dilemma, wondering what to do next, an idea +occurred to him which was so clever and feasible that he lost no time in +executing it. + +If he tied the cow to the stirrup of his saddle and she showed no +disposition to escape, then he could walk and drive the work-horses +ahead, returning for his saddle-horse and the cow! This, to be sure, was +a slow process, but it was an improvement over spending the night going +around in a circle. + +Wallie tied the cow's rope to the stirrup and both animals stood as if +they were nailed to the spot while he ran after the work-horses, who had +wandered in another direction. His boots, he noted, were not adapted to +walking as they pinched in the toes and instep. He could not stop for +such a small matter at this critical moment, however, so he continued to +run until he overtook the horses and started them homeward. + +Turning to look at the cow and his saddle-horse, he saw them walking +briskly, side by side, like soul-mates who understood each other +perfectly, in the opposite direction from which he wanted them to go. He +left the horses and ran after the cow, shouting: + +"Whoa--can't you?" + +He reasoned swiftly that the Jersey was the nucleus of a herd which +would one day run up into the thousands, and he must get her at all +hazards. + +"Whoa! Bossy--wait for me!" he pleaded as at top speed he went after +her. + +"Good bossy! Good bossy!" His quavering voice was pathetic. + +At the sound of his voice the horse stopped, turned its head, and looked +at him. The cow stopped also. + +Intensely relieved, Wallie dropped to a walk, congratulating himself +that the livery horse chanced to be so well trained and obedient. As he +approached, the cow stepped forward that she might look under the +horse's neck and watch her pursuer. Both animals stood like statues, +regarding him intently. When within fifty feet Wallie said in a +conciliatory tone to show them that he stood ready to forgive them in +spite of the inconvenience to which they had put him: + +"Nice horsey! Good bossy!" + +Quite as if it were a signal, "Nice horsey and good bossy" started at a +trot which quickly left Wallie far behind them. + +Wallie ran until he felt that his overtaxed lungs were bursting. His +boots were killing him, his shin bones ached, and his feet at every +step sank to the ankles in the loose sand. It was like running through a +bog. He pursued until he was bent double with the effort and his legs +grew numb. The perspiration streamed from under his stylish derby, his +stock wilted, and his clothing was as wet as if it had been raining. + +When his legs would carry him not one step farther he stopped and looked +after the cow and horse--who were still doing perfect team-work, +trotting side by side as evenly as if they had been harnessed together. +They stopped instantly when he stopped, and, as before, the horse turned +its head to look back at him while the cow peered under its neck at +Wallie. + +Hope revived again when they showed no disposition to move, and after he +had panted awhile, Wallie thought that by feigning indifference and +concealing his real purpose he might approach them. To this end, he +whistled with so much breath as his chase had left him, tossed pebbles +inconsequently, and sauntered toward the pair as if he had all the day +before him. + +The subterfuge seemed to be succeeding, and he was once more within +fifty feet of them when they whirled about simultaneously and started at +the same lively trot, leaving Wallie far behind them. + +A humane consideration for animals had been inculcated in Wallie from +childhood by Aunt Mary, but now he felt such a yearning to inflict pain +upon the cow and the livery horse that it would have shocked that lady +if she could have read his thoughts as he chased them. He visualized +the two of them tied to a tree while he laid on the rope-end, and the +picture afforded him intense satisfaction. + +Exhausted, and with his heart pounding under his silk shirt-bosom, +Wallie stopped at last because he had to. Immediately the horse and cow +stopped also. While he gasped, a fresh manoeuvre occurred to Wallie. +Perhaps if he made a circle, gradually getting closer, by a quick dash +he could catch the bridle reins. + +As he circled, the gaze of the horse and cow followed him with the +keenest interest. Finally he was close enough to see the placid look of +benevolence with which his cow was regarding him and success seemed +about to reward his efforts. The horse, too, had half closed its eyes by +the time he was ready for his coup, as if it had lost all interest in +eluding him. + +"Nice horsey! Good bossy!" Wallie murmured, reassuringly. + +For the third time he was within fifty feet of them, and while he was +debating as to whether to make his dash or try to get a little closer, +the pair, seeming to recognize fifty feet as the danger zone, threw up +their heads and tails and went off at a gallop. + +Grinding his teeth in a way that could not but have been detrimental to +the enamel, Wallie stood looking after them. A profane word never had +passed his lips since he had had his mouth washed out with castile soap +for saying "devil." But now with deliberate, appalling abandon, and the +emphasis of a man who had cursed from his cradle, he yelled after the +fleeing fiends incarnate: + +"Go to hell--damn you!" + +Instantly shocked and ashamed of himself, Wallie instinctively looked +skyward, half expecting to see an outraged Jehovah ready to heave a +thunderbolt down on him, though he felt that the Almighty in justice +should recognize the provocation, and forgive him. + +Weary, with blistered heels and drooping shoulders, Wallie plodded after +them while time and again they repeated the performance until it would +have worn down a bloodhound to have followed the tracks made by Wallie +and the renegades. + +The sun set and the colours faded, yet Wallie with a dogged tenacity he +had not known was in him trudged back and forth, around and around, in +pursuit of the runaways, buoyed up chiefly by the hope that if he could +catch them he might soon be wealthy enough to afford to kill them. + +It was nearly dusk, and a night in the open seemed before him when the +pair stopped and commenced feeding toward him. Whether they had become +hungry or the sport had palled on them were questions Wallie could not +answer. It was enough that they waited like two lambs for him to walk up +and catch them. + +He was so tired that when he got himself in the saddle with the cow +ambling along meekly at his stirrup, he found himself feeling grateful +to them instead of vindictive. The locoed horses he decided to leave +until morning. + +By the time he had reached his homestead and fallen out of the saddle, +he had forgotten that he had sworn to tie them up and "whale" them. On +the contrary, he was wondering if milking were a difficult process and +if he could accomplish it, for he could not find it in his heart to let +a dumb brute suffer. He remembered hearing that cows should be milked +regularly, and while his Jersey had goaded him to blasphemy he knew that +he would not be able to sleep if she was in pain through his negligence. + +Picketing the horse as Pinkey had taught him, he put the cow on a rope +also. Then he set about the performance which had looked so simple when +he had seen others engage in it. + +Among his accoutrements was a flashlight, and with this and a lard can +Wallie stood for a moment speculating as to whether the cow had any +preference as to the side she was milked on. He could not see that it +would make any material difference, so he sat down on his heel on the +side nearest and turned his flashlight on the spot where he wished to +operate. Placing his lard can on the ground where he could throw a +stream into it conveniently, he used his free hand for that purpose. + +To his surprise, nothing happened--except that the cow stopped chewing +her cud and looked at him inquiringly. He persisted, but uselessly. Was +anything wrong with his system, he wondered? He thought not, since he +was milking exactly as he had seen the hired man milk on a farm where he +had once spent a month in his childhood. + +He varied his method, making gentle experiments, but at the end of ten +minutes the lard can was still empty and the cow was growing restless. +For that he could not blame her. His hand ached and his foot seemed +about to break off at the ankle from sitting on it. + +Wallie felt chagrined when he reflected that although he was a graduate +of Haverford College and was bringing all his intelligence to bear upon +it he was still unable to do what any hired man with an inch of forehead +could accomplish with no apparent effort. + +Perhaps there was some trick about it--perhaps it _did_ make a +difference which side a cow was milked on. Wallie walked around and +turned the spot-light on the other side of his Jersey. + +The outlook, he fancied, seemed more promising. + +He sat down on his heel and started in energetically. + +It did make a difference which side one milked on--there was no doubt +about it. The instant he touched her she lifted her foot and with an aim +which was not only deadly and unerring but remarkable, considering that +she could not see her target, planted it in the pit of Wallie's stomach +with such force that the muffled thud of it sounded like someone beating +a carpet. The kick knocked the breath out of him, and as he lay on his +back on a clump of cactus he was sure that he was bleeding internally +and probably dying. + +Wallie finally got to his feet painfully and with both hands on his +stomach looked at the cow, who was again chewing tranquilly. There was +murder in Wallie's eyes as he yelled at her: + +"Curse you! I could cut your heart out!" + +Then he crept up the path to his tent and dropped down on his pneumatic +mattress, doubting if he ever would rise from it. As he lay there, +supperless, with his clothes on, every muscle in his body aching, to say +nothing of the sensation in his stomach, it seemed incredible that he +could be the same person who had started off so blithely in the morning. + +The series of misfortunes which had befallen him overwhelmed him. He had +purchased a cow which not only gave no milk but had a vicious +disposition. He had paid two prices for a pair of locoed horses that did +their pulling backward. He had made himself a laughing stock to the +entire country and seemed destined to play the clown somehow whenever +Helene Spenceley was in the vicinity. His ears grew red to the rims as +he thought of it. + +But she _had_ resented Canby's dishonesty for him--_that_ was something; +and Wallie was in a mood to be grateful for anything. + +The cow grunted as she lay down to her slumbers--Wallie ground his teeth +as he heard her. A coyote yapped on a ridge forlornly and the horse on +picket coughed and snorted while Wallie, staring at the stars through +the entrance, massaged his injury and ruminated. + +Suddenly he sat up on his patent air mattress and shook his fist at the +universe: + +"Canby nor nobody else shall down me! I'm going to make good somehow, or +fertilize Wyoming as old Appel told me. I'll show 'em!" + +After that he felt better; so much better that he fell asleep +immediately, and even the activities of two field-mice, who pulled and +snipped at his hair with their sharp teeth in the interests of a nest +they were building, only disturbed without awakening him. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +MERRY CHRISTMAS + + +Wallie shivered in his sleep and pulled the soogans higher. The act +exposed his feet instead of his shoulders, so it did not add to his +comfort. He felt sleepily for the flour sack which he wore on his head +as protection against the dust that blew in through the crack in the +logs and his fingers sank into a small snow bank that had accumulated on +his pillow. + +The chill of it completely awakened him. He found that there was frost +on the end of his nose and he was in a miniature blizzard as far as his +shoulders. The wind was howling around the corners and driving the first +snow of the season through the many large cracks in his log residence. + +The day was Christmas, and there was no reason to believe that it would +be a merry one. + +Wallie lay for a time considering the prospect and comparing it with +other Christmases. He had a kettle of boiled beans, cold soda biscuit, +coffee, and two prairie-dogs which he intended cooking as an experiment, +for his Christmas dinner. + +Growing more and more frugal as his bank account shrank with alarming +rapidity, Wallie reasoned that if he could eat prairie-dog it would +serve a double purpose: While ridding his land of the pests it would +save him much in such high-priced commodities as ham and bacon. +Prairie-dog might not be a delicacy sought after by epicures, yet he +never had heard anything directly against them, beyond their propensity +for burrowing, which made them undesirable tenants. He reasoned that +since they subsisted upon roots mainly, they were of cleanly habits and +quite as apt to be nourishing and appetizing, if properly cooked, as +rabbit. + +Having the courage of his convictions, Wallie skinned and dressed the +prairie-dogs he had caught out of their holes one sunshiny morning, and +meant to eat them for his Christmas dinner if it was humanly possible. + +The subject of food occupied a large part of Wallie's time and attention +since he was not yet sufficiently practised to make cooking easy. He had +purchased an expensive cook book, but as his larder seldom contained any +of the ingredients it called for, he considered the price of it wasted. +He had found that the recipes imparted by Tex McGonnigle, who had built +his ten-by-twelve log cabin for him, were far more practical. Under his +tuition Wallie had learned to make "sweat-pads," "dough-gods," +"mulligan," and other dishes with names deemed unsuitable for +publication. + +After considering his dinner menu for a time, Wallie drew his knees to +his chin, which enabled him to his get entire body under the soogan, and +contrasted his present surroundings with those of the previous +Christmas. + +In the spacious Florida hotel last year he had only to touch a button to +bring a uniformed menial who served him coffee and lighted a grate fire +for him, while the furnishings of his room and bath were quite as +luxurious as those of The Colonial. + +Now, as the light strengthened, Wallie could see his third-handed stove +purchased from the secondhand man, Tucker, standing in the corner with +its list to starboard. The wind blowing through the baling wire which +anchored the stove-pipe to the wall sounded like an aeolian harp played +by a maniac. His patent camp chair had long since given way beneath him, +and when he had found at the Prouty Emporium two starch boxes of the +right height, he had been as elated when they were given to him as if he +had been the recipient of a valuable present. They now served as chairs +on either side of his plank table. + +His pneumatic mattress had collapsed from punctures, and Wallie's bones +were uncomfortably close to the boards in the bottom of the bunk +McGonnigle had built against one end of the cabin. His pillow was a +flour sack filled with straw and of a doubtful colour, as was also the +hand towel hanging on a nail beside a shocking wash basin. + +There was a dirt roof on the cabin from which clods of earth fell rather +frequently and bounced on Wallie's head or dropped in the food, or on +his bed to startle him when sleeping. The floor contained knotholes +through which the field mice and chipmunks came up to share his +provisions, and the door, being a trifle larger than the frame, could +not be closed entirely. + +When Wallie had called McGonnigle's attention to the fact that he could +stand in the middle of his cabin and view the scenery through the cracks +in any direction, McGonnigle had assured him that "fresh air never hurt +nobody," and while he cheerfully admitted that he was not a carpenter, +declared that he had made allowances for this fact in his charges. + +Though Wallie could not notice it when he paid them, he said nothing, +for by now he was accustomed to having everything cost more than he had +anticipated, however liberal he might be in his estimate. + +Boise Bill rode by occasionally and inquired humorously if he thought he +would "winter." To which Wallie always replied that he intended to, +though there were moments of depression when he doubted it. + +It was upon Wallie's inability to "winter" that Canby was counting. He +had hung on longer than Canby had thought he would, but the cattleman +felt fairly sure that the first big snowstorm would see the last of +Wallie. The hardships and loneliness would "get" him as it did most +tenderfeet, Canby reasoned, and some morning he would saddle up in +disgust, leaving another homestead open to entry. + +If, perchance, this did not happen, Canby had a system of his own for +eliminating settlers. It was quite as efficacious as open warfare, +though it took longer and was open to the objection that sometimes it +enabled them to stay long enough to plow up eighty acres or so which +went to weeds when they abandoned it. + +Canby had no personal feeling against Wallie and, after meeting him, +decided he would use the more lawful and humane method of ridding +himself of him. Instead of running him off by threats and violence he +would merely starve him out, and Wallie's bank balance indicated that +Canby was in a fair way to accomplish his purpose. + +Several happenings had made Wallie suspect something of Canby's purpose, +and the same latent quality which had made Wallie trudge doggedly after +his cow and horse until he had worn out their perversity always made him +tell himself grimly that he was going to stick until he had his crop in +and harvested if he laid down, a skeleton, and died beside one of his +own haystacks. + +Mostly, however, he was so busy with his cooking, feeding his livestock, +getting wood and water, to say nothing of piling rocks and grubbing +sagebrush that he had no time to brood over Canby and the wrongs he had +done him. He had learned from McGonnigle that his locoed horses would +grow worse instead of better and eventually would have to be shot, and +that person had imparted the discouraging information also that not only +could he expect no milk from his cow until her calf arrived in January +but Jerseys were a breed not commonly selected for beef cattle. + +Wallie had thought that his aunt would surely relent to the extent of +writing him a Christmas letter but, yesterday, after riding eight miles +to look in the bluing box nailed to a post by the roadside, he had found +that it had contained only a circular urging him to raise mushrooms in +his cellar. + +Helene Spenceley, too, might have sent him a Christmas card or +something. He had seen her only twice since the sale, and each time she +had whizzed past him in Canby's machine on the way to Prouty. The sight +had given him a curious feeling which he had tried to analyze but had +been unable to find a satisfactory name for it. + +Altogether, Wallie felt very lonely and forlorn and forgotten this +Christmas morning as he lay in a knot under the soogan, listening to the +wind twanging the stove-pipe wire and contemplating his present and +future. + +He had discovered that by craning his neck slightly when in a certain +position he could look through a crack and see the notch in the mountain, +below which was the Spenceley ranch, according to Pinkey. He was +prompted to do so now, but an eyeful of snow discouraged his +observation, so he decided that he would get up, feed his animals and, +after breakfast, wash his shirt and a few towels by way of recreation. + +The cabin was not only as cold as it looked but colder, and as Wallie +hopped over the floor bare-footed and shivering he reflected that very +likely his potatoes and onions were frozen and wished he had taken them +to bed with him. + +They were, unmistakably, for they rattled like glass balls when he +picked up several onions and examined them with a pained expression. + +Wallie was still wearing much of the wardrobe he had brought with him, +and when dressed to go outside he was warm but unique in a green velour +hat, his riding breeches, brilliant golf stockings that were all but +feetless thrust in arctics, a blue flannel shirt from the Emporium in +Prouty, and a long, tight-fitting tan coat which had once been very +smart indeed. + +The snow had stopped falling by the time he had done his chores and +breakfasted. The only benefit the storm had brought him was that it did +away with the necessity of carrying water for his washing. He had +acquired the agility of a cliff-dweller from scaling the embankment by +means of the "toe-holts"; yet, at that, it was no easy matter to +transport a bucket of water without spilling it. + +He wished for a well every time that he panted in from a trip to the +creek, and meant to have one as soon as he could afford it. + +While the snow-water was melting Wallie considered the manner in which +he should prepare the prairie-dogs. He presumed that it was too much to +expect that the cook book would have anything to say on the subject, but +it surely would recognize rabbit, and a recipe suitable for one would do +for the other. + +Wallie got out his cook book and turned eagerly to the index. There was +no mention of rabbit. A thought struck him--rabbit was hare and hare +was rabbit, wasn't it? If so, the cook book would not admit it, for +there was no such word under the H's. + +He was disgusted. What good was such a cook book, he asked himself as he +turned the leaves in resentment. He wished he could collect the +two-fifty he had paid for it. He read aloud, sneeringly: + +"Caviar toast, garnished. Crab, scalloped, in shell. Aspic in jelly. +Fondu of cheese. Floating Island. Meringue glacé, and Whipped Cream." + +The mere mention of the dishes made his mouth water, while his anger +against the dame who had compiled it mounted higher. He remotely +contemplated writing to inquire of the culinary oracle why she had +ignored hare and rabbit. + +Continuing to scan the index, his eye caught a word which held +possibilities. Game! If rabbit was not game, what was it? + +Ah! Wallie looked at a picture of a rabbit lying on a platter with its +legs in the air and artistically decorated with parsley until he felt +more hungry than ever. Then he read aloud with gusto: + +"Barbecued rabbit. Casserole of rabbit. Roast rabbit. Smothered rabbit. +Stewed rabbit." + +He perused all the recipes carefully. After giving weighty consideration +to each, roast rabbit seemed to make the strongest appeal to him. He +read the recipe aloud twice that he might the better comprehend it: + +"Dress and wash the wily _coureur de bois_, but leave the heads on in +cleaning them. Stuff the bodies with a forcemeat of fat, salt pork, +minced onions, and fine bread crumbs well seasoned with salt and +pepper. Sew them up with fine thread and lay upon thin slices of pork, +covering the grating of the roaster. Lay other slices of pork over them, +pour over all a cupful of stock, and roast one hour. Remove the pork, +then wash with butter and dredge with flour and brown. + +"Drain off the gravy, lay the bits of bacon about the rabbit in the +dish: thicken the gravy with browned flour. Boil up, add a tablespoonful +of tomato catsup and a glass of claret, then take from the fire." + +Wallie reflected, as he sat with his feet on the stove-hearth +overflowing with ashes, that when it came to the "forcemeat" he was +"there with the crumbs," since he had an accumulation of ancient biscuit +too hard to eat. Also he had salt pork and onions. The butter, tomato +catsup, stock, claret, he must dispense with. After all, the +prairie-dogs were the main thing and he had them. + +He congratulated himself that he had decided to leave on the heads when +skinning them. The recipe so enthused him that he decided to prepare +them before starting in with his washing. + +Obviously the first thing to do was to thaw the onions, so he put them +in the oven, after which he went to a box in the corner and selected a +few biscuit. Crumbs were crumbs, as he viewed it, and biscuit crumbs +were quite as good as bread crumbs for his purpose. + +There were certain marks on these biscuit that were made unmistakably by +the teeth of mice and chipmunks, but these traces he removed +painstakingly. As he reduced the biscuit to crumbs with a hammer, he +recalled that he had been awakened several times by the sound of these +pestiferous animals frisking in the box in the corner. He did not allow +his mind to dwell upon this, however, lest it prejudice him when it came +to the eating of the "forcemeat." + +Onions, he found, were not improved by freezing. Those he removed from +the oven were distinctly pulpy, but since they smelled like onion and +tasted like it, he mushed them in with the biscuit crumbs, and seasoned. + +Then he crammed the prairie-dogs with the mixture and looked for a +thread among his sewing articles. Since he could find nothing but black +linen, Wallie threaded a darning needle and did a fancy "feather" stitch +down the middle of each of them. + +This accomplished, he stood off and viewed his handiwork with eminent +pride and satisfaction, though it occurred to him that owing to his +generous use of "forcemeat" they had a bloated appearance, as if they +had died of strychnine poisoning. + +The heads, too, were decidedly rat-like, and as the long, sharp teeth of +the pair of them grinned up at Wallie he covered them hastily and set +about his washing. + +He had come to begrudge every stick of firewood, and it took an +incredible amount to heat wash-water. A man could very well fill his +time if he did nothing but collect wood and carry water. + +As he set his tub and washboard on a box and rubbed vigorously on his +undergarments, he smiled to himself and wondered what his friends of The +Colonial would say if they could see him at the moment. He did not so +much mind washing, it was easier than digging post holes, but it was not +much of a way to spend Christmas and he was desperately lonely. He +wished someone would come along to talk to. + +He was so far from the road that there were no passersby, and no one +wanted to see him anyhow, but his loneliness became so great as he dwelt +upon it that on the remote chance that he might see someone even in the +distance he stopped washing and walked to the window, where with his +elbow he rubbed a spot clear of frost. + +Looking out through the loop-hole, it was a white, tractless world he +gazed upon, and he might have been in the Arctic Circle for all the +signs of life he could discover. He told himself that he might have +known better than to hope for any. + +As he squinted, he suddenly pressed his eye harder against the window. +Did he see a speck that moved or did he imagine it? He enlarged the hole +and strained his eyes until they watered. Surely it moved--surely. It +would be too disappointing for words if it were only a delusion. + +It did! It did! There was now no mistake about it. Someone was coming +toward the cabin. Wallie shook with excitement at the prospect of a +visitor. Whoever it might be, Wallie would make him stay for dinner if +he had to pay him by the hour for his company. That was settled. Very +likely it was Pinkey, but to-day even Boise Bill would be welcome. + +Wallie shoved his Christmas dinner in the oven and slammed the door upon +it, stoked the fire lavishly, then fell upon the washboard and rubbed +furiously that he might be done the sooner. At intervals he dashed to +the window, half afraid to look lest the rider had changed his mind and +gone in another direction. + +But no, he kept coming, and there was something in the way he sat his +horse which made him think it was Pinkey. + +And Pinkey it was, brilliant as a rainbow in orange chaps, red flannel +shirt, and a buckskin waistcoat. His coat tied behind the cantle +suggested that he either had become overheated or at only twelve below +zero had not yet felt the need of it. His horse was snorting steam like +a locomotive and icicles of frozen breath were pendent from its +nostrils. + +Wallie stood in the door, suds to the elbow and his hands steaming, +waiting to receive him. + +His voice trembled as he greeted him: + +"I never was so glad to see anybody in my life, Pinkey." + +"This is onct I know you ain't lyin'. Got anything to eat? I'm starvin'. +I been comin' sence daylight." + +"I got something special," Wallie replied, mysteriously. "Tie your horse +to the haystack. I'll hurry things up a little." + +Pinkey returned shortly and sniffed as he entered: + +"It smells good, anyhow. There's something homelike about onions. What +you cookin'?" + +"It's a secret, but you'll like 'em. I made 'em out of the cook book." + +Pinkey threw his coat on the table and the thud sounded as if it had a +brick rolled in it. + +"Here's something Helene sent--she made it--it's angel food or +somethin', I reckon." + +"Now wasn't that good of her!" Wallie exclaimed, gratefully. + +"I can't tell till I taste it. I wouldn't call her much of a cook +generally." He prodded the cake as he unrolled it and commented: + +"Gosh, it's hard! I turned my thumb-nail back on it." + +"It's frozen--that's what's the matter," Wallie defended, promptly. + +"I think it's a bum cake," declared Pinkey, callously. + +"I think you don't know what you're talking about until you try it," +Wallie retorted with asperity. + +Pinkey looked at him thoughtfully and changed the subject. + +"I see you're playin' a tune on the washboard." + +Wallie replied stiffly: + +"Yes, I'm doing a little laundry." Pinkey's criticism of the cake still +rankled. + +"You ain't washin' that blue shirt a'ready?" Pinkey demanded, +incredulously. "You only bought it Thanksgivin'." + +"The front of it bent like rubber-glass and I couldn't stand it any +longer." He added reminiscently: "There was a time when I wore a fresh +shirt daily." + +Pinkey stared at him awe-stricken: + +"I wouldn't think changin' as often as that would be healthy." + +The clothes in the dishpan on the stove boiled over, and as Wallie +jumped for the broom-handle to poke them under, Pinkey demanded: + +"Are you bilin' your flannens?" + +"Certainly." + +"A ten-year-ol' boy can't git in that suit of underwear onct you're done +cookin' it," Pinkey explained, and added, disgustedly: "Wallie, don't +you know nuthin'?" + +Wallie looked his consternation. + +"I'll know better next time," he said, humbly. + +Pinkey consulted his watch and hinted: + +"Don't you want me to make the bread?" + +"No, I have some biscuit to warm over, we'll boil potatoes, thaw the +cake out, open some pineapple, and with what I have in the oven we will +have a dinner that'll be nothing short of a banquet." + +"Great! I'm so hungry I could eat with a Digger Injun." + +Wallie opened the oven door. + +"They're browning beautifully!" he reported. + +"Chickens?" + +Wallie shook his head: + +"I shan't tell you until you've passed upon them." + +"If you've got enough of whatever it is--that's all that's worryin' +me," declared Pinkey, hungrily. "You'd ought to build you a root cellar +next winter--if you're livin'," he remarked as the potatoes rattled when +Wallie dropped them in the kettle. + +"Do you suppose I could grow potatoes? Is it too dry?" + +"This is a great country for potatoes. There's somethin' in the soil +that gits in the potatoes' eyes and makes 'em water so they irrigate +themselves. Shore! you can grow potatoes." + +"I want to make a good many improvements here before next winter," +announced Wallie, hopefully. "I wish you could come over for awhile and +help me." + +"That mightn't be a bad idea," said Pinkey, thoughtfully. "Sence the +country went dry I don't much care whether I draw wages or not--they's +nothin' to spend money for, so what's the use of workin'? If I was over +here I might add a few feet to my rope and git me a good little start +off Canby." + +"Do you see much of him?" Wallie asked, indifferently. + +"Too much," said Pinkey, shortly. + +Wallie dropped the pan he was turning in the oven. + +"They're browning beautifully," he exclaimed hastily. + +"You said that before. Ain't it gittin' time to work on 'em?" + +"Remove your feet and I'll set the table." + +"Can't you spread a paper for a tablecloth? I always git splinters in my +elbows when I eat off rough lumber." + +Wallie laughed good-humouredly as he obliged him. + +"That's shore a great smell comin' from the oven! Let's eat, feller." + +"You certainly are hungry, Pinkey. If I may judge by appearances, you +are not going to be disappointed. You sit down while I put things on the +table." + +Pinkey needed no second invitation. + +"I like spuds cooked with the clothes on," he observed as he skinned a +potato. + +"I trust everything is going to be to your liking," Wallie declared, +cordially, as he drew the prairie-dogs from the oven and laid them on an +agate-ware platter. + +Busy with his potato, Pinkey did not see them until they were before +him. Then he stopped and stared hard as they lay on their backs grinning +up at him with the "forcemeat" oozing through the stitching. + +"_What are they?_" His emphasis was not flattering. + +"I shan't tell you yet," declared Wallie. + +Pinkey continued to eye them suspiciously. + +"They kinda remind me of a mummy I seen in a side-show; then, again, +they look like incubator childern--roasted. Them teeth are what git me. +I can't quite place 'em. 'Tain't wood-pussy or nothin', Wallie? 'Tain't +no notorious animal like pole-kitty?" + +Wallie looked offended. + +"I intend to eat some myself," he replied with dignity. + +"Are they some kind of a varmint?" Dubiously. + +"Varmint?" + +"Pack-rat or weasel?" + +"Scarcely!" + +Wallie looked so injured that Pinkey said apologetically: + +"I was jest cur'ous." But inquired further: "Is that stuffin' or in'ards +coming through the sewin' down the front of 'em?" + +"Forcemeat. I made it according to a recipe." + +"Indeed?" Politely. "Don't go shy yourself jest because I'm here," he +protested, as Wallie attempted to cut one in two with the butcher-knife. +"I ain't feelin' so hungry--somethin' has took my appetite." + +As the table swayed under Wallie's efforts to carve a prairie-dog, he +suggested: + +"Perhaps if you took hold of one leg----" + +"Ye-ah," said Pinkey, humorously, "and you take holt of the other and +put your foot on my chest so you kin git a purchase, then we'll both +pull and somethin's bound to happen." + +"If I could only find a joint----" + +"Worry one of them legs off and we'll see how we like it before you play +yourself out on it." + +Wallie acted upon the suggestion and presented the severed member. + +"Try it," he urged, persuasively. + +Pinkey sunk his grinders into the leg and laid back on it. + +"Does it seem tough?" Wallie asked, watching him anxiously. + +"Tough! I'm scairt it's goin' to snap back and knock me over. Wait till +I git a fresh holt on it." + +"Do you get the flavour at all?" + +"I can't pull enough off to taste it," Pinkey replied, plaintively. + +"Try the dressing and tell me what you think of it." Wallie scooped out +a generous spoonful and placed it on his plate, waiting confidently for +the verdict. + +Pinkey conveyed his knife to his mouth while Wallie stood regarding him +with an expression of pleased expectancy as he tasted. + +A startled look was succeeded by one that was unmistakably horror. +Pinkey knocked over the box upon which he was sitting as he jumped from +the table and tore the kitchen door open. + +Wallie watched him wonderingly: + +"Tell you what I think of it!" Pinkey declared, returning. "I ain't got +words--they ain't none in the dictionary. My Gawd! what is it made of?" + +"Just biscuit crumbs and onions," said Wallie, colouring. + +"Where did you keep 'em?" + +Wallie pointed to the box on the floor in the corner. + +Pinkey made a hideous grimace. + +"Gimme a drink of water! Gimme a chew of tobacco! Gimme anything to take +the taste of _mouse_ out'n my mouth. Wallie," solemnly, "men have died +fer less'n that in this country. If I thought you'd done that on purpose +I'd slit your throat from ear to ear and leave you." + +"I thought I was very particular and cut off everything that looked +suspicious," said Wallie, meekly, "I must have missed something." + +"You shore did! And," Pinkey demanded, "what might them horrors be on +the platter? Them teeth are mighty familiar." + +Wallie quavered: + +"Prairie-dog--I was experimenting to see if they were edible." + +"Leave me out in the air again!" Pinkey groaned as he swallowed a drink +of water. "And I passed up a turkey dinner to come and eat with you!" + +"Shan't I cook you some bacon?" asked Wallie, contritely. + +"I doubt if I ever feel like eatin' agin, but if the cake's thawed out +I'll try a chunk of it to take my mind off that stuffin'." + +Wallie opened the can of pineapple he had been treasuring and Pinkey +helped himself freely to the Christmas cake. + +"They must be about four meals in one of them slices, the way it feels +inside of me," the latter commented, nibbling delicately on a ring of +pineapple he held in his fingers. + +"It's fruit-cake, and rich; you're not supposed to eat so much of it," +Wallie said, sharply. + +Pinkey raised his eyebrows and regarded Wallie attentively as he +continued to nibble. + +"Looks like you're turrible touchy about her cookin', and swelled up +over gittin' a Christmas present," he remarked, finally. "You needn't +be, because she made eight other cement bricks jest like this one and +sent 'em around to fellers she's sorry for." + +"Oh, did she!" Wallie ejaculated, crestfallen. + +"Yes, indeed," Pinkey went on, complacently, feeling a glow of +satisfaction at Wallie's lengthened countenance; "she does it every +Christmas. She's kind to the pore and sufferin', but it don't mean +nothin' more than a dollar she'd drop in a hat somebody was passin'." + +Noting the deep gloom which immediately settled upon Wallie, Pinkey +could think of the prairie-dogs with more equanimity. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE WATER WITCH + + +In former days Wallie had wished for a yacht, his own stables, and such +luxuries, but now he wanted a well with far greater intensity than he +had desired those extravagances. + +The all-important question had been whether he could at present afford +it, with his money vanishing like a belated snowbank. Then, while he had +been debating, Rufus Reed appeared at such a timely moment that it had +seemed providential. + +Mr. Reed, lately arrived from Illinois, was now sitting with his feet on +the stove-hearth and so close to the coals that the cabin was strong +with the odour of frying rubber, and declaring modestly: + +"I may say, without braggin', that I have made an enormous success since +I gave up my flour and feed store and took to well-diggin' as a +perfession. By acci-dent I discovered that I was peculiarly gifted." + +Watching the smoke rising from Rufus's arctics and speculating as to +what might be the composition of his soles that he could endure so much +heat without discomfort, Wallie inquired politely: + +"In what way, may I ask?" + +Mr. Reed's tone became impressive: + +"I am--a water witch." + +Wallie looked puzzled. + +"Some call it magic, but the fact is, I am able to locate water with a +forked willer and you can call it anything you want to." + +Wallie regarded the worker of miracles with fresh attention. His belief +in his own powers was evidently so sincere that even a skeptic could not +fail to be impressed by him. + +He continued: + +"With my divinin' rod I have flew in the faces of the biggest geologists +in the country and found water where they said there wasn't any." + +"Will the divining rod tell you how far you must dig for it?" + +"Pretty close to it. I count a foot to every bob of the willer." + +"In a state like Illinois where there is a great deal of moisture I +presume it would be possible to get water anywhere if one went deep +enough, but in Wyoming--frankly, I should not like to rely on the +divining rod in Wyoming, Mr. Reed." + +Mr. Reed looked somewhat offended and declared with spirit: + +"I'll tell you what I'll do--I'll make you a sportin' proposition. I'll +test the ground with the willer and if it says we'll get water at a +certain depth and we don't strike it, I'll dig till we do, for nothin', +if we have to go till we hear the Chinamen gibber. That's fair, ain't +it?" + +Wallie could not gainsay it. + +"I got a willer on my saddle and it won't cost nothin' for a +demonstration. Say the word," persuasively, "and you've good as got a +fine, flowing well of water." + +It would do no harm to let the water witch make his test, Wallie +decided, so he followed sheepishly in the wake of Rufus and his willow +as he walked over the greater part of the one hundred and sixty acres. + +"'Tain't nowise plentiful," the latter admitted, as with each hand +gripping a prong of the willow he kept his eyes fixed upon it. "But if +it's here I'm bound to find it, so don't get discouraged." + +Expecting nothing, Wallie was not disappointed. + +At the top of a draw some hundred and fifty yards from the cabin Rufus +suddenly halted. + +"I felt somethin'," he said, hopefully. + +"Where?" Wallie asked, interested. + +"In my arm--like pins and needles--it's a symptom. She's goin' to bob!" +Excitedly. "You watch and count along of me." + +The willow bobbed unmistakably. + +"Sixty-eight!" They finished together. + +"I told you!" Rufus cried, triumphantly. He stamped his foot: "Right +here is where you'll strike it." His tone was as positive as if he saw +it flowing beneath the surface. + +Impressed in spite of himself, Wallie endeavoured to be conservative. + +"Could it have been your subconscious mind?" he asked, doubtfully. + +"I ain't any. Rufus Reed is right out in the open. I'll stake my +reputation there's plenty of water if you'll go after it." + +"It's rather far from the house for convenience," he objected. + +"Water in Wyoming is like whiskey, you have to take it where you can get +it and not be particular." + +It was a temptation, and the cost at three dollars a foot was not +excessive. Wallie pondered it and said finally: + +"You will agree in writing to dig without remuneration until you get +water if you do not strike it at sixty-eight feet?" + +"An iron-clad contract will suit yours truly," Mr. Reed declared, +emphatically. He added: "I'll bring two men to work the h'ist and empty +the bucket. Of course you'd aim to board us?" + +"Why, yes, I can," Wallie said a little uncertainly. He had not thought +of that feature, but he realized it would be necessary. + +He had figured that with strict economy he had provisions enough to last +him well toward summer. Three men eating three meals daily might make +some difference in his calculations, but nothing serious probably. + +So the contract was drawn up and signed and Rufus departed, eminently +satisfied, as was Wallie, who was so eager to see his well started that +he could hardly wait until the following Monday. + +In the interim he dreamed of his well of cold, pure water, and every +time he made use of his "toe-holts" he told himself that that +inconvenience would soon be eliminated. He meant to have a windmill as +soon as he could afford it, for whatever else the country might lack +there was no dearth of wind for motive power. + +There was something permanent-looking about a well and he chuckled as he +speculated as to what Canby would say when he heard of it, and he wished +with all his heart that he might be around when Helene Spenceley learned +that he was sinking a well on his place for household and stock +purposes. + +He had taken advantage of the opportunity which the gift of the cake +presented to send her a note of thanks and appreciation. In reply he had +received an invitation which had stung him worse than if she had written +that she never wanted to see him cross her threshold. + +His eyes gleamed every time he read it, which was so often that it was +worn through the creases from being folded and unfolded: + + Dear "Gentle Annie": + + Won't you stop at the ranch on your way out and pay us a visit? + I presume the middle of the summer at latest will see the last + of you as I have no idea that you will be able to go through the + discouragements and hardships attendant upon proving up on a + homestead. + + My brother also will enjoy meeting you as he has heard so much + of you. + + Looking for you soon, I am + Sincerely, + HELENE SPENCELEY. + + P.S. I have a new sweater pattern that I am sure will please you. + +Every word had a nettle in it, a taunt that made him tingle. It seemed +to Wallie he had never known such a "catty" woman, and he meant to tell +her so, some day, when he was rich and successful and had proved how +wrong she was in her estimate of him. + +He was tempted to send her word, on a postal, anonymously, of the well +he was digging if he had not feared she would suspect him. It seemed so +long to wait for Pinkey to convey the tidings. + +Rufus arrived on Monday morning, and the "crew" to which he had referred +proved to be members of his own family--John and Will--whales as to +size, and clownish. + +It came to Wallie's mind that if they did not move any faster when they +worked than when they were at leisure, the well-digging would be a long +process, and his heart sank when he saw them feeding their horses so +liberally from the hay which had cost $20 a ton, delivered. + +The first intimation Wallie had of what he had let himself in for was +when Rufus asked in a confidential tone, as if he were imparting +something for Wallie's ear only: + +"I wonder if we could get a bite to eat before we start in? We eat so +early this morning that I don't feel as if I had had anything." + +Wallie had a pan of biscuit which he had intended for dinner but he +concealed his reluctance and managed to say with a show of hospitality: + +"Come right in; I'll get you something." + +"First rate!" declared Mr. Reed with disheartening enthusiasm as Wallie +placed the biscuit, butter, and molasses before him and his helpers. + +Wallie hoped never again to see food--his, at least--disappear with such +rapidity and in such quantities. When they had finished there was not a +crumb left in the pan to tell what had been, and Rufus added to Wallie's +feeling of apprehension by declaring gaily as he polished his mouth on +the bandanna which he drew from his hip pocket with a flourish: + +"Us Reeds are all hearty eaters. We can eat a sheep at a settin' when +we're all together." + +Biscuit-making was Wallie's special antipathy, and he now solaced +himself with the thought that since they had eaten so many, they would +eat less for dinner and he would have plenty of the fresh ones left for +supper. + +But disappointment was again his portion. Any hope that he might have +cherished that once they were well filled up their appetites would +diminish was dissipated by their performance at supper which surpassed +that of dinner. The manner in which the biscuits vanished was nothing +less than appalling. In addition to which, he fried ham twice for them +when they hinted that they were still hungry after devouring everything +before them. + +He thought grimly that if their capacity for work was commensurate with +their appetites, the well would be dug in twenty-four hours. But after +observing them in "action" through the window he had a notion that he +would have considerable more than that of their society. + +As they all sprawled on his bunk in a torpor while he washed their +supper dishes, he felt not only consternation but a dislike for the Reed +family growing within him. Long after they were snoring in their +blankets, he lay awake calculating how long his provisions would last at +such a rate of depletion. + +It did not sound so much of a "sporting proposition" as when Rufus had +made his proposal, and Wallie sighed in the darkness as he thought that +there seemed a million ways of making mistakes in Wyoming and this +already had the earmarks of being one of them. + +If they found water at the depth indicated by the divining rod, it might +not so much matter, but there was the other contingency confronting +him--feeding the Reeds indefinitely! There was nothing to do in the +circumstances but await developments, so Wallie slept finally to dream +that he had discarded the table for a trough to which the Reeds came +when he went to the door and called: "Soo-ee! Soo-ee!" + +The developments, however, were not of an encouraging nature. In +addition to a capacity for food which placed the Reeds among the world's +marvels they were of a slowness of movement Wallie never had seen +equalled. Whenever he looked through the window, it was to see one or +the other resting from the exertion of emptying a bucket of dirt or +turning the windlass. + +The well deepened by inches rather than feet while Wallie sweated, and +his suspicion gradually became a conviction as he watched them that they +were prolonging the work purposely. It seemed to be in the nature of a +vacation for them with just enough exercise to keep them in condition. + +His antipathy had become aversion, and Wallie sometimes caught himself +with his fork poised in mid air, stopping to hate John, who munched and +smacked beside him, or Will, who gobbled at the end of the table, or +Rufus, shovelling opposite him. Again, as they came at a trot in +response to his dinner call, he visualized himself braining them with +the axe as they entered, and found pleasure in the picture. + +If hatred generated a poison in the system as asserted, Wallie had a +notion that his bite would have been as fatal as a cobra's. + +His feeling reached a point where the well became of secondary +importance. To find a way to rid himself of the Reed family was in his +thoughts constantly, but there seemed nothing to do but endure them +somehow until they had sunk the sixty-eight feet, according to the +contract, so he went on suffering and cooking with all the grace he +could muster. + +Yet as the hole deepened he could not help a certain feeling of pride in +it. The sense of possession was a strong trait in him, and this was +_his_ well on _his_ homestead. He always felt the same pleasant glow of +ownership when he looked at his cabin and his fence, even at his dry cow +and his locoed horses, and once he had a well with a curb over it! +Wallie always expanded his chest a little as he thought of it. + +He made frequent pilgrimages to the well, and as he hung over the edge +and called down, Rufus always replied to his inquiry: + +"I don't see any indications yet but I look for it to come with a gush +when we do strike it." + +When they reached sixty-eight feet and there was still no sign of +moisture Wallie told Reed that he was willing to abrogate the contract. + +"No, sir!" Rufus declared, vigorously. "I've staked my reputation on +this well and I'm goin' to keep on diggin'." + +At seventy-two feet Wallie was desperate. The hole was still as dry as +punk, and boarding the Reeds was nothing less than ruinous; besides, he +was nauseated with cooking for three persons whom he detested. They +could not be insulted, he discovered, and were determined to make him +abide by his contract to board them. + +A solution of his problem came in the night with such force and +suddenness that he rolled to and fro in his bunk, hugging himself in +ecstasy. He longed for morning to put his idea into execution and when +it came, for the first time since their arrival, he was delighted to see +the Reeds seating themselves at the table. + +There were potatoes, bacon, and pancakes, with coffee, for breakfast. + +John dubiously eyed the transparent fluid in his cup which might as +easily have been tea, and commented: + +"You musta left out somethin'." + +Will made a wry face after filling it with half a pancake: + +"Gosh! But you throwed in the sody. They ain't fit fer a dog to eat. I +can't go 'em." + +With the intention of taking the taste of soda out of his mouth he +filled it with potato, and immediately afterward he and John jammed in +the doorway as they tried to get through it simultaneously. + +Wiping their streaming eyes and gulping water, they said accusingly: + +"There's a can of cayenne if there's a pinch in them pertaters!" + +"And the bacon's burned to a cracklin'," observed Rufus. + +"Perhaps you're getting tired of my cooking?" Wallie suggested, +artlessly. + +"I'm tired now if this is a spec'min of what you aim to feed us," John +declared, suspiciously. "I bleeve you done it on purpose." + +Wallie did not deny it. + +"I'm holler to the toes and I can't work on an empty stummick," said +Will, disgustedly. + +Only Rufus went on eating as if it took more than a can of soda and a +box of pepper to spoil his food for him and he explained as they +wondered at it: + +"I ain't no taste sence I had scarlet fever so it don't bother me." + +"Ain't you goin' to git us somethin'?" John demanded, finally, seeing +Wallie made no move to cook fresh food for them. + +"No," Wallie answered, bluntly. "There's nothing in the contract which +specifies the manner in which I shall prepare your food for you or the +amount of it. Dinner will be worse than breakfast if you want the truth +from me." + +"I'm quittin'!" the two declared together. + +"Now, look here, boys!" the old man expostulated. "We got to finish this +job and you know the reason." + +"Reason or no reason, I ain't starvin' myself to oblige nobody," John +declared, vigorously, "and he's got the drop on us about the eatin'." + +"Then go--the two of you!" Reed cried, angrily, "I'm goin' to stay--I +ain't nothin' to complain of. Him and me," he nodded at Wallie, "can dig +that well without ye." + +Surly, and without speaking, the boys took their departure. + +"They got bad dispositions--they take after their mother," Rufus +remarked, looking after them. "With you to work the windlass and empty +the bucket we'll make out without them till I pick up another crew +somewhere." + +"I am willing to accept my loss and quit," Wallie pleaded. + +"Well, I ain't!" declared Rufus, unnecessarily bellicose. "A contract is +a contract and I got you in writin'." + +Wallie could not deny it and subsided meekly, putting a ham on to boil +with a cabbage while Rufus smoked until he was ready to assist him. + +"If they's anything I like it's a good mess of ham and cabbage," he +observed. + +"I am glad to have found something to stimulate your appetite--it's +worried me," replied Wallie. But his sarcasm was wasted on Rufus who +arose, yawning, when Wallie indicated that he was ready. + +Turning the windlass according to instructions, Wallie deposited Rufus +in the bottom. Then at intervals he hoisted the bucket which Rufus +filled in leisurely fashion, and emptied it, performing the two men's +work easily. + +Wallie went down occasionally to stoke the fire, and upon his return +reported so favourably upon the ham and cabbage that Rufus took to +consulting his watch rather frequently after ten-thirty. + +"I'll quit at 'leven," he informed Wallie, "and that'll give you plenty +of time to make a batch of biscuit and get dinner." + +Wallie agreed with him that it was an excellent idea and promptly at +eleven pulled up the bucket of dirt which was to be the last one. + +When it did not come down immediately, Rufus called to him: + +"Hi! I'm ready! Get a move on, for I'm starvin'." + +There was no response at the opening. + +"What's the matter with you?" he demanded, impatiently. + +The echo of his own voice answered him. Slightly alarmed he called +louder: + +"Macpherson! What's happened to ye?" + +Still no answer. + +Distinctly nervous, Rufus shouted at the top of his lungs for Wallie +and the bucket, breaking into a perspiration at the continued silence. + +Was he sick? Fainted? Dead? Many things that could occur came to Reed as +he halloed futilely. + +When one o'clock came he was hoarse from yelling and sick with fear at +his predicament. His imagination painted gruesome pictures as he +sweated. He saw himself weak and emaciated, dying slowly of starvation, +collapsing, finally to lie undiscovered for days, weeks maybe. The +memory of a field mouse that had fallen into a pit haunted him, its +futile, frantic struggles to scale the steep sides, and he remembered +that when he had passed that way again he had looked and found it dead +in the bottom. He wished now that he had rescued it. + +His suffering would be worse than that of the field mouse, for he had +the intelligence to know that it was useless to struggle, that there was +no hope for him unless someone came to his assistance. And merciful +heavens, how hungry he was at only an hour past his dinner time; what +would his sensations be at an hour past his supper time or at one +o'clock to-morrow? He made a sound like someone groaning in a rain +barrel as he thought of the ham and cabbage boiling dry in the cabin. + +It made the back of his neck ache to watch the opening of his prison and +the patch of blue sky, from which he prayed, vaguely, that a rope ladder +might descend to rescue him. So he sat down finally with his back +against the side of the well, his knees to his chin, and his head bowed, +to await the inevitable. + +When three o'clock came he could no longer doubt but that some accident +had befallen Wallie. He had given up hope and endeavoured to resign +himself to the fate awaiting him. Remorse mingled with the pangs of +hunger and the cold fear of dying which was upon him. He wondered if +this torturing end was a judgment sent upon him. He could scarcely doubt +it. + +But if by some miracle he got out--if the Lord saw fit to save him--he +would be a different man. The Almighty had his word for it. Still +sitting with his back against the wall and his cramped legs extended in +front of him, Rufus rolled his eyes in supplication to the circular blue +space above him and registered this vow with all the fervour and +sincerity of which he was capable. + +He moved uneasily. He was vaguely conscious of a dampness. He felt +mechanically of that section of his overalls upon which he was sitting. +He sprang to his feet with an exclamation and looked at the spot he had +occupied. Moisture! A seepage! Water! His eyes grew big with horror. +Even as he looked with dilating pupils he could see the earth darken +with the spreading moisture. He had sunk too many wells not to know what +it portended. Not only his days but his hours perhaps were numbered. If +it was alkali, it would seep in slowly and prolong his agony, if it were +not, it would come faster. He would die literally in a grave of his own +digging. + +He sat down again because his shaking legs refused to support him, and +leaned his head against the side for the same reason. Rufus was no hero +and there was no need to pretend to be, drowning by himself like a rat +in a bucket. + +As he leaned there, nauseated, he caught a sound, or thought so, which +increased the sinking sensation, the feeling of collapse that +overwhelmed him. He took off his hat and laid his ear against the wall +to be sure of it. He had not been mistaken. His time on earth was +shorter even than he had imagined. The sound he had heard was the rumble +of a subterranean current that would soon break through, flowing faster +and faster as the opening enlarged until it came with a gush, finally. +He could visualize it because he had seen it happen. It would rise to +his ankles, his knees, his armpits, then cover him, and he would go to +his final punishment by the last route he ever had pictured! + +Rufus got on his knees in an attitude of prayer and supplication. The +cracked remnants of his stentorian voice he used to the utmost +advantage. No Methodist exhorter ever prayed with more passionate +fervour, and he could not in a lifetime have kept the promises he made +to his Maker if only He would release him from the trap into which he +had gotten himself through his own evil doing. + +"Lord, it was wrong for me to take that $150, but Canby tempted me. I +needed the money or I don't know as I would have done it. If You'll jest +get me out of this, Lord, all the rest of my life I'll do what I can for +You! I'll go to church--I'll give to the heathen--I'll stop takin' Your +name in vain, and say my prayers reg'lar! Oh, Lord! Once I stole a +halter and I ask Your forgiveness. And I left a neighbour's gate open on +purpose so the stock got into his cornfield, but I ain't a bad man +naturally, and this is the first real crookedness I ever done +intentionally. Lord," he pleaded, "hear my humble prayer and send +somebody!" + +At the top of the well Wallie had his suspicions verified. So Canby had +laid one more straw on the camel's back to break it! + +Any compunctions of conscience he might have had for putting Rufus +through such mental anguish vanished. + +Leaning over the edge of the well, he called down cheerily: + +"How you making it?" + +Wallie's voice sounded like the voice of an angel to the prisoner. +Relief and joy beyond description filled him. Hoarse as a bullfrog, he +quavered: + +"In Mercy's name let me out of here, Macpherson!" + +"You're all right where you are, Rufus," Wallie answered. "When you're +down there you are out of mischief." + +"I'm hungry--I'm starvin'----" + +"I don't know when I've eaten such a ham, tender, a delicious flavour, +and just enough fat on it--I thought of you all through dinner, Rufus." + +"We've struck water--a big flow--I can hear it--it'll break through any +minute!" + +"That's fine! Splendid!" + +"You don't understand!" Rufus cried, desperately. "I'm liable to be +drowned before you can h'ist me out of here. I can heard it roar--like a +cloudburst!" + +"Tell me about that deal between you and Canby," Wallie suggested. + +"Let down the bucket!" Rufus chattered. + +"Couldn't think of it. My eyeteeth are coming through and I don't like +to interrupt 'em." + +"I'll make a clean breast of it." + +"I don't want to pollute my well unless I have to, but that's the only +way you'll get out of there," Wallie told him, grimly. + +"Canby's out to break you in one way and another. He thought there was +no water over here and he paid me to talk you into diggin' for it. He +seen me and my boys eat one day in the mess house and he said 'twould +break the Bank of England to board us, so he wanted that clause in the +contract, and after sixty-eight feet he paid us, besides a hundred and +fifty dollars bonus. I done wrong, Mr. Macpherson, and I freely admit +it!" + +"And you like my cooking, Rufus? You like your food highly seasoned with +plenty of soda in the pancakes and dough-goods?" + +"Yes, Mr. Macpherson," whined Rufus. "I never complained about your +cookin', I've nothin' against you personal, and I'll knock off somethin' +on the bill for bringin' in water if you'll jest let down that----" A +screech finished the sentence. Then: + +"C-r-rr-ripes! She's busted through! She's comin' like a river!" + +He jumped and clawed at the sides in his frenzy, and Wallie could see +that Rufus well might do so, for even as Wallie looked the water rushed +in and rose to Rufus's ankles, and before he could get the bucket over +the edge and started downward it was well to his knees, bubbling faster +with every second as the opening widened. + +It was indeed time for action, and Wallie himself felt relief when the +windlass spun and he heard the splash of the bucket in the bottom. + +Rufus's shrieks urged haste as he began to wind laboriously, and with +reason, for Rufus was heavy and though Wallie put forth all his strength +it was no easy task single-handed, and Rufus rose so slowly that the +water gained rapidly. + +It became a race between Wallie and the subterranean stream that had +been tapped, and he was panting and all but exhausted when Rufus rose to +the surface. As he stepped from the bucket the water reached the top, +poured over the edge, and rushed down the "draw" to Skull Creek. + +Wallie looked with bulging eyes for a moment and when he had recovered +from his astonishment, he turned joyfully, his grudge forgotten, and +shook Rufus's hand in congratulation. + +A moment later his enthusiasm was tempered somewhat by the discovery +that he had brought to the surface the strongest flow of salt water in +the country! + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +WIPED OUT + + +"It's shore wicked the way you curse, Old Timer," said Pinkey, +reprovingly, as Wallie came up from the corral carrying an empty milk +bucket in one hand and testing the other for broken bones. "I could hear +you talkin' to Rastus from whur I'm settin'." + +Wallie exhibited a row of bruised knuckles and replied fiercely: + +"If ever I had an immortal soul I've lost it since that calf came! +Between his bunting on one side and me milking on the other, the cow +kicked the pail over." + +"Quirl you a brownie and blow it threw your hackamore and forgit it," +said Pinkey, soothingly, as he handed him a book of cigarette papers, +with a sack of tobacco and made room for him on the door-sill. "I ain't +used to cow milk anyhow; air-tight is better." + +Wallie took the offering but remained standing, rolling it dextrously as +he looked off at his eighty acres of spring wheat showing emerald green +in the light of a July sunset. + +Pinkey eyed him critically--the tufts of hair which stood out like +brushes through the cracks in what had once been a fine Panama hat, his +ragged shirt, the faded overalls, the riding boots with heels so run +over that he walked on the side of them. + +Unconscious of the scrutiny, Wallie continued to gaze in a kind of holy +ecstasy at his wheat-field until Pinkey ejaculated: + +"My, but you've changed horrible!" + +"How, changed?" Wallie asked, absently. + +"You're so danged dirty! I should think you'd have to sand that shirt +before you could hold it to git into it." + +"I hardly ever take it off," said Wallie. "I've been so busy I haven't +had time to think how I looked, but I hope now to have more leisure. +Pinkey," impressively, "I believe my troubles are about over." + +"Don't you think it!" replied Pinkey, bluntly. "A dry-farmer kin have +six months of hard luck three times a year for four and five years, +hand-runnin'. In fact, they ain't no limit to the time and the kind of +things that kin happen to a dry-farmer." + +"But what _could_ happen now?" Wallie asked, startled. + +"It's too clost to bed-time fer me to start in tellin' you," said Pinkey, +drily. + +"You're too pessimistic, Pinkey. I've prepared the soil and seed +according to the instructions in the Farmers' Bulletins from Washington, +and as a result I've got the finest stand of wheat around here--even +Boise Bill said so when he rode by yesterday." + +"Rave on!" Pinkey looked at him mockingly. "It's pitiful to hear you. +You read them bulletins awhile and you won't know nothin'. I seen a +feller plant some corn his Congressman sent him and the ears was so hard +the pigs used to stand and squeal in front of 'em. But of course I'm +glad you're feelin' so lucky; I'm scairt of the feelin' myself for it +makes me take chances and I always git a jolt for it." + +Wallie's face was sober as he confided: + +"If anything went wrong I'd be done for. I'm so near broke that I count +my nickels like some old woman with her butter-and-egg money." + +"I guessed it," said Pinkey, calmly, "from the rabbit fur I see layin' +around the dooryard." + +"Nearly everything has cost double what I thought it would, but if I get +a good crop and the price of wheat holds up I'll come out a-flying." + +"If nothin' happens," Pinkey supplemented. + +"I want to show you one of those bulletins." + +"I've seen plenty of 'em. You can't stop 'em once you git 'em started. +Them, and pamphlets tellin' us why we went to war, has killed off many a +mail-carrier that had to fight his way through blizzards, or be fined +fer not deliverin' 'em on schedule. I ain't strong fer gover'mint +literature." + +Wallie stepped inside the cabin and brought out a pamphlet with an +illustration of twelve horses hitched to a combined harvester and +thresher, standing in a wheat-field of boundless acreage. + +"There," he said, proudly, "you see my ambition!" + +Pinkey regarded it, unexcited. + +"That's a real nice picture," he said, finally, "but I thought you aimed +to go in for cattle?" + +"I did. But I've soured on them since that calf came and I've been +milking." + +Pinkey agreed heartily: + +"I'd ruther 'swamp' fer a livin' than do low-down work like milkin'." + +"When I come in at night, dog-tired and discouraged, I get out this +picture and look at it and tell myself that some day I'll be driving +twelve horses on a thresher. A chap thinks and does curious things when +he has nobody but himself for company." + +"That's me, too," said Pinkey, understandingly. "When I'm off alone +huntin' stock, I ride fer hours wonderin' if it's so that you kin make +booze out of a raisin." + +"Let's walk out and look at the wheat," Wallie suggested. + +Pinkey complied obligingly, though farming was an industry in which he +took no interest. + +Wallie's pride in his wheat was inordinate. He never could get over a +feeling of astonishment that the bright green grain had come from seeds +of his planting--that it was his--and he would reap the benefit. Nature +was more wonderful than he had realized and he never before had +appreciated her. He always forgot the heart-breaking and back-breaking +labour when he stood as now, surveying with glowing face the even green +carpet stretching out before him. In such moments he found his +compensation for all he had gone through since he arrived in Wyoming, +and he smiled pityingly as he thought of the people at The Colonial, +rocking placidly on the veranda. + +"Did you ever see anything prettier?" Wallie demanded, his eyes shining. + +"It's all right," Pinkey murmured, absently. + +"You're not looking," Wallie said, sharply. + +"I was watchin' them cattle." + +"I don't see any." + +Pinkey pointed, but Wallie could see nothing. + +"If they got cows on Mars, I'll bet I could read the bran's," Pinkey +boasted. "Can't you see them specks movin' off yonder?" + +Wallie admitted he could not. + +"It's cattle, and they act like somebody's drivin' 'em," Pinkey +declared, positively. "Looks like it's too early to be movin' 'em to the +mountain." + +His curiosity satisfied, he gave the wheat his attention. + +"It looks fine, Wallie," he said with sincerity. + +Wallie could not resist crowing: + +"You didn't think I'd last, did you? Miss Spenceley didn't, either. +She'll be disappointed very likely when she hears I've succeeded." + +"Don't cackle till you've laid your aig, Gentle Annie. When you've +thrashed and sold your grain and got your money in the bank, then I'll +help you. We'll git drunk if I have to rob a drug-store." + +"You're always putting a damper on me. It was you who advised me to go +in for dry-farming," Wallie reminded him. + +"I figgered that if you lived through a year of it," Pinkey replied, +candidly, "then almost anything else would look like a snap to you." + +It was plain that in spite of his prospects Pinkey was not sanguine, but +in this moment of his exultation failure seemed impossible to Wallie. + +In various small ways Canby had tried to break him and had not +succeeded. Boise Bill had prophesied that he would not "winter"--yet +here he was with every reason to believe that he would also "summer." +Wallie felt rather invincible as he reflected upon it, and the aurora +borealis did not exceed in colour the outlook his fancy painted that +evening. + +"It's eight-thirty," Pinkey hinted. "When I set up till all hours I +over-sleep in the morning." + +Wallie came to earth reluctantly, and as he returned to the cabin he +again permitted himself the luxury of pitying the folk of The Colonial +who knew nothing of such rapturous moments in that stale, uneventful +world which was so remote and different from the present that it was +beginning to seem like a dream to him. + +They had been asleep for an hour, more possibly, when Pinkey nudged +Wallie violently. + +"What's that huffin', do you reckon?" + +Wallie awoke with a start and listened. + +"Huffing" was the right word. Lying next to the logs, some large animal +was breathing so heavily in Wallie's ear that it sounded like a bellows. +He peered through a crack and saw something that looked like a mastodon +in the darkness tugging at a sack he had used for chinking. It was not a +horse and was too large for his Jersey. It flashed through his mind that +it might be a roaming silvertip from the mountain. + +Pinkey was out of the bunk at a bound and around the corner of the +cabin, where his suspicions were instantly verified. + +"It's a bull!" he shouted. "I thought it. Looks like a thousand head of +cattle tramplin' down your wheat-field!" + +Wallie turned sick. He could not move for a moment. His air-castles fell +so hard he could almost hear them. + +"Do you think they've been in long?" he asked, weakly. + +"Can't tell till daylight." Pinkey was getting into his clothes +hurriedly. + +Wallie was now in the doorway and he could make out innumerable dark +shapes browsing contentedly in his grain-field. + +"What'll we do?" he asked, despairingly. + +"Do?" replied Pinkey, savagely, tugging at his boot straps. "I'll send +one whur the dogs won't bite him with every ca'tridge. We'll run a +thousand dollars' worth of taller off the rest of 'em. Git into your +clothes, Gentle Annie, and we'll smoke 'em up proper." + +"I don't see how it could happen," said Wallie, his voice trembling. +"The fence was good!" + +"If it had been twenty feet high 'twould 'a' been all the same," Pinkey +answered. "Them cattle was _drove_ in." + +"You mean----" Wallie's mouth opened. + +"Shore--Canby! It come to my mind last night when I seen that bunch +movin'. Pretty coarse work I call it, but he thought you was alone and +wouldn't ketch on to it." + +"He'll pay for this!" cried Wallie, chokingly. + +"You can't do nothin' with him but deal him misery. He's got too much +money and pull fer you. Do you know what I think's gnawin' on him?" + +"My taking up a homestead----" + +"That, too, but mostly because Helene dressed him down for sellin' that +locoed team to you. He's jealous." + +Even in his despair Wallie felt pleased that any one, especially Canby, +should be jealous of him because of Helene Spenceley. + +"He aims to marry her," Pinkey added. "I wisht you could beat his time +and win yerself a home somehow. I don't think you got any show, but if I +was you I'd take another turn around my saddle-horn and hang on. +Whenever I kin," kindly, "I'll speak a good word for you. Throw your +saddle on your horse and step, young feller. I'm gone!" + +The faint hope which Wallie had nursed that the damage might not be so +great as he had feared vanished with daylight. Not only was the grain +trampled so the field looked like a race course, but panel after panel +of the fence was down where the quaking-asp posts had snapped like +lead-pencils. + +As Pinkey and Wallie surveyed it in the early dawn Wallie's voice had a +catch in it when he said finally: + +"I guess I'm done farming. They made a good job of it." + +"I'm no 'sharp' but it looks to me like some of that wheat would +straighten up if it got a good wettin'." + +Wallie said grimly: + +"The only thing I forgot to buy when I was outfitting in Philadelphia +was a rain-making apparatus." + +"On the level," Pinkey declared, earnestly, "I bleeve we're goin' to +have a shower--the clouds bankin' up over there in the northwest is what +made me think of it." + +Wallie's short laugh was cynical. + +"It might drown somebody half a mile from me but it wouldn't settle the +dust in my dooryard." + +"I see you're gittin' homesteaditis," Pinkey commented, "but jest the +same them clouds look like they meant business." + +Wallie felt a glimmer of hope in spite of himself and he scrutinized the +clouds closely. + +"They do look black," he admitted. "But since it hasn't rained for two +months it seems too much to expect that it will rain when I need it so +desperately." + +"It's liable to do anything. I've seen it snow here in August. A +fur-lined linen duster is the only coat fer this country. I'll gamble +it's goin' to do _somethin'_, but only the Big Boss knows what." + +During breakfast they got up at intervals to look through the doorway, +and while they washed dishes and tidied the cabin they watched the +northwest anxiously. + +"She's movin' right along," Pinkey reported. "It might be a stiddy rain, +and then agin it might be a thunder-shower, though you don't often look +for 'em in the morning." + +The light grew subdued with the approaching storm and Wallie commented +upon the coolness. Then he went out in the dooryard and stood a moment. + +"The clouds are black as ink, and how still it is," he said, +wonderingly. "There isn't a breath of air stirring." + +Pinkey was sitting on the floor oiling his saddle when he tilted his +head suddenly, and listened. He got up abruptly and stood in the +doorway, concentrating all his faculties upon some sound of which he +alone was cognizant, for Wallie was aware of nothing unusual save the +uncanny stillness. + +"Hear that?" The sharp note in Pinkey's voice filled Wallie with a +nameless fear. + +"No--what?" + +"That roar--can't you hear it?" + +Wallie listened intently. + +"Yes--like a crashing--what is it?" + +"Hail! And a terror! We've got to run the stock in." He was off with +Wallie following and together they got the cow and horses under shelter +with all the haste possible. + +The sound preceded the storm by some little time, but each moment the +roar and the crash of it grew louder and when it finally reached them +Wallie gazed open-mouthed. + +Accustomed to hail like tapioca, he never had seen anything like the +big, jagged chunks of ice which struck the ground with such force that +they bounded into the air again. Any one of them would have knocked a +man unconscious. It seemed as if they would batter his roof in, and they +came so thick that the stable and corral could be seen only +indistinctly. + +They both stood in the doorway, fascinated and awe-stricken. + +"Hear it pound! This is the worst I've seen anywhur. You're licked, +Gentle Annie." + +"Yes," said Wallie with a white face. "This finishes me." + +"You'll have to kiss your wheat good-bye. It'll be beat into the ground +too hard ever to straighten." He laid an arm about Wallie's shoulder and +there was a sympathy in his voice few had heard there: + +"You've put up a good fight, old pardner, and even if you are counted +out, it's no shame to you. You've done good fer a Scissor-bill, Gentle +Annie." + +Wallie clenched his hands and shook himself free of Pinkey's arm while +his tense voice rang out above the clatter and crash of the storm: + +"I'm not licked! I _won't_ be licked! _I'm going to stick, somehow!_ And +what's more," he turned to Pinkey fiercely, "if you don't stop calling +me 'Gentle Annie,' I'll knock your block off!" + +Pinkey looked at him with his pale, humorous eyes and beamed +approvingly. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +LIFTING A CACHE + + +The Prouty barber lathering the face of a customer, after the manner of +a man whitewashing a chicken coop, paused on an upward stroke to listen. +Then he stepped to the door, looked down the street, and nodded in +confirmation. After which he returned, laid down his brush, and pinned +on a nickel badge, which act transformed him into the town constable. + +The patron in the chair, a travelling salesman, watched the pantomime +with interest. + +"One moment, please." The barber-officer excused himself and stepped out +to the edge of the sidewalk, where he awaited the approach of a pair on +horseback who were making the welkin ring with a time-honoured ballad of +the country: + + I'm a howler from the prairies of the West. + If you want to die with terror, look at me. + I'm chain-lightnin'---- + +As they came abreast the constable held out his hand and the pair +automatically laid six-shooters in it and went on without stopping in +their song: + + --if I ain't, may I be blessed. + I'm a snorter of the boundless, lone prairee. + +Other citizens than the barber recognized the voices, and frowned or +smiled as happened, among whom was Mr. Tucker repairing a sofa in the +rear of his "Second-Hand Store." + +Returning, the constable laid the six-shooters on the shelf among the +shaving mugs and removed his badge. + +"Who's that?" inquired the patron, since the barber offered no +explanation. + +"Oh, them toughs--'Gentle Annie' Macpherson and 'Pinkey' Fripp," was the +answer in a wearied tone. "I hate to see 'em come to town." + +The pair continued to warble on their way to the livery barn on a side +street: + + I'm the double-jawed hyena from the East. + I'm the blazing, bloody blizzard of the States. + I'm the celebrated slugger---- + +The song stopped as Pinkey asked: + +"Shall we work together or separate?" + +To this mysterious question Wallie replied: + +"Let's try it together first." + +After attending personally to the matter of feeding their horses oats, +the two set forth with the air of having a definite purpose. + +Their subsequent actions confirmed it, for they approached divers +persons of their acquaintance as if they had business of a confidential +nature. The invariable result of these mysterious negotiations, however, +was a negative shake of the head. + +After another obvious failure Pinkey said gloomily: + +"If I put in half the time and thought trying to be a Senator that I do +figgerin' how to git a bottle, I'd be elected." + +Wallie replied hopefully: + +"Something may turn up yet." + +"I'd lift a cache from a preacher! I'd steal booze off my blind aunt! +I'd----" + +"We'll try some more 'prospects' before we give up. It's many months +since I've gone out of town sober and I don't like to establish a +precedent. I'm superstitious about things like that," said Wallie. + +At this unquestionably psychological moment Mr. Tucker beckoned them +from his doorway. They responded with such alacrity that their gait +approached a trot, although they had no particular reason to believe +that it was his intention to offer them a drink. It was merely a hope +born of their thirst. + +Their reputation was such, however, that any one who wished to +demonstrate his friendship invariably evidenced it in this way, taking +care, in violation of the ethics of bygone days, to do the pouring +himself. + +Mr. Tucker winked elaborately when he invited them in, and Wallie and +Pinkey exchanged eloquent looks as they followed him to his Land Office +in the rear of the store. + +Inside, he locked the door and lowered the shade of the single window +which looked out on an areaway. No explanation was necessary as he took +a hatchet and pried up a plank. This accomplished, he reached under the +floor and produced a tin cup and a two-gallon jug. + +He filled it with a fluid of an unfamiliar shade and passed it to +Pinkey, who smelled it and declared that he could drink anything that +was wet. Wallie watched him eagerly as it gurgled down his throat. + +"Well?" Mr. Tucker waited expectantly for the verdict. + +Pinkey wiped his mouth. + +"Another like that and I could watch my mother go down for the third +time and laugh!" + +"Where did you get it?" Wallie in turn emptied the cup and passed it +back. + +"S-ss-sh!" Mr. Tucker looked warningly at the door. "I made it +myself--brown sugar and raisins. You like it then?" + +"If I had about 'four fingers' in a wash-tub every half hour---- What +would you hold a quart of that at?" Pinkey leaned over the opening in +the floor and sniffed. + +Mr. Tucker hastily replaced the plank and declared: + +"Oh, I wouldn't dast! I jest keep a little on hand for my particular +friends that I can trust. By the way, Mr. Macpherson, what are you goin' +to do with that homestead you took up?" + +"Hold it. Why?" + +"I thought I might run across a buyer sometime and I wondered what you +asked." + +A hardness came into Wallie's face and Tucker added: + +"I wasn't goin' to charge you any commission--you've had bad luck +and----" + +"You're the seventh philanthropist that's wanted to sell that place in +my behalf for about $400, because he was sorry for me," Wallie +interrupted, drily. "You tell Canby that when he makes me a decent offer +I'll consider it." + +"No offence--no offence, I hope?" Tucker protested. + +"Oh, no." Wallie shrugged his shoulder. "Only don't keep getting me +mixed with the chap that took up that homestead. I've had my eyeteeth +cut." + +Extending an invitation to call and quench their thirsts with his +raisinade when next they came to town, Tucker unlocked the door. + +After the two had wormed their way through the bureaus and stoves and +were once more in the street, they turned and gave each other a long, +inquiring look. + +"Pink," demanded Wallie, solemnly, "did you smell anything when he +raised that plank?" + +"Did I smell anything! Didn't you see me sniff? That joker has got a +cache of the real stuff and he gave us raisinade! I couldn't git an +answer from a barrel of that. He couldn't have insulted us worse if he'd +slapped our faces." + +"A man ought to be punished that would do a wicked thing like that." + +"You've said somethin', Gentle Annie." + +The two looked at each other in an understanding that was beautiful and +complete. + +The behaviour of the visitors was nearly too good to be true--it was so +exemplary, in fact, as to be suspicious, and acting upon this theory, +the barber closed his shop early, pinned on his badge of office, and +followed them about. But when at ten o'clock they had broken nothing, +quarrelled with nobody, and drunk only an incredible quantity of soda +pop, he commenced to think he had been wrong. + +At eleven, when they were still in a pool-hall playing "solo" for a cent +a chip, he decided to go home. There he confided to his wife that no +more striking example of the benefits of prohibition had come under his +observation than the conduct of this notorious pair who, when sober, +were well mannered and docile as lambs. + +It was twelve or thereabouts when two figures crept stealthily up the +alley behind Mr. Tucker's Second-Hand Store and raised the window +looking out on the areaway. As noiselessly as trained burglars they +pried up the plank and investigated by the light of a match. + +"Well, what do you think of that!" + +"I feel like somebody had died and left me a million dollars!" said +Pinkey in an awed tone, reaching for a tin cup. "I didn't think they was +anybody in the world as mean as Tucker." + +"You mustn't get too much," Wallie admonished, noting the size of the +drink Pinkey was pouring for himself. + +"I've never had too much. I may have had enough, but never too much," +Pinkey grinned. "I don't take no int'rest in startin' less'n a quart." + +"I hope he'll have the decency to be ashamed of himself when he finds +out we know what he did to us. I shouldn't think he'd want to look us in +the face," Wallie declared, virtuously. + +"He won't git a chanst to look in my face for some time to come if we +kin lift this cache." + +Together they filled the grain sack they had brought and carefully +replaced the plank, then, staggering under the weight of the load, made +their way to a gulch, buried the sack, and marked the hiding-place with +a stone. With a righteous sense of having acted as instruments of +Providence in punishing selfishness, they returned to town to follow +such whims as seized them under the stimulus of a bottle of Mr. Tucker's +excellent Bourbon. + +The constable had been asleep for hours when a yell--a series of +yells--made him sit up. He listened a moment, then with a sigh of +resignation got up, dressed, and took the key of the calaboose from its +nail by the kitchen sink. + +"I'll lock 'em up and be right back," he said to his sleepy wife, who +seemed to know whom he meant too well to ask. + +Under the arc light in front of the Prouty House he found them doing the +Indian "stomp" dance to the delight of the guests who were leaning from +their windows to applaud. + +"Ain't you two ashamed of yerselves?" the constable demanded, +scandalized--referring to the fact that Pinkey and Wallie had divested +themselves of their trousers and boots and were dancing in their +stocking feet. + +"Ashamed?" Wallie asked, impudently. "Where have I heard that word?" + +"Who sold liquor to you two?" + +"I ate a raisin and it fermented," Wallie replied, pertly. + +"Where's your clothes?" To Pinkey. + +"How'sh I know?" + +"You two ought to be ordered to keep out of town. You're pests. Come +along!" + +"Jus' waitin' fer you t'put us t'bed," said Pinkey, cheerfully. + +The two lurched beside the constable to the calaboose, where they +dropped down on the hard pads and temporarily passed out. + +The sun was shining in Wallie's face when he awoke and realized where he +was. He and Pinkey had been there too many times before not to know. As +he lay reading the pencilled messages and criticisms of the +accommodation left on the walls by other occupants he subconsciously +marvelled at himself that he should have no particular feeling of shame +at finding himself in a cell. + +He was aware that it was accepted as a fact that he had gone to the bad. +He had been penurious as a miser until he had saved enough from his +wages as a common cowhand to buy his homestead outright from the State. +After that he had never saved a cent, on the contrary, he was usually +overdrawn. He gambled, and lost no opportunity to get drunk, since he +calculated that he got more entertainment for his money out of that than +anything else, even at the "bootlegging" price of $20 per quart which +prevailed. + +So he had drifted, learning in the meantime under Pinkey's tutelage to +ride and shoot and handle a rope with the best of them. Pinkey had left +the Spenceley ranch and they were both employed now by the same +cattleman. + +He rarely saw Helene, in consequence, but upon the few occasions they +had met in Prouty she had made him realize that she knew his reputation +and disapproved of it. In the East she had mocked him for his +inoffensiveness, now she criticized him for the opposite. It was plain, +he thought disconsolately, that he could not please her, yet it seemed +to make no difference in his own feelings for her. + +His face reddened as he recalled the boasts he had made upon several +occasions and how far he had fallen short of fulfilling them. He was +going to "show" them, and now all he had to offer in evidence was 160 +acres gone to weeds and grasshoppers, his saddle, and the clothes he +stood in. + +It was not often that Wallie stopped to take stock, for it was an +uncomfortable process, but his failure seemed to thrust itself upon him +this morning. He was glad when Pinkey's heavy breathing ceased in the +cell adjoining and he began to grumble. + +"Looks like a town the size of Prouty would have a decent jail in it," +he said, crossly. "They go and throw every Tom, Dick, and Harry in this +here cell, and some buckaroo has half tore up the mattress." + +"You can't have your private cell, you know," Wallie suggested. + +"I've paid enough in fines to build a cooler the size of this one, and +looks like I got a little somethin' comin' to me." + +"I suppose they don't take that view of it," said Wallie, "but you might +speak to the Judge this morning." + +After a time Pinkey asked, yawning: + +"What did we do last night? Was we fightin'?" + +"I don't know--I haven't thought about it." + +"I guess the constable will mention it," Pinkey observed, drily. "He +does, generally." + +"Let's make a circle and go and have a look at my place," Wallie +suggested. "It's not far out of the way and we might pick up a few +strays in that country." + +Pinkey agreed amiably and added: + +"You'll prob'ly have the blues for a week after." + +The key turning in the lock interrupted the conversation. + +"You two birds get up. Court is goin' to set in about twenty minutes." +The constable eyed them coldly through the grating. + +"Where's my clothes?" Pinkey demanded, looking at the Law accusingly. + +"How should I know?" + +"I ain't no more pants than a rabbit!" Pinkey declared, astonished. + +"Nor I!" said Wallie. + +"You got all the clothes you had on when I put you here." + +"How kin we go to court?" + +"'Tain't fur." + +"Everybody'll look at us," Pinkey protested. + +The constable retorted callously: + +"Won't many more see you than saw you last night doin' the stomp dance +in Main Street." + +"Did we do that?" Pinkey asked, startled. + +"Sure--right in front of the Prouty House, and Helene Spenceley and a +lot of folks was lookin' out of the windows." + +Wallie sat down on the edge of his cot weakly. That settled it! He +doubted if she would ever speak to him. + +"I've got customers waitin'," urged the constable, impatiently. "Wrap a +soogan around you and step lively." + +There was nothing to do but obey, in the circumstances, so the +shame-faced pair walked the short block to a hardware store in the rear +of which the Justice of the Peace was at his desk to receive them. + +"Ten dollars apiece," he said, without looking up from his writing. "And +half an hour to get out of town." + +Pinkey and Wallie looked at each other. + +"The fact is, Your Honour," said the latter, ingratiatingly, "we have +mislaid our trousers and left our money in the pockets. If you would be +so kind as to loan us each a ten-spot until we have wages coming we +shall feel greatly indebted to you." + +The Court vouchsafed a glance at them. Showing no surprise at their +unusual costume, he said as he fumbled in the pocket of his waistcoat: + +"Such gall as yours should not go unrewarded. You pay your debts, and +that's all the good I know of either of you. Now clear out--and if you +show up for a month the officer here is to arrest you." + +He transferred two banknotes to the desk-drawer and went on with his +scratching. + +"Gosh!" Pinkey lamented, as they stood outside clutching their quilts, +"I wisht I knowed whur to locate them mackinaws. I got 'em in Lethbridge +before I went to the army, and I think the world of 'em. I don't like +'poor-boys-serge,' but I guess I'll have to come to it, since I'm +busted." + +"What's that?" Wallie asked, curiously. + +"Denim," Pinkey explained, "overalls. That makes me think of a song a +feller wrote up: + + "A Texas boy in a Northern clime, + With a pair of brown hands and a thin little dime. + The southeast side of his overalls out-- + _Yip-yip, I'm freezin' to death_!" + +"That's a swell song," Pinkey went on enthusiastically. "I wish I could +think of the rest of it." + +"Don't overtax your brain--I've heard plenty. Let's cut down the alley +and in the back way of the Emporium. Oh!" He gripped his quilt in +sudden panic and looked for a hiding-place. Nothing better than a +telegraph pole offered. He stepped behind it as Helene Spenceley passed +in Canby's roadster. + +"Did she see me?" + +"Shore she saw you. You'd oughta seen the way she looked at you." + +Wallie, who was too mortified and miserable for words over the incident, +declared he meant never again to come to town and make a fool of +himself. + +"I know how you feel, but you'll git over it," said Pinkey, +sympathetically. "It's nothin' to worry about, for I doubt if you ever +had any show anyhow." + +Canby laughed disagreeably after they had passed the two on the +sidewalk. + +"That Montgomery-Ward cowpuncher has been drunk again, evidently," he +commented. + +"I wouldn't call him that. I'm told he can rope and ride with any of +them." + +He looked at her quickly. + +"You seem to keep track of him." + +She replied bluntly: + +"He interests me." + +"Why?" curtly. Canby looked malicious as he added: "He's a fizzle." + +"He'll get his second wind some day and surprise you." + +"He will?" Canby replied, curtly. "What makes you think it?" + +"His aunt is a rich woman, and he could go limping back if he wanted to; +besides, he has what I call the 'makings'." + +"He should feel flattered by your confidence in him," he answered, +uncomfortably. + +"He doesn't know it." + +Canby said no more, but it passed through his mind that Wallie would +not, either, if there was a way for him to prevent it. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +COLLECTING A BAD DEBT + + +Wallie and Pinkey picked up a few stray cattle on their way to the +homestead on Skull Creek. It was late in the afternoon when they reached +it, so they decided to spend the night there. The corral was down in +places, but with a little work it was repaired sufficiently to hold the +cattle they put in it. + +As Pinkey had prophesied, it gave Wallie the "blues" to look at the +place where he had worked so hard and from which he had hoped so much. +He felt heartsick as he saw the broken fence-posts and tangled wire, the +weeds growing in his wheat-field, the broken window-panes, and the +wreckage inside his cabin. + +The door had been left open and the range stock had gone in for shelter, +while the rats and mice and chipmunks had taken possession. Such of his +cooking utensils as remained had been used and left unwashed, and the +stove was partially demolished. + +The only thing which remained as he had left it was the stream of salt +water that had cut a deeper channel for itself but had not diminished in +volume. + +"I'll go over to Canby's and hit the cook for some grub and be back +pronto," said Pinkey. + +Wallie nodded. He was in no mood for conversation, for the realization +of his failure was strong upon him, and he could not rid himself of the +mortification he felt at having made a spectacle of himself before +Helene Spenceley. + +The future looked utterly hopeless. Without capital there seemed nothing +to do but go on indefinitely working for wages. His aunt had sent word +in a roundabout way that if he wished to come back she would receive +him, but this he did not even consider. + +Sitting on what was left of his doorstep, he awaited Pinkey's return, in +an attitude of such dejection that that person commented upon it +jocosely. He rode up finally with a banana in each hip pocket that he +had pilfered from the cook, together with four doughnuts in the crown of +his hat and a cake in his shirt front. + +"I tried to get away with a pie, but it was too soft to carry, so I put +a handful of salt under the crust and set it back," he said, as he +disgorged his plunder. "He charged me for the bread and meat, and +wouldn't let me have no butter! It's fellers like the Canby outfit that +spoil a country." + +When they had eaten, they spread their saddle-blankets in the dooryard +and with their saddles for pillows covered themselves with the slickers +they carried and so slept soundly until morning. + +After breakfast, as they were leading their horses up the weed-grown +path to the cabin to saddle them, Pinkey's eye rested on the flowing +salt water stream. + +"Can you beat it!" he commented. "Good for nuthin' but a bathin' pool +fer dudes----" + +Wallie stopped in the path and looked at the friend of his bosom. + +"Pink," he said, solemnly, "why wouldn't this make a dude ranch?" + +Pinkey stared back at him. + +"Gentle Annie," he replied, finally, "I told you long ago you was good +fer somethin' if we could jest hit on it. You're a born duder!" + +"Thanks! I feel as complimented as the fellow in the Passion Play who is +cast for Judas Iscariot." + +"I don't know what you're talkin' about--I've only seen a few +draymas--but you got the looks and the figger and a way about you that +I've noticed takes with women. You'd make a great dude wrangler. Bleeve +me, you've thought of somethin'!" + +"I wasn't thinking of myself, but of the place here--the scenery--the +climate--fishing in the mountains--hunting in season----" + +"_And_"--Pinkey interrupted--"the strongest stream of salt water in the +state fer mineral baths, with the Yellowstone Park in your front +dooryard!" + +In his enthusiasm he pounded Wallie on the back. + +"It _would_ be an asset, having the Park so close," the latter agreed, +his eyes shining. + +Pinkey went on: + +"You kin run dudes whur you can't run sheep or cattle. What you need is +_room_--and we're there with the room. Fresh air, grasshoppers, views +any way you look--why, man, you got everything!" + +"Except money," said Wallie, suddenly. + +Pinkey's face lengthened. + +"I hadn't thought of that." + +For an instant they felt crushed. It was such a precipitous descent to +earth after their flight. + +They walked to the cabin, and saddled in a silence which was broken +finally by Pinkey, who said vindictively: + +"I'd rob a train to git money enough to turn fifty head of dudes loose +on Canby. He'd be mad enough to bite himself. If he could help it he +wouldn't have a neighbour within a hundred miles." + +Wallie's thoughts were bitter as he remembered the many injuries he had +suffered at Canby's hands. It was a subject upon which he dared not +trust himself to talk--it stirred him too much, although he had long ago +decided that since he was powerless to retaliate there was nothing to do +but take his medicine. As he made no response, Pinkey continued while he +tightened the cinch: + +"If you could make a dude ranch out o' this and worry him enough, he'd +give you about any price you asked, to quit." + +"I'd ask plenty," Wallie replied, grimly, "but it's no use to talk." + +"It wouldn't trouble my conscience none if I hazed a bunch of his horses +over the line, but horses are so cheap now that it wouldn't pay to take +the chance." + +"There's the Prouty Bank," Wallie suggested, ironically. + +"Them bullet-proof screens have made cashiers too hard to git at." +Pinkey spoke in an authoritative tone. + +"Why don't you marry some rich widow and get us a stake?" + +"Aw-w!" Resentment and disgust were in Pinkey's voice. "I'd steal +washings off of clothes lines first." He added: "I don't like them +jokes." + +"I didn't know you were touchy, Pink." + +"Everybody's touchy," Pinkey replied, sagely, "if you hit 'em on the +right spot. But, do you know, this dude ranch sticks in my mind, and I +can't git it out." + +"We might as well let it drop. We haven't the money, so we're wasting +our breath. We'll lose the jobs we've got if we don't get about our +business. Let's leave the cattle in the corral and scout a little +through the hills--it'll save us another trip. I don't want to come here +again soon--it hurts too much." + +Pinkey agreed, and they rode gloomily along the creek bank looking for a +ford. A few hot days had taken off the heavy snows in the mountains so +quickly that the stream was running swift and deep. + +"That's treach'rous water," Pinkey observed. "They's boulders in there +as big as a house where it looks all smooth on top. I know a place about +a mile or so where I think it'll be safe." + +They had ridden nearly that distance when, simultaneously, they pulled +their horses up. + +"Look at that crazy fool!" Pinkey ejaculated, aghast. + +"It's--Canby!" Wallie exclaimed. + +"Nobody else! Watch him," incredulously, "tryin' to quirt his horse +across the crick!" + +"Isn't it the ford?" + +"I should say not! It looks like the place but it ain't--he's +mixed--he'll be in a jack-pot quick if he don't back out. Onct his horse +stumbles it'll never git its feet in there." + +They rode close enough to hear Canby cursing as he whipped. + +"Look at him punish the poor brute! See him use that quirt and cut him +with his spurs! Say, that makes me sick to see a good horse abused!" +Pinkey cried, indignantly. + +Wallie said nothing but watched with hard, narrowed eyes. + +"I s'pose I'd oughta yell and warn him," finally Pinkey said, +reluctantly. + +"You let out a yip and I'll slat you across the face!" + +Pinkey stared at the words--at Wallie's voice--at an expression he never +had seen before. + +"I know how you feel, but it's pure murder to let him git into that +crick." + +"Will you shut up?" Wallie looked at him with steely eyes, and there was +a glint in them that silenced Pink. + +He waited, wonderingly, to see what it all meant. The battle between man +and horse continued while they watched from the high bank. In terrified +protest the animal snorted, reared, whirled, while the rider plied the +quirt mercilessly and spurred. Finally the sting of leather, the pain of +sharp steel, and the stronger will won out, and the trembling horse +commenced to take the water. + +Pinkey muttered, as, fascinated, he looked on: + +"I've no idea that he knows enough to quit his horse on the down-stream +side. He'll wash under, tangle up, and be drowned before we get a chanst +to snake him out. He's a gone goslin' right now." + +Cautiously, a few inches to a step, the horse advanced. + +"There! He's in the boulders! Watch him flounder! Look at him slip--he's +hit the current! Good-night--he's down--no, he's goin' to ketch himself! +Watch him fight! Good ol' horse--good ol' horse!" Pinkey was beside +himself with excitement now. "He's lost his feet--he's swimmin'--strikin' +out for the shore--too swift, and the fool don't know enough to give him +his head!" + +They followed along the bank as the current swept horse and rider down. + +"He swims too high--he's playin' out--there's so much mud he'll choke up +quick. It'll soon be over now." Pinkey's face wore a queer, +half-frightened grin. "Fifty yards more and----" + +Wallie commenced to uncoil his saddle rope. + +"You goin' to drag him out?" + +Wallie made no answer but touched his horse and galloped until he was +ahead of Canby and the drowning horse. Making a megaphone of his hands +he yelled. + +Canby lifted his wild eyes to the bank. + +"Throw me a rope!" he shrieked. + +A slow, tantalizing smile came to Wallie's face. Very distinctly he +called back: + +"How much damages will you give me for driving your cattle into my +wheat?" + +"Not a damn cent!" + +The rope Wallie had been swinging about his head to test the loop +promptly dropped. + +The horse was swimming lower at every stroke. + +"Five hundred!" Fear and rage were in Canby's choking voice. + +"Put another cipher on that to cover my mental anguish!" Wallie mocked. + +The horse was exhausting itself rapidly with its efforts merely to keep +its nose out, making no further attempt to swim toward the bank. Canby +slapped water in its face in the hope of turning it, but it was too +late. Its breathing could be heard plainly and its distended nostrils +were blood-red. + +Many things passed swiftly through Canby's calculating mind in the few +seconds that remained for him to decide. + +His boots had filled and he was soaked to the waist; he knew that if he +left the horse and swam for it he had small chance of success. He was +not a strong swimmer at best, and even if he managed to get to the bank +its sides were too high and steep for him to climb out without +assistance. He looked at Wallie's implacable face, but he saw no +weakening there, it was a matter of a moment more when the horse would +go under and come up feet first. + +"Throw me the rope!" His voice vibrating with chagrin and rage admitted +his defeat. + +Wallie measured the distance with his eye, adjusted the loop, and as it +cut the air above his head Canby held up his hands to catch it when it +dropped. + +"Good work!" Pinkey cried as it shot out and hit its mark. "You never +made a better throw than that, old kid!" + +Canby slipped the loop under his arm and, as he took his feet from the +stirrups, shouted for them to tighten up. + +The horse, relieved of his weight, took heart and struck out for the +opposite bank, where a little dirt slide enabled it to scramble out. +Shaking and dripping, at last it stood still at the top, while Canby, a +dead weight, was dragged over the edge to dry land. + +There was as much fury as relief in his face when he stood up and +started to loosen the rope around his chest. + +Wallie stopped him with a gesture. + +"No, you don't! I take no chances when I play with crooks. You make out +that check." + +"Isn't my word good?" Canby demanded. + +"Not so far as I can throw my horse." + +"I haven't a check-book," he lied. + +"Get it, Pink." + +The check-book and indelible pencil which every sheep and cattleman +carries were in the inside pocket of his coat. + +"Fill it out." Wallie passed the pencil to him. "And don't leave off a +cipher by mistake." + +"I refuse to be coerced!" Canby declared, defiantly. "I'll keep my word, +but I didn't say when." + +"_I'm_ setting the date," Wallie replied, coolly, "and that's just four +minutes and a half from _now_," taking out his watch. "If I haven't got +the check by then you'll pay for those locoed horses, too, or I'll throw +you back." + +"You don't dare!" + +"When you haven't anything to lose you'll do considerable to get 'hunks' +and that's my fix. Besides, I need the money. Two minutes left--think +fast." + +"You'll sweat blood for this before I'm through with you!" + +"Time's up--yes or no?" + +Canby gritted his teeth. + +Silently Wallie passed the end of the rope to Pinkey, who understood and +took a turn around his saddle-horn. + +Before he could resist Wallie gave Canby a shove and pushed him over the +bank. He struck the water with a splash and went out of sight. +Immediately the well-trained cow-horse felt the strain it backed up and +held the rope taut. + +Canby came to the surface, then dangled as the horse continued to hold +off. As he strangled with the water he had taken in his lungs and +struggled frantically in the air, it seemed beyond human belief that it +was he, Canby--Canby the all-powerful--in such a plight! + +"Pay out a little rope, Pinkey. Give the fish more line." + +Once again Canby dropped back and came up gasping, coughing, fighting +for his breath. + +A little anxiously Pinkey asked: + +"Don't you bleeve he's had enough?" + +"Too much scrap left in him yet," Wallie replied, unmoved. + +Canby shrieked at last: "I'll pay! Let me up!" + +"You mean that?" + +"Good God--YES!" + +Pinkey led the horse back and in no gentle fashion Canby was pulled over +the edge for the second time, where he lay limp. When his breath and +strength returned he struggled to his feet. + +"If you go in again you won't come up." Wallie's voice was metallic and, +searching his face, Canby saw that he meant exactly what he said. + +His hand was shaking as he filled out the check, using the saddle for a +desk. + +Wallie looked at it and handed it back. + +"You forgot the horses--six hundred is what they cost." + +Canby started to protest, then, with a crafty look which, fleeting as it +was, Wallie caught, he made out a new check for fifty-six hundred. + +Turning to Pinkey, Canby said: "I'll give you a hundred and fifty for +your horse." + +Pinkey hesitated. It was a hundred more than it was worth. + +"I guess not." Wallie's voice was curt. "I'm clairvoyant, Canby, and +I've read your thought. You can't stop payment by telephone, because +Pink is going to close-herd you right here until I ride to Prouty and +get this cashed." + +Pinkey's jaw dropped. + +"By the long-horn toads of Texas! I wouldn't 'a' thought of that in a +month!" + +As Wallie put his foot into the stirrup for the first time his face +relaxed. He looked over his shoulder and grinned: + +"If you listen, maybe you'll hear something making a noise like a dude +ranch, Pink." + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +THE EXODUS + + +Never had Mr. Cone put in such a summer! The lines in his forehead +looked as if they had been made with a harrow and there were times when +his eyes had the expression of a hunted animal. Pacifying disgruntled +guests was now as much a part of the daily routine as making out the +menus. In the halcyon days when a guest had a complaint, he made it +aside, delicately, as a suggestion. Now he made a point of dressing Mr. +Cone down publicly. In truth, baiting the landlord seemed to be in the +nature of a recreation with the guests of The Colonial. Threats to leave +were of common occurrence, and Mr. Cone longed to be once more in a +position to tell them calmly to use their own pleasure in the matter. +But what with high taxes, excessive wages, extensive improvements still +to be paid for, prudence kept him silent. + +The only way in which he could explain the metamorphosis was that the +guests were imbued with the spirit of discontent that prevailed +throughout the world in the years following the war. The theory did not +make his position easier, however, nor alter the fact that he all but +fell to trembling when a patron approached to leave his key or get a +drink of ice water at the cooler. + +As he lay awake wondering what next they would find to complain of, he +framed splendid answers, dignified yet stinging, but when the time came +to use them he remembered his expenses and his courage always failed +him. + +In his heart, he felt that this could not go on forever--some day +someone would speak just the right word and he would surprise them. He +had come to listen with comparative equanimity to the statement that his +hotel was badly managed, the service poor, and the food the worst served +on the beach-front, but there was the very strong possibility that +someone would inadvertently touch a sensitive nerve and he would "fly +off the handle." When that happened, Mr. Cone dreaded the outcome. + +Such were conditions at The Colonial when the folders arrived announcing +the opening of the Lolabama Ranch to tourists--the name meaning Happy +Wigwam. Messrs. Macpherson and Fripp, it stated, were booking guests for +the remainder of the season and urged those who had a taste for the +Great Outdoors to consider what they had to offer. The folders created a +sensation. They came in the morning after a night of excessive heat and +humidity. The guests found them in their mail when, fishy-eyed and +irritable, they went in to breakfast. + +A new elevator boy who had jarred them by the violence of his stops had +not improved their tempers, therefore few of them failed to comment to +Mr. Cone upon the increasing wretchedness of the service. + +While they fanned themselves and prophesied a day that was going to be a +"scorcher" they read of a country where the nights were so cool that +blankets were necessary, where the air was so invigorating that langour +was unheard of, with such a variety of scenery that the eye never +wearied. There were salt baths that made the old young again, big game +in the mountains for the adventurous, fishing, with bait in untold +quantities, saddle-horses for equestrians, innumerable walks for +pedestrians, an excellent table provided with the best the market +offered, and, finally, a tour of the Yellowstone Park under the personal +guidance of the hosts of The Lolabama in a stage-coach drawn by four +horses, by motor, or on horseback as suited their pleasure. + +Small wonder that life on The Colonial veranda suddenly looked tame +after reading the folder and studying the pictures! Their discontent +took the form of an increasing desire to nag Mr. Cone. Vaguely they held +him responsible for the heat, the humidity, the monotony of the ocean, +and their loss of appetite due to lack of exercise. + +On an impulse, Mr. Henry Appel, after consulting with his wife, got up +abruptly and went inside for the purpose of having a plain talk with Mr. +Cone. + +Mr. Cone, who was making out the weekly bills, pretended not to see him +until he cleared his throat and said very distinctly: + +"May I have your attention, Mr. Cone?" + +Quaking, Mr. Cone stepped forward briskly and apologized. + +Ignoring the apology, Mr. Appel began impressively: + +"You cannot have failed to see, Mr. Cone, that my wife and I have been +thoroughly dissatisfied this summer, as we have been at no great pains +to conceal it. We have been coming here for twenty-two seasons, but we +feel that we cannot put up with things any longer and are hereby giving +you notice that next Thursday our room will be at your disposal." + +"Is it anything in particular--anything which I can remedy? Perhaps you +will reconsider." Mr. Cone pleaded, looking from one to the other. + +"Last night--at dinner"--Mrs. Appel eyed him accusingly--"I found--an +eyewinker--in the hard sauce." + +Mr. Cone stammered: + +"I'm v-very sorry--it was not my eyewinker--such things will happen--I +will speak to the pastry cook and ask him to be careful----" + +Mr. Budlong, who had come in to lay his grievance before Mr. Cone, +interrupted: + +"For two mornings Mrs. Budlong and myself have been awakened by the man +with the vacuum cleaner who has wanted to work in our room before we +were out of it. I should judge," he said, acidly, "that you recruit your +servants from the Home for the Feeble-minded, and, personally, I am sick +of it!" + +"It is almost impossible to get competent help," Mr. Cone protested. +"The man shall be discharged and I promise you no further annoyance." + +Mr. Budlong, nudged by his wife, was not to be placated. + +"Our week is up Monday, and we are leaving." + +Miss Mattie Gaskett, encouraged by the conversation to which she had +listened, declared with asperity: + +"There has been fuzz under my bed for exactly one week, Mr. Cone, and I +have not called the maid's attention to it because I wished to see how +long it would remain there. I have no reason to believe that it will be +removed this summer. I am sure it is not necessary to tell you that such +filth is unsanitary. I have decided that you can make out my bill at +your earliest convenience." + +"But, Miss Gaskett----" + +She ignored the protesting hand which Mr. Cone, panic-stricken, +extended, and made way for a widow from Baltimore, who informed him that +her faucet dripped and her rocking-chair squeaked, and since no +attention had been paid to her complaints she was making other +arrangements. + +It was useless for Mr. Cone to explain that with the plumbers striking +for living wages and the furniture repairers behind with their work, it +had been impossible to attend immediately to these matters. + +Ruin confronted Mr. Cone as he argued and begged them not to act +hastily. But something of the mob spirit had taken possession of the +guests in front of the desk who stood and glowered at him, and his +conciliatory attitude, his obsequiousness, only added to it. + +If nothing else had happened to strain Mr. Cone's self-control further, +he and his guests might have separated with at least a semblance of good +feeling, but the fatal word which he had feared in his forebodings came +from Mrs. J. Harry Stott, who majestically descended the broad staircase +carrying before her a small reddish-brown insect impaled on a +darning-needle. She walked to the desk and presented it for Mr. Cone's +consideration. It was a most indelicate action, but the knowledge that +it was such did not lessen the horror with which the guests regarded it. + +Aghast, speechless, Mr. Cone, one of whose proudest boasts had been of +the hotel's cleanliness, could not have been more shocked if he had +learned that he was a leper. + +There were shudders, ejaculations, and a general determination to leave +even sooner than anticipated. + +"Where did you find it?" Mr. Cone finally managed to ask hoarsely. + +"Walking on my pillow!" replied Mrs. Stott, dramatically. "_And I think +there are others!_ If you will see that my trunks get off on the 4:17 I +shall be obliged to you." + +Mr. Cone knew it was coming. He felt the symptoms which warned him that +he was going to "fly off the handle." He leaned over the counter. Mrs. +Stott's eyes were so close together that, like Cyclops, she seemed to +have but one, and they had the appearance of growing even closer as Mr. +Cone looked into them. + +"Do not give yourself any concern on that score, madam. Your trunks will +be at the station as soon as they are ready and it will please me if you +will follow them. + +"For twelve years I have been pretending not to know that you used the +hotel soap to do your washing in the bath-tub, and it is a relief to +mention it to you. + +"And, Miss Gaskett," the deadly coldness of his voice made her shiver, +"I doubt if the fuzz under your bed has troubled you as much as the fact +that for three summers your cat has had kittens in the linen closet has +annoyed me." + +The Baltimore widow had his attention: + +"It is possible that the drip from your faucet and the squeak in your +rocking-chair gets on your nerves, my dear lady, but not more than your +daily caterwauling on the hotel piano gets on mine. + +"I shall miss your check, certainly, Mr. Appel, but not nearly so much +as I shall enjoy the relief from listening to the story of the way you +got your start as a 'breaker-boy' in the coal region." + +He bowed with the irony of Mephistopheles to Mrs. Budlong: + +"Instead of discharging the man with the vacuum cleaner, I shall give +him for his large family the cake and fruit you would have carried away +from the table in your capacious pocket if you had been here." + +His eyes swept them all. + +He would have given Mr. Budlong his attention, but that person's +vanishing back was all he could see of him, so he turned to the others +and shouted: + +"Go! The sooner the better. Get out of my sight--the lot of you! I'M +GOING TO A REST CURE!" + +His hand travelled toward the potato he used as a pen-wiper and there +was something so significant in the action when taken in connection with +his menacing expression that, without a word, they obeyed him. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +COUNTING THEIR CHICKENS + + +The "Happy Family" of The Colonial had decided to make up a congenial +party and spend the remainder of the summer at the Lolabama Ranch in +Wyoming. They were expected on the morrow, everything was in readiness +for their coming, and, after supper, down by the corrals Wallie and +Pinkey sat on their heels estimating their probable profits. + +Pinkey's forehead was furrowed like a corrugated roof with the mental +effort as he figured in the dust with a pointed stick while Wallie's +face wore a look of absorption as he watched the progress, although he +was already as familiar with it as with his multiplication tables. + +"Ten head of dudes at $100 a month is a $1,000," said Pinkey. "And +twelve months in the year times a $1,000 is $12,000. And, say----" + +Wallie interrupted: + +"But I've told you a dozen times they all go South in the winter. The +most we can count on is two months now and perhaps more next summer." + +Pinkey replied confidently: + +"You can't figger out ahead what a dude is goin' to do any more than a +calf or a sheep. If we treat 'em right and they get stuck on the country +they're liable to winter here instead of Floridy. Now, if we could +winter--say--ten head of dudes at $150 a month for seven months, that +would be $10,500. The trip through the Yellowstone Park and Jackson Hole +Country is goin' to be a big item. Ten head of dudes--say--at $5.00 a +day for--say--fifteen days is----" + +"But you never deduct expenses, Pinkey. It isn't all profit. There's the +interest on the investment, interest on the money we borrowed, +groceries, the cook's wages, and we'll need helpers through the +Yellowstone." + +"You're gettin' an awful habit of lookin' on the black side of things," +said Pinkey, crossly. + +"If we can pay expenses and have a $1,000 clear the first year, I'll be +satisfied." + +"A thousand dollars!" Pinkey exclaimed, indignantly. "You're easy +pleased--I thought you had more ambition. Look at the different ways we +got to git their money. Two bits apiece for salt water baths and eight +baths a day--some of 'em might not go in reg'lar--every day, but, say +eight of 'em do, anyway, eight times two bits is $2.00. Then $10.00 +apiece every time they go to town in the stage-coach is, say, $100 a +trip--and they go twict a week, say, that's $200." + +"But they might not go twice a week," Wallie protested, "nor all of them +at a time." + +"You shore give me the blues a croakin'. Why don't you look on the +bright side of things like you useta? Do you know, I've been thinkin' we +ought to make out a scale of prices for lettin' 'em work around the +place. They'd enjoy it if they had to pay for it--dudes is like that, +I've noticed. They're all pretty well fixed, ain't they?" + +"Oh, yes, they all have a good deal of money, unless, perhaps Miss +Eyester, and I don't know much about her in that way. But Mr. Penrose, +Mr. Appel, and Mr. Budlong are easily millionaires." + +Pinkey's eyes sparkled. + +"I s'pose a dollar ain't any more to them than a nickel to us?" + +Wallie endeavoured to think of an instance which would indicate that +Pinkey's supposition was correct, but, recalling none, declared +enthusiastically: + +"They are the most agreeable, altogether delightful people you ever +knew, and, if I do say it, they think the world of me." + +"That's good; maybe they won't deal us so much grief." + +"How--grief?" + +"Misery," Pinkey explained. + +"I can't imagine them doing anything ill-natured or ill-bred," Wallie +replied, resentfully. "You must have been unfortunate in the kind of +dudes you've met." + +Pinkey changed the subject as he did when he was unconvinced but he was +in no mood for argument. He climbed to the top pole of the corral fence +and looked proudly at the row of ten-by-twelve tents which the guests +were to occupy, at the long tar-paper room built on to the original +cabin for a dining room, at the new bunk-house for himself and Wallie +and the help, at the shed with a dozen new saddles hanging on their +nails, while the ponies to wear them milled behind him in the corral. +His eyes sparkled as he declared: + +"We shore got a good dudin' outfit! But it's nothin' to what we _will_ +have--watch our smoke! The day'll come when we'll see this country, as +you might say, lousy with dudes! So fur as the eye kin reach--dudes! +Nothin' but dudes!" He illustrated with a gesture so wide and vigorous +that if it had not been for his high heels hooked over a pole he would +have lost his balance. + +"Yes," Wallie agreed, complacently, "at least we've got a start. And it +seems like a good sign, the luck we've had in picking things up cheap." + +Instinctively they both looked at the old-fashioned, four-horse +stage-coach that they had found scrapped behind the blacksmith shop in +Prouty and bought for so little that they had quaked in their boots lest +the blacksmith change his mind before they could get it home. But their +fears were groundless, since the blacksmith was uneasy from the same +cause. + +They had had it repaired and painted red, with yellow wheels that +flashed in the sun. And now, there it stood--the last word in the +picturesque discomfort for which dudes were presumed to yearn! They +regarded it as their most valuable possession since, at $10.00 a trip, +it would quickly pay for itself and thereafter yield a large return +upon a small investment. + +Neither of them could look at it without pride, and Pinkey chortled for +the hundredth time: + +"It shore was a great streak of luck when we got that coach!" + +Wallie agreed that it was, and added: + +"Everything's been going so well that I'm half scared. Look at that +hotel-range we got second hand--as good as new; and the way we stumbled +on to a first-class cook; and my friends coming out--it seems almost too +good to be true." + +He drew a sigh which came from such contentment as he had not known +since he came to the State, for it seemed as if he were over the hard +part of the road and on the way to see a few of his hopes realized. + +With the money he had collected from Canby he had formed a partnership +with Pinkey whereby the latter was to furnish the experience and his +services as against his, Wallie's, capital. + +Once more the future looked roseate; but perhaps the real source of his +happiness lay in the fact that he had seen Helene Spenceley in Prouty a +good bit of late and she had treated him with a consideration which had +been conspicuously lacking heretofore. + +If he made a success she _must_ take him seriously and--anyway, his +train of thought led him to inquire: + +"Don't you ever think about getting married, Pink?" + +His partner regarded him in astonishment. + +"Now wouldn't I look comical tied to one of them quails I see runnin' +around Prouty!" + +"But," Wallie persisted, "some nice girl----" + +"Aw-w---- I'd ruther have a good saddle-horse. I had a pal that tried it +onct, and when I seen him, I says: 'How is it, Jess?' He says, 'Well, +the first year is the worst, and after that it's worse and worse.' No, +sir! Little Pinkey knows when he's well off." + +It was obvious that his partner's mood did not fit in with his own. The +new moon rose and the crickets chirped as the two sat in silence on the +fence and smoked. + +"It's a wonderful night!" Wallie said, finally, in a hushed voice. + +"It's plumb peaceful," Pinkey agreed. "I feel like I do when I'm gittin' +drunk and I've got to the stage whur my lip gits stiff. I've always +wisht I could die when I was like that." + +Wallie suggested curtly: + +"Let's go to bed." He had regretted his partner's lack of sentiment more +than once. + +"Time to git into the feathers if we make an early start." Pinkey +unhooked his heels. "Might have a little trouble hitchin' up. The two +broncs I aim to put on the wheel has never been drove." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +THE MILLIONAIRES + + +Pinkey was not one to keep his left hand from knowing what his right +hand is doing, so the report had been widely circulated that "a bunch of +millionaires" were to be the first guests at the new Lolabama Dude +Ranch. In consequence of which, aside from the fact that the horses ran +across a sidewalk and knocked over a widow's picket-fence, the advent of +Pinkey and Wallie in Prouty caused no little excitement, since it was +deduced that the party would arrive on the afternoon train. + +If to look at one millionaire is a pleasure and a privilege for folk who +are kept scratching to make ends meet, the citizens of Prouty might well +be excused for leaving their occupations and turning out _en masse_ to +see a "bunch." The desire to know how a person might look who could +write his check in six or more figures, and get it cashed, explained the +appearance of the male contingent on the station platform waiting for +the train to come in, while the expectation of a view of the latest +styles accounted for their wives. + +"Among those present," as the phrase goes, was Mr. Tucker. Although Mr. +Tucker had not been in a position to make any open accusations relative +to the disappearance of his cache, the cordial relations between Wallie +and Pinkey and himself had been seriously disturbed. So much so, in +fact, that they might have tripped over him in the street without +bringing the faintest look of recognition to his eyes. + +Mr. Tucker, however, was too much of a diplomat to harbour a grudge +against persons on a familiar footing with nearly a dozen millionaires. +Therefore, when the combined efforts of Wallie and Pinkey on the box +stopped the coach reasonably close to the station platform, Mr. Tucker +stepped out briskly and volunteered to stand at the leaders' heads. + +"Do you suppose we'll have much trouble when the train pulls in?" Wallie +asked in an undertone. + +"I don't look fer it," said Pinkey. "They might snort a little, and +jump, when the engine comes, but they'll git used to it. That +twenty-mile drive this mornin' took off the wire-aidge some." + +Pinkey's premises seemed to be correct, for the four stood with hanging +heads and sleepy-eyed while everyone watched the horizon for the smoke +which would herald the coming of the train. + +"Your y-ears is full of sand and it looks like you woulda shaved or had +your whiskers drove in and clinched." Pinkey eyed Wallie critically as +they waited together on the seat. + +"Looks as if you would have had your teeth fixed," Wallie retorted. +"It's been nearly a year since that horse kicked them out." + +"What would I go wastin' money like that for?" Pinkey demanded. +"They're front ones--I don't need 'em to eat." + +"You'd look better," Wallie argued. + +"What do I care how I look! I aim to do what's right by these dudes: +I'll saddle fer 'em, and I'll answer questions, and show 'em the sights, +but I don't need teeth to do that." + +Pinkey was obstinate on some points, so Wallie knew it was useless to +persist; nevertheless, the absence of so many of his friend's teeth +troubled him more than a little, for the effect was startling when he +smiled, and Pinkey was no matinee idol at his best. + +"There she comes!" + +As one, the spectators on the platform stretched their necks to catch +the first glimpse of the train bearing its precious cargo of +millionaires. + +Wallie felt suddenly nervous and wished he had taken more pains to +dress, as he visualized the prosperous-looking, well-groomed folk of The +Colonial Hotel. + +As the mixed train backed up to the station from the Y, it was seen that +the party was on the back platform of the one passenger coach, ready to +get off. The engine stopped so suddenly that the cars bumped and the +party on the rear platform were thrown violently into each other's arms. + +The expression on old Mr. Penrose's face was so fiendish as Mrs. C. D. +Budlong toppled backward and stood on his bunion that Wallie forgot the +graceful speech of welcome he had framed. Mr. Penrose had travelled all +the way in one felt slipper and now, as the lady inadvertently ground +her heel into the tender spot, Mr. Penrose looked as he felt--murderous. + +"Get off my foot!" he shouted. + +Mrs. Budlong obeyed by stepping on his other foot. + +Mr. Appel, who had lurched over the railing, observed sarcastically: + +"They ought to put that engineer on a stock train." + +The party did not immediately recognize Wallie in his Western clothes, +but when they did they waved grimy hands at him and cried delightedly: + +"Here we are, Wallie!" + +Wallie made no reply to this self-evident fact and, indeed, he could +not, for he was too aghast at the shabby appearance of his wealthy +friends to think of any that was appropriate. They looked as if they had +ransacked their attics for clothes in which to make the trip. + +The best Wallie could immediately manage was a limp handshake and a +sickly grin as the coal baron and street-railway magnate, Mr. Henry +Appel, stepped off in a suit of which he had undoubtedly been defrauding +his janitor for some years. + +Mrs. J. Harry Stott was handed down in a pink silk creation, through the +lace insertion of which one could see the cinders that had settled in +the fat crease of her neck. While Mrs. Stott recognized its +inappropriateness, she had decided to give it a final wear and save a +fresh gown. + +Upon her heels was Mr. Stott, in clothes which bore mute testimony to +the fact that he led a sedentary life. Mr. Stott was a "jiner" for +business purposes and he was wearing all his lodge pins in the +expectation of obtaining special privileges from brother members while +travelling. + +C. D. Budlong wore a "blazer" and a pair of mountain boots that had +involved him in a quarrel with a Pullman conductor, who had called him a +vandal for snagging a plush seat with the hob-nails. At his wife's +request, Mr. Budlong was bringing a canvas telescope filled with a +variety of tinned fruits. It was so heavy that it sagged from the handle +as he bore it in front of him with both hands, so no one was deceived by +his heroic efforts to carry it jauntily and make it appear that he did +not notice the weight. + +The only stranger in the party was Mrs. Henry Appel's maiden aunt--Miss +Lizzie Philbrick--sixty or thereabouts. "Aunt Lizzie" was a refugee from +the City of Mexico, and had left that troublesome country in such a +panic that she had brought little besides a bundle of the reports of a +Humane Society with which she had been identified, and an onyx apple, to +which it was assumed there was much sentiment attached, since she +refused to trust it to the baggage car, and was carrying it in her hand. + +"Aunt Lizzie" looked as if she had been cast for a period play--early +General Grant, perhaps--as she descended wearing a beaded silk mantle +and a bonnet with strings. + +"Be careful, Aunt Lizzie! Look where you step!" + +The chorus of warnings was due to the fact that Aunt Lizzie already had +fallen fourteen times in transit, a tack-head seeming sufficient to trip +her up, and now, quite as though they had shouted the reverse, Aunt +Lizzie stumbled and dropped the onyx apple upon old Mr. Penrose's +felt-shod foot. + +This was too much. Mr. Penrose shouted furiously: + +"I wish you'd lose that damned thing!" + +When it came to altered looks, Wallie had no monopoly on surprise. The +Happy Family found it difficult to reconcile this rather tough-looking +young man with the nice, neat boy who had blown them kisses from the +motor bus. + +"Now, what sort of a conveyance have you provided?" inquired Mr. Stott, +who had taken the initiative in such matters during the trip. + +Wallie pointed proudly to the stage-coach with Pinkey on the box and Mr. +Tucker standing faithfully at the leaders' heads. + +Everybody exclaimed in delight and lost no time in greeting Pinkey, +whose response was cordial but brief. To Wallie he said, out of the +corner of his mouth: + +"Load 'em on. The roan is gittin' a hump in his back." + +"We have twenty-five miles to make," Wallie hinted. + +"Our luggage? How about that?" inquired Mr. Stott. + +"It will follow." Wallie opened the stage-coach door as a further hint. + +"I want to get some snap-shots of the town," said Mr. Penrose, who had +his camera and a pair of field-glasses slung over his shoulder. + +"What an experience this will be to write home!" gushed Miss Gaskett. +"Let's stop at the office and mail post-cards." + +Pinkey leaned over the side and winked at Wallie, who urged uneasily: + +"We must start. Twenty-five miles is a good distance to make before +dark." + +"Switzerland has nothing to surpass this view!" declared Mr. Stott, who +had never been in Switzerland. + +Everyone took a leisurely survey of the mountains. + +"And the air is very like that of the Scotch moors." No one ever would +have suspected from his positive tone that Mr. Stott never had been in +Scotland, either. + +"I am sorry to insist," said Wallie in response to another significant +look from Pinkey, "but we really will have to hurry." + +Thus urged, they proceeded to clamber in, except Miss Gertie Eyester, +who was patting the roan on the nose. + +"Dear 'ittie horsey!" + +"'Ittie horse eats human flesh, you'd better not git too close," said +Pinkey. + +Miss Eyester looked admiringly at Pinkey in his red shirt and declared +with an arch glance: + +"You're so droll, Mr. Fripp!" + +Since Mr. Fripp thought something of the sort himself he did not +contradict her, but told himself that she was "not so bad--for a dude." + +"I hope the horses are perfectly safe, because my heart isn't good, and +when I'm frightened it goes bad and my lips get just as _b-l-u-e_!" + +"They look all right now," said Pinkey, after giving them his careful +attention. + +Miss Eyester observed wistfully: + +"I hope I will get well and strong out here." + +"If you'd go out in a cow-camp fer a couple of months it would do you a +world of good," Pinkey advised her. "You'd fatten up." + +Mr. Budlong, who had gotten in the coach, got out again to inquire of +Pinkey if he was sure the horses were perfectly gentle. + +"I'd trust my own step-mother behind 'em anywhere." + +Mr. Budlong, who had had a step-mother, intimated that that was not +convincing proof, and returned to the coach declaring that he had no +fears for himself, but his wife was nervous. + +To show his contempt of danger, Mr. Stott said: "Poof!" + +Wallie, having closed the door, climbed up beside Pinkey, who unlocked +the brake. + +"I always feel helpless shut inside a vehicle," declared Mr. Budlong. + +Mr. Stott again said recklessly: "Poof!" + +Just as he said "poof!", the leaders rose on their hind legs. Mr. +Tucker, who rose with them, clung valiantly to their bits and dangled +there. One of the wheel horses laid down and the other tried to climb +over the back of the leader in front of him, while the bystanders +scattered. + +"There seems to be some kind of a ruckus," Mr. Appel remarked as he +stood up and leaned out the window. + +Before he had time to report, however, two side wheels went over the +edge of the station platform, tipping the coach to an angle which sent +all the passengers on the upper side into the laps of those on the +lower. + +Aunt Lizzie pitched headlong and with such force that when she struck +Mr. Stott on the mouth with her onyx apple she cut his lip. + +"You'll kill somebody with that yet!" Mr. Stott glared at the keepsake. + +Aunt Lizzie scrambled back into her seat and looked composedly at the +drop of blood he offered in evidence, on the corner of his handkerchief. + +Mr. Appel, who undoubtedly would have gone on through the window when +the coach lurched had it not been for his wife's presence of mind in +clutching him by the coat, demanded in an angry voice--instead of +showing the gratitude she had reason to expect: + +"Whatch you doin'? Tearin' the clothes off'n m'back? Wisht you'd leave +me be!" + +It had been years since Mr. Appel had spoken to his wife like that. Mrs. +Appel opened her reticule, took out a handkerchief and held it to her +eyes. + +In the meantime the side wheels had dropped off the station platform and +the coach had righted itself, but in spite of all that Pinkey and Wallie +could do the leaders swung sharply to the left and dragged the wheel +horses after them down the railroad track. + +When the wheels struck the ties, Miss Mattie Gaskett bounded into the +air as if she had been sitting upon a steel coil that had suddenly been +released. She was wearing a tall-crowned hat of a style that had not +been in vogue for some years and as she struck the roof it crackled and +went shut like an accordeon, so that it was of an altogether different +shape when she dropped back to the seat. + +"Oh, my!" she exclaimed, blinking in a dazed fashion as she felt of her +hat. + +Old Mr. Penrose, who had elongated his naturally long neck preparatory +to looking out the window, also struck the roof and with such force that +his neck was bent like the elbow in a stove-pipe when he came down. He +said such a bad word that Aunt Lizzie Philbrick exclaimed: "Oh, how +dread-ful!" and asked him to remember where he was. + +Mr. Penrose replied that he did not care where he was--that if her neck +had been driven into her shoulders a foot she would say something, too. + +Mrs. J. Harry Stott and Mr. Budlong, who had bumped heads so hard that +the thud was heard, were eyeing each other in an unfriendly fashion as +they felt of their foreheads, waiting for the lump. + +Mr. Stott, who was still patting his lip with his handkerchief, +declared: + +"Such roads as these retard the development of a county." + +"Undoubtedly," agreed Mr. Appel, getting up out of the aisle. "They are +a disgrace!" + +"We are going _away_ from the mountains--I don't understand----" + +Mr. Stott smiled reassuringly at Mrs. Budlong and told her that Wallie +and Pinkey, of course, knew the road. + +"I don't care," she insisted, stoutly, "I believe something's wrong. We +are going awfully fast, and if I thought it was as rough as this all the +way I should prefer to walk." + +"You must remember that you are now in the West, Mrs. Budlong," Mr. +Stott replied in a kind but reproving tone, "and we cannot expect----" + +Mrs. Budlong, who had just bitten her tongue, retorted sharply: + +"We certainly could expect a more comfortable conveyance than this. If I +live to get out I shall never step foot in it again." + +"When we stop at the post-office," said Mr. Budlong in a tone of +decision as he clung to the window frame, "I shall hire a machine and go +out--the rest of you can do as you like." + +If there was dissatisfaction inside the coach it was nothing at all +compared to the excitement on the box as the horses galloped down the +railroad track. The leaders' mouths might have been bound in cast-iron +for all the attention they paid to the pull on their bits, although +Pinkey and Wallie were using their combined strength in their efforts +to stop the runaways. + +"Them dudes must be gittin' an awful churnin'," said Pinkey through his +clenched teeth. + +"We'll be lucky if we are not ditched," Wallie panted as he braced his +feet. + +"Wouldn't that be some rank! Even if we 'rim a tire' we got to swing off +this track, for there's a culvert somewheres along here and----" + +"Pink!" + +Pinkey had no time to look, but he knew what the sharp exclamation +meant. + +"Pull my gun out--lay it on the seat--I can stop 'em if I must." + +Pinkey's face was white under its sunburn and his jaw was set. + +"How far we got?" + +"About a hundred yards," Wallie answered, breathing heavily. + +"We'll give 'em one more try. My hands are playin' out. You pop it to +the roan when I say. Cut him wide open! If I can't turn him, I'll drop +him. They'll pile up and stop. It's the only way." + +Pinkey dug his heels into the foot-brace in front and took a tighter +wrap of the lines around his hands. He could see the culvert ahead. His +voice was hoarse as he gave the word. + +Wallie stood up and swung the long rawhide braided whip. At the same +time Pinkey put all his failing strength on one line. As the roan felt +the tremendous pull on his mouth and the whip-thongs stung his head and +neck, he turned at a sharp angle, dragging his mate. The wheel horses +followed, and some of the stout oak spokes splintered in the wheels as +they jerked the coach over the rail. + +The pallid pair exchanged a quick glance of unutterable relief. The +horses were still running but their speed was slackening as Pinkey swung +them in a circle toward the town. Dragging the heavy coach over +sagebrush hummocks and through sand had winded them so that they were +almost ready to quit when they turned down the main street. + +"If we'd 'a' hit that culvert we mighta killed off half our dudes. That +woulda been what I call notorious hard luck," Pinkey had just observed, +when Wallie commenced to whip the horses to a run once more. + +"What you doin' that for?" He turned in astonishment. + +"Let 'em go--I know what I'm about!" + +"I think you're crazy, but I'll do what you say till I'm sure," Pinkey +answered as Wallie continued to lay on the lash. + +Imperative commands were coming from inside the coach as it tore through +the main street. + +"Let me out of this death-trap!" Old Mr. Penrose's bellow of rage was +heard above the chorus of voices demanding that Pinkey stop. + +But it was not until they were well on the road to the ranch, and Prouty +was a speck, that the horses were permitted to slow down; then Pinkey +turned and looked at Wallie admiringly. + +"You shore got a head on you, old pard! We wouldn't 'a' had a dude left +if we'd let 'em out while they was mad." + +"It just occurred to me in time," said Wallie, complacently. + +"You don't s'pose any of 'em'll slip out and run back?" + +"No, I think we're all right if nothing more happens between here and +the ranch." + +After a time Pinkey remarked: + +"That lady with the bad heart--she must 'a' been scairt. I'll bet her +lips were purple as a plum, don't you?" + +But Wallie, who was far more interested in the probable fact that the +coach as a source of revenue could no longer be counted on than in the +colour of Miss Eyester's lips, mumbled that he didn't know. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +A SHOCK FOR MR. CANBY + + +The morning following their arrival at The Lolabama, The Happy Family, +looking several shades less happy, began coming from their tents shortly +after daylight. By five o'clock they were all up and dressed, since, +being accustomed to darkened rooms, they found themselves unable to +sleep owing to the glare coming through the white canvas. + +Out of consideration for his guests, whom he remembered as late risers, +Wallie had set the breakfast hour at eight-thirty. This seemed an +eternity to The Happy Family who, already famished, consulted their +watches with increasing frequency while they watched the door of the +bunk-house like cats at a mouse-hole for the cook to make his +appearance. + +After a restless night due to strange beds and surroundings, still +fatigued with their long journey, their muscles stiff from the +"churning" in the stagecoach, they were not better natured for being +ferociously hungry. + +After wandering around to look listlessly at the ponies, and at the +salt-water plunge that was to rejuvenate them, they sat down on the edge +of the platforms in front of their tents to endure somehow the three +hours which must pass before breakfast. + +The dawn was sweet-scented, the song of the meadow-lark celestial, and +the colours of the coming day reflected on the snow-covered peaks a +sight to be remembered, but the guests had no eyes or ears or nose for +any of the charms of the early morning. The rising of the sun was +nothing as compared to the rising of the cook who would appease their +savage hunger. + +Conversation was reduced to monosyllables as, miserable and apathetic, +they sat thinking of the food they had sent back to Mr. Cone's kitchen +with caustic comments, of the various dishes for which the chef of The +Colonial was celebrated. + +Mr. Stott thought that his watch must be slow until it was found that +every other watch agreed with his exactly. He declared that when the +cook did appear he meant to urge him to hurry breakfast. + +The cook came out, finally, at seven-thirty, and, after a surprised +glance at the row on the platforms, strode into the kitchen where he +rattled the range as if it were his purpose to wreck it. + +When the smoke rose from the chimney Mr. Stott went to the door to carry +out his intention of asking the cook to speed up breakfast. + +A large sign greeted him: + +DUDES KEEP OUT + +The cook was a gaunt, long-legged person with a saturnine countenance. +He wore a seersucker coat with a nickel badge pinned on the lapel of +it. + +As an opening wedge Mr. Stott smiled engagingly and pointed to it: + +"For exceptional gallantry, I presume--a war medal?" + +The hero stopped long enough to offer it for Mr. Stott's closer +inspection. + +It read: + + UNITED ORDER OF PASTRY COOKS OF THE WORLD + +Taken somewhat aback, Mr. Stott said feebly: + +"Very nice, indeed--er----" + +"Mr. Hicks, at your service!" the cook supplemented, bowing formally. + +"Hicks," Mr. Stott added. + +"Just take a second longer and say 'Mister.'" + +The cook eyed him in such a fashion as he administered the reprimand for +his familiarity that Mr. Stott backed off without mentioning his +starving condition. + +"What did he say?" they asked, eagerly, as he sat down on his platform, +somewhat crestfallen. + +"He seems a temperamental person," Mr. Stott replied, evasively. "But we +shall have breakfast in due season." + +It was suspected that Mr. Stott had failed in his mission, and they were +sure of it as the hands dragged around to eight-thirty. + +At that hour precisely Mr. Hicks came out and hammered on a triangle as +vigorously as if it were necessary. In spite of their efforts to appear +unconcerned when it jangled, the haste of the guests was nothing less +than indecent as they hurried to the dining room and scrambled for seats +at the table. + +The promise of food raised their spirits a trifle and Mr. Appel was able +to say humorously as, with his table knife, he scalped his agate-ware +plate loose from the oil-cloth: + +"I suppose we shall soon learn the customs of the country. In a month we +should all be fairly well ac'climated." + +"Acclim'ated," Mr. Stott corrected. + +"Ac'climated," Mr. Appel maintained, obstinately. "At least with your +kind permission I shall continue to so pronounce it." + +"I beg your pardon," Mr. Stott apologized with elaborate sarcasm, "but +when I am wrong I like to be told of it." Which was not the strict truth +for the reason that no one ever was able to convince him that he ever +was mistaken. As a result of the discussion everyone was afraid to use +the word for fear of offending one or the other. + +The silence that followed while breakfast was being placed upon the +table was broken by Miss Eyester, who said timidly: + +"In the night I thought I heard something sniffing, and it frightened +me." + +Not to be outdone in sensational experiences, Mrs. Stott averred +positively: + +"There was some _wild animal_ running over our tent. I could hear its +sharp claws sticking into the canvas. A coyote, I fancy." + +"A ground-squirrel, more likely," remarked Mr. Appel. + +Mr. Stott smiled at him: + +"Squee-rrel, if you will allow me to again correct you." + +"I guess I can't help myself," replied Mr. Appel, drily. + +Mr. Stott shrugged a shoulder and his tolerant look said plainly that, +after all, one should not expect too much of a man who had begun life as +a "breaker-boy." + +"The squee-rrel or coyote or whatever it was," Mrs. Stott continued, +"went pitter-patter, pitter-patter--so!" She illustrated with her +finger-tips on the oil-cloth. + +"Prob'ly a chipmunk," said Pinkey, prosaically. + +"Are they dangerous, Mr. Fripp?" inquired Miss Gaskett. + +"Not unless cornered or wounded," he replied, gravely. + +This was a joke, obviously, so everybody laughed, which stimulated +Pinkey to further effort. When Mr. Hicks poured his cup so full that the +coffee ran over he remarked facetiously: + +"It won't stack, cookie." + +Coffee-pot in hand, Mr. Hicks drew himself up majestically and his eyes +withered Pinkey. + +"I beg to be excused from such familiarity, and if you wish our pleasant +relations to continue you will not repeat it." + +"I bet I won't josh _him_ again," Pinkey said, ruefully, when Mr. Hicks +returned to the kitchen in the manner of offended royalty. + +"Cooks are sometimes very peculiar," observed Mr. Stott, buttering his +pancakes lavishly. "I remember that my mother--my mother, by the way, +Mr. Penrose, was a Sproat----" + +"Shoat?" Old Mr. Penrose, who complained of a pounding in his ears, was +not hearing so well in the high altitude. + +Mr. Appel and Pinkey tittered, which nettled Mr. Stott and he shouted: + +"Sproat! An old Philadelphia family." + +"Oh, yes," Mr. Penrose recollected. "I recall Amanda Sproat--she married +a stevedore. Your sister?" + +Mr. Stott chose to ignore the inquiry, and said coldly: + +"My father was in public life." He might have added that his father was +a policeman, and therefore his statement was no exaggeration. + +Everybody felt that it served Mr. Penrose right for telling about the +stevedore when he was seized with a violent fit of coughing immediately +afterward. Wiping his streaming eyes, he looked from Wallie to Pinkey +and declared resentfully: + +"This is the result of your reckless driving. The cork came out of my +cough syrup in the suitcase. The only way I can get relief from the +irritation is to apply my tongue to the puddle. I shall have to lick my +valise until I can have the prescription refilled in Prouty." + +The culprits mumbled that they "were sorry," to which Mr. Penrose +replied disagreeably that that did not keep him from "coughing his head +off!" + +Looking sympathetically at Pinkey, Miss Eyester, for the purpose of +diverting the irascible old gentleman's attention from the subject, +asked when she might take her first riding lesson. + +Pinkey said promptly: "This mornin'--they's nothin' to hinder." + +"That's awfully good of you, Mr. Fripp," she said, gratefully. + +Pinkey, who always jumped when any one called him "Mister," replied +bluntly: + +"Tain't--I wantta." + +"We'll all go!" Mrs. Stott cried, excitedly. + +"Shore." There was less enthusiasm in the answer. + +"We were so fortunate as to be able to purchase our equipment for riding +broncos before coming out here," explained Mr. Budlong. "There is an +excellent store on the Boardwalk and we found another in Omaha." + +"We have divided skirts and everything! Just wait till you see us!" +cried Mrs. Budlong. "And you'll take our pictures, won't you, Mr. +Penrose?" + +"I don't mind wasting a couple of films," he consented. + +Between the pancakes and the prospective riding lesson the atmosphere +cleared and everyone's spirits rose so that the slightly strained +relations were again normal by the time they got up from the table. + +They were as eager as children as they opened their trunks for their +costumes, and even Aunt Lizzie Philbrick, who had once ridden a burro in +Old Mexico, declared her intention of trying it. + +While the "dudes" dressed, Pinkey and Wallie went down to the corral to +saddle for them. + +"We better let her ride the pinto," said Pinkey, casually. + +"'Her?'" Wallie looked at his partner fixedly. "Which 'her'?" + +"That lady that's so thin she could hide behind a match and have room +left to peek around the corner. She seems sickly, and the pinto is +easy-gaited," Pinkey explained, elaborately. + +"All right," Wallie nodded, "and we'll put Aunt Lizzie on the white one +and give Mrs. Budlong----" + +"Kindly assign me a spirited mount," interrupted Mr. Stott, who, as to +costume, was a compromise between an English groom and a fox-hunter. + +Wallie looked dubious. + +"Oh, I understand horses," declared Mr. Stott, "I used to ride like an +Indian." + +"The buckskin?" Wallie asked doubtfully of Pinkey. + +Pinkey hesitated. + +"You need not be afraid that he will injure me. I can handle him." + +Wallie, who never had heard of Mr. Stott's horsemanship, consented +reluctantly. + +"I prefer to saddle and bridle myself, also," said Mr. Stott, when the +buckskin was pointed out to him. + +Wallie's misgivings returned to him and Pinkey rolled his eyes +eloquently when they saw "the man who understood horses" trying to +bridle with the chin-strap and noted that he had saddled without a +blanket. + +Mr. Stott laughed inconsequently when the mistake was pointed out to him +and declared that it was an oversight merely. + +"Now, if you will get me something to stand on I am ready to mount." + +Once more Pinkey and Wallie exchanged significant glances as the man +"who used to ride like an Indian" climbed into the saddle like someone +getting into an upper berth in a Pullman. + +Mr. Stott was sitting with the fine, easy grace of a clothespin when the +rest of the party came down the path ready for their riding lesson. + +Neither Pinkey nor Wallie was easily startled, but when they saw their +guests the most their astonishment permitted was an inarticulate gurgle. +Dismay also was among their emotions as they thought of conducting the +party through Prouty and the Yellowstone. Wallie had his share of moral +courage, but when they first met his vision he doubted if he was strong +enough for the ordeal. + +Mrs. Budlong, whose phlegmatic exterior concealed a highly romantic +nature and an active imagination, was dressed to resemble a cow-girl of +the movies as nearly as her height and width permitted. Her Stetson, +knotted kerchief, fringed gauntlets, quirt, spurs to delight a Mexican, +and swagger--which had the effect of a barge rocking at anchor--so +fascinated Pinkey that he could not keep his eyes from her. + +Old Mr. Penrose in a buckskin shirt ornate with dyed porcupine quills, +and a forty-five Colt slung in a holster, looked like the next to the +last of the Great Scouts, while Mr. Budlong, in a beaded vest that would +have turned bullets, was happy though uncomfortable. + +Mr. Budlong was dressed like a stage bandit, except that he wore +moccasins in spite of Pinkey's warning that he would find it misery to +ride in them unless he was accustomed to wearing them. + +Simultaneous with Miss Gaskett's appearance in plaid bloomers a +saddle-horse lay back and broke his bridle-reins, for which Pinkey had +not the heart to punish him in the circumstances. + +Aunt Lizzie wore long, voluminous, divided skirts and a little white hat +like a paté-tin, while by contrast Mrs. Harry Stott looked very smart +and ultra in a tailored coat and riding breeches. + +This was the party that started up Skull Creek under Pinkey's guidance, +and the amazing aggregation that greeted the choleric eye of Mr. Canby +on one of the solitary rides which were his greatest diversion. He had +just returned from the East and had not yet learned of the use to which +Wallie had put his check. But now he recalled Wallie's parting speech to +Pinkey when he had started to get the paper cashed, and this fantastic +company was the result! + +As Canby drew in his horse, he stared in stony-eyed unfriendliness +while they waved at him gaily and Mr. Stott called out that they were +going to be neighbourly and visit him soon. + +The feeling of helpless wrath in which he now looked after the party was +a sensation that he had experienced only a few times in his life. Pinkey +had warned him that at the first openly hostile act he would "blab" the +story of the Skull Creek episode far and wide. He had hit Canby in his +most vulnerable spot, for ridicule was something which he found it +impossible to endure, and he could well appreciate the glee with which +his many enemies would listen to the tale, taking good care that it +never died. + +By all the rules of the game as he had played it often, and always with +success, Wallie should long since have "faded"--scared, starved out. +Yet, somehow, in some unique and extraordinary way that only a "dude" +would think of, he had managed to come out on top. + +But the real basis for Canby's grievance, and one which he would not +admit even to himself, was that however Wallie was criticized, Helene +Spenceley never failed to find something to say in his defence. + +There was not much that Canby could do in the present circumstances to +put difficulties in Wallie's way, but the next day he found it +convenient to turn a trainload of long-horn Texas cattle loose on the +adjacent range, and posted warnings to the effect that they were +dangerous to pedestrians, and persons going among them on foot did so at +their own risk. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +WALLIE QUALIFIES AS A FIRST-CLASS HERO + + +Pinkey took a triangular piece of glass from between the logs in the +bunk-house and regarded himself steadfastly in the bit of broken mirror. + +He murmured finally: + +"I ain't no prize baby, but if I jest had a classy set of teeth I +wouldn't be bad lookin'." + +He replaced the mirror in the crack and sauntered down to the cook-shack +where he seated himself on the door-sill. The chef was singing as if he +meant it: "Ah, I Have Sighed to Rest Me Deep in the Silent Grave." + +Pinkey interrupted: + +"How do you git to work to get teeth, Mr. Hicks, if they ain't no +dentist handy?" + +Like Mr. Stott, no question could be put to Mr. Hicks for which he could +not find an answer. He now replied promptly: + +"Well, there's two ways: you can send to Mungummery-Ward and have a +crate sent out on approval, and keep tryin' till you find a set that +fits, or you can take the cast off your gooms yourself, send it on and +have 'em hammer you out some to order." + +"Is that so? What kind of stuff do they use to make the cast of your +gooms of?" + +"Some uses putty, some uses clay, but I believe they generally recommend +plaster of Paris. It's hard, and it's cheap, and it stays where it's +put." + +A thoughtful silence followed; then Pinkey got up and joined Wallie, who +was sitting on the top pole of the corral, smoking moodily. + +The "dudes" were at target practice with 22's and six-shooters, having +been persuaded finally not to use Mr. Canby's range as a background. +They now all walked with a swagger and seldom went to their meals +without their weapons. + +Pinkey blurted out suddenly: + +"I wisht I'd died when I was little!" + +"What's the matter?" + +"Oh, nothin'." + +It was plain that he wished to be interrogated further, but Wallie, who +was thinking of Helene Spenceley and her indifference to him, was in no +mood to listen to other people's troubles. + +After another period of reflection Pinkey asked abruptly: + +"Do you believe in signs?" + +To which Wallie replied absently: + +"Can't say I do. Why?" + +"If there's anything in signs I ought to be turrible jealous--the way my +eyebrows grow together." + +"Aren't you?" indifferently. + +"Me--jealous? Nobody could make me jealous, especially a worman." + +"You're lucky!" Wallie spoke with unnecessary emphasis. "It's an +uncomfortable sensation." + +Pinkey shifted uneasily and picked a bit of bark off the corral pole. + +"Don't it look kinda funny that Miss Eyester would take any in'trist in +Old Man Penrose? A girl like her wouldn't care nothin' about his money, +would she?" + +Wallie looked dour as he answered: + +"You never can tell--maybe." He had been asking himself the same +question about Miss Spenceley, whom he had seen rather frequently of +late with Canby. + +"Guess I'll quirl me a brownie and git into the feathers," glumly. "I +thought I'd go into town in the mornin', I want to do me some buyin'." + +Wallie nodded, and Pinkey added as he unhooked his heels: + +"You want to ride herd pretty clost on Aunt Lizzie. She's bound and +determined to go outside the fence huntin' moss-agates. The cattle are +liable to hook her. Canby throwed them long-horns in there on purpose." + +"I'm sure of it," Wallie said, grimly. "Yes, I'll watch Aunt Lizzie. But +she isn't worse than Appel, who was over there catching grasshoppers +because he said they were fatter." + +"Dudes is aggravatin'," Pinkey admitted. "But," philosophically, +"they're our meal-tickets, so we got to swaller 'em." + +As Wallie watched his partner go up the path to the bunk-house he +wondered vaguely what purchase he had to make that was so important as +to induce him to make a special trip to Prouty. But since Pinkey had not +chosen to tell him and Wallie had a talent for minding his own business, +he dismissed it; besides, he had more vital things to think about at +that moment. + +It had hurt him that Helene Spenceley had not been over. Obviously he +had taken too much for granted, for he had thought that when she saw he +was in earnest once more and in a fair way to make a success of his +second venture, things would be different between them. He had imagined +she would express her approval in some way, but she seemed to take it +all as a matter of course. She was the most difficult woman to impress +that he ever had known, but, curiously, the less she was impressed the +more eager he was to impress her. Yet her casualness only spurred him to +further effort and strengthened his determination to make her realize +that there was a great deal in him worth while and that some day he +would stand for something in the community. + +But somehow he did not seem to make much progress, and now he asked +himself grumpily why in the dickens he couldn't have fallen in love with +Mattie Gaskett, who followed him like his shadow and had her own income, +with wonderful prospects. + +He scuffed at the bark on the corral pole with his foot and thought +sourly of the rot he had read about love begetting love. He had not +noticed it. It more often begot laughter, and his case was an instance +of it. Helene Spenceley laughed at him--he was sure of it--and fool that +he was--imbecile--it did not seem to make any difference. There was just +one girl for him and always would be--he was like that and it was a +misfortune. + +In time, very likely, he would be a hermit, or a "sour-ball" like Canby; +he would sit at dances looking like a bull-elk that's been whipped out +of the herd, and the girls would giggle at him. + +Wallie's mood was undoubtedly pessimistic, and, finally, he trudged up +the path to bed, hoping he would awaken in a more cheerful humour--which +he did--because he dreamed that with Helene Spenceley beside him he was +burning up the road in a machine of a splendour "to put Canby's eye +out." + +The next morning Pinkey was gone when they gathered at the breakfast +table. Miss Eyester looked downcast because he had failed to tell her of +his intention, while Mrs. Stott declared that it was very inconsiderate +for him to go without mentioning it, since he had promised to match +embroidery cotton for her and she could not go on with her dresser-scarf +until she had some apple-green to put the leaves in with. + +The morning passed without incident, except that Mr. Budlong was +astonished when Wallie told him that his new high-power rifle was +scattering bullets among Mr. Canby's herd of cattle more than a mile +distant and that it was great good fortune he had not killed any of +them. Otherwise Wallie was engaged as usual in answering questions and +lengthening and shortening stirrups for ladies the length of whose legs +seemed to change from day to day, making such alterations necessary. + +Miss Gaskett "heeled" Wallie with flattering faithfulness and +incidentally imparted the information that a friend from Zanesville, +Ohio, Miss Mercy Lane was to join their party in Prouty when the date +was definitely set for their tour of the Yellowstone. + +"She's a dear, sweet girl whom I knew at boarding-school, and," archly, +"you must tell me that you will not fall in love with her." + +Wallie, who now thought of even "dear, sweet girls" in terms of dollars +and cents, felt that he could safely promise. + +It was a relief when the triangle jangled for dinner, and Wallie looked +forward to the ride afterward, although it had its attendant +irritations--chief of which was the propensity of J. Harry Stott to +gallop ahead and then gallop back to see if the party was coming: rare +sport for Mr. Stott, but less so for the buckskin. As soon as that +sterling young fellow had discovered that he could ride at a gallop +without falling off he lost no opportunity to do so, and his horse was +already showing the result of it. + +Boosting Aunt Lizzie Philbrick on and off her horse to enable her to +pick flowers and examine rocks was a part of the routine, as was +recovering Mrs. Budlong's hairpins when her hair came down and she lost +her hat. Mr. Budlong, too, never failed to lag behind and become +separated from the rest of the party, so that he had to be hunted. He +persisted in riding in moccasins and said that his insteps "ached him" +so that he could not keep up. + +Reasoning that every occupation has drawbacks of some kind, Wallie bore +these small annoyances with patience, though there were times when he +confessed that The Happy Family of The Colonial were not altogether so +charming and amiable as he had thought. + +He never would have suspected, for instance, that J. Harry Stott, who in +his own environment was a person of some little consequence, in another +could appear a complete and unmitigated ass. Or that Mrs. Budlong had +such a wolfish appetite, or that ten cents looked larger to Mr. Appel +than a dollar did to Pink, or that Old Penrose was vain as a peacock +about his looks. Still, Wallie consoled himself, everyone had his +idiosyncrasies, and if they had not had these they might have had worse +ones. + +To-day there was the usual commotion over getting off, and then when +Wallie was ready to boost Aunt Lizzie on her horse she was nowhere to be +found. She was not in her tent, nor had she fallen over the embankment, +and the fact that she set great store by her afternoon rides deepened +the mystery. + +Old Mr. Penrose, who had unslung his field-glasses, declared he saw +something that might be the top of Aunt Lizzie's head moving above a +small "draw" over on Canby's lease. Mr. Penrose, who had sought ranch +life chiefly because he said he was sick of cities and mobs of people, +when not riding now spent most of his time with his high-power glasses +watching the road in the hope of seeing someone passing and he had come +to be as excited when he saw a load of hay as if he had discovered a +planet. + +He passed the glasses to Wallie, who adjusted them and immediately +nodded: + +"That's somebody in the draw; it must be Aunt Lizzie." + +There was no doubt about it when she came out and started walking slowly +along the top, searching, as she went, for moss-agates. Wallie gave a +sharp exclamation, for, in the moment that they watched her, a small +herd of the Texas cattle came around a hill and also saw her. They +stopped short, and looked at the strange figure. Then, like a band of +curious antelope, they edged a little closer. It might be that they +would not attack her, but, if they did, it was certain they would gore +her to death unless someone was there to prevent it. + +Leading his own horse and dragging Aunt Lizzie's stubborn white pony +behind him, Wallie threw down the wire gate opening into the Canby lease +and sprang into the saddle. + +He kept his eyes fixed on the cattle as he rode toward Aunt Lizzie, +making the best time he could, with her cayuse pulling back obstinately +on the bridle, but, in any case, he could not have seen Helene Spenceley +and Canby riding from the opposite direction, for they were still on the +other side of a small ridge which hid them. + +Helene had stopped at the Canby ranch for luncheon on her way to pay her +long-deferred visit to her whilom acquaintances of The Colonial, and +though Canby had not relished the thought that she was going there, he +had asked to accompany her across the leases. Pleased that she had +stopped without an invitation, he was more likable than ever she had +seen him, and he made no pretense of concealing the fact that she could +be mistress of the most pretentious house in the country if she chose +to. + +Helene could not well have been otherwise than impressed by its +magnificence. She was aware that with Canby's money and her personal +popularity she could make an enviable position for herself very easily, +and she was nothing if not ambitious. The traits in Canby which so +frequently antagonized her, his arrogance, his selfish egotism and +disregard of others' rights and feelings, to-day were not in evidence. +He was spontaneous, genial, boyish almost, and she never had felt so +kindly disposed toward him nor so tolerant of his failings. + +She looked at him speculatively now as he rode beside her and wondered +if association would beget an affection that would do as well as love if +supplemented by the many things he had to offer? + +Her friendlier mood was not lost on Canby who was quick to take +advantage of it. He leaned over and laid his hand on hers as it rested +on the saddle horn. + +"Your thoughts of me are kinder than usual, aren't they, Helene? You are +less critical?" He spoke almost humbly. + +She smiled at him as she admitted: + +"Perhaps so." + +"I wish you could think so of me always, because I should be very happy +if--you----" His narrow, selfish face had a softness she never had seen +in it as he paused while he groped for the exact words he wished in +which to express himself. + +There was no need for him to finish, for his meaning was unmistakable, +and the colour rose in Helene's cheeks as she averted her eyes from his +steady gaze and looked on past him. + +Their horses had been climbing slowly and had now reached the top of the +ridge which gave an uninterrupted view across the flat stretch which lay +between them and the ranch that was such an eyesore to Canby. + +As she took in the sweep of country her gaze concentrated upon the +moving objects she saw in it. Puzzled at first, her look of perplexity +was succeeded by one of consternation, then horror. With swift +comprehension she grasped fully the meaning of a scene that was being +enacted before her. + +Her expression attracted Canby's attention even before she pointed and +cried sharply: + +"Look!" + +Aunt Lizzie was still busy with her pebbles, a tiny, tragic figure she +looked, in view of what was happening, as she walked along in leisurely +fashion, stopping every step or two to pick up and examine a stone that +attracted her attention. + +The herd of long-horns had come closer, but one had drawn out from the +others and was shaking its head as it trotted down upon her. + +Wallie had long since abandoned the pony he was leading, and with all +the speed his own was capable of, was doing his best to intercept the +animal before it reached her. But he was still a long way off and even +as Helene cried out the steer broke into a gallop. + +Canby, too, instantly grasped the situation. + +"If I only had a rifle!" + +"Perhaps we can turn it! We'll have to make an awful run for it but we +can try!" + +They had already gathered the reins and were spurring their horses down +the declivity. + +Canby's thoroughbred leaped into the air as the steel pricked it and +Helene was soon left behind. She saw that she could figure only as a +spectator, so she slowed down and watched what followed in fascinated +horror. + +Canby was considerably farther off than Wallie, in the beginning, but +the racing blood in the former's horse's veins responded gallantly to +the urge of its rider. It stretched out and laid down to its work like a +hare with the hounds behind it, quickly equalizing the distance. + +Aunt Lizzie was poking at a rock with her toe when she looked up +suddenly and saw her danger. The steer with a spread of horns like +antlers and tapering to needle points was rushing down upon her, +infuriated. + +For a moment she stood, weak with terror, unable to move, until her will +asserted itself and then, shrieking, she ran as fast as her stiff old +legs could carry her. + +Wallie and Canby reached the steer almost together. A goodly distance +still intervened between it and Aunt Lizzie, but the gap was shortening +with sickening rapidity and Helene grew cold as she saw that, try as +they might, they could not head it. + +The animal seemed to be conscious only of its fleeing victim. When she +ran, her flight appeared to excite and enrage it further, for it bawled +with anger. The fluttering petticoats were a challenge, and the steer +was bent on reaching and destroying the strange object with the weapons +nature had given it. It was accustomed to horsemen and had no fear of +them, but it saw a menace in the little old woman screaming just ahead, +so it ignored Canby and Wallie, and they could not swerve it. + +Helene wrung her hands in a frenzy as she watched their futile efforts. +Wallie always carried a rope on his saddle, why didn't he use it? Was he +afraid? Couldn't he? She felt a swift return of her old contempt for +him. Was he only a "yellow-back" cowpuncher after all, underneath his +Western regalia? Momentarily she despised him. Notwithstanding his brave +appearance he was as useless in a crisis like this as Canby. Pinkey was +more of a man than either of them. He would stop that steer somehow if +he had only his pocketknife to do it. Her lip curled disdainfully for +she had an innate contempt of impotency and failure. + +She cried out sharply as Aunt Lizzie stumbled and pitched headlong. +Between exhaustion and terror that paralyzed her she was unable to get +up, though she tried. The steer, flaming-eyed, was now less than fifty +yards from her. + +Helene felt herself grow nauseated. She meant to close her eyes when it +happened. She had seen a horse gored to death by a bull and it was a +sight she did not wish to see repeated. + +Canby in advance of Wallie was a little ahead of the steer, slapping at +it with his bridle-reins, Wallie behind had been crowding its shoulder. +But nothing could divert it from its purpose. + +Helene was about to turn her head away when she saw Wallie lay the reins +on his horse's neck and lean from the saddle. + +His purpose flashed through Helene's mind instantly. Then she cried +aloud--incredulously: + +"He's going to try _that_!" And added in a frightened whisper: "He can't +do it! He can never do it!" + +Wallie's horse, which had been running at the steer's shoulder, missed +his hand on the reins and lagged a little, so that the distance between +them was such as to make what he meant to attempt seemingly impossible. +For a second he rode with his arm outstretched as if gauging the +distance, then Helene grew rigid as she saw him leave the saddle. + +He made it--barely. The gap was so big that it seemed as if it were not +humanly possible more than to touch the short mane on the animal's neck +with his finger-tips. But he clung somehow, his feet and body dragging, +while the steer's speed increased rather than slackened. First with one +hand and then the other he worked his way to a grip on the horns, which +was what he wanted. + +The steer stopped to fight him. Its feet ploughed up the dirt as it +braced them to resist him. Then they struggled. The steer was a big one, +raw-boned, leggy, a typical old-time long-horn of the Texas ranges, and +now in fear and rage it put forth all the strength of which it was +capable. + +With his teeth grinding, Wallie fought it in desperation, trying to give +the twist that drops the animal. Its breath in his face, the froth from +its mouth blinded him, but still he clung while it threw him this and +that way. He himself never knew where his strength came from. Suddenly +the steer fell heavily and the two lay panting together. + +Helene drew the back of her hand across her eyes and brushed away the +tears that blurred her vision, while a lump rose in her throat too big +to swallow. "Gentle Annie" of The Colonial veranda, erstwhile authority +on Battenburg and sweaters, had accomplished the most reckless of the +dare-devil feats of the cow-country--he had "bull-dogged" a steer from +horseback! + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +"WORMAN! WORMAN!" + + +Business which had to do with the cache they had lifted from Tucker +detained Pinkey in town longer than expected. He returned in the night +and did not get up when the triangle jangled for breakfast. In fact, it +was well into the forenoon when he appeared, only to learn that Miss +Eyester had gone off with old Mr. Penrose to look at an eagle's nest. + +"What did he do that for?" Pinkey demanded of Wallie. + +"I presume he wanted her company," Wallie replied, composedly, +entertained by the ferocity of Pinkey's expression. + +"Is he a dude or is he a duder that he has to go guidin' people to see +sights they prob'ly don't want to look at?" + +"She seemed willing enough to go," Wallie answered. + +Pinkey sneered: + +"Mebbe I'd better git me a blue suit with brass buttons and stand around +and open gates and unsaddle fer 'em." + +Wallie regarded his partner calmly. + +"Pinkey, you're _jealous_." + +"Jealous! Me jealous of an old Methuselah that don't know enough to make +a mark in the road?" Unconsciously Pinkey's hand sought his eyebrows, as +he laughed hollowly. "Why, I could show her a barrel of eagles' nests! I +know whur there's a coyote den with pups in it! I know whur there's a +petrified tree and oceans of Injun arrer heads, if she'd jest waited. +But if anybody thinks I'm goin' to melt my boot-heels down taggin' a +worman, they're mistaken!" Pinkey stamped off to the bunk-house and +slammed the door behind him. + +"Where's Pinkey?" The question was general when it was observed that his +chair was vacant at dinner. + +"Still reposing, I imagine," Wallie answered, humorously. + +Mrs. Budlong commented: + +"A night ride like that must be very fatiguing." + +"Oh, very." Wallie winked at himself figuratively, thinking that the 99 +per cent. alcoholic content of one of Mr. Tucker's bottles undoubtedly +accounted for his weariness. + +"You are sure he's not ill?" inquired Miss Eyester. She had not enjoyed +her revenge upon Pinkey, for going away without telling her, as much as +she had anticipated; besides, the eagle's nest turned out to be a crows' +nest with no birds in it, and that was disappointing. + +Mr. Hicks, who frequently joined in the conversation when anything +interested him, snorted from the kitchen doorway: + +"Ill? You couldn't make him 'ill' with a club with nails in it--that +feller." + +"Oh, how dread-ful!" Aunt Lizzie clasped her hands, and looked at the +brutal cook reprovingly. + +"Perhaps one of us had better awaken him," Miss Eyester suggested. "He +should eat something." + +"Hor! Hor! Hor!" Mr. Hicks laughed raucously. "Maybe he don't feel like +eating. Let him alone and he'll come out of it." + +Miss Eyester resented the aspersion the meaning of which was now plain +to everybody, and said with dignity, rising: + +"If no one else will call him, I shall." + +"Rum has been the curse of the nation," observed Mr. Budlong to whom +even a thimbleful gave a headache. + +"I wish I had a barrel of it," growled old Mr. Penrose. "When I get home +I'm going to get me a worm and make moonshine." + +"Oh, how dread-ful!" + +"'Tain't," Mr. Penrose contradicted Aunt Lizzie, curtly. + +"'Tis!" retorted Aunt Lizzie. + +They glared at each other balefully, and while everybody waited to hear +if she could think of anything else to say to him, Miss Eyester returned +panting: + +"The door's locked and there's a towel pinned over the window." + +"No!" They exclaimed in chorus, and looked at Wallie. "Do you suppose +any thing's happened?" + +"He locked the door because he does not want to be disturbed, and the +towel is to keep the light out," Mr. Stott deduced. + +"Of _course_!" They all laughed heartily and admired Mr. Stott's +shrewdness. + +"Any fool would have thought of that," growled Mr. Penrose. + +"You think you know everything," said Aunt Lizzie, in whom his threat to +make moonshine and break the law still rankled. + +"I know quite a lot, if I could just think of it," replied Mr. Penrose +almost good-naturedly. + +"All the same," declared the cook, scouring a frying-pan in the doorway, +"it's not like him to go to all that trouble just to sleep. I'll go up +and see if I can raise him." + +Even in the dining room they could hear Mr. Hicks banging on the door +with the frying-pan, and calling. He returned in a few minutes. + +"There's something queer about it. It's still as a graveyard. He ain't +snoring." + +"Could he have made way with himself?" Mr. Appel's tone was sepulchral. + +"Oh-h-h!" Miss Eyester gasped faintly. + +"Perhaps he has merely locked the door and he is outside," Mr. Stott +suggested. + +"I'll go down and see if I can notice his legs stickin' out of the crick +anywhere," said Mr. Hicks, briskly. + +"It is very curious--very strange indeed," they declared solemnly, +though they all continued eating spare-ribs--a favourite dish with The +Happy Family. + +The cook, returning, said in a tone that had a note of disappointment. +"He ain't drowned." + +"Is his horse in the corral?" asked Wallie. + +Mr. Hicks took observations from the doorway and reported that it was, +which deepened the mystery. + +Since no human being, unless he was drugged or dead, could sleep through +the cook's battering with the frying-pan, Wallie himself grew anxious. +He recalled Pinkey's gloom of the evening before he had gone to Prouty. +"I wisht I'd died when I was little," he remembered his saying. + +Also Pinkey's moroseness of the morning and the ferocity of his +expression took on special significance in the light of his strange +absence. Instinctively Wallie looked at Miss Eyester. That young lady +was watching him closely and saw his gravity. Unexpectedly she burst +into tears so explosively that Mrs. Budlong moved back the bread plate +even as she tried to comfort her. + +"I know something has happened! I _feel_ it! When Aunt Sallie choked on +a fish-bone at Asbury Park I knew it before we got the wire. I'm sort of +clairvoyant! Please excuse me!" Miss Eyester left the table, sobbing. It +seemed heartless to go on eating when Pinkey, the sunshine of the ranch, +as they suddenly realized, might be lying cold in death in the +bunk-house, so they followed solemnly--all except Mrs. Henry Appel, who +lingered to pick herself out another spare-rib, which she took with her +in her fingers. + +They proceeded in a body to the bunk-house, where Wallie applied his eye +to the keyhole and found it had been stuffed with something. This +confirmed his worst suspicions. Nobody could doubt now but that +something sinister had happened. + +Mr. Penrose, who had been straining his eyes at the window, peering +through a tiny space between the towel and the window frame, declared he +saw somebody moving. This, of course, was preposterous, for if alive +Pinkey would have made a sound in response to their clamour, so nobody +paid any attention to his assertion. + +"We'll have to burst the door in," said Mr. Stott in his masterful +manner, but Wallie already had run for the axe for that purpose. + +Mrs. Appel, alternately gnawing her bone and crying softly, begged them +not to let her see him if he did not look natural, while Miss Eyester +leaned against the door-jamb in a fainting condition. + +"Maybe I can bust it with my shoulder," said Mr. Hicks, throwing his +weight against the door. + +Immediately, as the lock showed signs of giving, a commotion, a +shuffling, was heard, a sound as if a shoulder braced on the inside was +resisting. + +There was a second's astonished silence and then a chorus of voices +demanded: + +"Let us in! Pinkey! What _is_ the matter?" + +The answer was an inarticulate, gurgling sound that was blood-curdling. + +"He's cut his wind-pipe and all he can do is gaggle!" cried Mr. Hicks, +excitedly, and made a frenzied attack on the door that strained the lock +to the utmost. + +If the noise he made was any criterion it was judged that Pinkey's head +must be nearly severed from his body--which made the resistance he +displayed all the more remarkable. He was a madman, of course--that was +taken for granted--and the ladies were warned to places of safety lest +he come out slashing right and left with a razor. + +They ran and locked themselves in the kitchen, where they could look +through the window--all except Miss Eyester, who declared dramatically +that she had no further interest in life anyhow and wished to die by his +hand, knowing herself responsible for what had happened. + +Wallie, breathless from running, arrived with the axe, which he handed +to Mr. Hicks, who called warningly as he swung it: + +"Stand back, Pinkey!--I'm comin'!" + +The door crashed and splintered, and when it opened, Mr. Hicks fell in +with it. + +He fell out again almost as quickly, for there was Pinkey with the +glaring eyes of a wild man, his jaws open, and from his mouth there +issued a strange white substance. + +"He's frothin'!" Mr. Hicks yelled shrilly. "He's got hydrophoby! Look +out for him everybody!" + +"G-gg-ggg-ough!" gurgled Pinkey. + +"Who bit you, feller?" the cook asked, soothingly. + +"G-ggg-gg-ough!" was the agonized answer. + +"We'll have to throw and hog-tie him." Mr. Hicks looked around to see if +there was a rope handy. + +"Don't let him snap at you," called Mr. Stott from a safe distance. "If +it gets in your blood, you're goners." + +The cook who, as Pinkey advanced shaking his head and making vehement +gestures, had retreated, was suddenly enlightened: + +"That ain't froth--it's plaster o' Paris--I bet you! Wait till I get a +stick and poke it!" + +Pinkey nodded. + +"That's it!" Mr. Hicks cried, delightedly: "He's takin' a cast of his +gooms--I told him about it." + +The look he received from Pinkey was murderous. + +"How are we going to get it out?" Wallie asked in perplexity. + +"It's way bigger than his mouth," said Mr. Appel, and old Mr. Penrose +suggested humorously: "You might push it down and make him swallow it." + +"Maybe you could knock a little off at a time or chisel it," ventured +Mr. Budlong. "It's hard as a rock," feeling of it. "You'll have to crack +it." + +"It's like taking a hook out of a cat-fish," said the cook, facetiously. +"Say, can you open your mouth any wider?" + +Pinkey made vehement signs that his mouth was stretched to the limit. + +"It's from ear to ear now, you might say," observed Mr. Budlong. "If you +go to monkeying you'll have the top of his head off." + +"If I could just get my fist up in the roof somehow and then pry down on +it." The size of Mr. Hicks' fist, however, made the suggestion +impractical. + +"I believe I can pick it off little by little with a hairpin or a pair +of scissors or something." Miss Eyester spoke both confidently and +sympathetically. + +Pinkey nodded, his eyes full of gratitude and suffering. + +"Don't laugh at him," she pleaded, as they now were howling +uproariously. "Just leave us alone and I'll manage it somehow." + +It proved that Miss Eyester was not over-sanguine for, finally, with the +aid of divers tools and implements, Pinkey was able to spit out the last +particle of the plaster of Paris. + +"I s'pose the story'll go all over the country and make me ridic'lous," +he said, gloomily. Feeling the corners of his mouth tenderly: "I thought +at first I'd choke to death before I'd let anybody see me. What I'll do +to that cook," his eyes gleaming, "won't stand repeatin'. And if anybody +dast say 'teeth' to me----" + +"Whatever made you do it?" + +Too angry for finesse, Pinkey replied bluntly: + +"I done it fer you. I thought you'd like me better if I had teeth, and +now I s'pose you can't ever look at me without laughin'." + +Miss Eyester flipped a bit of plaster from his shirtsleeve with her +thumb and finger. + +"I wouldn't do anything to hurt your feelings, ever." + +"Never?" + +"Never." + +"Then don't you go ridin' again with that old gummer." + +"Do you care, really?" shyly. + +"I'll tell the world I do!" + +Miss Eyester fibbed without a pang of conscience: + +"I never dreamed it." + +"I thought you wouldn't look at anybody unless they had money--you bein' +rich 'n' ever'thing." + +"In the winter I earn my living cataloguing books in a public library. I +hate it." + +Pinkey laid an arm about her thin shoulders. + +"Say, what's the chanct of gittin' along with you f'rever an' ever?" + +"Pretty good," replied Miss Eyester, candidly. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +"KNOCKING 'EM FOR A CURVE" + + +It had been put to a vote as to whether the party should make the trip +through the Yellowstone Park by motor, stopping at the hotels, or on +horseback with a camping outfit. + +Mr. Stott, after the persuasive manner in which he addressed a jury, +argued: + +"We can ride in automobiles at home. That is no novelty. Than horseback +riding, there is no more healthful exercise. We are all agreed that we +have had enough of hotels, while camping will be a new and delightful +experience. In the brief period that we shall lie next to nature's heart +we will draw strength from her bosom. By camping, we can loaf along in +leisurely fashion, taking our own time for seeing the wonders of the +Yellowstone, and fishing." + +The programme he outlined was so sensible and attractive that everybody +was in favour of it strongly except old Mr. Penrose, who declared that +sleeping on the ground would give him rheumatism, and the fear that bugs +would crawl in his ears made him restless. Mr. Stott, however, overcame +his objection by assuring him that the ground was too dry to give any +one rheumatism and he could provide himself with cotton against the +other contingency. + +The outlook for a successful trip from every viewpoint was most +promising, yet there were moments when Wallie had his doubts and +misgivings. He supposed that it was his experience in dry-farming which +had made him pessimistic concerning all untried ventures. Certainly it +had destroyed his beautiful, child-like faith in the teaching that the +hairs of his head were numbered and no harm could come to him. He had +noticed that everyone who ever had dry-farmed carried the scars +afterward. It was an unforgettable experience, like a narrow escape from +lynching. + +Pinkey, on the contrary, had no sombre thoughts to disturb him. He was +filled with boundless enthusiasm; though this condition was chronic +since he had become engaged to Miss Eyester. + +Pinkey, in love, was worse than useless. Escorting Miss Eyester was now +his regular business, with dude wrangling reduced to a side issue. +Therefore it had devolved upon Wallie to buy teepees, extra bedding, +food, and the thousand and one things necessary to comfort when camping. + +It all had been accomplished finally, and the day came when the caravan +was drawn up beside the Prouty House ready to start toward the +Yellowstone. + +A delighted populace blocked the sidewalk while they awaited the +appearance of Miss Gaskett's friend, Miss Mercy Lane, who had arrived on +a night train according to arrangement. + +The cavalcade, if not imposing, was at least arresting. No one could +pass it yawning. There was no one who had come to see the party start +who did not feel repaid for the effort. + +First, there was Mr. Hicks, driving four horses and the "grub-wagon," +and leading the procession. He handled the lines with an aplomb +reminiscent of the coaching days of Reginald Vanderbilt, together with +the noble bearing of the late Ben Hur tooling his chariot. Mr. Hicks +dignified the "grub-wagon" to such an extent that it was a treat to look +at him. + +Second in place was Pinkey, driving the tent-and-bed-wagon, with Miss +Eyester on the high spring-seat beside him. Behind Pinkey came "Red" +McGonnigle, driving a surrey provided for those who should become +fatigued with riding horseback. The vehicle, like the stage-coach, was a +bargain, sold cheaply by the original owner because of the weakness of +the springs, which permitted the body to hit the axle when any amount of +weight was put in it. This was a discovery they made after purchase. +Aunt Lizzie Philbrick was the only passenger, though it was anticipated +that Miss Mercy Lane would prefer to drive also, since she had had no +previous riding. + +Behind the surrey was the riding party, even more startling than when +they had first burst upon Wallie in their bead-work and curio-store +trappings. Mr. Stott was wearing a pair of "chaps" spotted like a pinto, +while Mr. Budlong in flame-coloured angora at a little distance looked +as if his legs were afire. + +Their ponies peered out shamefacedly through brilliant, +penitentiary-made, horse-hair bridles, and old Mr. Penrose was the envy +of everybody in a greasy, limp-brimmed Stetson he had bought from a +freighter. Also he had acquired a pair of 22-inch, "eagle's bill" +tapaderas. He looked like a mounted pirate, and, in his evil moments, +after sleeping badly, he acted like one. + +Everyone was in high spirits and eager to get started. Mr. Stott +surreptitiously spurred his horse to make him cavort more spiritedly +before the spectators, and the horse responded in such a manner that the +rising young attorney was obliged to cling with both hands to the +saddle-horn. + +When he came back, slightly paler, Wallie said curtly: + +"You don't need spurs on that horse." + +"I'm the best judge of that," Stott retorted. + +Wallie said nothing further, for at the moment the crowd parted to +permit the passing of the newcomer from Zanesville, Ohio. + +As he saw her, Wallie felt willing to renew his promise to Miss Gaskett +not to fall in love with her. Wallie was a charitable soul, and +chivalrous, but he could not but think that Miss Mercy, who was a +trained nurse, must have changed greatly since she and Miss Gaskett were +school-girls. + +She wore a masculine hat with a quill in it and a woollen skirt that +bagged at the knees like trousers. Her hair was thin at the temples, and +she wore gold glasses astride her long, "foxy" nose. Although no average +cake would have held the candles to which Miss Mercy's birthdays +entitled her, she was given to "middy" blouses and pink sweaters. + +"Merce has such a unique personality that I am sure you are going to +enjoy her," beamed Miss Gaskett in presenting Wallie. + +Wallie murmured that he had no doubt of it, and boosted Miss Mercy into +the surrey. + +With nothing further to detain them, Mr. Hicks swung his lash and the +four went off at a gallop, with the cooking utensils in the rear +rattling so that it sounded like a runaway milk-wagon. + +He had been instructed to drive ahead and select a suitable place for +the noon-day luncheon in order that everything should be in readiness +upon their arrival, but to the others Wallie had suggested that they +ride and drive more slowly to save the horses. + +In spite of Wallie's request, however, Mr. Stott, seeing the cook +getting ahead, started off at a gallop to overtake him. In no uncertain +voice Wallie called to him. + +"You will oblige me if you will ride more slowly," Wallie said, speaking +very distinctly when Mr. Stott came back to ask what was wanted. + +"Why, what's the matter?" + +His feigned innocence added to Wallie's anger. + +"I don't want that horse ruined." + +"I am paying for him," Stott returned, insolently. + +"I still own him, and it's my privilege to say how he shall be ridden." + +Stott dropped back suddenly but Wallie foresaw trouble with him before +the trip was finished, though he meant to hold his temper as long as +possible. + +The reprimand had a beneficial effect upon the other equestrians, who +had contemplated dashing after Mr. Stott, but now concluded to jog along +at a reasonable gait, working off their superfluous energy in asking +questions. Did eagles really carry off children? And was the earth under +the Yellowstone Park hollow? + +In the surrey "Red" McGonnigle was putting forth his best efforts to +entertain Aunt Lizzie and Miss Mercy, which he considered as much a part +of his duties as driving. + +A portion of the road was through a caņon, cut from the solid rock in +places, with narrow turnouts, and a precipitous descent of hundreds of +feet to a sinister-looking green river roaring in the bottom. + +"Now, here," said Mr. McGonnigle, as they entered it, lolling back in +the seat and crossing his legs in leisurely fashion, "is where there's +been all kinds of accee-dents." + +He pointed with the stub of a buggy-whip: + +"About there is where four horses on a coal-wagon run away and went +over. Two was killed and one was crippled so they had to shoot it." + +"Oh, how dread-ful!" Aunt Lizzie exclaimed, nervously. + +Miss Mercy's contralto voice boomed at him: + +"What happened to the driver?" + +"His bones was broke in a couple of dozen places, but they picked him +up, and sence, he has growed together." + +Miss Mercy snickered. + +"You see that p'int ahead of us? Onct a feller ridin' a bronc backed off +there. They rolled two hundred feet together. Wonder it didn't kill +'em." + +Aunt Lizzie was twisting her fingers and whispering: + +"Oh, how dread-ful!" + +"Jest around that bend," went on the entertainer, expectorating with +deliberation before he continued, "a buggy tried to pass a hay-wagon. It +was a brand-new buggy, cost all of $250, and the first time he'd took +his family out in it. Smashed it to kindlin' wood. The woman threw the +baby overboard and it never could see good out of one eye afterward. She +caught on a tree when she was rollin' and broke four ribs, or some such +matter. He'd ought to a-knowed better than to pass a hay-wagon where it +was sidlin'. Good job, says I, fer havin' no judgment though I was one +of his pall-bearers, as an accommodation." + +Aunt Lizzie was beyond exclaiming, and Miss Mercy's toes were curling +and uncurling, though she preserved a composed exterior. + +After setting the brake, McGonnigle went on humorously, gesticulating +spaciously while the slack of the lines swung on the single-tree: + +"On this here hill the brake on a dude's automo-bubbly quit on him. When +he come to the turn he went on over. Ruined the car, plumb wrecked it, +and it must a cost $1,500 to $2,000. They shipped his corp' back East +somewhere." + +Pale, and shaking like an aspen, Aunt Lizzie clung tightly to Miss +Mercy. The scenery was sublime, but they had no eye for it. Their gaze +was riveted upon the edge of the precipice some six or eight inches from +the outer wheels of the surrey, and life at the moment looked as sweet +as it seemed uncertain. + +Driving with one hand and pointing with the other, McGonnigle went on +with the fluency for which he was celebrated: + +"That sharp curve we're comin' to is where they was a head-on collision +between a chap on a motorcycle and a traction en-jine they was takin' +through the caņon. He was goin' too fast, anyhow--the motorcycle--and it +jest splattered him, as you might say, all over the front of the +en-jine." + +Mr. McGonnigle put the lines between his knees and gripped them while he +readjusted his hat with one hand and pointed with the other: + +"You see that hangin' rock? There where it sticks over? Well, sir, two +cayuses tryin' to unload their packs bounced off there and----" + +A shriek in his ear interrupted McGonnigle at this juncture. He turned, +startled, to see Aunt Lizzie with her fingers in her ears screaming that +she was going to have hysterics. + +To prove that she was a woman of her word, she had them, while Mr. +McGonnigle, utterly unconscious that he was the cause, regarded her in +astonishment. + +"She's got a fit," he said to Wallie, who hurried forward. + +"He's scared her out of her wits," declared Miss Mercy, glaring at him. + +"Me?" + +"You! You're a careless driver. I don't believe you understand horses, +and I shan't ride any further with you." + +"Red" jammed the whip in its socket and wrapped the lines around it. +Springing over the wheel he stood by the roadside and declared +defiantly: + +"I'm quittin'. Hate to leave you in a pinch, Wallie, but I take sass +from no female. I'd ruther herd sheep than wrangle dudes, anyhow. I +tried to be entertainin', and this is the thanks I git fer it." + +"Nobody asked you to talk," Miss Mercy snapped at him. + +Wallie succeeded in pacifying "Red" finally and suggested that he and +Pinkey exchange places. Pinkey consented reluctantly, and "Red" climbed +upon the seat of the bed-wagon with a dark look at the "female" who had +questioned his knowledge of horses, while he mumbled something about +"fixin' her." + +By ten-thirty food was the chief topic of conversation, and everyone was +keeping an eye out for Hicks and the "grub-wagon." At eleven the +hilarity had simmered to monosyllables, and old Mr. Penrose, who always +became incredibly cross when he was hungry, rode along with his face +screwed up like a bad youngster that is being carried out of church for +a spanking in the vestibule. + +"I'm so weak I can scarcely sit in the saddle!" Mrs. J. Harry Stott +snapped at Wallie as if she held him responsible. + +"I'm simply ravenous--starving!" declared Mrs. Budlong. She also looked +at him accusingly. + +By eleven-thirty they were all complaining bitterly that the cook had +been allowed to get so far ahead that they should all perish of hunger +before they could overtake him. Mr. Stott galloped ahead as if he were +pursued by hostile Indians to see if he could see Hicks, and galloped +back again to say that he could not. + +At twelve the animals in a zoo just before feeding time had "nothing on" +The Happy Family when it came to ferocity, but they brightened +immediately as they finally caught a glimpse of Hicks' camp-fire, and +grew almost cheerful when they saw him cutting bread on the lowered +tail-board of the wagon, where the lunch was waiting for them. + +The spot he had selected could not truthfully be called ideal, viewed +from any angle, since there was no shade and the sand, sizzling hot, +reflected the glare of the mid-day sun as painfully as a mirror. None, +however, had the temerity to offer any criticism to Mr. Hicks +personally, for his vitriolic tongue had long since properly subjugated +even the rambunctious attorney. + +The "dudes" dismounted stiffly and stood at a respectful distance, +sniffing the bubbling coffee and watching the cook slice ham with a +knife that had a blade like the sword of a Crusader. + +Mr. Hicks had an alert, suspicious manner as if he feared that someone +would jump forward and snatch something before he had given the signal. + +When the operation of bread-slicing was completed, Mr. Hicks stuck the +point of the knife in the tail-board and, gripping the handle, struck a +pose like that of the elder Salvini, while in a sonorous voice he +enumerated the delicacies he had to offer. It sounded like a roll-call, +and his tone was so imperative that almost one expected the pickles and +cheese to answer--"present." + +"Come and get it!" he finished, abruptly, and retired to sit down under +sagebrush as if he were disgusted with food and people who ate it. There +Wallie joined him and from the vantage point watched his guests eat +their first meal in the open. + +If there was one thing upon which The Happy Family at The Colonial had +prided itself more than another it was upon its punctilious observance +of the amenities. There were those among the "newcomers" who averred +that they carried their elaborate politeness to a point which made them +ridiculous. For example, when two or more met at the door of the +elevator they had been known to stand for a full minute urging +precedence upon the other, and no gentleman, however bald or susceptible +to draughts, would converse with a lady with his head covered. + +Now Wallie felt that his eyes must have deceived him when Mr. Budlong +prodded Miss Eyester in the ribs with his elbow in his eagerness to get +in ahead of her, while old Mr. Penrose reached a long arm over Aunt +Lizzie Philbrick's shoulder and took away a piece of apple pie upon +which she already had closed her fingers. + +When Miss Gaskett and Mr. Appel chanced to select the same slice of ham +neither seemed disposed to relinquish it but displayed considerable +spirit as they pulled until it gave way in its weakest sector, leaving +Mr. Appel with only an inch of fat between his thumb and finger. He +regarded his portion with chagrin while Miss Gaskett went off +triumphantly to make a sandwich. + +Mr. Stott with his usual enterprise and shrewdness had gotten next to +the tail-board, where he stood munching and reviewing the food with an +eye to his next selection. He was astonished to see Miss Mercy's alpine +hat rising, as it were, from the earth at his feet to crowd him from his +desirable position. As she stood up she jabbed him in the nostril with +the quill, and Mr. Stott gave ground before he realized it. Miss Mercy +snickered in appreciation of the cleverness of her manoeuvre. + +As Wallie observed them while waiting his opportunity to get a dill +pickle or whatever crumb they might leave him, he thought grimly that if +they had been without food for twenty-four hours instead of less than +half a dozen, they would have been close to cannibalism. He, for one, +would not care to be adrift in an open boat with Mrs. Budlong--hungry +and armed with a hatchet--while Stott, he was sure would murder him for +a frankfurter in those circumstances. + +Aunt Lizzie, to whom accidents of an unusual nature seemed always to be +happening, wandered off with a wedge of pie and a cup of coffee and sat +down on an ant-hill. + +While she sipped her coffee and drank in the scenery simultaneously, the +inhabitants of the hill came out in swarms to investigate the monster +who was destroying their home. They attacked her with the ferocity for +which red ants are noted, and she dropped her pie and coffee and ran +screaming to the wagon. + +Fearful that she would be pursued by them, she got into the surrey, +where she became involved in a quarrel with Miss Mercy, who was eating +her lunch there. + +Miss Mercy caught a butterfly that lighted on a seat-cover and pulled +off first one wing and then the other in spite of Aunt Lizzie's +entreaties. She dropped it on the bottom of the surrey and put her +astonishingly large foot upon it. + +"There," she snickered, "I squashed it." + +Aunt Lizzie, to whom anything alive was as if it were human, wrung her +hands in anguish. + +"I think you are horrid!" + +"What good is it?" + +"What good are you, either? I shan't ride with you." Aunt Lizzie climbed +into the third seat of the surrey, where she refused to answer Miss +Mercy when she spoke to her. + +The rest and food freshened the party considerably but by four o'clock +they were again hungry and drooping in their saddles. Only Mr. Stott, +endowed, as it seemed, with the infinite wisdom of the Almighty, +retained his spirits and kept up an unending flow of instructive +conversation upon topics of which he had the barest smattering of +knowledge. Constantly dashing off on his part to investigate gulches and +side trails caused Wallie's smouldering wrath to burn brighter, as the +buckskin hourly grew more jaded. + +Complaints increased that their horses were hard-gaited, and the voices +of the ladies held plaintive notes as they declared their intention of +riding in the surrey when they overtook it. Pinkey was stopped finally, +and his passengers augmented by the addition of Mrs. Stott, Miss +Gaskett, and Mrs. Budlong, who carefully folded their jackets to sit on. + +At five o'clock Mr. Stott raced forward and returned to announce that +Hicks had camped just around the bend of the river. + +"You're wearing that horse out, Stott," said Wallie, coldly. + +"He's feeling good--watch him!" cried the lawyer, gaily, putting spurs +to the horse and disappearing. + +It was a beautiful camping spot that Hicks had selected, though "Red" +McGonnigle grumbled that it was not level enough for the teepees. + +Old Mr. Penrose, who had fallen off his horse rather than dismounted, +declared he was so tired that he could sleep on the teeth of a harrow, +like a babe in its cradle. + +"We'll be all right when we get seasoned," said Mr. Appel, cheerfully, +hunting in his wife's handbag for the vaseline. + +"You couldn't have a better place to start in at," "Red" commented, +grimly. + +On the whole, the day might be regarded as a pleasant one, and if the +remainder of the trip equalled it, there was no doubt but that the party +would return satisfied, which meant that they would advertise it and the +next season would be even more successful. + +Everyone carried wood to build a camp-fire after supper, but by the time +they had it going they were too sleepy to sit up and enjoy it. They +stumbled away to their several teepees with their eyes half closed and +for the first time since they had known each other failed to say +"pleasant dreams!" when separating for the night. + +Mr. Stott lingered to regale Pinkey and Wallie for the fourteenth time +with the story of the hoot-owl which had frightened him while hunting in +Florida, but since it was received without much enthusiasm and he was +not encouraged to tell another, he, too, retired to crawl between his +blankets and "sleep on Nature's bosom" with most of his clothes on. + +"I wouldn't wonder but that we'll have to hit him between the horns +before the trip is over," Pinkey remarked, looking after Stott. + +Wallie said nothing, but his face spoke for him. + +Pinkey continued in a tone of satisfaction: + +"Outside of him, everything's goin' splendid. The Yellowstone Park is +the fightin'est place anybody ever heard of. I've seen life-time +friends go in there campin' and come out enemies--each one sittin' on +his own grub-box and not speakin'. But it don't look as if we was goin' +to have any serious trouble--they're nice people." + +"And they think the world of me," Wallie reiterated. + +"I've been thinkin' I could lose the horses for two or three days and +that would count up considerable. Ten dudes at $5.00 a day for three +days, say---- Oh, we're sittin' pretty! We'll come out of this with +a roll as big as a gambler's." + +"It _looks_ encouraging," Wallie replied more guardedly, though in his +heart he was sharing Pinkey's optimism. + +They kicked out the camp-fire and rolled up in their respective +blankets, Pinkey to die temporarily, and Wallie to lie awake listening +to the roar of the river and speculating as to whether Helene Spenceley +had any special prejudice against the dude business. + +Of course, he admitted, had he a choice in the matter, he would have +preferred to have been an ambassador, a lawyer of international +reputation, even a great artist; but for a start, as the foundation of a +fortune, dudes were at least as good as _herring_. + +With this consoling thought, Wallie turned over on a pillow which would +have engaged the earnest attention of the most lax health officer, and +fell into a contented slumber. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +RIFTS + + +Before the birds had taken their heads from under their wings Miss Mercy +Lane was up and crashing through the brambles on a hunt for "Red" +McGonnigle. + +It was a morning to thrill the soul of a taxi-cab driver, but it had no +interest for Miss Mercy. The dew on the petals of the wild-rose, the +opaline tints of a sweet-scented dawn meant nothing to that lady as, +without a collar, her shirt-waist wrongly buttoned, her hair twisted +into a hard "Psyche" knot, she searched for her enemy. + +In her earnest desire to get in touch with Mr. McGonnigle as soon as +possible, she clumped about, peering into the faces of the helpers, who +had thrown their tarps down upon whatever spot looked a likely place for +sleeping. + +Pinkey she found without difficulty; also Mr. Hicks, who, awakened by +the feeling that someone was looking at him, sat up and in a scandalized +tone told her to go right away, from him. "Red" McGonnigle, however, +whether by accident or premeditation, had repaired with his blankets to +a bed-ground where the Almighty could not have found him with a +spy-glass. In consequence, Wallie was awakened suddenly by the booming +voice of Miss Mercy demanding to know Red's whereabouts. + +Her lids were puffed as if she had not closed them, and through the +slits her eyes gleamed at him. She looked so altogether formidable as +she stood over him that his first impulse was to duck his head under the +covers. + +Since it was manifestly impossible for Wallie to get to his feet as +politeness demanded, and it seemed ridiculous to sit up in bed and +converse with a lady he knew so slightly, it appeared that the best +thing to do in the circumstances was to remain as he was, prostrate and +helpless, and this he did--to take such a dressing down as made him +tingle. + +Aiming her finger at him, Miss Mercy declared that deliberately, +wilfully, maliciously, "Red" McGonnigle had set her tent on a _hump_. +More than that, he had cut down an alder, leaving some three or four +sharp prongs over which he had spread her blankets. She would have been +as comfortable on the teeth of a hay-rake, and had not even dozed in +consequence. With her own ears she had heard "Red" McGonnigle threaten +to "fix" her, and he had done it. If he was not discharged she would +return to Prouty at the first opportunity. This was final. + +Wallie argued vainly that it was an accident, that "Red" was altogether +too chivalrous to take such a low-down revenge upon a lady, and +explained that in any event it would be impossible to dispense with his +services at this juncture. He declared that he regretted the matter +deeply and promised to prevent a recurrence. + +But Miss Mercy was adamant, and intimated that Wallie was in sympathy +with his hireling if not in actual "cahoots" with him. + +Wallie realized that it would be impossible to resent the implication +with proper dignity while lying on the flat of his back looking up at +his accuser, so he said nothing, whereupon Miss Mercy flung at him as +she departed: + +"I intend to ask a ride back to Prouty from the first passerby, and I +shall _knock_ you and your ranch at every opportunity!" + +She returned to her teepee to complete her toilette while Wallie took +his boots from under his pillow and drew them on glumly, feeling that +much of the joy had been taken from what promised to be a perfect +morning. + +Mr. Hicks, too, started breakfast in a mood that was clearly melancholy, +for as he rattled the pots and pans Wallie heard him reciting: + +"And when my time comes, let me go--not like the galley slave at night +scourged to his dungeon--but like one sustained and soothed by an +unfaltering trust----" He stopped suddenly, and then in a voice that +chilled Wallie's blood he shouted: + +"Jumping Je-hoshaphat! Git out o' that grub-box!" + +He had caught Mrs. Budlong in the act of spreading jam on a cracker. + +"How dare you speak so to me?" she demanded, indignantly. + +For answer, Mr. Hicks replied autocratically: + +"You ought to know by this time that I don't allow dudes snooping around +when I'm cooking." + +"You are insulting--I shall report you." + +Mr. Hicks laughed mockingly: + +"You do that and see what it gets you." + +The cook quite evidently knew his power, for when Mrs. Budlong carried +out her threat Wallie could only reply that he dared not antagonize +Hicks, since to replace him would cause delay, inconvenience, and +additional expense to everybody. + +Mrs. Budlong rested all her chins upon her cameo breastpin and received +the explanation coldly. + +"Verra well," she said, incisively, "verra, verra well! I shall buy jam +and crackers at the first station, Mr. Macpherson, and carry them with +me." + +Wallie had no heart to say more than: + +"Indeed, Mrs. Budlong, I am so sorry----" + +But she was already on the way to report the controversy to her husband. + +When they had bathed their faces and hands in the river the evening +before someone had referred to it poetically as "Nature's wash-basin." +Wallie, seeing Mrs. Appel with her soap and towel on the way to +"Nature's wash-basin," was inspired by some evil spirit to inquire how +she had rested. + +"Rested!" she hissed at him. "Who could rest, to say nothing of +sleeping, within six blocks of Mr. Penrose? A man who snores as he does +should not be permitted to have his tent among human beings. If it is +ever placed near mine again, Wallie, I shall insist upon having it +removed if it is midnight. Knowing the trouble he has had everywhere, I +am surprised at your not being more considerate." + +"To-night I will attend to it. I regret very much----" Wallie mumbled. + +Mrs. J. Harry Stott beckoned him aside as breakfast was being placed on +the table. + +Mrs. Stott had a carefully cultivated mispronunciation of great elegance +when she wished to be impressive, and as soon as she began Wallie +realized that something portentous was about to be imparted to him. Even +the way she raised her eyebrows made him warm all over with a sense of +guilt of something of which he was ignorant. + +"You will excuse me if I speak frankly?" + +Wallie gulped, wondering fearfully what she knew and how much. + +She went on in a voice which seemed to have hoarfrost on it: + +"But the fact is, I am not in the habit of eating with the _help_." + +Wallie felt relief surge over him. His face cleared and he laughed +light-heartedly. + +"I know that, of course, Mrs. Stott, but out here it is different. +Camping is particularly democratic. It has never occurred to 'Red' or +Hicks that they are not welcome at the table, and I fear that they would +be greatly offended if I should suggest----" + +Mrs. Stott drew herself up haughtily. + +"That is no concern of mine, Wallie. It is a matter of principle with +me to keep servants in their places. I am not a snob, but----" + +"Sh-ss-sh!" Wallie looked over his shoulder in Hicks' direction. + +In clarion tones she continued: + +"I cannot consent to letting down the barriers even in these +unconventional surroundings. You can adjust the matter to suit yourself, +but I ab-so-lute-ly refuse to sit cheek by jowl with the cook and +McGonnigle!" + +Wallie grew solemn, as well he might, for along with the tact of a +diplomat to a Balkan state it required the courage of a lion to convey +the information to one of Hicks' violent disposition that he was not fit +to sit at table with the wife of the rising young attorney. + +It weighed on his mind through breakfast, and he was not made more +comfortable by the fact that "Red," stimulated to effervescence by so +large an audience, tossed off his _bon-mots_ in a steady stream, +unconscious that his wit was not a treat to all who heard him and that +his presence was regarded as anything but highly desirable, while Mr. +Hicks brought his tin-plate and, by chance purely, elbowed himself a +place beside Mrs. Stott with the greatest assurance. + +Wallie decided to postpone the delicate talk of dropping a hint to Mr. +Hicks until later in the day, as he had plenty to engage his attention +with Miss Mercy's departure confronting him. + +"Red" denied the crime with which he was charged with a face of +preternatural innocence, declaring that he was shocked that any one +should attribute to him such a heinous offence as purposely leaving four +sharp alder prongs under a lady's blankets. Nobody--bar none--had a +greater respect for the sex than "Red" McGonnigle! + +But Miss Mercy was not to be pacified by apologies however abject, or +explanations however convincing. Implacable, and maintaining a haughty +silence, she packed her suitcase and put an outing flannel +nightgown--with a nap so long that it looked like a fur garment--in a +fishnet bag. Having made stiff adieux to the party, she went and sat +down on a rock by the roadside to await some passerby who would take her +to Prouty. + +She quite enjoyed herself for a time, thinking what a strong character +she was, and how independent. A weaker woman would have allowed herself +to be persuaded to overlook the incident, but she was of different +metal. For nearly an hour this thought gave her great satisfaction, but, +gradually, the monotony began to pall and she had a growing feeling of +resentment that nobody missed her. It seemed deceitful, after making +such an ado over her decision to leave them, to resign themselves so +quickly to her absence. Mattie Gaskett might come and renew her +entreaties for her to return, or, at least, keep her company! + +The occasional bursts of laughter that reached her were like personal +affronts and, finally, she included everybody in her indignation at +"Red" McGonnigle. But, as the time dragged, her mood changed +perceptibly. Though she would not admit it in her secret heart, she +wished that someone would come and coax her to reconsider. From this +stage, while the tents were being dismantled and packed into the +bed-wagon accompanied by much merriment, she came to a point where she +tried to think of some excuse that would enable her to return without +seeming to make any concession. + +As it happened, the only person who gave Miss Mercy any thought as she +waited forlornly by the roadside was Aunt Lizzie Philbrick. Although she +and Miss Mercy had not been speaking since the episode of the butterfly, +her tender conscience was troubled that she had not said good-bye to +her. The more she thought about it the more strongly it urged her to be +forgiving and magnanimous to the extent of wishing Miss Mercy a pleasant +journey. With this purpose in view Aunt Lizzie left the others and +started for the roadside. If she had not been otherwise engaged at the +moment, Miss Mercy might have seen Aunt Lizzie's white sailor hat +bobbing above the intervening bushes, but she was intent on learning the +cause of a rustling she had heard in the leaves behind her. It was a +snake, undoubtedly, and it flashed through Miss Mercy's mind that here +was her opportunity not only to return to camp but to go back a heroine. + +She set her fishnet bag on the stump she vacated and provided herself +with a cudgel before starting to investigate. Advancing cautiously, she +saw a bunch of tall grass wave in a suspicious manner. She smote the +clump with her cudgel, and a large, warty toad jumped out into the open. +It was stunned, and stood blinking as if trying to locate the danger. + +"Nasty thing!" exclaimed Miss Mercy, viciously, and raised her club to +finish it. + +The blow landed, and Miss Mercy and the toad saw stars simultaneously, +for Aunt Lizzie brought down a four-foot stick and crushed in the crown +of Miss Mercy's alpine hat. + +"You dread-ful woman!" Aunt Lizzie shrieked at her, and it was her +purpose to strike again but the stick was rotten, and since only some +six inches remained in her hand, she had to content herself with crying: + +"You horrible creature! You unnatural woman! 'Shady' Lane--you belong in +an asylum!" + +Since Miss Mercy had been told this before, she resented it doubly, and +no one can say what else might have happened if Wallie, hearing the +disturbance, had not hurried forward to discover what was occurring. + +"She was killing a hop-toad!" Aunt Lizzie screamed, hysterically. Then +her legs collapsed, while Miss Mercy boomed that if she did, it was none +of Aunt Lizzie's business--it was not her hop-toad. + +The astounding news passed from mouth to mouth that Aunt Lizzie and Miss +Mercy had been fighting in the brush with clubs, like Amazons, and +everyone rushed forward to view the combatants and to learn the +details, but the chugging of a motor sent Miss Mercy into the middle of +the road to flag it before they could hear her side of the story. + +It proved to be no less a person than Rufus Reed, who was transporting +provisions on a truck between Prouty and a road-camp in the Park. Rufus +welcomed company and intimated that his only wonder was that they were +not all leaving. + +So Miss Mercy clambered up beside Rufus and without looking back started +on her return journey to Zanesville, Ohio, to soothe the brow of the +suffering and minister to the wants of the dying in her professional +capacity. + +Pinkey sombrely looked after the cloud of dust in which Rufus and the +Angel of Mercy vanished. + +"That's one chicken we counted before it was hatched," he observed, +regretfully, to Wallie. + +The scenery was sublime that morning and the party were in ecstasies, +but mere mountains, waterfalls, and gorges could not divert Wallie's +mind from the disquieting fact that he must somehow convey the +information to Mr. Hicks that his presence at table with the guests was +undesirable. + +As he rode, he framed tactful sentences in which to break the news to +that formidable person, and he had finally a complete and carefully +prepared speech which he meant to deliver in a friendly but firm manner. +The result he could only guess at. Hicks might quit, or he might resent +the affront to his dignity with any convenient weapon, or after a savage +outburst of sarcasm he might make the best of the situation. The only +thing that Wallie could not imagine was a calm acquiescence. It would be +easier to replace Mr. Hicks, however, than to acquire a new party of +dudes at this late season, so Wallie nerved himself to the ordeal. + +The passengers who preferred to ride in the surrey had now increased to +a number which made it necessary for them to sit in each other's laps, +and it devolved upon Wallie to drive their horses. Herding loose horses +is sometimes a task to strain the temper, and these were that kind of +horses, so that by the time the party reached the noon-day camp Wallie +was in a more fitting mood to confront Mr. Hicks than when they had +started. + +The cook was busy over the camp-fire when Wallie determined to speak and +have it over. + +"Don't let him tree you or run you into the river." Pinkey, who knew +Wallie's purpose, warned him jocosely. "I'm glad it ain't me has the job +of tellin' that hyena that he ain't as welcome as the President." + +Wallie could not share Pinkey's amusement. On the contrary, it annoyed +him. That was the worst of his partner nowadays, he was so happy that +nothing troubled him. Perhaps envy was at the bottom of this irritation; +at any rate, Wallie frowned and told himself that he never would have +believed that love could make such a simpleton of anybody. + +As Wallie drew nearer, through the smoke and steam rising from various +cooking utensils he noted that Mr. Hicks' expression was particularly +melancholy and his colour indicated that a large amount of bile had +accumulated in his system. There was something tragic in the very way he +stirred the frying potatoes, and as Wallie hesitated Hicks set his fists +on his hips and recited in a voice vibrating with feeling: + + "Into this Universe, and why not knowing, + Nor whence, like water will-nilly flowing, + And out of it, as Wind along the Waste, + I know not whither willy-nilly blowing." + +It did not seem a propitious moment to "put Mr. Hicks in his place," as +Mrs. Stott had phrased it, but Wallie had no desire to nerve himself +twice for the same ordeal; therefore, with something of the desperate +courage which comes to high-strung persons about to have a tooth +extracted, Wallie advanced and inquired cordially: + +"Well, Mr. Hicks, how are things coming?" + +"I am not complaining," replied Mr. Hicks, in a tone which intimated +that once he started enumerating his grievances he would not know where +to finish. + +"Pleasant people, aren't they?" Wallie suggested. + +"So is a menagerie--after it's eaten." + +"They do have appetites," Wallie admitted. "I suppose it's living in the +open." + +"I've cooked for section hands on the Burlington, and they were +canary-birds beside these Poland Chinas. We had ought to brought troughs +instead of tinware." + +"You mustn't speak so of our guests," Wallie reprimanded. + +Hicks went on wrathfully: + +"That fat sister in the cameo breastpin--she swiped a can of potted +chicken on me yesterday--she's a regular 'camp-robber'." + +Wallie interposed hastily: + +"We mustn't have any trouble. I want to get through this trip peaceably. +In fact, Mr. Hicks, it's along this line that I wished to have a word +with you." + +Mr. Hicks looked at him quickly and suspiciously. + +"Has any of 'em been kickin' on me?" + +Wallie hesitated, casting a furtive eye about as he did so for the most +convenient exit. + +"Not kicking, I wouldn't say _kicking_, Mr. Hicks, but it has been +suggested--I have been thinking that it might be _pleasanter_ for you +and Red to have your own table." + +Mr. Hicks stopped turning over the potatoes and looked at him for what +seemed to Wallie a full minute. + +"In other words," he said, finally, in a voice that was oily and +coaxing, as if he wanted the truth from him, "the dudes don't want the +cook and the horse-wrangler to eat with them?" + +Wallie noticed uneasily that while Hicks spoke he was tentatively +feeling the edge of the knife he had been using. Instinctively Wallie's +eyes sought the route he had selected, as he replied conciliatingly: + +"No reflection upon you and Red is intended, Mr. Hicks; it is just that +Eastern people have different customs, and we have to humour them, +although we may not agree with them." + +There was another silence, in which Hicks continued to thumb the knife +in a manner that kept Wallie at a tension, then he said with a suavity +which somehow was more menacing than an outburst: + +"Perhaps it _would_ be better for us rough-necks to eat at the second +table. It hadn't occurred to me that our society might not be agreeable +to ladies and gentlemen. I'm glad you mentioned it." + +Hicks seemed to purr, actually. His tone was caressing--like the velvet +touch of a tiger--and his humble acceptance of the situation was so +unnatural that Wallie felt himself shiver with apprehension. Was he +capable of putting ground-glass in the sugar, he wondered, or dropping a +spider in something? + +"Red" was plainly disgruntled when he found himself, as it were, +segregated, and he sulked openly; but Hicks, on the contrary, was so +urbane and respectful that everyone remarked his changed manner, and +Mrs. Stott triumphantly demanded to know if it were not proof of her +contention that servants were the better for being occasionally reminded +of their position. + +"I am not a snob," she reiterated, "but common people really spoil my +appetite when I am obliged to eat with them." + +Wallie, however, could not share her elation, for there was that in Mr. +Hicks' eye whenever he met it which renewed his uneasy forebodings as to +ground glass and spiders. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +HICKS THE AVENGER + + +The remarkable change in Mr. Hicks' manner continued the next morning. +It was so radical that no one could fail to observe it and the comments +were frequent, while Mrs. Stott crowed openly. + +From haughty independence he had become so anxious to please that he was +almost servile, and his manner toward the wife of the rising young +attorney particularly was that of a humble retainer fawning at the feet +of royalty. During breakfast he stood at a respectful distance, speaking +only when spoken to, and jumping to serve them. + +This attitude quickly dissipated the fear which he had inspired in The +Happy Family, and by noon they were not only calling him "Hicks" but +"Ellery." Then, this stage of familiarity having been passed in safety, +Mr. Stott humorously dubbed him "Cookie," and the name was adopted by +everyone. + +Mrs. Budlong ventured to complain that there was too much shortening in +the biscuit. This was a real test of the sincerity of his reformation +since, if such a thing were possible, he had been even more "touchy" +upon the subject of his cooking than his dignity. No one could doubt +but that the change was genuine when he not only received the criticism +meekly but actually thanked her for calling his attention to it. + +Thus encouraged, Mr. Appel declared that he wished he would not fry the +ham to chips and boil the "daylights" out of the coffee. Mr. Hicks bowed +servilely and replied that he would try to remember in future. Mrs. +Stott took occasion to remark that his vegetables would be better for +less seasoning and more cooking, and Miss Gaskett thought his dried +fruit would be improved by soaking over night and additional sweetening. + +Mr. Hicks received these criticisms in a humility that was pathetic when +compared with his former arrogance. He looked crushed as he stood with +bowed head and drooping shoulders as if his proud, untrammelled spirit +had been suddenly broken. + +Miss Eyester felt sorry for him and asserted that she could not recall +when she had enjoyed food so much and eaten so heartily. Indeed, she had +been such a gourmand that she had gained a pound and six ounces, if the +scales upon which she had been weighed in Prouty were accurate. + +Mr. Stott, however, who was in one of his waggish moods, undid all that +she might have accomplished in the way of soothing Hicks' injured +feelings, by inquiring facetiously if he would mind rolling him out a +couple of pie-crusts to be tanned and made into bedroom slippers. + +Mr. Hicks laughed heartily along with the others, and only Wallie +caught the murderous glitter through his downcast lashes. + +It developed that the Yellowstone Park was a place with which Hicks was +thoroughly familiar from having made several trips around the Circle. He +was not only acquainted with points of interest off the beaten track +passed unseen by the average tourist, but he suggested many original and +diverting sports--like sliding down a snowbank in a frying-pan--which +would not have occurred to any of them. + +By the time the party had reached the Lake Hotel they were consulting +him like a Baedeker, and he answered every question, however foolish, +with a patience and an affability that were most praiseworthy. Their +manner toward him was a kind of patronizing camaraderie, while Mrs. +Stott treated him with the gracious tolerance of a great lady unbending. + +A disbelief in the ability of the leopard to change its spots made +Wallie sceptical regarding Hicks' altered disposition, yet he did his +best to convince himself that he was wrong when Hicks went out and +caught a trout from the Yellowstone Lake expressly for Mrs. Stott's +supper. + +It was a beautiful fish as it lay on the platter, brown, crisp, and +ornamented with lemon. Mr. Hicks offered it much as the head of John the +Baptist might have been brought to Salome. + +"Thank you, Hicks," said Mrs. Stott, kindly. + +"I hope you'll like it, ma'am," he murmured, humbly. + +The mark of favour seemed to bear out Mrs. Stott's contention that +inferiors should not be treated as equals in any circumstances. Now, +with her fork in the fish, Mrs. Stott looked around the table and +inquired graciously if she might not divide it with someone? + +Everyone politely declined except Mrs. Budlong, who looked at it so +wistfully that Mrs. Stott lost no time in transferring it to her plate. +She ate with gusto and declared after tasting it: + +"It is delicious, simply delicious! I never remember eating another with +quite the same delicate flavour. I presume," addressing herself to Mr. +Hicks, who was standing with arms akimbo enjoying her enjoy it, "it is +due to something in the water?" + +"I presume so," he replied, respectfully, and added: "The trout in the +Yellowstone Lake are said to be very nourishing." + +It was natural that Mrs. Stott should feel a little flattered by this +evidence of partiality even from a menial, also she noticed that Mrs. +Budlong was following each mouthful with the eyes of a hungry bird-dog +so she could not refrain from saying further: + +"It is such a delightful change from ham and bacon. I am not sure," she +averred, laughingly, "that I shall not eat the head and fins, even." + +"I wish _I_ was in such favour," Mrs. Budlong declared, enviously. + +"Never mind, Honey Dumplin'," said Mr. Budlong, "I shall go out after +supper and catch your breakfast." + +"You ought to get a boatload," Hicks added quickly, "if you find the +right place." + +"I saw them jumping by the million where I was walking before supper." +Mr. Appel volunteered to conduct Mr. Budlong to the spot as soon as they +were finished eating. + +Everyone who had fishing-tackle decided to avail himself of this +wonderful opportunity, and they all followed Mr. Appel except Mr. and +Mrs. Stott, who preferred to fish by themselves from the bridge over the +Yellowstone river. + +They were the last to leave but returned in not more than twenty +minutes, Mr. Stott supporting his wife in what seemed to be a fainting +condition. + +Wallie hastened forward to lend his assistance if necessary. + +"Is she ill?" he inquired, solicitously. + +"Ill! She is sick at her stomach and no wonder!" He was plainly angry +and appeared to direct his wrath at Wallie. + +While Wallie wondered, it did not seem a propitious moment to ask +questions, and he would have turned away had Mr. Stott not said +peremptorily: + +"Wait a minute. I want to speak to you." + +Having laid Mrs. Stott, who was shuddering, on her blankets and +administered a few drops of aromatic spirits of ammonia, he dropped the +flap of her teepee and beckoned Wallie curtly: + +"You come with me." + +Wallie could not do else than follow him, his wonder growing as he led +the way to the camp kitchen where Mr. Hicks was engaged at the moment +in the task which he referred to as "pearl-diving." + +He did not appear surprised to see them in his domain, on the contrary +he seemed rather to be expecting them, for immediately he took his hands +out of the dish-water, wiped them on the corner of his apron, and +reaching for a convenient stick of stove-wood laid it on the corner of +the table with a certain significance in the action. + +"Make yourself to home, gents," he said, hospitably, indicating the +wagon-tongue and a cracker-box for seats, respectively. "Anything in +particular I can do for you?" He looked at Mr. Stott guilelessly. + +"You can answer me a few questions." Mr. Stott fixed a sternly accusing +eye upon him. "Hicks, was, or was not, that trout you gave my wife, +wormy?" + +Mr. Hicks, who seemed to relish the situation, pursed his lips and +considered. Finally he asked in a tone which showed that he had pride in +his legal knowledge: + +"Will I or will I not incriminate myself by answering?" + +"You probably will if I'm correct in my suspicions. I want the truth." + +"Then," replied Mr. Hicks, while his hand slipped carelessly to the +stick of stove-wood, "if you force the issue, I will say that I've seen +a good many wormy trout come out of the Yellowstone but that was the +worst I ever met up with." + +Mr. Stott advanced belligerently. + +"And you dare boast of it!" + +"I'm not boasting--I'm just telling you," replied Mr. Hicks, calmly. "An +Eye for an Eye, a Tooth for a Tooth, that's my motto, and your wife +thought I wasn't good enough to eat at the table with her." + +"You hear?" Stott turned to Wallie furiously. "He did it on purpose. I +demand that you discharge this fellow!" + +Mr. Hicks' fingers caressed the stove-wood while he waited Wallie's +answer. + +Wallie squirmed between the two of them. + +"It was reprehensible, Mr. Stott, I am more distressed than I can tell +you. I have no excuse to offer for Hicks' action, but the truth is, as +he knows and has taken advantage of it, I cannot replace him and it is +impossible to get along without a cook with so large a party." + +"You will, then, not discharge him?" Stott demanded. + +"I am helpless," Wallie reiterated. + +Hicks grinned triumphantly. + +"In that case," Mr. Stott declared in a tone which implied that a +tremendous upheaval of some kind would follow his decision, "my wife and +I will leave your party and continue through the Park by motor." + +Wallie felt that it was useless to argue with any one so determined, so +he made no effort to persuade Mr. Stott to remain, though the deflection +of two more persons was a serious matter to him and Pinkey. + +Without waiting to say good-bye to the others, the Stotts paid their +bill and departed, walking so erect in their indignation as they started +down the road toward the Lake Hotel that they seemed to lean backward. + +It was not yet dark when Mr. Stott, stepping briskly and carrying his +Gladstone bag, raincoat, and umbrella in a jaunty manner, came into camp +announcing breezily that he had decided, upon reflection, not to "bite +off his nose to spite his face." He declared that he would not let the +likes of Ellery Hicks upset his plans for touring the Yellowstone, and +while his wife refused to return he meant to carry out his original +intention. + +But the real reason for Mr. Stott's decision, as Wallie suspected from +the frequency with which he had discovered him sitting upon a log in +secluded spots counting his money, was that the hotel rates and motor +fare were far higher then he had anticipated. + +Mrs. Stott's absence did not leave the gap which she had anticipated. In +fact, after the first evening her name was never mentioned, and Mr. +Stott's marital ties rested so lightly upon him that a stranger would +never have known they existed. He gravitated toward Miss Gaskett with a +promptitude which gave rise to the suspicion that he had had his eye +upon her, and Miss Gaskett responded so enthusiastically that it was a +matter for gossip. + +It was noted that she took to doing her hair up at night on "wavers" and +used her lipstick with greater frequency, and whereas she had vowed she +meant never again to get in the saddle she now rode with Mr. Stott +daily. + +The ladies who had known Miss Gaskett for twenty-five years, and nothing +to her discredit, were not prepared to say that she was a huzzy and a +vampire without further evidence, but they admitted to each other +privately that they always had felt there was something queer and not +quite straightforward about Mattie. + +Miss Gaskett, who looked like a returned missionary that had had a hard +time of it carrying the Light into the dark places, seemed rather elated +than depressed at the aspersions cast upon her character, and by the +time they reached the "Paint Pots" she was flaunting Mr. Stott +shamelessly, calling him "Harry" before everybody, and in the evening +sitting with him by the camp-fire on the same saddle-blanket. + +At Mammoth Hot Springs Mrs. Budlong showed her disapproval by refusing +to speak to Miss Gaskett, and Miss Gaskett replied by putting on a +peek-a-boo blouse that was a scandal. + +But Mrs. Budlong herself was not in too high favour, since to the sin of +gluttony she had added that of lying and been caught at it. It was a +small matter, but, as Mrs. Appel declared indignantly, it is trifles +that betray character, and Mrs. Budlong was treated with marked coldness +by the ladies to whom she had prevaricated. + +It was known beyond the question of a doubt that Mrs. Budlong had +purchased food and kept it in her teepee. Therefore, when asked for +something to ward off a faint feeling before dinner and she had denied +having anything, they were outspoken in their resentment. + +"There she stood and lied to our faces," Mrs. Appel declared to her +husband afterward, "while her mouth was shining. I could smell sardines +on her and a big cracker crumb was lying on her bosom. Indeed, it's a +true saying they have in this country that to know people you must camp +with them. I never would have thought that of Hannah Budlong!" + +It was because of this incident, and the strained relations which +resulted from her perfidy, that none of her erstwhile friends responded +to her invitation to join her in a bath in a beaver dam of which Mr. +Hicks told her when they camped early the next afternoon. + +Mrs. Budlong's phlegmatic body contained an adventurous spirit, and the +delights of a bath in a beaver dam in the heart of a primeval forest +appealed to her strongly. + +To Mr. Hicks, who sought her out purposely to tell her about it, she +confided: + +"Hicks, underneath my worldly exterior I am a Child of Nature. I love +the simple, the primitive. I would live as a Wild Thing if I could +choose my environment." + +Mr. Hicks nodded sympathetically and understandingly, and returned the +confidence. + +"I am convinced that I was a faun when the world was young. There are +times when I feel the stirrings of my wild nature." + +Mrs. Budlong regarded him attentively. She never had thought of him as a +faun but now she noticed that his ears _were_ peculiar. + +Nobody could have been more obliging and interesting than Mr. Hicks as +he guided her to the beaver dam and explained its construction. It had +long since been abandoned by the industrious animals that had built it, +but their work had been so well done that it was in as good condition as +when they had left it. + +There was nothing to fear from beavers; anyway, Hicks assured her, he +never had known a beaver to attack anybody. In this isolated spot she +was as safe from intrusion as if she were in her own bathroom, and, +after tramping down a spot in the brush for her to stand on, he went +away declaring that he was sure she would have an experience she always +would remember. + +Left alone, Mrs. Budlong felt of the water. It was, as Hicks had said, +even warmer than tepid from standing--an ideal temperature. The brush +grew high around the pond formed by the back-water and made a perfect +shelter. No fear of prying eyes need disturb her. + +Then a daring thought came to her which made her black eyes sparkle. +Suppose she did not wear any bathing suit! What an adventure to relate +to her intimate friends when she returned to Mauch Chunk, Pennsylvania! +It laid hold of her imaginative mind, and the result was that Mrs. +Budlong hung her suit on a bush and went in _au naturelle_. + +She waded in cautiously, for the bottom was soft and oozy and there were +little patches of green floating on the surface that she did not so much +like the looks of. Otherwise conditions were perfect, and Mrs. Budlong +submerged like a submarine when she reached the middle of it. She came +up and stood looking at the sky above her, enjoying the feeling of the +sunshine on her skin, and the soft, warm breeze that caressed her. She +smiled at an interested blue-jay, then submerged again, deeper, and the +tide rose so that the water lapped bushes and pebbles that had not been +wet all summer. + +Her smile grew wider as she thought what the others were missing, and +was considering how much she dared embellish the adventure without being +detected, when, suddenly, a look of horror came to her face and stayed +there, while screams that sounded more like the screeches of a lynx or +mountain-lion than those of a human being scared the blue-jay and +brought those in camp up standing. Piercing, hair-raising, unnatural as +they were, Mr. Budlong recognized them. + +"My wife! Help! Murder! Hicks, where is she? Find a weapon and come with +us!" + +"I gotta get supper," Hicks replied, heartlessly. + +Mr. Appel, Mr. Stott, and old Mr. Penrose dashed into their tents and +dashed out carrying firearms that had been sealed by the Park officials, +as is customary, while Mr. Budlong in his frenzy snatched a pair of +scissors from Miss Eyester and headed the posse which expected to pursue +the murderer. He was not a murderer yet, however, for Mrs. Budlong's +screams had not diminished in volume, although it was feared that worse +than death might already have befallen her. Her shrieks guided them like +a lighthouse siren, so they lost no time in taking wrong directions but, +at that, it was a considerable distance and Mr. Budlong, in spite of the +agonized thoughts which goaded him forward, was so handicapped by his +asthma that he gradually fell to the rear of the rescue party. + +Mr. Stott was then in the lead, with Mr. Appel a close second, until the +latter, who was wearing bedroom slippers, stumped his toes against a +rock with such force that he believed them broken. He dropped down +immediately with the pain of it and sat weaving to and fro, clasping his +foot to his breast while the others passed him. + +Mr. Stott called that help was arriving as he crashed through the brush +in the vicinity of the beaver dam. To his astonishment Mrs. Budlong +shrieked: + +"Don't come!" and went on screaming. When he reached the pond he stopped +short and stood there, and old Mr. Penrose joined him an instant later. + +Mr. Appel, alternately limping and hopping yet covering ground with +surprising rapidity, reached the others ahead of Mr. Budlong, who, +staggering with exhaustion, huge drops on his pallid face, and wheezing +like an old accordeon, all but fainted when he saw the wife of his +bosom. + +Mrs. Budlong, looking like a corn-fed Aphrodite, stood in the middle of +the pool, with her fat white back, wet and glistening, flecked with +brown particles that resembled decayed vegetation. + +"What's the matter, Honey Dumplin'?" cried Mr. Budlong, shocked and +bewildered. + +For answer, Mrs. Budlong screamed the harder. + +"I know!" piped up Mr. Appel. "She's covered with +leeches--blood-suckers--and can't get 'em off. I got 'em once swimmin' +in stagnant water." + +When he spoke he called attention to the fact of his presence and that +of Mr. Stott and old Mr. Penrose. Instead of being grateful for the +information, and for the assistance the others had expected to render, +Mr. Budlong turned upon them all furiously: + +"Get out of here you Peeping Toms and spying libertines! Haven't you any +shame about you?" + +He raised the scissors so threateningly that as soon as they recovered +from their astonishment they retreated, but, at that, their haste was +not sufficient to appease an outraged husband. Mr. Budlong picked up a +pebble and threw it with such a sure aim that it bounced between Mr. +Stott's shoulder-blades. + +When he had picked off the blood-suckers that were battening on Mrs. +Budlong, the two returned to camp and lost no time in serving notice on +Wallie that they were leaving by the first passing conveyance if they +had to buy it. + +Whether or not Mr. Hicks had known of the leeches was a matter for much +discussion, and opinion was about equally divided as to his innocence. +He disclaimed all knowledge of them, however, and went about with the +air of one cruelly maligned. + +His martyr-like pose was not convincing to Wallie, who could not rid +himself of the suspicion that the incident had been planned, though +Pinkey contended that he did not believe Hicks was "deep" enough to +think of anything like that. + +"Anyhow, he's cost us three dudes," said Wallie, which remark was +sufficient to set Pinkey figuring with a stick. + +"Three head of dudes at $5.00 a day for, say, eleven days is, say----" + +"They're gone and that's all there is to it. The thing for us to do is +to see that no more leave," Wallie interrupted practically. + +"I'm not worryin' about them," Pinkey replied, confidently, "if we can +jest hold that cook. We've got to humour him till we git through this +trip, then after he's paid off I aim to work him over and leave him for +somebody to drag out." + +But as if to make amends for the loss he had caused his employers, +Hicks' manner grew increasingly saccharine and he redoubled his efforts +to provide entertainment for the guests. By the time they arrived at the +Caņon Hotel Wallie was questioning his suspicions of Hicks and felt +inclined to believe that he had been hasty in his judgment. + +He was undoubtedly an asset, for the entire party hung on his words and +relied upon him to see that they missed nothing of interest. Mr. Stott +was indebted to him for an experience which relegated the Florida +hoot-owl to the background, though the thrill of the adventure was so +intermingled with anguish that it was impossible to tell where one left +off and the other began. + +Sliding down the snow-covered side of a mountain in a frying-pan was +fraught with all the sensations Hicks had described and some he had +omitted. + +When they had reached the particular spot which he had recommended for +the sport, in lieu of a frying-pan, Hicks gave Mr. Stott a well-worn +gold-pan that he had found somewhere. + +Starting at the top with the party as spectators, Mr. Stott shot down +the side like the proverbial bullet, but midway his whoops of ecstasy +changed to cries of acute distress, owing to the fact that the friction +wore a hole through the pan to the size of a dollar, and Mr. Stott, +unable to stop his unique toboggan or endure the torture longer, turned +over and finished the trip on his stomach. + +Mr. Stott's eyes often rested upon Hicks afterward with a questioning +look in them, but the cook's solicitude had been so genuine that cynical +as his legal training had made him, he was obliged to think that it was +purely an accident which might not happen one time in a million. + +No point in the Park had been anticipated more than the camp at the +Caņon where Mr. Hicks averred that the bears came in swarms to regale +themselves upon the hotel garbage. Their tour thus far had been a +disappointment in that the wild animals, with which they had been +informed the Park teemed, were nowhere in evidence. + +A deer had crossed the road ahead of them and they had gazed at a band +of elk through Mr. Penrose's field-glasses, but otherwise they had seen +nothing that they could not have seen in Pennsylvania. + +Mr. Hicks' tales of the bears had aroused their interest to such a point +that as soon as the camp site was selected they loaded their cameras and +kodaks and set off immediately to get pictures while the light was +favourable. + +It chanced to be one of the days, however, when the bears had no taste +for garbage and although they waited until nearly supper-time not a bear +put in its appearance. Mr. Penrose, in particular, was disappointed and +vexed about it, and while it was unreasonable to hold Hicks in any way +accountable for their absence, he could not refrain from saying +disagreeably: + +"I think you have exaggerated this bear business, Hicks. I have no doubt +that a bear or two may come down occasionally, I have the word of others +for it, but as for droves of bears--swarms--I think you have +overstated." + +Mr. Hicks cringed under the criticism, and admitted with a conciliatory +whine in his voice that was rather sickening: + +"Perhaps I did enlarge a little, Mr. Penrose. Possibly I was +over-anxious to be interesting. I apologize sincerely if I have misled +and disappointed you. I hope, however, that you will yet have the +opportunity of seeing at least one before we leave here." + +"No such luck," Mr. Penrose growled at him. "I haven't any idea that +I'll see even the tracks. It's a good idea to cut in two everything +you're told in this country and then divide it." + +Mr. Penrose was so hard on Hicks that Mr. Appel interposed quickly: + +"Do they ever come around at night, Cookie?" + +"So I have been informed," Mr. Hicks replied, conservatively. + +Pinkey was about to say that bears travelled more by night than in +daytime, when Mr. Appel declared that he intended to sleep in the +sleeping bag he had brought with him but which Mrs. Appel had not +permitted him to use because she felt nervous alone, in her teepee. + +Mrs. Appel protested against Mr. Appel thus recklessly exposing himself +to danger but Mr. Appel was mulish in the matter. + +"If, by chance, one _should_ come into camp I would have a good look at +him. I may never have another such opportunity." + +"If you want to take your life in your hands, well and good." + +So, after supper, Mr. Appel unrolled his sleeping bag and spread it on a +level spot not far from the supply wagon. Then he kissed Mrs. Appel, who +turned her cheek to him, and buttoned himself into the bag. + +The talk of bears had made Aunt Lizzie Philbrick so nervous that as an +extra precaution she pinned the flap of her tent down securely with a +row of safety-pins and Mr. Stott not only slept in more of his clothes +than usual but put a pair of brass knuckles under his pillow. + +These brass knuckles had been presented to Mr. Stott by a grateful +client for whom he had obtained damages from a street railway company +for injuries received through being ejected from a saloon six months +prior to the date upon which he had fallen off the car step. + +Brass knuckles and a convenient length of lead-pipe were favourite +weapons with the clientele which gave to the waiting room of Mr. Stott's +law office an odour reminiscent of a Wayfarers' Lodging House. + +The night was a dark one, so dark in fact that old Mr. Penrose felt some +little hesitation when it came bed-time over going off to sleep by +himself in the brush where, owing to his unfortunate habit of snoring so +loud as to be beyond anything human, they now placed his teepee. + +There was not a glimmer of moonlight or starlight to guide him as he +went stumbling and crashing through the brush to his rag residence. His +thoughts were not so much of four-footed visitors as of footpads and the +ease with which they could attack him and get away with his +grandfather's watch which he was wearing. + +Out in the open, Mr. Appel was enjoying the novelty tremendously, though +he was a little too warm for comfort in his fleece-lined bag. But after +the last candle had been extinguished he called to his wife cheerily: + +"Are you all right, dearie?" + +Mrs. Appel was not to be so easily propitiated and did not answer, so he +called again: + +"This is great--simply great! I wish you were with me." + +Only Mr. Appel and his Maker knew that he screwed up his cheek and +winked at the fabrication. + +Sleep came quickly to the tired tourists, and soon there was no sound +save the distant tinkle of the bell on one of the horses and the faint +rumble of Mr. Penrose's slumbers. + +It was eleven o'clock or thereabouts, and the clouds had rifted letting +through the starlight, when dark forms began to lumber from the +surrounding woods and pad around the camp, sniffing at various objects +and breathing heavily. + +There were bears of all sizes and ages, ranging from yearlings to +grandfathers whose birthdays were lost in antiquity. Mr. Appel, who was +a light sleeper and the first to discover them, would have sworn on a +monument of Bibles that there were at least fifty of them--the size of +mastodons. + +Palpitating in his sleeping bag in the midst of them, he may be excused +for exaggeration, although, exactly, there were only eight of them. + +The cold sweat broke out on Mr. Appel and he thought that surely the +thumping of his heart must attract their attention. In such mortal +terror as he never had experienced or imagined he quaked while he +speculated as to whether the bear that first discovered him would +disembowel him with one stroke of his mighty paw, and leave him, or +would scrunch his head between his paws and sit down and eat on him? + +But once the bears had located the supply-wagon, they went about their +business like trained burglars. Standing on their hind legs, they +crowded about it, tearing open sacks, scattering food, tossing things +hither and thither, jostling each other and grunting when they found +something to their liking. + +Their grunting and quarrelling finally awakened Hicks and McGonnigle, +who started up in their blankets, yelling. Their whoops aroused +everybody except old Mr. Penrose, who was sleeping with his deaf ear +uppermost and would not have heard a Big Bertha. + +Mr. Stott slipped on his brass knuckles and stood with his head out of +the tent opening, adding his shouts to those of Hicks and McGonnigle, +who, by now, were hurling such missiles as they could lay their hands +on. Instead of having hysterics as might have been expected, Aunt Lizzie +Philbrick astonished herself and others by standing out in the open with +her petticoat over her nightgown, prepared to give battle with the heel +of her slipper to the first bear that attacked her. + +It was not until Mr. Hicks got hold of two washbasins and used them as +cymbals that the bears paid any attention. But this sound, added to the +pandemonium of screaming women, finally frightened them. Then, +scattering in all directions, they started back to the shadows. + +Suddenly Mr. Appel let out such a cry as seemed that it must not only +split his throat but rend the very heavens. Small wonder! A cinnamon +bear weighing in the neighbourhood of eight hundred pounds planted its +left hind foot in the pit of his stomach as it went galloping away to +the timber. + +In the brush where Mr. Penrose had been sleeping tranquilly other things +were happening. In the midst of his slumbers, a dream in which he +thought he was being dragged to the fire like a calf for branding came +to him. The dream grew so real that it awakened him. He received a swift +and unpleasant impression that he was moving, then he was startled to +find that he was not only moving, but moving so rapidly that the canvas +bottom of his tent was scraping on the rocks and brush over which it +travelled. + +Mr. Penrose was enraged instantly. At best he had little patience with +practical jokers and none at all with one who had the impudence to +awaken him. He called out angrily. + +The tent stopped moving and there was quiet. + +Mr. Penrose, who had raised himself on his elbow, laid down and was +about to begin where he had left off when his domicile resumed its +journey. + +Now thoroughly aroused, he sprang up and tore at the flap-fastenings. + +"This is going to stop right here!" he cried, furiously. "I do not +appreciate this odious Western humour. You have chosen the wrong person +to play your jokes on!" + +He reached for the pointed fish-pole which was lying in its case in the +bottom of the tent and stepped through the opening. + +A burly figure in a big overcoat stood in the deep shadow confronting +him. + +Mr. Penrose was bare-footed and his soles were tender but he advanced +far enough to bring the pole down with a thwack upon the head of the +intruder. + +"Woof! Woof!" + +The answer raised his hair and galvanized his whiskers. + +"Woof! Woof!" A great paw fanned the air--he could feel the wind from it +plainly as it reached out to cuff him--and the claws on the end of it +tore the front of the flannel shirt in which he slept to ribbons. + +"Woof! Woof!" And then a roar that reverberated through the timber. + +Mr. Penrose swore afterward that the hot breath of the brute was in his +face, but the statement is open to question since at the first "Woof!" +he had fallen into his tent backward. + +No one dreamed of the adventure Mr. Penrose was having until he appeared +among them with his shirt bosom in shreds and trembling like an aspen. +In one hand he carried a sizeable chunk of bacon. + +"This," he cried, brandishing it, "is what I found tied to my teepee!" + +The explanation was obvious, someone had baited his tent for bear on +purpose, and, since there was no way of obtaining evidence against the +culprit, Mr. Penrose in his unreasoning rage accused everybody. + +"Ever since I came, you have all had a pick on me!" He glared at them. +"You needn't think you're so smart I haven't seen it." + +Everyone was so surprised at the accusation that they could only stare, +speechless, at him. With his white beard, rags, and bare-footed, Mr. +Penrose looked like the Count of Monte Cristo telling the world what he +was going to do to it as he added, waving the bacon: + +"I'm going home to-morrow--to Delaware--back to my peach orchard--and if +any one of you ever say you know me--much less speak to me--I shall deny +it. I'm done with the whole caboodle of you!" + +Protestations were useless and efforts to dissuade him from his purpose +of leaving. The next morning he packed his bag and started down the road +without saying good-bye to any one. + +His departure reduced the party to half its original number, and that +was bad enough, but when by lunch-time Mr. Appel had developed a +soreness which led him to believe he was injured internally and should +consult a physician, the situation became infinitely worse to Wallie and +Pinkey. + +As a matter of course they expected his wife to accompany him, but what +they had not known was that Miss Gaskett had been put in Mrs. Appel's +charge by her parents and in the light of her indiscreet conduct with +Mr. Stott it was deemed best that she should return with them. + +It was a terrible disappointment to Miss Gaskett, who cried bitterly and +in an unguarded moment told her age, approximately, sobbing that it was +preposterous that one of her years should not be permitted to finish a +trip which she was so enjoying. + +But Mrs. Appel was obdurate, declaring that she did not care to take the +responsibility of leaving her without a proper chaperon, since Aunt +Lizzie was too unworldly to be a safe guardian and Miss Eyester was +herself unmarried. + +Miss Gaskett was compelled to succumb to the argument and the three were +driven to the nearest hotel after luncheon, leaving Wallie and Pinkey +with the sickening knowledge that now it was not possible to "break +even," to say nothing of a profit. Every day they were out would put +them in debt a little deeper, but they both were agreed they would +finish the trip whatever happened. + +The evening was a gloomy one as compared to others, and although they +built a camp-fire as usual there was none of the customary gaiety around +it. + +Mr. Stott sat alone on his saddle-blanket lost in meditation of a sombre +nature, and Pinkey and Miss Eyester whispered apart. + +Wallie was in no mood for conversation, while Mr. Hicks, with the +delicacy which now marked his every action, smoked alone in the shadow, +making no effort to intrude himself upon his betters. Even "Red" +McGonnigle, reclining on his elbow staring into the embers, seemed +pensive and disinclined to take advantage of the opportunity which the +silence gave him to hear his own voice. So only Aunt Lizzie Philbrick +remained to give life to the party, and Aunt Lizzie, while a woman of +high principle and fine character, was, admittedly, not stimulating. + +Aunt Lizzie had snow-white hair drawn tightly from her forehead and a +corpse-like pallor to match it. She could not possibly look any +different in her coffin, because so far as appearances went she might +have been dead for a decade. Her manner was helpless, her voice gentle +and hesitating, while in repose she ordinarily gave the impression of +being in a state of suspended animation. + +But to-night she was strangely restless, her thin white hands fluttered +nervously, and she moved her camp chair so often that everyone wondered +silently what was the matter with her. There was a red spot on either +cheek which might have been the heat of the fire or excitement. At any +rate, it was plain to the least observant that Aunt Lizzie was perturbed +by something. + +Finally, during one of her frequent movings, she inadvertently set the +leg of her camp chair in a hole and went over backward. Mr. Hicks, who +bounded from the shadow, was the first to reach her and everyone was +astonished to hear her cry, when he would have assisted her. + +"Don't touch me!" + +Everyone felt rather sorry for Hicks when he returned to his seat +crestfallen while Aunt Lizzie went off at a stiff-legged trot to her +teepee without saying good-night to anybody. + +When some extraordinary accident was not befalling Aunt Lizzie, who +seemed the essence of mediocrity, she was always doing the unexpected, +so little was thought of it after the first surprise at her rudeness, +and the others shortly said good-night and retired also. + +Wallie stood alone by the dying camp-fire, wondering what the morrow +might hold for him--if any bad luck could come that had not already +happened. If so, he could not imagine it, for it seemed he had run the +gamut of misfortune. + +In this he was mistaken, for when they stopped at noon-day he received a +blow from the last quarter he had expected--Aunt Lizzie. + +The day had not begun too auspiciously, for when something like two +miles on their journey Mr. Stott remembered that he had left his soap on +a rock, and since it was expensive soap felt he must return for it. He +had galloped the distance and back again, joining the party with his +horse sweating, and Wallie had warned him curtly that the day promised +to be a hot one and he must ride slowly. + +"_Please_ do not get ahead of the grub-wagon," Wallie had said with +emphasis. + +Mr. Stott had done as requested just so long as it suited him, and then +passing Wallie with a little laugh of defiance had raced to lead the +procession. In consequence, when Hicks pulled to the roadside for lunch +somewhat earlier than usual, Mr. Stott did not know it and continued +riding. + +The heat was terrific, and animals and humans suffered alike while the +gypsum dust which rose in clouds added to the discomfort. Gnats and +mosquitoes, deer-flies and "no-see-ems" attacked in clouds and as +viciously as if they had double rows of teeth and rapiers. It was the +most unpleasant day they had encountered, everyone's nerves were on +edge, and there has been more gaiety in a mourner's carriage than in the +surrey where "Red" tried vainly to interest Aunt Lizzie. + +Wallie was too angry with Mr. Stott to care for luncheon, so after a +bite he betook himself to the shade of a tree, and sat down to smoke, +with his back against it. + +He was thinking of the buckskin and how jaded it had looked that morning +and wondering if its already stiffened shoulders would get over it if he +pulled off its shoes and turned it into a soft pasture. His speculations +were interrupted by Aunt Lizzie, who stood before him twisting her +fingers in embarrassment. + +A peerless beauty could not have passed unscathed through such a +morning, but the havoc it had wrought in Aunt Lizzie's looks was nothing +short of startling. + +Her lids were inflamed and swollen from the bites of the "no-see-ems," +her nose was red, and her eyes watered from the gypsum dust which +affected her like hay-fever, her sailor hat had slipped to the back of +her head and her "scolding locks" were hanging like a fringe over a +soiled linen collar. One would have said that Aunt Lizzie could have +traversed the earth unmolested, not excepting the bandits because of +whom she had fled Mexico. + +Something of the sort passed through Wallie's mind as he waited the +explanation of her obvious confusion. + +"I have something--very awkward--to say to you, Wallie." + +The harried expression which was becoming chronic leaped into his eyes +at the introduction, as he asked himself what now might be portending. + +"It's rather indelicate to discuss with a gentleman," she continued, +braiding her fingers. + +Wallie was alarmed but, anxious to set her at her ease, he said +encouragingly: + +"You can talk as freely to me as if I were your--father." + +He had not had time to visualize himself as Aunt Lizzie's father when +she went on in a short-breathed fashion: + +"I fear that I shall have to leave you, Wallie, as soon as possible." + +Wallie's wonder grew, but he said nothing. + +"I think--I fear--I believe," she stammered, "that Mr. Hicks is of a +very ardent temperament." + +Wallie could not have spoken now had he wanted to. + +"Since yesterday I have found him looking at me frequently in a peculiar +manner. Last night he stared at me with his burning eyes until I could +feel his hypnotic influence. I hope--I trust you will believe I have not +given him any encouragement?" + +Wallie's jaw, which had fallen, prevented him from reassuring her that +he believed her blameless. + +"So far, the tongue of scandal has never laid hands on me," she +declared, mixing her metaphors in her agitation, "but I feel that it is +a risk I should not take to travel about the country with a company of +men and only an unmarried woman in the party." + +Wallie managed to mumble: + +"You are as safe here as if you were in a convent, Aunt Lizzie." + +It would have seemed from her expression that she preferred not to think +so, however. + +"You understand how I feel, don't you?" she pleaded. + +"Perfectly! Perfectly!" Wallie replied, too dazed to make any other +answer. He would have been only a little less astounded if the old lady +had announced her intention of opening a dance-hall upon her return to +Prouty. + +Aunt Lizzie's desertion, and for such a reason, was the last thing he +had anticipated. It seemed like the final straw laid upon a back already +breaking. He watched her toddle away, and sat down again gloomily. + +At the supply-wagon Mr. Hicks was putting the food away, commenting +profanely upon the flies, the heat, the tardiness of Mr. Stott, the +injustice of things in general, and in particular the sordid necessity +which obliged him to occupy this humble position when he was so +eminently fitted to fill a higher one. + +He threw a stick at a "camp-robber" that had flown down and taken a +pick at a plate on a stump which contained the lunch he had saved for +Mr. Stott, and his expression was so diabolic that it was the first time +for many days that he had looked natural. + +"Red" McGonnigle, with his hat over his face, dozed in the shade of the +bed-wagon. Aunt Lizzie busied herself with preparations for departure. +Miss Eyester perused the testimonials for a patent medicine contained in +a pamphlet left by previous campers. Insects droned, heat waves +shimmered, the horses stood sleeping in their nose-bags. It was a +peaceful noon-day scene, but Macpherson and Company, now sitting on +their heels discussing their prospects, or lack of them, had no eye for +it. + +One thought was uppermost, their bubble was punctured, they were worse +than ruined, for their horses and outfit were mortgaged almost up to +their value, and in addition, they had borrowed at the bank, counting on +paying off all their indebtedness when the Park trip was finished. + +"I s'pose I can git a job herdin' sheep--they's good money in it--but +I'll be an old man before I can afford to git married, to say nothin' of +the disgrace of it." Pinkey's voice sounded hopeless. + +The plaint gave Wallie such a pang that he could not answer, but with a +twig played a game of tick-tack-toe in the dust, while he thought +bitterly that no one could blame Helene Spenceley for preferring Canby +to a person who seemed destined to failure in whatever he attempted. + +He was another of the "four-flushers," he told himself, and the country +was full of them, who just fell short of doing something and being +somebody. Probably, in time, he would have no ambition beyond working +for a "grub-stake" in summer so he could "shack up" in winter. He would +let his hair grow, and go sockless, and buy new clothes rather than wash +his old ones, and eat from soiled dishes, and read mail-order catalogues +for entertainment, and dog-gone it! why couldn't he bring himself to +think of marrying some respectable girl like the blacksmith's daughter +there in Prouty, who had no chin and a fine complexion and cooked like +an angel and never said a cross word to anybody? + +Since Wallie was too uncommunicative to be interesting, Pinkey got up +and left him to his reflections, remarking philosophically as he +departed to join Miss Eyester: + +"Well, I never heard of anybody bein' hanged for owin' money, so I guess +there's no use in us goin' around with the double-breasted blues over +it. We might as well whistle and say we like it." + +Wallie looked after his partner almost angrily. + +Oh, yes, it was well enough for him to talk about being cheerful and not +worrying, but he guessed he would not be so chipper and so easily +resigned to disappointment if he had nothing more to which to look +forward than he had. + +The lugubrious voice of Mr. Hicks declaiming reached him: + + "Come, fill the Cup, and in the fire of Spring + Your Winter-garment of Repentance fling! + The Bird of Time has but a little way + To flutter--and the bird is on the wing." + +That was the worst of it, Wallie thought despairingly. The Bird of Time +had but a little way to flutter. He was so old--twenty-seven! The +realization that he was still a failure at this advanced age increased +his misery. He was a fool to go on hoping that he meant anything to +Helene Spenceley or ever would; but, just the same--Wallie stood up and +squared his shoulders--if he couldn't have the woman he wanted there +wouldn't be any other! He would sell his place for what he could get for +it, pay his debts, and go to Tahiti and be a beach-comber, or to +Guatemala and start a revolution, or live a hermit in the Arctic Circle, +trapping for a fur company! He would do whatever he could to forget her. + +Then, suddenly, he wished that he was a little boy again and could sit +on Aunt Mary's lap and lay his head on her shoulder the way he used to +when he came home from school with a sick headache. It always had +comforted him. A heartache was worse than a headache by a whole lot. +Somehow he was so lonely--so inexpressibly lonely. He had not felt like +this even that first winter on his homestead. + +A lump rose in his throat to choke him, and he was about to turn away +lest someone see the mist in his eyes that blinded him, and that he felt +horribly ashamed of, when the sound of hoofs attracted his attention and +caused him to grow alert in an instant. + +He was sure that it was Stott returning, and then he caught a glimpse of +him through the trees--galloping. + +"Oh, here you are!" exclaimed that person, irritably, as he turned off +the road and came through the brush toward Wallie. + +There was a bright shine in Wallie's eyes as he walked toward him. + +"Why didn't you tell me you were going to camp in the middle of the +morning?" Stott demanded in his rasping voice as he dismounted. + +Wallie returned evenly: + +"You know as well as I do that choosing a camp is left to Hicks' +judgment. I told you not to get ahead of the supply-wagon." + +"If you think I'm going to poke along behind like a snail, you're +mistaken!" Stott retorted. + +Wallie's face went white under its tan, though his voice was quiet +enough as he answered: + +"You'll 'poke' this afternoon, I'm thinking." + +Stott turned sharply. + +"What do you mean by that?" + +"Just what I said. Look at that horse!" + +The buckskin's head was hanging, its legs were trembling, there was not +a dry hair on it and the sweat was running in rivulets. Its sides were +swollen at the stirrup where the spurs had pricked it, and the corners +of its mouth were raw and bleeding. + +Wallie continued and his voice now was savage: + +"You're one of the people, and there's plenty like you, that ought to be +prevented by law from owning either a horse or a gun. This afternoon +you'll ride in the surrey or walk, as suits you." + +Stott laughed insolently. + +"Oh, I guess not!" + +Wallie calmly loosened the latigo. + +Stott took a step toward him with his heavy jaw thrust out and his hand +sought his hip pocket. + +"Don't you take the saddle off that horse!" His tone was menacing. + +A machine that had been purring in the distance passed, slowed up, and +stopped a little way beyond the camp. Wallie heard it but did not look +to see whom it might be bringing, as in answer to Stott's threat he +dropped the cinch and laid his hand upon the horn. + +"If you think I'm bluffing----" + +For answer, Wallie pulled off the saddle. + +Stott hesitated for the fraction of a second, then his arm shot out and +Wallie dropped heavily from the blow beneath the ear which Stott dealt +him. + +There was a sharp cry behind him, but Wallie did not look around as, +still dazed, he got to his feet slowly, with his eyes upon his +antagonist. + +"I warned you!" Stott chortled, and he put his hand behind him to +conceal the brass knuckles he was wearing. + +Helene Spenceley was there; her voice had told him; but he took no +account of that in the choking, blinding rage which now controlled him. + +Before Stott could use his cowardly weapon again Wallie sprang for him, +and with the force and rapidity of a trained fighter landed blow after +blow on the heavy jaw which made a fine target. + +"You----horse-killer! You----braggart and cheapskate! You----shyster +and ambulance chaser!" And with every epithet Wallie landed a punch that +made the lawyer stagger. + +It was not "nice" language; it was not a "nice" thing to do, possibly, +and perhaps the "soft answer" would have been better, but the time had +passed when Wallie set any store by being merely "nice," and he had +forgotten Helene Spenceley's presence, though in any event it would have +made no difference. + +There was only one thought in his mind as he sat astride Stott's chest +when Stott went down finally, and that was to make him say "Enough!" if +he had to hammer him past recognition. + +This did not require so long as one would have thought, considering that +person's boasts as to his courage, but, at that, Stott might well be +excused for wishing to end the punishment he was receiving. In the face +above him, almost brutal in the fury that stamped it, there was no trace +to remind Stott of the youth who had painted cabbage roses and knit +sweaters. + +"Let me up!" he cried, finally, struggling under the merciless blows +that rained upon him. + +"Say it!" Wallie's voice was implacable. + +"'Nough!" Stott whined it. + +Wallie stopped immediately, and the attorney got to his feet, sullen +and humiliated. He stood for a moment rubbing his neck and eyeing +Wallie; then with a return of defiance flung at him: + +"You'll pay for this, young fellow!" + +Wallie's short laugh was mocking. + +"Why don't you sue me for damages? I'd be flattered to death at the +implication that I had any money. It might help my credit." + +With a shrug he turned and walked toward Helene Spenceley. Her eyes were +shining, and there was a singular smile on her face as he went up to +her, but whether she smiled or frowned did not seem to matter much to +Wallie. + +He was not a pretty sight at the moment, and he knew it. A lump had +risen on his jaw and one eye was closing, his hair was powdered with +gypsum dust, and the sleeve of his shirt was torn out at the shoulder, +but he had no apologies to make for anything and there was that in his +manner which said so. + +Helene laughed as she put out her hand to him. + +"Was that a part of the regular programme or an impromptu feature of the +day's entertainment?" + +"It's been brewing," Wallie replied, briefly. + +"Aren't you surprised to see me?" + +"Not particularly." + +"Or glad?" + +"I'm always that." + +"This came yesterday while I was in Prouty, and I volunteered to deliver +it. I thought it might be important." She handed him a telegram. + +"That was good of you." His face softened a little, and still more as he +read the message. + +He passed it to Helene: + + Will you come home if I tell you I was wrong and want you? + + AUNT MARY. + + +Wallie mused softly: + +"It must have been hard for her to write that." + +"Will you go?" Helene asked, quickly. + +Wallie did not answer. He stood motionless, staring at the road where +the heat waves shimmered, his absent gaze following a miniature cyclone +that picked up and whirled a little cloud of powdered gypsum, while +Helene waited. + +Her eyes were upon his face with an expression that would have arrested +his attention if he had seen it, but he seemed to have forgotten her and +her question. + +When he spoke, finally, it was to himself, rather, as if in denunciation +of the momentary temptation which the telegram had been to him. + +"No!" emphatically, "I'm not going back like a prodigal who can't stand +the gaff any longer! I won't slink into a soft berth because it's +offered, and admit that I'm not man enough to stand up and take what +comes to me! I'm licked again--proper--and," harshly, "I don't expect +anybody to believe in me, but I won't _stay_ licked if I can help it!" + +"I'm said to be a good 'picker,' and I've always believed in you, +Wallace Macpherson," Helene said, slowly. + +He stared his incredulity, then replied with ungracious irony: + +"You've concealed it well." + +"Flattery is bad for growing boys," she smiled mischievously. + +"I'm sure you've never spoiled any one by it. You've treated me like a +hound, mostly." + +Her eyes sparkled as she answered: + +"I like hounds, if they have mettle." + +"Even when they run themselves down following a cold trail?" he asked in +self-derision. + +Her reply was interrupted by voices raised in altercation in the +vicinity of the supply-wagon. A clump of bushes concealed the +disputants, but they easily recognized the rasping nasal tones of Mr. +Stott and the menacing bellow peculiar to the cook in moments of +excitement. + +The wrangle ended abruptly, and while Helene and Wallie stood wondering +as to what the silence meant, Pinkey with a wry smile upon his face came +toward them. + +"Well, I guess we're out of the dude business," he said, laconically. + +"What's the matter now?" Wallie demanded so savagely that the two burst +out laughing. + +"Nothin' much, except that Hicks is runnin' Stott with the butcher-knife +and aims to kill him. I don't know as I blame him. He said his grub was +full of ants and looked like scraps for Fido." + +Wallie was alarmed, but Pinkey reassured him. + +"Don't worry! He won't catch him, unless he's got wings, the gait Stott +was travellin'. He'll be at the hotel in about twenty minutes--it's only +five miles. What do you make of this, pardner?" Pinkey handed him a worn +and grimy envelope as he added in explanation: + +"I found it stuck in the cupboard of the wagon." + +Wallie took the envelope, wondering grimly as he turned it over if there +was anything left that could surprise him. There was. On the back was +written: + + Ellery Hicks INSULTED August 3rd, this year of our Lord, 1920. + +Below, in pencil, was a list of the party with every name crossed out +save Mr. Stott's, and at the bottom, ornamented with many curlicues and +beautifully shaded, was the significant sentence, with the date as yet +blank: + + Ellery Hicks AVENGED, August ---- this year of our Lord, 1920. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +"AND JUST THEN----" + + +Mr. Cone stood at his desk, looking all of ten years younger for his +rest at the Sanatorium. Indeed, it was difficult to reconcile this +smiling, affable host of the Magnolia House with the glaring maniac of +homicidal tendencies who had hung over the counter of The Colonial +Hotel, fingering the potato pen-wiper and hurling bitter personalities +at his patrons. + +The Florida hostelry had just opened and the influx of guests promised a +successful season, yet there was a regret and a wistfulness in Mr. +Cone's brown eyes as they scanned the register, for in the long list +there was no name of any member of The Happy Family. + +As all the world knows, sentiment has no place in business, yet for +sentimental reasons solely Mr. Cone had to date refused to rent to +strangers the rooms occupied for so many winters by the same persons. +Ordinarily, it was so well understood between them that they would +return and occupy their usual quarters that he reserved their rooms as a +matter of course and they notified him only when something occurred to +change their plans or detain them. But this winter, owing to the +circumstances in which they had parted, his common sense told him that +if they intended to return to the Magnolia House they would have so +informed him. + +Nevertheless, so strong were the ties of friendship that Mr. Cone +determined to give them forty-eight hours longer, and if by then he had +no word from them, of course there was nothing to think but that the +one-time pleasant relations were ended forever. + +There were strangers aplenty, the "newcomers" had arrived, and Miss Mary +Macpherson, but he wanted to see Henry Appel sitting on his veranda, and +Mrs. Budlong and "C. D.," and Miss Mattie Gaskett--in fact, he missed +one not more than another. + +What did it matter, after all, he reflected, if "Cutie" had kittens in +the linen closet, and that Mrs. Appel used the hotel soap to do her +laundry? As Mr. Cone looked off across the blue waters of the Gulf, +which he could see through the wide open doorway, he wished with all his +heart that he had not "flown off the handle." + +The Happy Family had been friends as well as patrons, and without +friends what did life amount to? The hotel was full of new people, but +in spite of his professional affability Mr. Cone was not one to "cotton" +to everybody, and it would be a long time, he told himself sadly, before +these old friends could be replaced in his affections. + +He would have listened gladly to the story of how Mr. Appel got his +start in life; he was hungry for the sight of Mrs. C. D. Budlong sitting +like a potted oleander; he would have welcomed---- + +Mr. Cone's generous ears seemed suddenly to quiver, almost they went +forward like those of a startled burro. A voice--obstinate, +cantankerous--a voice that could belong to no one on earth but old Mr. +Penrose, was engaged outside in a wrangle with a taxi-cab driver! + +Before Mr. Cone could get around the desk and at the door to greet him, +Mr. Penrose was striding across the office with the porter behind him, +round-shouldered under the weight of two portmanteaux and a bag of golf +clubs. + +Mr. Penrose was the same, yet different in an elusive way that Mr. Cone +could not define exactly. There was an air about him which on the spur +of the moment he might have called "brigandish"--the way he wore his +hat, a slight swagger, a something lawless that surely he never had +acquired in his peach orchard in Delaware. When Mr. Penrose extended his +hand across the counter Mr. Cone noticed that he was wearing a leather +bracelet. + +As they greeted each other like reunited brothers there was nothing in +the manner of either to indicate that they had parted on any but the +happiest terms, though Mr. Penrose's gaze wavered for an instant when he +asked: + +"Is my room ready?" + +"Since the day before yesterday," replied Mr. Cone, turning to the +key-rack. Then generously: + +"What kind of a summer did you have? I trust, a pleasant one." + +Mr. Penrose's faded eyes grew luminous. His voice quavered with eager +enthusiasm as he ignored the efforts of the bell-boy to draw his +attention to the fact that he was waiting to open his room for him. + +"Superb! Magnificent! A wonderful experience! The Land of Adventure! +Cone," Mr. Penrose peered at him solemnly from under his bushy eyebrows, +"I know what it is to look into the jaws of Death, literally!" Mr. +Penrose could look into Mr. Cone's jaws also, for he was so impressive +that the lower one dropped automatically. He added: "I am thankful to be +alive to tell the story." + +"You don't mean it!" + +"Yes. Alone, unarmed, I defended myself against an attack from one of +the savage grizzlies of the Rocky Mountains." + +Mr. Cone's eyes were as round as a child's awaiting a fairy tale. If Mr. +Penrose had needed encouragement they would have furnished it. He +continued: + +"We were camped near the Caņon Hotel where the bears swarm--swarm like +flies over the garbage. A remarkable sight. It was a very dark night--so +dark, in fact, that I hesitated to go to my teepee, which was placed +apart that I might not be disturbed by the others. I must have my rest, +as you will remember. + +"I had been asleep only a few minutes when I was awakened by the feeling +that something was happening. It was. My tent was moving--actually +bounding over rocks and hummocks. + +"Believing myself the victim of a practical joke, I sprang out and +brought my fish-pole down on what I supposed to be the head of a fellow +disguised in a big overcoat. There was a roar that was plainly heard for +miles, and a monster grizzly struck at me. + +"If it had not been for my presence of mind, that would have been the +end of me. Now it was all that saved me. As the bear, on his hind legs, +came toward me with his arms outstretched, to grapple, I ducked and came +up between them, and so close to his body that he was unable to sink his +terrible claws into me. + +"He let out another roar--simply appalling--it will ring in my ears +forever--almost deafened me. Again my remarkable presence of mind came +to my rescue. I reached up and held his jaws open. It was my purpose to +dislocate the lower one, if possible. + +"For fifteen minutes--twenty--perhaps--we fought desperately. Writhing, +struggling, I could feel the brute's hot breath on my face and his +lolling tongue dripped saliva. Finally, his heavy breathing told me he +was getting winded, and I knew that if my strength did not fail me I +should be the victor. Fortunately, I was in splendid physical condition. +Not once did I lose my presence of mind in this terrible crisis. I was +as calm as I am this minute, while the bear was letting out roars of +rage and pain that curdled the blood of those who heard them. + +"At last I made a superhuman effort and backed the brute up against a +tree. Gripping his nose and jaw, I had doubled up my leg and thrust my +knee into his stomach, which was of course cruel punishment--when, just +then----" + +A slight cough made Mr. Penrose turn quickly. Miss Mattie Gaskett, whose +eyes were nearly as large as Mr. Cone's at this version of the +encounter, was standing behind him with "Cutie" in a wicker basket. + +Mr. Penrose looked disconcerted for a moment, and then that presence of +mind of which he boasted came to his assistance and he said +ingratiatingly: + +"This young lady will vouch for the fact that my clothes were in +shreds--ribbons----" + +"Why--er--yes, you had lost your shirt bosom," Miss Gaskett agreed, +doubtfully. + +Remarking that he would finish the story when Mr. Cone had more leisure, +Mr. Penrose "skedaddled" after the bell-boy with unmistakable alacrity. + +"And how is kitty?" inquired Mr. Cone, beaming upon Miss Gaskett. "Did +you take her with you this summer?" + +As he lifted the cover and looked in the basket, "Cutie's" pupils +enlarged and she shrank from him. "Cutie" had a good memory. + +"Luckily for her I did not," Miss Gaskett answered. "If I had, I should +have lost her." + +"Lost her?" + +"Coyotes." + +"They would have _eaten_ her?" + +Miss Gaskett nodded. + +"Undoubteely. They were thick as anything. They howled hideously every +morning before sunrise, and it was not safe to leave one's tent at night +without a weapon." + +"Whew!" Mr. Cone's lips puckered in a whistle. + +His astonishment inspired Miss Gaskett to continue: + +"Yes, indeed! And once when I was out walking ever so far from everybody +I met one face to face. My first impulse was to run, but I thought if I +did so it might attack me, so, trying not to show that I was frightened, +I picked up a stick, and just then----" + +Seeing that Mr. Cone's gaze wandered, Miss Gaskett paused to learn the +cause of it. She flushed as she found that Mrs. Budlong, with a smile +wreathing her face, was listening to the recital. + +"I'll tell you the rest when you are not so busy," Miss Mattie said, +taking her key from Mr. Cone hastily. + +Mrs. Budlong declared that her pleasure equalled his own when Mr. Cone +expressed his delight at seeing her, and there was no thought on the +minds of either as to the hotel rules she had violated or the food she +had carried away from the table in the front of her blouse and her +reticule. + +"You are looking in splendid health, Mrs. Budlong," he asserted, quite +as if that lady ever had looked otherwise. + +"Yes, the change benefited me greatly." A stranger might have gathered +from the plaintive note in her voice that prior to her trip she had +been an invalid. + +"You, too, found the Western country interesting?" + +"Oh, very! At heart, Mr. Cone, I am a Child of Nature, and the primitive +always appeals to me strongly," Mrs. Budlong hesitated and seemed +debating. Having made her decision she asked in an undertone: + +"I can trust you?" + +"_Absolutely_," replied Mr. Cone with emphasis, which intimated that the +torture chamber could not wring from him any secret she chose to +deposit. + +"I had a very peculiar experience in the Yellowstone. I should never +mention it, if you were not more like a brother to me than a stranger. +It is altogether shocking." + +Mr. Cone's eyes sparkled. + +"Purely in a spirit of adventure, I took a bath in a beaver dam. It was +in a secluded spot, and so well protected that I went in--er--I did not +wear my bathing suit. The birds twittered. The arched trees made a green +canopy above me. The sunshine sparkled on the placid bosom of the water. +A gentle breeze, warm, sweet-scented, caressed me as I drank in the +beauty of the scene. + +"Then I plunged in--the temperature was warmer than tepid--delightful. I +felt like a nymph, a water-sprite, or something, as I swam out to the +middle and found a footing. The bottom was rather oozy, and there were +green patches floating on the surface, otherwise it was ideal. + +"Noticing a brown spot on my arm, I touched it. It was squashy and +pulpy. Then it moved! A leech--and it sunk a million feet into me as +soon as I attempted to remove it. I was _black_ with them, if you will +believe me, literally _covered_. Repulsive, disgusting--blood-suckers, +sucking my blood like vacuum-cleaners, Mr. Cone! Imagine my horror." + +Mr. Cone tried to. + +"Another woman would have screamed or fainted," Mrs. Budlong continued, +"but I come of different stock, and ancestry will tell at such moments. +I am a Daughter of the Revolution and my father fought all through the +Civil War as a sutler. Not a sound passed my lips as I got back to +shore, somehow, and, weak from loss of blood, sank down to consider how +to get rid of the leeches. + +"In emergencies I am a resourceful woman. Recalling that I had a +match--only one little match--in my sweater pocket, it occurred to me +that I might build a smudge and smoke them off. I scraped some leaves +together, struck my match, and, just then----" + +But just then Mr. Budlong, who had stopped to look after the trunks, +scuffled in the doorway, and in his eagerness to greet him Mr. Cone +forgot completely the narrative Mrs. Budlong was reciting for his +benefit. Nor did he ever hear its termination. + +Even as the proprietor stood at his desk wondering if the later train +had brought any more prodigals, a commotion on the veranda was followed +by the appearance of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Appel. + +Mr. Appel was using a stick and walking with such difficulty that Mr. +Cone hurried forward and asked with real solicitude: + +"My dear friend, whatever is the matter? Has your old enemy Rheumatism +again got his clutches on you?" + +"Rheumatism!" Mr. Appel snorted. "You lie on your back with 2,000 pounds +on top of you and see how you like it!" + +Mr. Cone was puzzled, and said so. + +Mr. Appel explained tersely: + +"A bear walked on me--that's all that happened. A silvertip stood on +the pit of my stomach and ground his heel into me." + +"_Tsch! tsch! tsch!_" Mr. Cone's eyes were popping. + +"If it were not for the fact that I'm quick in the head my wife would be +a widow. I was in my sleeping bag and saw the bear coming. I knew what +was going to happen, and that I had one chance in a thousand. It flashed +through my mind that a horned toad when threatened with danger will +inflate itself to such an extent that a wagon may pass over it, leaving +the toad uninjured. I drew a deep breath, expanded my diaphragm to its +greatest capacity, and lay rigid. It was all that saved me." + +Again Mr. Cone's tongue against his teeth clicked his astonishment at +this extraordinary experience, and while he congratulated Mr. Appel upon +his miraculous escape he noted that he was wearing souvenirs of his trip +in the way of an elk-tooth scarf-pin and a hat-band of braided horse +hair. + +The same train had brought Mrs. J. Harry Stott apparently, for the +elevator was barely closed upon the victim of the picturesque accident +to which Mr. Cone had just listened, when the office was illumined by +her gracious presence. + +The last time that lady had extended a supine hand it had been to offer +him one of the most serious affronts that can befall a self-respecting +landlord; now the hand contained only cordiality, and in that spirit Mr. +Cone took it. + +"You enjoyed your summer?" As Mr. Cone passed the pen for her to +register. + +"Delightful! Altogether unique! Do you know, Mr. Cone, I never before +have fully appreciated my husband--his splendid courage?" + +"Is that so?" Mr. Cone replied with polite interest. + +"Yes, when put to the test he was magnificent. You see, we had a cook, +oh, a most offensive--a rully violent and dangerous person. In fact, it +was because of him that I left the party prematurely. + +"It was plain that both Wallie and Pinkey were afraid of him, and dared +not discharge him, so, one day when he had been more objectionable than +usual, my husband took things into his own hands--he simply _had_ to! + +"Hicks--his name was Hicks--was disrespectful when Mr. Stott reprimanded +him for something, and then he attempted to strike my husband with a +pair of brass knuckles. Brass knuckles, it seems, are not a gentleman's +weapon, and the cowardly attack so infuriated Mr. Stott that he knocked +the bully down and took them away from him. He still has them. Before +he let him up he pummelled him well, I assure you. Mr. Stott doesn't +know how strong he is when angry. Such muscles! + +"He punished the cook until he begged for mercy and promised to do +better. But as soon as he was on his feet he tried to _stab_ my husband +with a bread-knife. Fancy! Mr. Stott took this away from him, also, and +ran him down the road with it. He ran him for seven miles--_seven +miles_, mind you! The cook was nearly dead when Mr. Stott let up on him. +I had to _drag_ this story from my husband, little by little. But wasn't +it exciting?" + +Mr. Cone, who never had thought of Mr. Stott as such a warrior, tried to +visualize the episode, and though he failed to do so he was greatly +impressed by it. + +He stood for some time after Mrs. Stott had left him, reflecting +enviously that his life was dull and uneventful, and that he must seem a +poor stick to the heroes and heroines of such adventures. He wished that +he could think of some incident in his past to match these tales of +valour, but as he looked back the only thing that occurred to him was +the occasion upon which the laundress had stolen the cooking sherry and +gone to sleep in her chemise on the front veranda. She had fought like a +tiger when the patrol wagon came for her, and he had been the one to +hold her feet as she was carried to it. At the time he had been +congratulated upon the able and fearless manner in which he had met the +emergency, but a bout with an intoxicated laundress, though it had its +dangers, seemed a piffling affair as compared to a hand-to-hand combat +with a grizzly. + +Gazing absently through the doorway and comforting himself by thinking +that perhaps he, too, had latent courage which would rise to heights of +heroism in propitious circumstances, he did not see Miss Eyester, who +had come in the side entrance, until she stood before him. + +He had not expected Miss Eyester, because she was usually employed +during the winter, and it was only when a well-to-do relative sent her a +check that she could afford a few weeks in Florida. But Miss Eyester was +one of his favourites, and he immediately expressed the hope that she +was to stay the entire season, while he noticed that she was wearing a +mounted bear-claw for a hat-pin. + +"No," she replied, blushing. + +Not until then had Mr. Cone observed the Montana diamond flashing on her +finger. + +"Ah-h?" He raised his eyebrows inquiringly. + +Miss Eyester nodded. + +"In January." + +"A Western millionaire, I venture?" he suggested playfully. + +"A stockman." + +"Indeed?" A new respect was in Mr. Cone's manner. "Cattle?" + +"Sheep," replied Miss Eyester, proudly. "Mr. Fripp is herding at +present." + + * * * * * + +In a week Mr. Cone was as familiar with the glorious summer which The +Happy Family had spent in the West as if he had been there. Although he +knew the story by heart he still thrilled when Mr. Penrose backed the +bear up against a tree and separated its jaws until it "moaned like a +human." + +He continued to listen with flattering attention to the recital of the +intrepid spinster who would have given battle to a hungry coyote if it +had attacked her, as he did to the account of Mr. Stott's reckless +courage in putting to flight a notorious outlaw who had hired out as a +cook for some sinister purpose. + +But, gradually, Mr. Cone began to detect discrepancies, and he noticed +also that the descriptions not only varied but grew more hair-raising +with repetition. Also, he guessed shrewdly that the reason the members +of The Happy Family never contradicted one another was that they dared +not. + +The day came, finally, when Mr. Cone found it not only expedient but +necessary to arrange a signal with the operator at the switchboard for +certain contingencies. A close observer might have noticed that a +preliminary "That reminds me" was invariably followed by an imperative +announcement from the operator that Mr. Cone was wanted on the +telephone. + +A haste which resembled flight frequently marked the departure of other +guests when a reminiscence seemed threatening until, forsooth, the time +arrived when they had only themselves for audience and their "That +reminds me" became "Do you remember?" The only wonder was, to those less +travelled, that The Happy Family ever had brought themselves to leave +that earthly paradise in Wyoming, even for the winter. + +The only person whom their enthusiasm did not weary was Miss Mary +Macpherson, because directly and indirectly it all redounded to the +credit of her nephew, whom she now carefully called Wallace, as more +befitting the dignity of a successful "Dude Wrangler" than the +diminutive. + +Wallie's refusal to accept her offer had brought tears of disappointment +to the eyes of the lonely woman, yet secretly she respected his pride +and boasted to strangers of his independence. + +"My nephew, Wallace Macpherson--you may have heard of him? He has large +interests in Wyoming. Went West without a penny, practically; too proud +to accept help from any one--that's the Macpherson of it--and now, they +tell me, he is one of the important men of the country." + +She was sometimes tempted to mention the extent of his holdings, and put +the acreage well up into the thousands, but since Miss Macpherson was a +truthful woman with a sensitive conscience, she contented herself with +declaring, merely: + +"My nephew, Wallace Macpherson, has a large ranch, oh, a very large +place--several days' ride around it." + +He was all she had, and blood is far thicker than water. She was hungry +for a sight of him, and every day increased her yearning. While letters +from him now arrived regularly, he said nothing in any of them of +coming to Florida. His extensive interests, she presumed, detained him, +and he was too good a business man to neglect affairs that needed him. + +She had promised to go to him next summer, but next summer was a long +way off and there were times when she was strongly tempted to make the +journey in winter in spite of the northern blizzards of which, while +fanning themselves, they read with gusto. + +A blizzard was raging at present, according to the paper from which Mr. +Appel was reading the headlines aloud to the group on the veranda. All +trains were stalled west of the Mississippi and there was three feet of +snow on the level in Denver. + +"That reminds me----" + +Only too well Mr. Cone knew what Mr. Budlong's remark portended. The +hotel proprietor was having an interesting conversation with Mrs. Appel +upon the relative merits of moth-preventatives, but he arose abruptly. + +Mr. Budlong squared away again. + +"That reminds me that I was wondering this morning how deep the snow +would be at that point where Mr. Stott slid down the glacier in the +gold-pan. By the way, Mr. Cone, have you heard that story? It's a good +one." + +Edging toward the doorway, Mr. Cone fairly chattered in his vehemence: + +"Oh, yes--yes--yes!" + +Mr. Penrose interrupted eagerly: + +"The drifts must be about forty feet high on that stretch south of The +Lolabama. There's a gap in the mountain where the wind comes through +a-whoopin'. I mean the place where the steer chased Aunt Lizzie--did any +one ever tell you that yarn, Cone?" + +Mr. Cone, with one foot over the door-sill and clinging to the jamb, as +if he half expected they would wrench him loose and make him go back and +listen, answered with unmistakable irony: + +"I think I recall having heard someone mention it." + +It required more than irony to discourage Mr. Penrose, however, and he +insisted petulantly: + +"Come on back here, Cone! I'll explain just how Wallie jumped that steer +and went to the ground with him. It's worth listening to twice." + +Twice! Mr. Cone had heard it more times than he had fingers and toes. + +"The telephone's ringing," he pleaded. + +"Go answer it, then; looks like you'd want to learn something!" + +Miss Macpherson had heard the story an even greater number of times than +Mr. Cone, but now she urged Mr. Penrose to repeat it, and he did so with +such spirit and so vividly that she shuddered almost continuously +through the telling. He concluded by asserting emphatically that if it +had not been for his foresight in providing himself with field-glasses, +the steer would have been running over the flat with Aunt Lizzie empaled +on its horns like a naturalist's butterfly, before any one could have +prevented it. + +Mr. Appel opined, when Mr. Penrose had finished, that "Canby made a poor +showing." + +"I could have done as well myself if I had been able to get there." He +added speculatively: "I suppose Canby and Miss Spenceley are engaged by +now--or married. Wallie hasn't mentioned it in his letters, has he?" + +Miss Macpherson replied in the negative. + +"He might not, anyway," remarked Mrs. Appel. "Helene was a nice girl, +and attractive, but I could see that she did not interest him." + +Mrs. Budlong, who had one eye closed trying to thread a needle without +her glasses, observed succinctly: + +"Men are funny." + +She intended to qualify her statement by saying that some are funnier +than others, only, before she had time to do so, an exclamation from +Miss Macpherson attracted her attention. Following Miss Macpherson's +unbelieving stare she saw Helene and Wallie getting out of the motor-bus +with a certain air which her experienced eye recognized as "married." + +Mrs. Budlong specialized in detecting newly wedded people and she was +seldom mistaken. Her cleverness along this line sometimes amounted to +clairvoyancy, but, in this instance, no one needed to be supernaturally +gifted to recognize the earmarks, for no man could look so radiantly +happy as Wallie unless he had inherited a million dollars--or married +the girl he wanted. + +Miss Mary Macpherson threw her arms about her nephew's neck and kissed +him with an impetuosity seemingly incompatible with a lady who wore a +high starched collar in summer, and the others welcomed him with a +sincerity and warmth which made his eyes grow misty. + +It was hard to believe, as he looked at them beaming upon him in genuine +fondness, that only a few short months before they had been barely +speaking to him, or that he had wished The Happy Family had, as the +saying is, a single neck that he might wring it. + +Above the volley of questions and chatter he heard old Mr. Penrose's +querulous voice reproaching him: + +"I hope you have the grace to be ashamed of yourself for not telling us, +Wallace!" + +"If I look sheepish," Wallie replied, smiling, "it may be due to the +nature of my new occupation. You see," in reply to their looks of +inquiry, "Canby bought me out, to get rid of me, and for a far more +munificent sum than I ever expected. I re-invested, and am now," with +mock dignity, "a wool-grower--with one Mr. Fripp engaged as foreman." +Wallie's eyes twinkled as he added: + +"I trust that the percentage of loss will not be so great as in the dude +business." + + + +The Country Life Press, +Garden City, N. Y. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DUDE WRANGLER*** + + +******* This file should be named 23244-8.txt or 23244-8.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/3/2/4/23244 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. 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