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"Drap that thar 'toothpick!'" demanded
Jilli: "drnn it pr I'll order ver turned
to sausridges in less'n er minute."
Hardin hesitated for a second and cast
one defiant glance at the faces about
him. The muscles of his hand relaxed
and the blade of the knife clinked upon
the stony soil beneath.
CHAPTER VI.
The Dance at Pecos.
"Wolf" Hardin became a boarder at
the Sapio shanties for about a week,
during which time the boys were
at great pains to entertain him.
So determined were they that he
should not lack for attention that
they took turns at sitting up with
him, day and night. We also kept
a sentry out all the time to receive any
deputation of the "Rustlers" that might
call upon us. In the meantime our Mexican
messenger was making a trip to
ana irom uoruo station.
At the end of the week we bade the
"Wolf" good-by, and saw him ride away
wearing a pair of brand-new steel bracelets,
and escorted by two deputy sheriffs.
With the going of the "Wolf" the
forces at both ranches breathed easier,
feeling that we were to hear henceforth
no more of the "Rustlers," for that we
had succeeded in capturing and deporting
their chief inspiration and leader not
a man of us doubted. But some of us
were yet to have our day with the marauders,
and at no distant season. I
seemed to have some premonition of
this, and that the brunt of it was to fall
on me, but I could not have accounted
for this suggestion had I been required
to do so. It must be admitted that I
was in a mood favorable to any sort of
pessimistic mental visitation.
I was unhappy; deeply so. It was now
near mid-winter, but winter only in
name, except when a blue norther whistled
and shrieked down over the vague
and far-extending plains and bit with
icy teeth. Then there was a stir. The
cattle had to be corralled or driven to
the cover of friendly ledges, on the lee
side of Sapio's many foothills. Woe
then to the cow nunclier who was caueht
by the wind devil too far out on the
range. If he got in only with nipped
ears and nose or frosi-bltten toes, he
might be thankful; if he escaped alive,
he was lucky.
But when the norther howled and
shrieked itself out, and slunk back over
the quavering lines of the boreal horizon,
we had ideal days. Were ever skies
so deep and clear as those which overspread
the desert? There it is that na
ture seems Dent on atoning in the Armament
for her lack on the earth. How
like the gates of wonderland are the
hills on such a day in that world of
desert! All their ruggedness smoothed
\
PRESBYTERIAN OF THE SOU'
EN OTSATIO :
Hy Horace M. 'Dutiose.
away, and a vest aim rrown nf e-lnrv
litted to each, they speak their language
whether you are minded to hear or not.
In such a way they spoke to me, dumb
and unanswering as my sensibilities had
become through weeks and weeks of sin
and recklessness.
I rode about the range drinking in an
elixir of life of which 1 could make no
more use than the beast I rode. 1 looked
heavenward?if 1 looked?into a glory
and beauty transcendent, and there was
no answer out of my inner sense, or only
such as gave me shame and covered me
with confusion. I sometimes felt to all
but curse that beauty of blue skies and
nightly stars that tormented me like a
dream of outraged innocency. At times
I grew desperate, and rebelled against
heaven and fate?against all things, and
against nothing so much as against my
sen.
It was a day in December, and I was
in one of my moods now become so common
that it was all but the rule and
manner of my existence. The day was
freakish. For an hour or so the wind
rose sharp amd resentful under as clear
and perfect a sky as the eye of mortal
ever gazed upon, or into, for there was
no bottom or top to it; then the air
grew still and an Indian summer brooded
everywhere for a like space. Old
Sapio rose in outline like a huge lion
stretched alone the horizon a? thr?
moods of the day changed he seemed to
growl and purr, catlike, and then sleep,
but in sleep a leonine restlessness
clothed his form. I caught the spirit of
Sapio and added it to my own.
I had come in, an hour before, from
my daily circuit, and was gazing through
the shanty window upon Sapio and the
blue vastness beyond. A sudden shadow
darkened the shanty door and the voice
of "Kid" Tomlinson called out cheerily:
"Hello, 'Parson,' are you dreaming?"
"I wish I had been Tomlinson," I
answered; "for then you might awaken
me to something happier than my wak
lag tnougnts.
"I've got a call that will wake you
all right," he said.
"What is it?" I asked with a show of
eagerness which I felt, for I was ready
to accept anything that promised excitement
ar.d change from my present state.
I was tired of bovine hurrying, dealing
greasy cards, swearing speeches, and
louting and ruffianly ways. With all my
heart I was weary of them, though I
had taken each with what seemed to
others, and to myself, a bent of nature.
w nai is in 1 repeated Derore the
"Kid" could answer.
"Why, we're off for * iarK and want
you to Join us."
"That I will, though it were on a ride
to the moon," was my ready acceptance
of the invitation.
"It's not altogether in that direction,
rH. May 18, 1910.
RANCH I
nor quite so far," returned Tomlinson,
"but, if all I hear is true, you are liable
to be moonstruck before you return."
"Explain yourself a little more particularly,"
I insisted, now deeply interested.
"Well, the whole matter," went on
Tomlinson, "is just this: 'Philadelphia*
Bill and Tom Catron have stopped in on
their way. from Toro Banco to attend
a dance at Pecos, and have invited us
to go with them."
"Who's going from Saplo?" I asked, a
little dubiously.
" "Hook-Nosed Jake, "Faddy' Mayfield,
and myself," answered Tomlinson.
The leaven of my two familiars seemed
to offset the offensive presence of
Jake, so I smothered my momentary
doubt and prepared to go. It was a time
of little activity at the ranch, and we
could be easily spared. Also Jim the
foreman's good nature was never more
certain to manifest itself than when the
boys wanted to lay off for a little genuine
fun. Jim was pretty sure that his
own heaven was in this world, and he
was willing to share it with other people
who took the same view. We therefore
had 110 trouble to get leave of absence
uuui jim, wan a genuinely expressed
regret that he couldn't join us himself.
"Be sure and take ail your irons with
you," whispered Tomlinson as he noticed
the "undress" in which 1 prepared
to go.
Of course I knew that every proper
function of the cowboy called for his
whole artillery, but for a moment it had
occurred to me that at such a social
function as this the six-shooter might
be ruled out.
"Not a bit of it," declared the "Kid;"
'you may need your gun on the way.
Both Bill and Jake are quarrelsome, and
you know Jake still has his eye on
you."
To the last suggestion I assented with
certain quiverings below the chin. I did
not court trouble; but began at once to
buckle myself up.*
As though he had forgotten the main
excuse for appearing at the dance in full
armor Tnmi(non? - -1 -> - > " *
, auueu; " Ana what is
more, the ladies expect it as a matter
of course."
"The ladies?" For the first time it
occurred to me that I was to see a
lady. Strange that I could have thought
of a dance without the vision of a fair
face, but I did.
"Of course there are to be ladif>?
there," I nssevrated as though I were
the first to reach that necessary conclusion.
"How else?" laughed Tomlinson, and
looked at me with an expression that
showed me how unsophisticated must
have seemed my look and speech.
"What about this dance, anyhow?