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658 THE
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(Continued from Page 627.)
Jake was afire in a moment, and before
you could think he had flashed
the barrel of one of his revolvers over
his head, showing the manner of reply
which he thought befitted Bill's remarks.
Bill answered in kind, and there would
likely have been instant enlightenment
of the interior understanding of both
cowboys if Tom Catron had not dashed
his horse between them, remonstrating
thus: "Now, boys, come; we're out for a
lark, fur some r'al fun, you know, an' not
fur a shootin' bee. It would kind o' mar
the pleasure of the rest uv us to leave
you two fellers out here dead er a-bleedin';
but we ain't a-goin' to give up thet
thar dance, not fur the hide uv nary one
uv you. So put up them iurns an' let's
be ridin'. An' fer the infermation uv
Jake an' all these gentlemen I'll jist remark
that there's spected to be present
at this here dance sev'ral ladies, but the
most perticklerest ones is three, an'
which one uv them is married?Bivins's
wife, who's a-givin' the dance?and the
next one is a widder, an' a kind uv a
speckerlater in cow flesh herself. She's
named Pettigrew; leastwise thet was her
husband's name, who wus killed on his
own ranch about a mav'rick. The widder
has jist stuck ter the ranch, mostly
at long range; but she's rich, an' I hope
fer the sakes uv all hands here, an'
especially fer Bill's sake, thet she's purty,
an' I believe she is. The other one
is the young school-teacher what come
out last Setember to teach at Blvlns's
ranch. I hain't seen her, but I'll bet two
Mexican wheels thet she is purty. I
hain't never heerd uv a young schoolma'am
as wa'n't. There's some other
ladies, but, es I remarked afore, these is
the most perticklerest ones to be thar,"
Catron's speech so completely absorbed
the attention of the company, including
Jake and Bill, that an absolute silence
prevailed. It was the power of
even absent woman, the spell of a mem.
ory, the charm of a hope. Jake and Bill,
as by single impulse, slipped each his
revolver back into its holster, and before
anybody knew how it happened we were
cantering forward at a lively pace, and
all in the best of humor.
The dance was a brilliant affair, looked
at from the cowboy's standpoint.
There was an absence of ceremony,
though the strictest propriety prevailed.
The delegations from the Sapio ranges
were as warmly welcomed as though
each individual guest had received an engraved
invitation.
Mi
Tomlin8on's preaicuvu til it L lUCIO
would be plenty of whisky was fulfilled;
but the fluid was hid under saddle skirts
and dispensed at a distance from the
presence of the ladles. It was also noticeable
that the quantity consumed was
out of proportion to the ordinary. Even
PRESBYTERIAN OF THE SOU
IN OI SA PIO
j&y Horace M. DuUose.
"Hook-Nosed" Jake appeared to be keeping
within what the bibulous call
"bounds," so ready and cumulative is the
influence of woman!
The widow Pettigrew proved to be
young and handsome, too. She also appeared
to be one of those frank, kind
creatures that feel they must be pleasant
to everybody, and who never show
any airs.
It was evident that, though "Philadelphia"
Bill had not before seen the widow,
he had been prepossessed by the accounts
he had had of her, and that she
was responsible for his attendance, and
through him for the presence of us all.
Bill I6st no time in getting acquainted
with the widow, and in doing so dispensed
with the superfluity of an introduction.
Such conventionalities were not
considered necessary all the way, even at
Pecos, and the widow graciously disallowed
the necessity. Bill began at once
to show the intent of his mission, but
quickly met a rival in Jake, who, in the
space of half an hour, suffered so great
a transformation in manner and appearance
as to cause all to wonder if it were
not another Jake. His bronze mustache
seemed to take an upward curl, his figure
straightened to the perpendicular, and
the Viking dignity sat upon him mightily
In spots. His speech clarified to an
amazing degree, and he brought out of
nis treasury worus aim senuinenis wnicn
still more set those who heard them to
wondering, save that they set Bill on
the verge of desperate jealousy. The
widow had roped the two at a single
throw, and each was bellowing his submission.
I could not help suspecting that
the widow's well-stocked ranch had loomed
in the distance almost as attractively
as the widow's self had risen in the
foreground. Jake yearned to be a proprietor.
But, while the widow was thus hold
ing court of her particulars, it was pretty
May Spurling, the schoolmistress, who
was the belle of the ball. She was modest,
shy, and delicately refined. I can
never forget that my first impression of
her, after her appealing beauty had enslaved
my eyes, was of a lily or a rose
growing amongst noxious and commonplace
weeds of the uncultivated field. Every
aspect of her behavior indicated that
she understood how great a space socially
separated her from each and all
the male guests of that evening, but
grace could not have been more unaf
fected nor kindness more natural than
that which she showed in her behavior
toward all. Doubtless, too, she had been
advised that these cowboys were not altogether
the rough fellows they seemed.
She understood that they could be gentlemen,
as on that particular occasion
TH. May 25, 1910.
RANCH
and in that particular presence they
were to a man.
Affinities of men and women in those
enduring sentiments and attachments
which spring out of the soul are not
myths or supposititious inferences. The
lasting loves and loyalties of life are
built upon them. It is through them and
because of them that love can be, and
be in an instant, in the twinkling of an
eye. I felt in the moment in which my
eyes first met the eyes of May Spurling
that I had come upon my dream and my
destiny in the desert; but I Instantly
steeled my sensibilities and resolved not
to allow so divine a mockery to have
place in my thoughts. It could not be,
my judgment as well as mv chivnimno
sense told me, that I could look upon
May Spurling from my present station.
If I ever assaulted that castle heart of
Fair Lady, it must be riding from other
castle than that of Sapio Ranch. The
passion which sprang like a new life
within me was too lofty, too sacred, to
be paraded at such appalling disadvantage.
So I gave my infant hope mercilessly
to the sword.
But Tomlinson and Mayfleld both
abandoned themselves at once to an ecstasy
of adoration. Their infatuation
was complete. The fact that I saw my
two nearest friends gone to the joust before
me helped somewhat my resolution
lu Buun tne lists which I foresaw were
hopeless. One often surprises one's self,
and never did I so thoroughly pass myself
in self-control as on this occasion.
Notwithstanding the informal frontier
character of the dance, and the rather
boisterous tones of several of the selfinvited
guests, the affair brought back to
me a sense of restored civilization, and ,<
I was able to put together quickly the
elements of that rustic etiquette which
had brought me many friends and made j
me a sort of leader in the quiet country y
circle in old Greenland neighborhood in
the White's Creek District. The familr
iar feeling which came upon me suggested
a longing for something whtrh ?>
moment I could not quite identify among
my desires. It was only after I had turned
from May Spurling, determined no
more to risk the peril of her beautiful
eyes, that an object in the room made
clear what it was that I hungered for.
In a quiet corner of the chamber, about
which the dancers moved to the tones
of a meanly tuned violin sawed upon by
an aged Mexican, stood a baby organ.
I had seen its like before and knew how
a skillful touch could draw from it a
world of harmonies. I wanted to hear a
woman sing! That is what the baby organ
told me.
At the peril of absolute undoing I turned
upon my heels and, facing the young: