Part 35 (1/2)
Promotheus didn't have any set-backs after this. We talked over whether it would be better to have him go up to Ty's an' tell the boys some big tale about d.i.n.ky Bradford, or to just pull out an' leave 'em guessin'; and we finally came to the conclusion 'at the last would be the best.
He was still purty weak by the first o' February; but he was beginnin'
to fret at bein' housed up any longer, so we began to get ready to hit the back-trail. By takin' wide circles we could get through all right, at this season; but with Promotheus still purty wobbly, it wasn't likely to be a pleasant trip, an' we didn't hurry none with our preparations. Horace insisted on payin' Olaf two hundred dollars for his share o' the bother, an' I'm purty certain he slipped Kit another hundred. He wasn't no wise scrimpy with money.
We started on the tenth of February, Promotheus ridin' a quiet old hoss, an' still lookin' purty much like a bitter recollection. They were consid'able surprised when we arrived at the Diamond Dot; but we only told 'em as much of our huntin' as we felt was necessary.
Horace intended to start for the East at once; but next day when he put on his dude clothes again, Promotheus purty nigh bucked on him.
Most of Horace's raiment was summer stuff, nachely; but he had a long checked coat 'at he wore with a double ended cap, which certainly did look comical. He had cut some fat off his middle, an' had pushed out his chest an' shoulders consid'able; so that his stuff wrinkled on him; and it took a full hour to harden Promotheus to the change.
”Do I have to look like that?” sez he.
”You conceited ape you!” sez Horace. ”You couldn't look like this if you went to a beauty doctor for the rest o' time; but as soon as we get where they sell clothes for humans, I'm goin' to provide you with somethin' in the nature of a disguise.”
Disguise sounded mighty soothin' to Promotheus, so he gritted his teeth, an' said he wouldn't go back on his word. The fact was, that it did give ya an awful shock to see Horace as he formerly was. We had got so used to seein' him gettin' about, able an' free, that it almost seemed like a funeral to have him drop down to those clothes again.
The Friar went over to the station with us, and he an' Horace had a confidential talk; and then Horace and Promotheus got on the train and scampered off East.
”I'm goin' to stick right here, Happy,” sez the Friar. ”I have let my work get way behind, in tendin' to Promotheus; but from now on I'm goin' to tie into it again. I'd like to do something to put the cattle men and the sheep men on better terms; but this seems like a hard problem.”
”Yes,” sez I, ”that ain't no job for a preacher, and I'd advise you to let it alone. The cattle men will put up the same sort of an argument for their range 'at the Injuns did; but between you and me, I doubt if they stand much more show in the long run.”
”I can't see why there isn't room for both,” sez the Friar. ”It seems to me that the cattle men are too harsh.”
”Nope,” sez I, ”there ain't room for 'em both, an' the's somethin'
irritatin' about sheep that makes ya want to be harsh with all who have dealin's with 'em. Hosses can starve out cattle an' sheep can starve out hosses; but after a sheep has grazed over a place, nothin'
bigger 'n an ant can find any forage left. Cattle are wild an'
tempestus, an' they bellow an' tear around an' fight, and the men who tend 'em are a good bit like 'em; while sheep just meekly take whatever you've a mind to give 'em; but they hang on, just the same, an' multiply a heap faster 'n cattle do. A sheep man is meek-like a Jew. If a Jew gets what he wants he's satisfied, an' he's willin' to pertend 'at he's had the worst o' the deal; but a cattle man is never satisfied unless he has grabbed what he wanted away from some one else, an' then shot him up a little for kickin' about it. It'll probably be fifty or a hundred years yet, before the sheep men are strong enough to worry the cattle men; but they'll sure do it some day.” That's what I told the Friar that time at the station, an' I guessed the outcome close enough, though I didn't make much of a hit as to the time it was goin' to take.
Well, the Friar, he rode away east to Laramie, and I went north to the Diamond Dot, and got things ready for the summer work.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
THE HEART OF HAPPY HAWKINS
Late the next summer, I got a fine long letter from Horace-and blame if he didn't succeed in surprisin' me again. He wrote this letter from Africa, which is about the foreignest parts this world is able to exhibit, I reckon. He told about the East not findin' favor with Promotheus, though he had done all he could for him, startin' out with high society and endin' up by takin' him down one night to a sailor's saloon and lettin' him mix into a general fight; but that Promotheus just simply couldn't stand the tameness, and so they had gone to Africa to hunt big game, and give the folks out our way a chance to forget there ever had been such a cuss as Badger-face.
He sent along some photographs, too, and they was as novel as a blue moon-Horace, Promotheus, and a lot o' naked n.i.g.g.e.rs totin' packs on their heads. Horace was the funniest lookin' mortal a body ever saw; but Promotheus had him beat a mile. They both wore bowls on their heads an' colored gla.s.ses; but Promotheus with side-burns was sure enough to frighten a snake into convulsions! His gnawin' teeth stuck out through a self-satisfied grin; and I was willin' to bet that as soon as the heathen saw him, they'd give up bowin' down to wood an'
stone.
The next time I saw Friar Tuck, he told me about receivin' a letter from Horace who had gone to Berlin on his way to Africa, but hadn't been able to learn anything satisfactory. The singer had been the big card at their concerts, an' there had been some talk about her gettin'
drugged by an Austrian who belonged to the em-ba.s.sy; but she had disappeared complete, an' n.o.body could be found who seemed to know anything about it. The Friar kept himself goin' like a steam-engine these days; but while he became a little more tender if possible, he lacked something of his old-time spirits. Before this, he used to come sweepin' along like a big cool breeze, an' a feller's spirits just got up an' whirled along with him, like dry leaves dancin' in the wind.
He said 'at since Promotheus had slipped out o' the country, the Cross-branders hadn't bothered Olaf any; but I called his attention to the fact that this was a wet spring, an' told him 'at when we had a long dry spell, Ty Jones would just swallow Olaf like quicksand.
Things drifted along purty steady in our parts for several years. Once in a while, the Friar would tell me something about Olaf or something about Ty Jones; but for the most part, I was too much took up with other things to care much for even the Friar's doin's.
I was takin' my own Moses-trip durin' these years; and I say now, as I allus have said, that it wasn't a square shake to show Moses the promised land, an' then not let him into it for even one meal o' milk an' honey. I've handled a small bunch o' men an' trailed cattle with 'em for only three months at a stretch; but I don't mind tellin' you that the' was times when I had to sit up till after midnight, sewin'