Part 36 (2/2)

”Well, I guess we'll have to jog on. Good luck,” sez I, and me an' the Friar rode on. He was as much beat out over Ty Jones gettin' a woman as I was; but first thing he thought of was, 'at this might have a softenin' effect on Ty, an' give him an openin'.

We reached Olaf's in time for supper, and found Kit bustlin' about as happy as a little brown hen. The Friar hadn't sprung it none about the kid. He was a solid little chunk with a couple o' dimples and all the signs o' health. I looked careful into his eyes. They were full o'

devilment, an' he scowled his brows down over 'em when I held him; but they were brown like Kit's.

”Oh, he's too dirty to touch,” sez Kit, beamin' all over with pride.

”I just can't keep him clean, try as I will.”

”Be careful, Happy, and don't soil your hands on that baby!” yells the Friar as though in a panic. ”Let me have him. I was dirty once, myself.”

It was plain to see 'at the kid an' the Friar were old cronies; and it was a pleasant sight to see 'em together. The Friar got down on the floor with him an' played bear an' horse an' the kid entered into it an' fair howled with merriment. Kit scolded 'em both an' took so much interest in their antics she hardly knew what she was doin' to the supper things.

Before long Olaf came in. He still took up all the s.p.a.ce not otherwise occupied; but he had an altogether-satisfied expression which made ya forget how everlastin' ugly he really was. He took us out an' showed us the garden, an' the new wire fencin' an' the baby's swing, an' all the rest of his treasures. Olaf didn't want any more changes to take place in the world. If his vote could have made it, things would just continue as they were until the earth wore out. It made me feel a little lonely for a moment; but I entered in as hearty as I could.

Durin' supper I sez to Kit: ”Well, Ty Jones has a woman, now; and if it improves him as much as it has Olaf, he may blossom out into a good neighbor to you yet.”

”Ty Jones got a woman!” exclaimed Kit. ”Well, I'd just like to lay my eyes on the woman 'at would take Ty Jones.”

”Oh, all women ain't so set on havin' a handsome man as you were,” sez I.

”Well, I wouldn't have any other kind,” sez Kit, an' she gave her head a toss while Olaf grinned like a full moon.

They were both purty well beat out to think o' Ty Jones havin' a woman, an' we all talked it over durin' the rest o' the meal. After supper, Olaf took the kid on his lap and sat by the fire tellin' us his plans, while Kit cleared up the dishes an' stuck in a word of her own now and again. It was plain to see 'at she did full as much o' the plannin' as he did, an' this was probably what made her so satisfied.

The kid regarded Olaf's mustache as some sort of an exercisin'

machine, an' Olaf had to fight him all the time he was talkin', but he certainly did set a heap o' store by that boy.

He told us he had about sixty cows and a fair run o' two an' three year olds with a high average of calves; but that he intended to sell the whole run to the Double V outfit up on the Rawhide, and get a small band of sheep. This flattened me out complete; but he had a lot of arguments on his side. He was also experimentin' with grain seed which he had got from Canada, an' he already had a patch of alfalfa which was doin' fine. He was one o' those fellers who can't tire 'emselves out, an' so just keep on workin' as long as the law allows 'em to use daylight. He had a young Swede workin' for him, but just at that time, he was off lookin' for the work hosses which had voted 'emselves a vacation, an' had gone up into the hills.

The Friar wanted to go up into the Basin country next day, so we bedded down purty early. I lay awake a long time thinkin' over what a fright Olaf had once been, and how he had straightened out of it.

Next mornin' we started soon after sun-up. The Friar had a couple o'

women runnin' a Sunday School at Bosco, and he wanted to see how they were gettin' along. They had belonged to his brand of church clear back in England, and he set a lot of store by 'em; but owned up that they had their work cut out for 'em at Bosco; it bein' one o' the most unG.o.dly little towns in the whole country.

We nooned on Carter, slipped over Boulder Creek Pa.s.s, and reached Bosco at sun-down. It allus surprised me to see how much travel the Friar could chalk up, takin' his weight into account; but he was less irritatin' to a hoss 'n airy other man I ever met up with. The more of a hurry he was in, the more time he took on the bad hills; and he never robbed a hoss by sleepin' an hour late in the mornin', an'

makin' the hoss even up by travelin' beyond his gait.

The husband of one o' these women ran a saloon, the husband of the other-the women were sisters-was the undertaker and also ran a meat market. I thought this about the queerest business arrangement I had ever been confronted against; but the man himself was full as peculiar as his business.

I have a game I have played with myself all my life. I call it ”why,”

an' I suppose it has furnished me more fun 'n anything else has. I take any proposition I come across an' say all the whys about it I can think up an' then try to answer 'em. Why did anything ever happen just as it did happen just when it did happen? This is the joke o' life to me. I have played it on myself times without end; but only once in a while even with myself can I follow the line back to common sense.

CHAPTER THIRTY

TY JONES GETS A WOMAN

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