Part 36 (2/2)

”All right,” Wallie nodded, ”and we'll put Aunt Lizzie on the white one and give Mrs. Budlong----”

”Kindly a.s.sign 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 horsemans.h.i.+p, 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 s.h.i.+rt 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 circ.u.mstances.

Aunt Lizzie wore long, voluminous, divided skirts and a little white hat like a pate-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.

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