Part 17 (1/2)
”And only a girl!” exclaimed Jane under her breath. ”d.i.c.k, did you see it all?”
”A typical Western girl, I should say,” he replied. ”Your.... Your neighbor and a.s.sociate? Your companion, Jane?” he asked. ”The sort you want to cast your lot with?”
”And a moment ago you thought her magnificent!” she taunted as she stepped down and offered him her hand.
”I'll meet you in, say, two hours, ma'am,” Beck said.
”Very well; right here,” she replied, and he left her as she turned to meet Hilton's unpleasant smile.
They began the return trip shortly after noon. Hilton had been with Jane when Tom returned and he stood beside the buckboard talking some minutes after Beck had picked up the reins and was ready to commence the drive. Occasionally d.i.c.k's eyes wandered from Jane to the other man's face but Tom sat, knees crossed, idly toying with the whip, as indifferent to what was being said as if the others were out of sight and hearing. Hilton made an obvious effort to exclude the Westerner but Beck's disregard of him was as genuine as it was evident. He sat patiently, with an easy sense of superiority and the contrast was not lost on Jane Hunter.
The town was far behind and below them, a mere cl.u.s.ter of miniature buildings, before either spoke. Then it was Jane.
”That girl.... There was something splendid about her, wasn't there?”
”There was,” he agreed. ”She sure expressed her opinion of men in general!”
”A newcomer, evidently.”
Beck nodded. ”Came in soon after you did, with her father, it looked like.”
”And she wins the respect of strange men by blows!” she said.
”He deserved all he got, didn't he?” Beck asked, smiling. ”I like to see a bad _hombre_ like that get set down by a woman. There's something humiliating about it that counts a lot more than the whippin'
she gave him.”
”But wouldn't it have spoken more for the chivalry of the country if some man had done it for her?”
”That's likely. But there ain't much chivalry here, ma'am.”
”And am I so fortunate as to have enjoyed the protection of what little there is?”
He looked at her blankly.
”I had to come clear to Ute Crossing to learn how one man defended me from the insult of another.”
He stirred uneasily on the seat.
”That was nothin',” he growled. ”I'd been waiting for a chance to land on Webb for a long time.”
He did not look at her and his manner had none of its usual bluntness; clearly he was evasive and, more, uncomfortable.
”First, I want to thank you,” Jane said after she had looked at him a moment. ”You don't know how a woman such as I am can feel about a thing like that. I think it was the finest thing a man has ever done for me ... and many men have been trying to do fine things for me for a long time.”
She was deeply touched and her voice was not just steady but when Beck did not answer, just looked straight ahead with his tell-tale flush deepening, a delight crept into her eyes and the corners of her pretty mouth quirked.
”Besides, it was a great deal to expect of a man who has made up his mind not to like me!”