Part 10 (1/2)
Endicott interrupted her with a nod: ”Yes,” he observed, dryly, ”I believe that is the term----”
”Don't be guilty of a pun, Winthrop. At least, not a slangy one. It's quite unsuited to your style of beauty. But, really, wasn't it all delightful? Did you ever see such riding, and shooting, and la.s.soing?”
”No. But I have never lived in a country where it is done. I have always understood that cowboys were proficient along those lines, but why shouldn't they be? It's their business----”
”There you go--reducing everything to terms of business! Can't you see the romance of it--what it stands for? The wild free life of the plains, the daily battling with the elements, and the mastery of nerve and skill over blind brute force and fury! I love it! And tonight I'm going to a real cowboy dance.”
”Alice!” The word carried a note of grave disapproval. ”Surely you were not serious about attending that orgy!”
The girl stared at him in surprise. ”Serious! Of course I'm serious!
When will I ever get another chance to attend a cowboy dance--and with a real cowboy, too?”
”The whole thing is preposterous! Perfectly absurd! If you are bound to attend that affair I will take you there, and we can look on and----”
”I don't want to look on. I want to dance--to be in it all. It will be an experience I'll never forget.”
The man nodded: ”And one you may never cease to regret. What do you know of that man? Of his character; of his antecedents? He may be the veriest desperado for all you know.”
The girl clapped her hands in mock delight: ”Oh, wouldn't that be grand! I hadn't thought of that. To attend a dance with just a plain cowboy doesn't fall to every girl's lot, but one who is a cowboy and a desperado, too!” She rolled her eyes to express the seventh heavendom of delight.
Endicott ignored the mockery. ”I am sure neither your mother nor your father----”
”No, neither of them would approve, of course. But really, Winthrop, I'm way past the short petticoat stage--though the way they're making them now n.o.body would guess it. I know it's improper and unconventional and that it isn't done east of the Mississippi nor west of the Rocky Mountains. But when in Rome do as the roamers do, as someone has said. And as for Mr. Purdy,” she paused and looked Endicott squarely in the eyes. ”Do you know why he didn't shoot that disgusting Tex when he insulted him?”
Endicott nodded. ”Yes,” he answered. ”Because he was afraid to.”
Colour suffused the girl's face and she arose abruptly from the table.
”At least,” she said haughtily, ”you and Wolf River are thoroughly in accord on _that_ point.”
As the man watched her disappear through the doorway he became aware that the fat woman who had sought refuge under the coach was staring at him through her lorgnette from her seat across the aisle.
”Young man, I believe you insulted that girl!” she wheezed indignantly.
”You should be a detective, madam. Not even a great one could be farther from the truth,” he replied dryly, and rising, pa.s.sed into the smoking compartment of his Pullman where he consumed innumerable cigarettes as he stared out into the gathering night.
Seated in her own section of the same Pullman, Alice Marc.u.m sat and watched the twilight deepen and the lights of the little town twinkle one by one from the windows. Alone in the darkening coach the girl was not nearly so sure she was going to enjoy her forthcoming adventure.
Loud shouts, accompanied by hilarious laughter and an occasional pistol shot, floated across the flat. She pressed her lips tighter and heartily wished that she had declined Purdy's invitation. It was not too late, yet. She could plead a headache, or a slight indisposition.
She knew perfectly well that Endicott had been right and she wrong but, with the thought, the very feminine perversity of her strengthened her determination to see the adventure through.
”Men are such fools!” she muttered angrily. ”I'll only stay a little while, of course, but I'm going to that dance if it is the last thing I ever do--just to show him that--that--” her words trailed into silence without expressing just what it was she intended to show him.
As the minutes pa.s.sed the girl's eyes glowed with a spark of hope.
”Maybe,” she muttered, ”maybe Mr. Purdy has forgotten, or--” the sentence broke off shortly. Across the flat a rider was approaching and beside him trotted a lead-horse upon whose back was an empty saddle. For just an instant she hesitated, then rose from her seat and walked boldly to the door of the coach.
”Good evenin', mom,” the cowboy smiled as he dismounted to a.s.sist her from the steps of the coach.
”Good evening,” returned the girl. ”But, you needn't to have gone to the trouble of bringing a horse just to ride that little way.”
”'Twasn't no trouble, mom, an' he's woman broke. I figured yeh wouldn't have no ridin' outfit along so I loant a sideways saddle offen a friend of mine which his gal usta use before she learnt to ride straddle. The horse is hern, too, an' gentle as a dog. Here I'll give yeh a h'ist.” The lead-horse nickered softly, and reaching up, the girl stroked his velvet nose.