Happy Hawkins

NCING

campin' out in the open, where I'd lay till dawn gazin' up at the stars an' wonderin' how things were goin', back at the Diamond Dot. I mooned on until at

, hog fat, but they wasn't contented-kept fidgetin' around. When I struck the fire, a fair haired young feller was readin' a book, two Greasers an' a h

I, "I'd like to ask permis

e," sez the fair hair. The balance o'

more help?" I aske

young feller, "I think

might want to get 'em to market in good shape. I am referrin'

ood shape," sez the fair-hair, uncoil

won't get them to marke

knows how," sez I, mild an' open-faced, an' lookin' into the fire. The fair-hai

have you been making my busines

made your business mine. I never saw your outfit un

andle catt

sez I-"

em to be as gentle as they did when we started. I think it is because we ar

u want the j

e foreman

ge," he answe

I know, but who's i

l supervisi

ant the jo

s, "I don't recall h

any one was to ask me, I'd say I was hungry. If any one was to urge me, I'd be obliged to me

ime of it with my cook. He's gone to bed

night riders

as usual, but that's all

on the cattle, an' they may-they may even go so far as to get the cat

on?" he asked, hi

ure, but that's my

kin', well built boy, but he was up against it for about the first

vance over regular wages,

to begin to-nig

z he, laughin',

A huge creature of a man slid out on the opposite side of the cook wagon, an' when he came around the tail of it he was holdin' a bear gun so it would explode without much ceremony. He was usin' some language an' his speed was a thing to covet; but I just stood with my back to the fire, waitin' until I could get a chance to introduce myself. He was in the light, an' he was enough t

er an' saw a pained look on the fair-hair's face, while the ante-up bunch was grinning wickedly an' waitin' for my finish. Me lookin' younger an' easier at that time than I really

z I in a school-girl voic

of a sudden I swung half around an' kicked him in the jaw with my heel, which was a trick I had learned from a French sailor. It took me forty-five minutes to come to, after I received my first an' only lesson, an' I wasted a fu

ed up a neck yoke what was handy, an' I went for him. I hit him in the butt o' the ear an' on the back o' the ne

you man with the whi

ike a machine. "It a

dly, "but I have had some experience in fillin' other things. Bri

a hoss back. "Do you belo

one o' 'em stickin' up his hands, whic

ere this time o' the

we thought something was wro

I don't want those cows pestered any more. This outfit is going to run smoother from this on, an' as soon as the cook feels better he is going to c

d arrived, an' I poked around in the cook's belongings an' confiscated two shootin' irons a

u feel?" I

, an' he meant every

e, "I hate trouble, an' I don't intend to b

he mu

our work in a friendly way, why I'll feel compelled to remove you from our midst. You're not injured none, only bruised a bit, and I

me. "Come over to the fire an' have a good

. Will you fight me again-without weapons?" "I'll never fight you again but once," sez I, an' my lips were smiling, but all of a sudden a hatred of his cruel, evil eyes came over me, an' my lips curled back over my

I know your name all right, but hanged if I can see through your game. I ain't goin' to try, either. As long as you choose to play a

is was an every day occurrence. He had never changed his

. It was boyish an' friendly, but most of all it showed a good fo

t nigh as old as y

bbe-not in the catt

ght now that I have enjoyed this evenin's performance, no matter what happens

arryin' an

p but echo when that fair-hair chuckled. "I heard the cook say he knew y

value on life, an' once they begin, no way to stop. Now I'll tell you confidential that I'm not the Pan Handle, nor any other kind of a kid, although I once was

e a boy. "Well, I watched you goin' after the cook with the ne

jack rollin' fat an' dimpled to the knuckles. They've had their last fuss. I'll feed 'em an' I'll

s Mister Jamiso

warm clim

sort o' surp

eltin' effect on n

you arrived, Happy," sez he. "What d

headboard, but if you make good, it'll be Jim Jimison on Sundays an' jest plain Jim for every day."

big fat mammy. I had turned up the side of his nature 'at would be most useful to our business

a little anxious. "Tas

tter world, but I kept my face like the face of an angry bear. "What do you

offee!" h

asked, with my brows drawn d

it, an' Jim, he turned in an' fed his face while first his cheeks would dimple with the gladness o' the moment, an' then his eyes would sadden as he thought of all the good eatin' he had missed by not knowin' the p

thful you live up to your inner nature in the future, you're sure of a number nine crown an'

another that by the time we had trailed that bunch into the stock yards, we was like one big

to be hurled in a feller's teeth; but over in England it's looked upon as a heinius crime, an' the only thing a younger brother can do to square himself is to get

solemn, until one night he helped me mill the herd durin' a Norther', an' after that he took more kindly to the vital things o' life, but he was a man, Jim was, an' he kept raisin' my wages right along until

so 'at the' wasn't a hitch from week to week, an' I couldn't stand it. I nev

went out to look for the kid. I found him trudgin' toward home an' cussin' his luck somethin' terrible. I put him up behind me an' by that time the wind was shootin' needles o' sleet into my face 'till I couldn't see a yard

e needles began to creep in an' I grew numb as a stone, while my flesh seemed shook loose from my bones, an' it hurt me to breathe. Oh, Lord, but it was cold! If it h

' in a little sheltered dell with Barbie. She had made up a game called Fairy Princess; sometimes she was the Fairy Princes

we had been run into an' knocked down a ravine an' both the kid an' the pony was lyin' on top o' me. The kid got up an' begun to cuss as usual, but

r such talk. Here, you curl up alongside the

so dark that you couldn't see ten inches. The wind was from the no'th, an' I went over every bit o' landscape in the country until at last I figgered out the' was only one place in Texas that filled the bill. A path swung around a crag an' the'

to freeze. I didn't care a great deal 'cause it stopped the horrid hurtin' in my leg; but the dead pony began

g some one out on a pony," sez the kid,

he wind an' it wasn't much use to waste ammunition, but

I grew warm an' contented; an' the next I knew, the cook was rubbin' my wrists an' pourin' hot coffee into me. I was purty mad at bein' dragged back to earth an' grumbled about it free an' hearty, b

anged a heap since I'd first met up with him, I'd never heard any such talk as this; but after a time

n' I would give myself a jerk. The lantern shed a splash o' light on the shelf, but the jump-off looked like the mouth o' the pit, an' I jerked purty tol'able careful. At last I was out, an' if you'll believe it, my leg was only broke in two places.

ined most bitter when he found he had to go back to the ranch house; but at last they got started an' it wasn't long before they had me there

began to worry: "If the' was a man left in this outfit I reckon he'd go out an' get him," he'd say scornful. "Riders! you call yourselve

there he goes over the cliff! Get me a pony-get me a pony, while I wrap up some coffee an' pick out some blankets!" Well, the cook was so blame wild by this time 'at they was glad to get shut of him; so they rigged him out an' he rode a bee line right to me, an' what led him you can figger o

kept thinkin' o' the little lass back at the Diamond Dot, an'

ood to me while I was

when they wasn't no one around he used to pat out my pillers an' oncet he smoothe

h, ain't ya, Happy?"

ez I. "I reckon this is the

is just the rubbish heap o' this whole country

ust catches words like the mumps, I suppose;

folks come fro

me from Scotch Irish an' English, an' go clear back to Adam an' you'll find us Hawkinses was a ramblin'

h somehow wasn't ugly to me any more, an' at last he said: "I have the blood

terrupted. "You'll have an eruption in your in'ard

I reckon 'at you did it. You 're the only man

t I'm glad you've turned over since I met up with you. Anyhow, you've been a heap o

me." At last I couldn't stand it no longer, so I told the boys I had to cut, an' it fell like a stone on a lamp chimney; but the cook, he took it harder'n any one else. I liked the boys an' I liked Jim an' I liked the job; but there was that tuggin' allus at my heart, an' in the end I set a day. Jim, he made me all kinds of offers, 'cause things were gettin' easy with him;

time of it an' sluiced himself out with gin an' dug up his old profanity, an' then he simmered down an' just cooked hims

nge ponies, an' while they wasn't quite so tough when it came to livin' on sage brush an' pleasant memories, they could eat up the ground like a prairie f

o at that an' finally gave him up; so I left him a nifty present an' pulled ou

He was settin' on a big bald-faced roan, an' he had a serious look on his face. "Well, I wondered

you been here'n ever I was in my life before, an' it ain't

vin' my life didn't give him no mortgage on me an' that he couldn't nowise keep up with me, an' by the time he reached the Diamond Dot, the chances were 'at I'd be on my way back to the Lion Head. He didn't waste

toughest pony at the Lion Head, an' he had good hands, but he never sighted me till the night I reached the ranch and was busy wipin' Starlight's legs. "I got some news fo