Judith of the Plains

Enco

irl that sat opposite him at an eating-house table was, according to his ethics, plainly none of their business. He knew he wasn't popular since he had done for Jim Rodney's sheep, though the crime had never been laid at his door, off

d grown decidedly prankish with the exit of the girl, who, after having caused all the trou

if the errand had been one of life and death. They showered him with mock attentions, waiting on him with an exaggerated deference, and the p

nt, was clearing his throat with ominous sounds

e a matther av fifty dollars, 'tis mesilf t

of a smile. "What kin I git for fifty chips? 'Tain't much," mused the pariah, with

grane parrut-to kape ye co

errupted wi

Simpson in the way he throwed his conversational lariat at the yearling. He urbanes at her, and then comes his 'firstly,' it being a speculation as to her late grazing-ground, which he concludes to be the East. His 'secondly' a

elly,' though, before hastily leaving be the

is present conversational opportunities. I'm feelin' kinder turn

squint looked up

company, which, while it incloodes many foreign and frequent-warring

r! hear!" with at least three cow-boy yells, argued well for a resump

yed fo' like a trout, an' heah you-all come at him like a cattle stampede." The big Texan leaned towar

Simpson [pg 018] that the entire compa

had scarce had time to dry, was on his feet, swaggering; he would not have swappe

oice of subjects. He greets our remarks by a conspicuous silence, varied by profanity. This, gentlemen, reflects on us, and is a matter deman

g, and roared in eve

losin' that silf-feeding automatic dictionary av his for a moment, I shud be glad to call the attintio

bout to say. "Gintlemin, the silence av Mr. Simpson is jew in all probabilitee to a certain iv

durance. Now he bristled-and after looking up and down the board for a sympath

way av passin' the toime, but sure ye niver know where it will ind-as witness Simpson. This lady I'm recallin'-'tis a matther av two years ago-followed the ancient and honorable profission av biscuit shootin'

t all!" screamed Sim

lady, Mistu Simpson; hit make a diffunce

replied, 'You've broke my heart.' Whereupon Simpson, havin' a matther av t'ree tho

the doorway a man of such malignant aspect that his look fell across the company like a menace. The swing of their banter slowed suddenly; it was as if the cold of a new-turned grave had struck across the June sunshine checking their roughshod fun. None of them had

the table. His sombrero was tipped back and the hair hung dank about the pale, sweating forehead, suggestive of sickness. But weak health d

y to curtail his joy at the reality. The men began to get restless, shuffle their feet, moisten their lips; only the college boy spoke, and then from a wealth of ignorance, knowing nothing of the rugged, give-and-take justice of the plains-an eye fo

spered the college boy; and then

tigan. "We ought to sit stil

ay of substantials, and he debated pouring a little more of the sauce on his plate and mopping it with a bit of bread sti

aving the fat man. It was all like a dream to the college boy, who had never seen a thing of the kind before and could not realize now that it was happening. Rodney advanced, never once relaxing the look in which he seemed to hold his enemy as in a vise. Simpson was like

s by the sudden silence, looked in from the kitchen. Simpson, his eyes wandering like a trapped rat, saw, and called, through teeth t

. "You've hid behind the law once, and this time it's petticoats. The open don't seem to have no charm for you. But-" H

dication of the suddenly lifted strain, at the averted shooting, as it was of their enjoyment of the farce. Simpson, relieved of the fear of sudden

oar. "'Tis toime to fear a revolver in [pg 023] the

an by the coat lapel in his efforts to secure a hearing, that was another matter, and the man shook him off as if his touch were contagion. Simpson, craving mercy on account of pet

his enemy might be waiting for him. Much of death and blood and recklessness "Town" had seen and condoned, but cowardice was the unforgiva

of amusing themselves?" inquired Mary Carmichael, who had slipped into

right on grazin' 'em, same as he had always been in the habit of doing. Well, I'm told they up and makes Simpson an offer to get rid of the sheep. Jim has over five thousand, an' it's just before lambing, and them pore ewes, all heavy, is being druv' down to Watson's shearing

d gone over the cliff before Jim knew what was happening. He rode like mad right through the herd to try and head 'em off; but you know what sheep is like-they're like lost souls headin' for damnation. Nothing can stop 'em when they're once started. And Jim lost every head-started for the shearing-pens a rich man-rich for Jim-an' seen everything he had swept away before his eyes, his wife an' children made paupers. My [pg 025] son he come by and found him. He said that Jim was sittin' huddled up in a heap, his knees drawed up under his chin, starin' straight

done to this

ot into some trouble down to Rawlins-shot a man he thought was with Simpson, but who wasn't-and he's been in jail ever since. Course now that he's out Simpson's bound to get peppered. G

its late boisterousness. Mrs. Clark, her hands imprisoned in bread-dough, begged Mary to look over the screen door and

r, biting his finger-nails. "The nasty thing!" exploded Mrs. Clark, when she had received the bulletin. "

n Mrs. Clark's kitchen, but it had seemed so much more of a refuge than the sordid streets of the hideous little town, with its droves of men and never a

t to Miss Carmichael. She had not inquired where the girl was going, nor even hinted to discover where she

w paper covered with large, flourishing [pg 027] handwriting, looked up in answer to her inquiries about Lost Trail. This young man, whose accent, clothes, and manner proclaimed him "from the East," whither, in all probability, he would shortly return if he did not

nd which were obviously no one's business. They knew him here by the name of "Lone Tooth Hank," and he wore what had been, in the days of his colonelcy-or its equivalent-a frock-coat, restrained by the lower button,

ro with a sweep, and Lone Tooth smiled in a way that accented the dental solitaire to which he owed his name. Miss

mpleted a semicircular sweep and arrived in the neighborhood of Mr. Hank

sequence. Hearin' that the quiet solitude of Lost Trail is what he needs, he lit out with the following circumstance thereof happenin'. One day something in his harness giv' way-and he recollects seein' a boot sunnin' itself back in the road 'bou

n the case of casual mice, and it served her in the present instance.

ny longer. Your information makes Lost Trail

e in Hugous & Co.'s "trading store," where Miss Carmichael invested in an extra package of needles for the mere excitement of being one of the shoppers, though her aunt Adelaide had stocked the little plaid-silk work-bag to repletion with every variety of needle known to woman. She pricked up her ears, meanwhile, at some of the purchases made by the cow-boys for their camp-larders-d

ss farms in the South and their gray cabins in New England. They began their journeying towards the land of promise long before the Indians had ever seen the shrieking "fire-wagon." All day they would toil over the infinitude of prairie, the sun that [pg 030] hid nightly behind that maddeningly elusive vanishing-point, the horizon,

their sides of bacon and their pounds of coffee as merrily as if they were playing a game of forfeit

rom a pump, at some little distance, the pilgrims filled their stone water-bottles, for the wise traveller does not trust to the chance springs of the desert. Baskets of chickens were strapped to many of the wagons, but whether the unhappy fowls were designed to supply fresh eggs and an

steps of Hugous' watching the preparations; and, seeing Miss Carm

e famblies to bohn an' raise right in one of them wagons; and tuhn out a mighty fine, endurin' lot, too, this hyeh prospectin' round afteh somethin' they wouldn't reco'niz

re afraid of Hank, his obvious gallantry, and his grewsome tales of boo

ipitated in a sudden panic; she had heard tales of the pranks of these playful Western squires-a little gun-play to induce the terrified tenderfoot to put a little more spirit into his Highland fling, [pg 032] "by request." She remembered their merrymaking with Simpson at breakfast. What did they intend t

h ah the boys with yo' b

"what are they goi

of infinite relief-"Yo' didn't think any disrepec' would be shown th

their hands. She climbed beside the driver on the box of the stage. Lone Tooth Hank and the cow-punchers chivalrously raised their sombreros with a simultaneous spontaneity that suggested

g