327 files changed, 27602 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6833f05
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitattributes
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+* text=auto
+*.txt text
+*.md text
diff --git a/27437-8.txt b/27437-8.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1587979
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-8.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,9028 @@
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Desert Dust, by Edwin L. Sabin
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Desert Dust
+
+Author: Edwin L. Sabin
+
+Illustrator: J. Clinton Shepherd
+
+Release Date: December 7, 2008 [EBook #27437]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DESERT DUST ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Like some land of Heart's Desire (see page 22).]
+
+
+
+
+DESERT DUST
+
+By
+
+EDWIN L. SABIN
+
+Author of "How Are You Feeling Now?" etc.
+
+ILLUSTRATED BY
+
+J. CLINTON SHEPHERD
+
+[Illustration: QUINON PROFICIT DEFICIT]
+
+PHILADELPHIA
+
+GEORGE W. JACOBS & COMPANY
+
+PUBLISHERS
+
+
+
+
+Copyright, 1921, by
+Frank A. Munsey Company
+
+Copyright, 1922, by
+George W. Jacobs & Company
+
+All rights reserved
+Printed in U. S. A.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+ CHAPTER                          PAGE
+     I.  A Pair of Blue Eyes         9
+    II.  To Better Acquaintance     22
+   III.  I Rise in Favor            36
+    IV.  I Meet Friends             54
+     V.  On Grand Tour              72
+    VI.  "High and Dry"             88
+   VII.  I Go to Rendezvous        102
+  VIII.  I Stake on the Queen      118
+    IX.  I Accept an Offer         131
+     X.  I Cut Loose               145
+    XI.  We Get a "Super"          162
+   XII.  Daniel Takes Possession   181
+  XIII.  Someone Fears             197
+   XIV.  I Take a Lesson           205
+    XV.  The Trail Narrows         223
+   XVI.  I Do the Deed             240
+  XVII.  The Trail Forks           252
+ XVIII.  Voices in the Void        261
+   XIX.  I Stake Again             272
+    XX.  The Queen Wins            286
+   XXI.  We Wait the Summons       300
+  XXII.  Star Shine                314
+
+
+
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+                                                         PAGE
+Like some land of Heart's Desire (see page 22).  Frontispiece
+"Madam," I Uttered Foolishly, "Good Evening."              85
+The Scouts Galloped Onward                                280
+
+
+
+
+DESERT DUST
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+A PAIR OF BLUE EYES
+
+
+In the estimate of the affable brakeman (a gentleman wearing sky-blue army
+pantaloons tucked into cowhide boots, half-buttoned vest, flannel shirt
+open at the throat, and upon his red hair a flaring-brimmed black slouch
+hat) we were making a fair average of twenty miles an hour across the
+greatest country on earth. It was a flat country of far horizons, and for
+vast stretches peopled mainly, as one might judge from the car windows, by
+antelope and the equally curious rodents styled prairie dogs.
+
+Yet despite the novelty of such a ride into that unknown new West now
+being spanned at giant's strides by the miraculous Pacific Railway, behold
+me, surfeited with already five days' steady travel, engrossed chiefly in
+observing a clear, dainty profile and waiting for the glimpses, time to
+time, of a pair of exquisite blue eyes.
+
+Merely to indulge myself in feminine beauty, however, I need not have
+undertaken the expense and fatigue of journeying from Albany on the Hudson
+out to Omaha on the plains side of the Missouri River; thence by the
+Union Pacific Railroad of the new transcontinental line into the Indian
+country. There were handsome women a-plenty in the East; and of access,
+also, to a youth of family and parts. I had pictures of the same in my
+social register. A man does not attain to twenty-five years without having
+accomplished a few pages of the heart book. Nevertheless all such pages
+were--or had seemed to be--wholly retrospective now, for here I was,
+advised by the physicians to "go West," meaning by this not simply the
+one-time West of Ohio, or Illinois, or even Iowa, but the remote and
+genuine West lying beyond the Missouri.
+
+Whereupon, out of desperation that flung the gauntlet down to hope I had
+taken the bull by the horns in earnest. West should be full dose, at the
+utmost procurable by modern conveyance.
+
+The Union Pacific announcements acclaimed that this summer of 1868 the
+rails should cross the Black Hills Mountains of Wyoming to another range
+of the Rocky Mountains, in Utah; and that by the end of the year one might
+ride comfortably clear to Salt Lake City. Certainly this was "going West"
+with a vengeance; but as appeared to me--and to my father and mother and
+the physicians--somewhere in the expanse of brand new Western country, the
+plains and mountains, I would find at least the breath of life.
+
+When I arrived in Omaha the ticket agent was enabled to sell me
+transportation away to the town of Benton, Wyoming Territory itself, six
+hundred and ninety miles (he said) west of the Missouri.
+
+Of Benton I had never heard. It was upon no public maps, as yet. But in
+round figures, seven hundred miles! Practically the distance from Albany
+to Cincinnati, and itself distant from Albany over two thousand miles! All
+by rail.
+
+Benton was, he explained, the present end of passenger service, this
+August. In another month--and he laughed.
+
+"Fact is, while you're standing here," he alleged, "I may get orders any
+moment to sell a longer ticket. The Casements are laying two to three
+miles of track a day, seven days in the week, and stepping right on the
+heels of the graders. Last April we were selling only to Cheyenne, rising
+of five hundred miles. Then in May we began to sell to Laramie, five
+hundred and seventy-six miles. Last of July we began selling to Benton, a
+hundred and twenty miles farther. Track's now probably fifty or more miles
+west of Benton and there's liable to be another passenger terminus
+to-morrow. So it might pay you to wait."
+
+"No," I said. "Thank you, but I'll try Benton. I can go on from there as I
+think best. Could you recommend local accommodations?"
+
+He stared, through the bars of the little window behind which lay a
+six-chambered revolver.
+
+"Could I do what, sir?"
+
+"Recommend a hotel, at Benton where I'm going. There is a hotel, I
+suppose?"
+
+"Good Lord!" he exclaimed testily. "In a city of three thousand people? A
+hotel? A dozen of 'em, but I don't know their names. What do you expect to
+find in Benton? You're from the East, I take it. Going out on spec', or
+pleasure, or health?"
+
+"I have been advised to try Western air for a change," I answered. "I am
+looking for some place that is high, and dry."
+
+"Consumption, eh?" he shrewdly remarked. "High and dry; that's it. Oh,
+yes; you'll find Benton high enough, and toler'bly dry. You bet! And
+nobody dies natural, at Benton, they say. Here's your ticket. Thank you.
+And the change. Next, please."
+
+It did not take me long to gather the change remaining from seventy
+dollars greenbacks swapped for six hundred and ninety miles of travel at
+ten cents a mile. I hastily stepped aside. A subtle fragrance and a rustle
+warned me that I was obstructing a representative of the fair sex. So did
+the smirk and smile of the ticket agent.
+
+"Your pardon, madam," I proffered, lifting my hat--agreeably dazzled while
+thus performing.
+
+She acknowledged the tribute with a faint blush. While pocketing my change
+and stowing away my ticket I had opportunity to survey her further.
+
+"Benton," she said briefly, to the agent.
+
+We were bound for the same point, then. Ye gods, but she was a little
+beauty: a perfect blonde, of the petite and fully formed type, with
+regular features inclined to the clean-cut Grecian, a piquant mouth
+deliciously bowed, two eyes of the deepest blue veiled by long lashes, and
+a mass of glinting golden hair upon which perched a ravishing little
+bonnet. The natural ensemble was enhanced by her costume, all of black,
+from the closely fitting bodice to the rustling crinoline beneath which
+there peeped out tiny shoes. I had opportunity also to note the jet
+pendant in the shelly ear toward me, and the flashing rings upon the
+fingers of her hands, ungloved in order to sort out the money from her
+reticule.
+
+Sooth to say, I might not stand there gawking. Once, by a demure sideways
+glance, she betrayed knowledge of my presence. Her own transaction was all
+matter-of-fact, as if engaging passage to Benton of Wyoming Territory
+contained no novelty for her. Could she by any chance live there--a woman
+dressed like she was, as much à la mode as if she walked Broadway in New
+York? Omaha itself had astonished me with the display upon its streets;
+and now if Benton, far out in the wilderness, should prove another
+surprise----! Indeed, the Western world was not so raw, after all. Strange
+to say, as soon as one crossed the Missouri River one began to sense
+romance, and to discover it.
+
+As seemed to me, the ticket agent would have detained her, in defiance of
+the waiting line; but she finished her business shortly, with shorter
+replies to his idle remarks; and I turned away under pretense of examining
+some placards upon the wall advertising "Platte Valley lands" for sale. I
+had curiosity to see which way she wended. Then as she tripped for the
+door, casting eyes never right nor left, and still fumbling at her
+reticule, a coin slipped from her fingers and rolled, by good fortune,
+across the floor.
+
+I was after it instantly; caught it, and with best bow presented it.
+
+"Permit me, madam."
+
+She took it.
+
+"Thank you, sir."
+
+For a moment she paused to restore it to its company; and I grasped the
+occasion.
+
+"I beg your pardon. You are going to Benton, of Wyoming Territory?"
+
+Her eyes met mine so completely as well-nigh to daze me with their glory.
+There was a quizzical uplift in her frank, arch smile.
+
+"I am, sir. To Benton City, of Wyoming Territory."
+
+"You are acquainted there?" I ventured.
+
+"Yes, sir. I am acquainted there. And you are from Benton?"
+
+"Oh, no," I assured. "I am from New York State." As if anybody might not
+have known. "But I have just purchased my ticket to Benton, and----" I
+stammered, "I have made bold to wonder if you would not have the goodness
+to tell me something of the place--as to accommodations, and all that. You
+don't by any chance happen to live there, do you?"
+
+"And why not, sir, may I ask?" she challenged.
+
+I floundered before her query direct, and her bewildering eyes and
+lips--all tantalizing.
+
+"I didn't know--I had no idea--Wyoming Territory has been mentioned in the
+newspapers as largely Indian country----"
+
+"At Benton we are only six days behind New York fashions," she smiled.
+"You have not been out over the railroad, then, I suspect. Not to North
+Platte? Nor to Cheyenne?"
+
+"I have never been west of Cincinnati before."
+
+"You have surely been reading of the railroad? The Pacific Railway between
+the East and California?"
+
+"Yes, indeed. In fact, a friend of mine, named Stephen Clark, nephew of
+the Honorable Thurlow Weed formerly of Albany, was killed a year ago by
+your Indians while surveying west of the Black Hills. And of course there
+have been accounts in the New York papers."
+
+"You are not on survey service? Or possibly, yes?"
+
+"No, madam."
+
+"A pleasure trip to end of track?"
+
+She evidently was curious, but I was getting accustomed to questions into
+private matters. That was the universal license, out here.
+
+"The pleasure of finding health," I laughed. "I have been advised to seek
+a location high and dry."
+
+"Oh!" She dimpled adorably. "I congratulate you on your choice. You will
+make no mistake, then, in trying Benton. I can promise you that it is high
+and reasonably dry. And as for accommodations--so far as I have ever heard
+anybody is accommodated there with whatever he may wish." She darted a
+glance at me; stepped aside as if to leave.
+
+"I am to understand that it is a city?" I pleaded.
+
+"Benton? Why, certainly. All the world is flowing to Benton. We gained
+three thousand people in two weeks--much to the sorrow of poor old
+Cheyenne and Laramie. No doubt there are five thousand people there now,
+and all busy. Yes, a young man will find his opportunities in Benton. I
+think your choice will please you. Money is plentiful, and so are the
+chances to spend it." She bestowed upon me another sparkling glance. "And
+since we are both going to Benton I will say 'Au revoir,' sir." She left
+me quivering.
+
+"You do live there?" I besought, after; and received a nod of the golden
+head as she entered the sacred Ladies' Waiting Room.
+
+Until the train should be made up I might only stroll, restless and
+strangely buoyed, with that vision of an entrancing fellow traveler
+filling my eyes. Summoned in due time by the clamor "Passengers for the
+Pacific Railway! All aboard, going west on the Union Pacific!" here amidst
+the platform hurly-burly of men, women, children and bundles I had the
+satisfaction to sight the black-clad figure of My Lady of the Blue Eyes;
+hastening, like the rest, but not unattended--for a brakeman bore her
+valise and the conductor her parasol. The scurrying crowd gallantly parted
+before her. It as promptly closed upon her wake; try as I might I was
+utterly unable to keep in her course.
+
+Obviously, the train was to be well occupied. Carried on willy-nilly I
+mounted the first steps at hand; elbowed on down the aisle until I managed
+to squirm aside into a vacant seat. The remaining half was at once
+effectually filled by a large, stout, red-faced woman who formed the base
+of a pyramid of boxes and parcels.
+
+My neighbor, who blocked all egress, was going to North Platte, three
+hundred miles westward, I speedily found out. And she almost as speedily
+learned that I was going to Benton.
+
+She stared, round-eyed.
+
+"I reckon you're a gambler, young man," she accused.
+
+"No, madam. Do I look like a gambler?"
+
+"You can't tell by looks, young man," she asserted, still suspicious,
+"Maybe you're on spec', then, in some other way."
+
+"I am seeking health in the West, is all, where the climate is high and
+dry."
+
+"My Gawd!" she blurted. "High and dry! You're goin' to the right place.
+For all I hear tell, Benton is high enough and dry enough. Are your
+eye-teeth peeled, young man?"
+
+"My eye-teeth?" I repeated. "I hope so, madam. Are eye-teeth necessary in
+Benton?"
+
+"Peeled, and with hair on 'em, young man," she assured. "I guess you're a
+pilgrim, ain't you? I see a leetle green in your eye. No, you ain't a
+tin-horn. You're some mother's boy, jest gettin' away from the trough. My
+sakes! Sick, too, eh? Weak lungs, ain't it? Now you tell me: Why you goin'
+to Benton?"
+
+There was an inviting kindness in her query. Plainly she had a good heart,
+large in proportion with her other bulk.
+
+"It's the farthest point west that I can reach by railroad, and everybody
+I have talked with has recommended it as high and dry."
+
+"So it is," she nodded; and chuckled fatly. "But laws sakes, you don't
+need to go that fur. You can as well stop off at North Platte, or Sidney
+or Cheyenne. They'll sculp you sure at Benton, unless you watch out mighty
+sharp."
+
+"How so, may I ask?"
+
+"You're certainly green," she apprised. "Benton's roarin'--and I know what
+that means. Didn't North Platte roar? I seen it at its beginnin's. My old
+man and me, we were there from the fust, when it started in as the
+railroad terminal. My sakes, but them were times! What with the gamblin'
+and the shootin' and the drinkin' and the high-cockalorums night and day,
+'twasn't no place for innocence. Easy come, easy go, that was the word. I
+don't say but what times were good, though. My old man contracted
+government freight, and I run an eatin' house for the railroaders, so we
+made money. Then when the railroad moved terminus, the wust of the crowd
+moved, too, and us others who stayed turned North Platte into a strictly
+moral town. But land sakes! North Platte in its roarin' days wasn't no
+place for a young man like you. Neither was Julesburg, or Sidney, or
+Cheyenne, when they was terminuses. And I hear tell Benton is wuss'n all
+rolled into one. Young man, now listen: You stop off at North Platte,
+Nebrasky. It's healthy and it's moral, and it's goin' to make Omyha look
+like a shinplaster. I'll watch after you. Maybe I can get you a job in my
+man's store. You've j'ined some church, I reckon? Now if you're a
+Baptist----?"
+
+But since I had crossed the Missouri something had entered into my blood
+which rendered me obstinate against such allurements. For her North
+Platte, "strictly moral," and the guardianship of her broad motherly wing
+I had no ardent feeling. I was set upon Benton; foolishly, fatuously set.
+And in after days--soon to arrive--I bitterly regretted that I had not
+yielded to her wholesome, honest counsel.
+
+Nevertheless this was true, at present:
+
+"But I have already purchased my ticket to Benton," I objected. "I
+understand that I shall find the proper climate there, and suitable
+accommodations. And if I don't like it I can move elsewhere. Possibly to
+Salt Lake City, or Denver."
+
+She snorted.
+
+"In among them Mormons? My Gawd, young man! Where they live in
+conkibinage--several women to one man, like a buffler herd or other beasts
+of the field? I guess your mother never heard you talk like that.
+Denver--well, Denver mightn't be bad, though I do hear tell that folks
+nigh starve to death there, what with the Injuns and the snow. Denver
+ain't on no railroad, either. If you want health, and to grow up with a
+strictly moral community, you throw in with North Platte of Nebrasky, the
+great and growin' city of the Plains. I reckon you've heard of North
+Platte, even where you come from. You take my word for it, and exchange
+your ticket."
+
+It struck me here that the good woman might not be unbiased in her
+fondness for North Platte. To extol the present and future of these
+Western towns seemed a fixed habit. During my brief stay in Omaha--yes, on
+the way across Illinois and Iowa from Chicago, I had encountered this
+peculiar trait. Iowa was rife with aspiring if embryonic metropolises. Now
+in Nebraska, Columbus was destined to be the new national capital and the
+center of population for the United States; Fremont was lauded as one of
+the great railroad junctions of the world; and North Platte, three hundred
+miles out into the plains, was proclaimed as the rival of Omaha, and
+"strictly moral."
+
+"I thank you," I replied. "But since I've started for Benton I think I'll
+go on. And if I don't like it or it doesn't agree with me you may see me
+in North Platte after all."
+
+She grunted.
+
+"You can find me at the Bon Ton restaurant. If you get in broke, I'll take
+care of you."
+
+With that she settled herself comfortably. In remarkably short order she
+was asleep and snoring.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+TO BETTER ACQUAINTANCE
+
+
+The train had started amidst clangor of bell and the shouts of good-bye
+and good-luck from the crowd upon the station platform. We had rolled out
+through train yards occupied to the fullest by car shops, round house,
+piled-up freight depot, stacks of ties and iron, and tracks covered with
+freight cars loaded high to rails, ties, baled hay, all manner and means
+of supplies designed, I imagined, for the building operations far in the
+West.
+
+Soon we had left this busy Train Town behind, and were entering the open
+country. The landscape was pleasing, but the real sights probably lay
+ahead; so I turned from my window to examine my traveling quarters.
+
+The coach--a new one, built in the company's shops and decidedly upon a
+par with the very best coaches of the Eastern roads--was jammed; every
+seat taken. I did not see My Lady of the Blue Eyes, nor her equal, but
+almost the whole gamut of society was represented: Farmers, merchants, a
+few soldiers, plainsmen in boots and flannel shirt-sleeves and long hair
+and large hats, with revolvers hanging from the racks above them or from
+the seat ends; one or two white-faced gentry in broadcloth and
+patent-leather shoes--who I fancied might be gamblers such as now and then
+plied their trade upon the Hudson River boats; two Indians in blankets;
+Eastern tourists, akin to myself; women and children of country type; and
+so forth. What chiefly caught my eye were the carbines racked against the
+ends of the coach, for protection in case of Indians or highwaymen, no
+doubt. I observed bottles being passed from hand to hand, and tilted en
+route. The amount and frequency of the whiskey for consumption in this
+country were astonishing.
+
+My friend snored peacefully. Near noon we halted for dinner at the town of
+Fremont, some fifty miles out. She awakened at the general stir, and when
+I squeezed by her she immediately fished for a packet of lunch. We had
+thirty minutes at Fremont--ample time in which to discuss a very excellent
+meal of antelope steaks, prairie fowl, fried potatoes and hot biscuits.
+There was promise of buffalo meat farther on, possibly at the next meal
+station, Grand Island.
+
+The time was sufficient, also, to give me another glimpse of My Lady of
+the Blue Eyes, who appeared to have been awarded the place of honor
+between the conductor and the brakeman, at table. She bestowed upon me a
+subtle glance of recognition--with a smile and a slight bow in one; but I
+failed to find her upon the station platform after the meal. That I should
+obtain other opportunities I did not doubt. Benton was yet thirty hours'
+travel.
+
+All that afternoon we rocked along up the Platte Valley, with the Platte
+River--a broad but shallow stream--constantly upon our left. My seat
+companion evidently had exhausted her repertoire, for she slumbered at
+ease, gradually sinking into a shapeless mass, her flowered bonnet askew.
+Several other passengers also were sleeping; due, in part, to the whiskey
+bottles. The car was thinning out, I noted, and I might bid in advance for
+the chance of obtaining a new location in a certain car ahead.
+
+The scenery through the car window had merged into a monotony accentuated
+by great spaces. As far as Fremont the country along the railroad had been
+well settled with farms and unfenced cultivated fields. Now we had issued
+into the untrammeled prairies, here and there humanized by an isolated
+shack or a lonely traveler by horse or wagon, but in the main a vast
+sun-baked dead sea of gentle, silent undulations extending, brownish,
+clear to the horizons. The only refreshing sights were the Platte River,
+flowing blue and yellow among sand-bars and islands, and the side streams
+that we passed. Close at hand the principal tokens of life were the little
+flag stations, and the tremendous freight trains side-tracked to give us
+the right of way. The widely separated hamlets where we impatiently
+stopped were the oases in the desert.
+
+In the sunset we halted at the supper station, named Grand Island. My
+seat neighbor finished her lunch box, and I returned well fortified by
+another excellent meal at the not exorbitant price, one dollar and a
+quarter. There had been buffalo meat--a poor apology, to my notion, for
+good beef. Antelope steak, on the contrary, was of far finer flavor than
+the best mutton.
+
+At Grand Island a number of wretched native Indians drew my attention, for
+the time being, from quest of My Lady of the Blue Eyes. However, she was
+still escorted by the conductor, who in his brass buttons and officious
+air began to irritate me. Such a persistent squire of dames rather
+overstepped the duties of his position. Confound the fellow! He surely
+would come to the end of his run and his rope before we went much
+farther.
+
+"Now, young man, if you get shet of your foolishness and decide to try
+North Platte instead of some fly-by-night town on west," my seat companion
+addressed, "you jest follow me when I leave. We get to North Platte after
+plumb dark, and you hang onto my skirts right up town, till I land you in
+a good place. For if you don't, you're liable to be skinned alive."
+
+"If I decide upon North Platte I certainly will take advantage of your
+kindness," I evaded. Forsooth, she had a mind to kidnap me!
+
+"Now you're talkin' sensible," she approved. "My sakes alive! Benton!" And
+she sniffed. "Why, in Benton they'll snatch you bald-headed 'fore you've
+been there an hour."
+
+She composed herself for another nap.
+
+"If that pesky brakeman don't remember to wake me, you give me a poke with
+your elbow. I wouldn't be carried beyond North Platte for love or money."
+
+She gurgled, she snored. The sunset was fading from pink to gold--a gold
+like somebody's hair; and from gold to lemon which tinted all the prairie
+and made it beautiful. Pursuing the sunset we steadily rumbled westward
+through the immensity of unbroken space.
+
+The brakeman came in, lighting the coal-oil lamps. Outside, the twilight
+had deepened into dusk. Numerous passengers were making ready for bed: the
+men by removing their boots and shoes and coats and galluses and
+stretching out; the women by loosening their stays, with significant
+clicks and sighs, and laying their heads upon adjacent shoulders or
+drooping against seat ends. Babies cried, and were hushed. Final
+night-caps were taken, from the prevalent bottles.
+
+The brakeman, returning, paused and inquired right and left on his way
+through. He leaned to me.
+
+"You for North Platte?"
+
+"No, sir. Benton, Wyoming Territory."
+
+"Then you'd better move up to the car ahead. This car stops at North
+Platte."
+
+"What time do we reach North Platte?"
+
+"Two-thirty in the morning. If you don't want to be waked up, you'd better
+change now. You'll find a seat."
+
+At that I gladly followed him out. He indicated a half-empty seat.
+
+"This gentleman gets off a bit farther on; then you'll have the seat to
+yourself."
+
+The arrangement was satisfactory, albeit the "gentleman" with whom I
+shared appeared, to nose and eyes, rather well soused, as they say; but
+fortune had favored me--across the aisle, only a couple of seats beyond, I
+glimpsed the top of a golden head, securely low and barricaded in by
+luggage.
+
+Without regrets I abandoned my former seat-mate to her disappointment when
+she waked at North Platte. This car was the place for me, set apart by the
+salient presence of one person among all the others. That, however, is apt
+to differentiate city from city, and even land from land.
+
+Eventually I, also, slept--at first by fits and starts concomitant with
+railway travel by night, then more soundly when the "gentleman," my
+comrade in adventure, had been hauled out and deposited elsewhere. I fully
+awakened only at daylight.
+
+The train was rumbling as before. The lamps had been extinguished--the
+coach atmosphere was heavy with oil smell and the exhalations of human
+beings in all stages of deshabille. But the golden head was there, about
+as when last sighted.
+
+Now it stirred, and erected a little. I felt the unseemliness of sitting
+and waiting for her to make her toilet, so I hastily staggered to achieve
+my own by aid of the water tank, tin basin, roller towel and small
+looking-glass at the rear--substituting my personal comb and brush for the
+pair hanging there by cords.
+
+The coach was the last in the train. I stepped out upon the platform, for
+fresh air.
+
+We were traversing the real plains of the Great American Desert, I judged.
+The prairie grasses had shortened to brown stubble interspersed with bare
+sandy soil rising here and there into low hills. It was a country without
+north, south, east, west, save as denoted by the sun, broadly launching
+his first beams of the day. Behind us the single track of double rails
+stretched straight away as if clear to the Missouri. The dull blare of the
+car wheels was the only token of life, excepting the long-eared rabbits
+scampering with erratic high jumps, and the prairie dogs sitting bolt
+upright in the sunshine among their hillocked burrows. Of any town there
+was no sign. We had cut loose from company.
+
+Then we thundered by a freight train, loaded with still more ties and
+iron, standing upon a siding guarded by the idling trainmen and by an
+operator's shack. Smoke was welling from the chimney of the shack--and
+that domestic touch gave me a sense of homesickness. Yet I would not have
+been home, even for breakfast. This wide realm of nowhere fascinated with
+the unknown.
+
+The train and shack flattened into the landscape. A bevy of antelope
+flashed white tails at us as they scudded away. Two motionless figures,
+horseback, whom I took to be wild Indians, surveyed us from a distant
+sand-hill. Across the river there appeared a fungus of low buildings,
+almost indistinguishable, with a glimmer of canvas-topped wagons fringing
+it. That was the old emigrant road.
+
+While I was thus orienting myself in lonesome but not entirely hopeless
+fashion the car door opened and closed. I turned my head. The Lady of the
+Blue Eyes had joined me. As fresh as the morning she was.
+
+"Oh! You? I beg your pardon, sir." She apologized, but I felt that the
+diffidence was more politic than sincere.
+
+"You are heartily welcome, madam," I assured. "There is air enough for us
+both."
+
+"The car is suffocating," she said. "However, the worst is over. We shall
+not have to spend another such a night. You are still for Benton?"
+
+"By all means." And I bowed to her. "We are fellow-travelers to the end, I
+believe."
+
+"Yes?" She scanned me. "But I do not like that word: the end. It is not a
+popular word, in the West. Certainly not at Benton. For instance----"
+
+We tore by another freight waiting upon a siding located amidst a wide
+débris of tin cans, scattered sheet-iron, stark mud-and-stone chimneys,
+and barren spots, resembling the ruins from fire and quake.
+
+"There is Julesburg."
+
+"A town?" I gasped.
+
+"The end." She smiled. "The only inhabitants now are in the station-house
+and the graveyard."
+
+"And the others? Where are they?"
+
+"Farther west. Many of them in Benton."
+
+"Indeed? Or in North Platte!" I bantered.
+
+"North Platte!" She laughed merrily. "Dear me, don't mention North
+Platte--not in the same breath with Benton, or even Cheyenne. A town of
+hayseeds and dollar-a-day clerks whose height of sport is to go fishing in
+the Platte! A young man like you would die of ennui in North Platte.
+Julesburg was a good town while it lasted. People _lived_, there; and
+moved on because they wished to keep alive. What is life, anyway, but a
+constant shuffle of the cards? Oh, I should have laughed to see you in
+North Platte." And laugh she did. "You might as well be dead underground
+as buried in one of those smug seven-Sabbaths-a-week places."
+
+Her free speech accorded ill with what I had been accustomed to in
+womankind; and yet became her sparkling eyes and general dash.
+
+"To be dead is past the joking, madam," I reminded.
+
+"Certainly. To be dead is the end. In Benton we live while we live, and
+don't mention the end. So I took exception to your gallantry." She glanced
+behind her, through the door window into the car. "Will you," she asked
+hastily, "join me in a little appetizer, as they say? You will find it a
+superior cognac--and we breakfast shortly, at Sidney."
+
+From a pocket of her skirt she had extracted a small silver flask,
+stoppered with a tiny screw cup. Her face swam before me, in my
+astonishment.
+
+"I rarely drink liquor, madam," I stammered.
+
+"Nor I. But when traveling--you know. And in high and--dry Benton liquor
+is quite a necessity. You will discover that, I am sure. You will not
+decline to taste with a lady? Let us drink to better acquaintance, in
+Benton."
+
+"With all my heart, madam," I blurted.
+
+She poured, while swaying to the motion of the train; passed the cup to me
+with a brightly challenging smile.
+
+"Ladies first. That is the custom, is it not?" I queried.
+
+"But I am hostess, sir. I do the honors. Pray do you your duty."
+
+"To our better acquaintance, then, madam," I accepted. "In Benton."
+
+The cognac swept down my throat like a stab of hot oil. She poured for
+herself.
+
+"A vôtre santé, monsieur--and continued beginnings, no ends." She daintily
+tossed it off.
+
+We had consummated our pledges just in time. The brakeman issued, stumping
+noisily and bringing discord into my heaven of blue and gold and
+comfortable warmth.
+
+"Howdy, lady and gent? Breakfast in twenty minutes." He grinned affably at
+her; yes, with a trace of familiarity. "Sleep well, madam?"
+
+"Passably, thank you." Her voice held a certain element of calm
+interrogation as if to ask how far he intended to push acquaintance.
+"We're nearing Sidney, you say? Then I bid you gentlemen good-morning."
+
+With a darting glance at him and a parting smile for me she passed inside.
+The brakeman leaned for an instant's look ahead, up the track, and
+lingered.
+
+"Friend of yours, is she?"
+
+"I met her at Omaha, is all," I stiffly informed.
+
+"Considerable of a dame, eh?" He eyed me. "You're booked for Benton,
+too?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Never been there, myself. She's another hell-roarer, they say."
+
+"Sir!" I remonstrated.
+
+"Oh, the town, the town," he enlightened. "I'm saying nothing against it,
+for that matter--nor against her, either. They're both O. K."
+
+"You are acquainted with the lady, yourself?"
+
+"Her? Sure. I know about everybody along the line between Platte and
+Cheyenne. Been running on this division ever since it opened."
+
+"She lives in Benton, though, I understand," I proffered.
+
+"Why, yes; sure she does. Moved there from Cheyenne." He looked at me
+queerly. "Naturally. Ain't that so?"
+
+"Probably it is," I admitted. "I see no reason to doubt your word."
+
+"Yep. Followed her man. A heap of people moved from Cheyenne to Benton, by
+way of Laramie."
+
+"She is married, then?"
+
+"Far as I know. Anyway, she's not single, by a long shot." And he laughed.
+"But, Lord, that cuts no great figger. People here don't stand on ceremony
+in those matters. Everything's aboveboard. Hands on the table until time
+to draw--then draw quick."
+
+His language was a little too bluff for me.
+
+"Her husband is in business, no doubt?"
+
+"Business?" He stared unblinking. "I see." He laid a finger alongside his
+nose, and winked wisely. "You bet yuh! And good business. Yes, siree. Are
+you on?"
+
+"Am I on?" I repeated. "On what? The train?"
+
+"Oh, on your way."
+
+"To Benton; certainly."
+
+"Do you see any green in my eye, friend?" he demanded.
+
+"I do not."
+
+"Or in the moon, maybe?"
+
+"No, nor in the moon," I retorted. "But what is all this about?"
+
+"I'll be damned!" he roundly vouchsafed. And--"You've been having a quiet
+little smile with her, eh?" He sniffed suspiciously. "A few swigs of
+that'll make a pioneer of you quicker'n alkali. She's favoring you--eh?
+Now if she tells you of a system, take my advice and quit while your
+hair's long."
+
+"My hair is my own fashion, sir," I rebuked. "And the lady is not for
+discussion between gentlemen, particularly as my acquaintance with her is
+only casual. I don't understand your remarks, but if they are insinuations
+I shall have to ask you to drop the subject."
+
+"Tut, tut!" he grinned. "No offense intended, Mister Pilgrim. Well, you're
+all right. We can't be young more than once, and if the lady takes you in
+tow in Benton you'll have the world by the tail as long as it holds. She
+moves with the top-notchers; she's a knowing little piece--no offense. Her
+and me are good enough friends. There's no brace game in that deal. I only
+aim to give you a steer. Savvy?" And he winked. "You're out to see the
+elephant, yourself."
+
+"I am seeking health, is all," I explained. "My physician had advised a
+place in the Far West, high and dry; and Benton is recommended."
+
+His response was identical with others preceding.
+
+"High and dry? By golly, then Benton's the ticket. It's sure high, and
+sure dry. You bet yuh! High and dry and roaring."
+
+"Why 'roaring'?" I demanded at last. The word had been puzzling me.
+
+"Up and coming. Pop goes the weasel, at Benton. Benton? Lord love you!
+They say it's got Cheyenne and Laramie backed up a tree, the best days
+they ever seen. When you step off at Benton step lively and keep an eye in
+the back of your head. There's money to be made at Benton, by the wise
+ones. Watch out for ropers and if you get onto a system, play it. There
+ain't any limit to money or suckers."
+
+"I may not qualify as to money," I informed. "But I trust that I am no
+sucker."
+
+"No green in the eye, eh?" he approved. "Anyhow, you have a good lead if
+your friend in black cottons to you." Again he winked. "You're not a
+bad-looking young feller." He leaned over the side steps, and gazed ahead.
+"Sidney in sight. Be there directly. We're hitting twenty miles and better
+through the greatest country on earth. The engineer smells breakfast."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+I RISE IN FAVOR
+
+
+With that he went forward. So did I; but the barricade at the end of My
+Lady's seat was intact, and I sat down in my own seat, to keep expectant
+eye upon her profile--a decided relief amidst that crude mélange of people
+in various stages of hasty dressing after a night of cramped postures.
+
+The brakeman's words, although mysterious in part, had concluded
+reassuringly. My Lady, he said, would prove a valuable friend in Benton. A
+friend at hand means a great deal to any young man, stranger in a strange
+land.
+
+The conductor came back--a new conductor; stooped familiarly over the
+barricade and evidently exchanged pleasantries with her.
+
+"Sidney! Sidney! Twenty minutes for breakfast!" the brakeman bawled, from
+the door.
+
+There was the general stir. My Lady shot a glance at me, with inviting
+eyes, but arose in response to the proffered arm of the conductor, and I
+was late. The aisle filled between us as he ushered her on and the train
+slowed to grinding of brakes and the tremendous clanging of a gong.
+
+Of Sidney there was little to see: merely a station-house and the small
+Railroad Hotel, with a handful of other buildings forming a single
+street--all squatting here near a rock quarry that broke the expanse of
+uninhabited brown plains. The air, however, was wonderfully invigorating;
+the meal excellent, as usual; and when I emerged from the dining-room,
+following closely a black figure crowned with gold, I found her strolling
+alone upon the platform.
+
+Therefore I caught up with her. She faced me with ready smile.
+
+"You are rather slow in action, sir," she lightly accused. "We might have
+breakfasted together; but it was the conductor again, after all."
+
+"I plead guilty, madam," I admitted. "The trainmen have an advantage over
+me, in anticipating events. But the next meal shall be my privilege. We
+stop again before reaching Benton?"
+
+"For dinner, yes; at Cheyenne."
+
+"And after that you will be home."
+
+"Home?" she queried, with a little pucker between her brows.
+
+"Yes. At Benton."
+
+"Of course." She laughed shortly. "Benton is now home. We have moved so
+frequently that I have grown to call almost no place home."
+
+"I judge then that you are connected, as may happen, with a flexible
+business," I hazarded. "If you are in the army I can understand."
+
+"No, I'm not an army woman; but there is money in following the railroad,
+and that is our present life," she said frankly. "A town springs up, you
+know, at each terminus, booms as long as the freight and passengers pile
+up--and all of a sudden the go-ahead business and professional men pull
+stakes for the next terminus as soon as located. That has been the custom,
+all the way from North Platte to Benton."
+
+"Which accounts for your acquaintance along the line. The trainmen seem to
+know you."
+
+"Trainmen and others; oh, yes. It is to be expected. I have no objections
+to that. I am quite able to take care of myself, sir."
+
+We were interrupted. A near-drunken rowdy (upon whom I had kept an uneasy
+corner of an eye) had been careening over the platform, a whiskey bottle
+protruding from the hip pocket of his sagging jeans, a large revolver
+dangling at his thigh, his slouch hat cocked rakishly upon his tousled
+head. His language was extremely offensive--he had an ugly mood on, but
+nobody interfered. The crowd stood aside--the natives laughing, the
+tourists like myself viewing him askance, and several Indians watching
+only gravely.
+
+He sighted us, and staggered in.
+
+"Howdy?" he uttered, with an oath. "Shay--hello, stranger. Have a smile.
+Take two, one for lady. Hic!" And he thrust his bottle at me.
+
+My Lady drew back. I civilly declined the "smile."
+
+"Thank you. I do not drink."
+
+"What?" He stared blearily. His tone stiffened. "The hell you say. Too
+tony, eh? Too--'ic! Have a smile, I ask you, one gent to 'nother. Have a
+smile, you (unmentionable) pilgrim; fer if you don't----"
+
+"Train's starting, Jim," she interposed sharply. "If you want to get
+aboard you'd better hurry."
+
+The engine tooted, the bell was ringing, the passengers were hurrying,
+incited by the conductor's shout: "All 'board!"
+
+Without another word she tripped for the car steps. I gave the fellow one
+firm look as he stood stupidly scratching his thatch as if to harrow his
+ideas; and perforce left him. By the cheers he undoubtedly made in the
+same direction. I was barely in time myself. The train moved as I planted
+foot upon the steps of the nearest car--the foremost of the two. The train
+continued; halted again abruptly, while cheers rang riotous; and when I
+crossed the passageway between this car and ours the conductor and
+brakeman were hauling the tipsy Jim into safety.
+
+My Lady was ensconced.
+
+"Did they get him?" she inquired, when I paused.
+
+"By the scruff of the neck. The drunken fellow, you mean."
+
+"Yes; Jim."
+
+"You know him?"
+
+"He's from Benton. I suppose he's been down here on a little pasear, as
+they say."
+
+"If you think he'll annoy you----?" I made bold to suggest, for I greatly
+coveted the half of her seat.
+
+"Oh, I'm not afraid of Jim. But yes, do sit down. You can put these things
+back in your seat. Then we can talk."
+
+I had no more than settled triumphantly, when the brakeman ambled through,
+his face in a broad grin. He also paused, to perch upon the seat end, his
+arm extended friendlily along the back.
+
+"Well, we got him corralled," he proclaimed needlessly. "That t'rantular
+juice nigh broke his neck for him."
+
+"Did you take his bottle away, Jerry?" she asked.
+
+"Sure thing. He'll be peaceable directly. Soused to the guards. Reckon
+he's inclined to be a trifle ugly when he's on a tear, ain't he? They'd
+shipped him out of Benton on a down train. Now he's going back up."
+
+"He's safe, you think?"
+
+"Sewed tight. He'll sleep it off and be ready for night." The brakeman
+winked at her. "You needn't fear. He'll be on deck, right side up with
+care."
+
+"I've told this gentleman that I'm not afraid," she answered quickly.
+
+"Of course. And he knows what's best for him, himself." The brakeman
+slapped me on the shoulder and good-naturedly straightened. "So does this
+young gentleman, I rather suspicion. I can see his fortune's made. You
+bet, if he works it right. I told him if you cottoned to him----"
+
+"Now you're talking too much, Jerry," she reproved. "The gentleman and I
+are only traveling acquaintances."
+
+"Yes, ma'am. To Benton. Let 'er roar. Cheyenne's the closest I can get,
+myself, and Cheyenne's a dead one--blowed up, busted worse'n a galvanized
+Yank with a pocket full o' Confed wall-paper." He yawned. "Guess I'll take
+forty winks. Was up all night, and a man can stand jest so much, Injuns or
+no Injuns."
+
+"Did you expect to meet with Indians, sir, along the route?" I asked.
+
+"Hell, yes. Always expect to meet 'em between Kearney and Julesburg. It's
+about time they were wrecking another train. Well, so long. Be good to
+each other." With this parting piece of impertinence he stumped out.
+
+"A friendly individual, evidently," I hazarded, to tide her over her
+possible embarrassment.
+
+Her laugh assured me that she was not embarrassed at all, which proved her
+good sense and elevated her even farther in my esteem.
+
+"Oh, Jerry's all right. I don't mind Jerry, except that his tongue is
+hung in the middle. He probably has been telling you some tall yarns?"
+
+"He? No, I don't think so. He may have tried it, but his Western
+expressions are beyond me as yet. In fact, what he was driving at on the
+rear platform I haven't the slightest idea."
+
+"Driving at? In what way, sir?"
+
+"He referred to the green in his eye and in the moon, as I recall; and to
+a mysterious 'system'; and gratuitously offered me a 'steer.'"
+
+Her face hardened remarkably, so that her chin set as if tautened by iron
+bands. Those eyes glinted with real menace.
+
+"He did, did he? Along that line of talk! The clapper-jaw! He's altogether
+too free." She surveyed me keenly. "And naturally you couldn't understand
+such lingo."
+
+"I was not curious enough to try, my dear madam. He talked rather at
+random; likely enjoyed bantering me. But," I hastily placated in his
+behalf, "he recommended Benton as a lively place, and you as a friend of
+value in case that you honored me with your patronage."
+
+"My patronage, for you?" she exclaimed. "Indeed? To what extent? Are you
+going into business, too? As one of--us?"
+
+"If I should become a Bentonite, as I hope," I gallantly replied, "then of
+course I should look to permanent investment of some nature. And before my
+traveling funds run out I shall be glad of light employment. The brakeman
+gave me to understand merely that by your kindly interest you might be
+disposed to assist me."
+
+"Oh!" Her face lightened. "I dare say Jerry means well. But when you spoke
+of 'patronage'---- That is a current term of certain import along the
+railroad." She leaned to me; a glow emanated from her. "Tell me of
+yourself. You have red blood? Do you ever game? For if you are not afraid
+to test your luck and back it, there is money to be made very easily at
+Benton, and in a genteel way." She smiled bewitchingly. "Or are you a
+Quaker, to whom life is deadly serious?"
+
+"No Quaker, madam." How could I respond otherwise to that pair of dancing
+blue eyes, to that pair of derisive lips? "As for gaming--if you mean
+cards, why, I have played at piquet and romp, in a social way, for small
+stakes; and my father brought Old Sledge back from the army, to the family
+table."
+
+"You are lucky. I can see it," she alleged.
+
+"I am, on this journey," I asserted.
+
+She blushed.
+
+"Well said, sir. And if you choose to make use of your luck, in Benton, by
+all means----"
+
+Whether she would have shaped her import clearly I did not know. There was
+a commotion in the forward part of the car. That same drunken wretch Jim
+had appeared; his bottle (somehow restored to him) in hand, his hat
+pushed back from his flushed greasy forehead.
+
+"Have a smile, ladies an' gents," he was bellowing thickly. "Hooray! Have
+a smile on me. Great an' gloryus 'casion--'ic! Ever'body smile. Drink to
+op'nin' gloryus Pac'fic--'ic--Railway. Thash it. Hooray!" Thus he came
+reeling down the aisle, thrusting his bottle right and left, to be denied
+with shrinkings or with bluff excuses.
+
+It seemed inevitable that he should reach us. I heard My Lady utter a
+little gasp, as she sat more erect; and here he was, espying us readily
+enough with that uncanny precision of a drunken man, his bottle to the
+fore.
+
+"Have a smile, you two. Wouldn't smile at station; gotto smile now. Yep.
+'Ic! 'Ray for Benton! All goin' to Benton. Lesh be good fellers."
+
+"You go back to your seat, Jim," she ordered tensely. "Go back, if you
+know what's good for you."
+
+"Whash that? Who your dog last year? Shay! You can't come no highty-tighty
+over me. Who your new friend? Shay!" He reeled and gripped the seat,
+flooding me with his vile breath. "By Gawd, I got the dead-wood on you,
+you----!" and he had loosed such a torrent of low epithets that they are
+inconceivable.
+
+"For that I'd kill you in any other place, Jim," she said. "You know I'm
+not afraid of you. Now get, you wolf!" Her voice snapped like a whip-lash
+at the close; she had made sudden movement of hand--it was extended and I
+saw almost under my nose the smallest pistol imaginable; nickeled, of two
+barrels, and not above three inches long; projecting from her palm, the
+twin hammers cocked; and it was as steady as a die.
+
+Assuredly My Lady did know how to take care of herself. Still, that was
+not necessary now.
+
+"No!" I warned. "No matter. I'll tend to him."
+
+The fellow's face had convulsed with a snarl of redder rage, his mouth
+opened as if for fresh abuse--and half rising I landed upon it with my
+fist.
+
+"Go where you belong, you drunken whelp!"
+
+I had struck and spoken at the same time, with a rush of wrath that
+surprised me; and the result surprised me more, for while I was not
+conscious of having exerted much force he toppled backward clear across
+the aisle, crashed down in a heap under the opposite seat. His bottle
+shattered against the ceiling. The whiskey spattered in a sickening shower
+over the alarmed passengers.
+
+"Look out! Look out!" she cried, starting quickly. Up he scrambled,
+cursing, and wrenching at his revolver. I sprang to smother him, but there
+was a flurry, a chorus of shouts, men leaped between us, the brakeman and
+conductor both had arrived, in a jiffy he was being hustled forward,
+swearing and blubbering. And I sank back, breathless, a degree ashamed, a
+degree rather satisfied with my action and my barked knuckles.
+
+Congratulations echoed dully.
+
+"The right spirit!"
+
+"That'll l'arn him to insult a lady."
+
+"You sartinly rattled him up, stranger. Squar' on the twitter!"
+
+"Shake, Mister."
+
+"For a pilgrim you're consider'ble of a hoss."
+
+"If he'd drawn you'd have give him a pill, I reckon, lady. I know yore
+kind. But he won't bother you ag'in; not he."
+
+"Oh, what a terrible scene!"
+
+To all this I paid scant attention. I heard her, as she sat composedly,
+scarcely panting. The little pistol had disappeared.
+
+"The play has been made, ladies and gentlemen," she said. And to me:
+"Thank you. Yes," she continued, with a flash of lucent eyes and a
+dimpling smile, "Jim has lost his whiskey and has a chance to sober up.
+He'll have forgotten all about this before we reach Benton. But I thank
+you for your promptness."
+
+"I didn't want you to shoot him," I stammered. "I was quite able to tend
+to him myself. Your pistol is loaded?"
+
+"To be sure it is." And she laughed gaily. Her lips tightened, her eyes
+darkened. "And I'd kill him like a dog if he presumed farther. In this
+country we women protect ourselves from insult. I always carry my
+derringer, sir."
+
+The brakeman returned with a broom, to sweep up the chips of broken
+bottle. He grinned at us.
+
+"There's no wind in him now," he communicated. "Peaceful as a baby. We
+took his gun off him. I'll pass the word ahead to keep him safe, on from
+Cheyenne."
+
+"Please do, Jerry," she bade. "I'd prefer to have no more trouble with
+him, for he might not come out so easily next time. He knows that."
+
+"Surely ought to, by golly," the brakeman agreed roundly. "And he ought to
+know you go heeled. But that there tanglefoot went to his head. Looks now
+as if he'd been kicked in the face by a mule. Haw haw! No offense, friend.
+You got me plumb buffaloed with that fivespot o' yourn." And finishing his
+job he retired with dust-pan and broom.
+
+"You're going to do well in Benton," she said suddenly, to me, with a nod.
+"I regret this scene--I couldn't help it, though, of course. When Jim's
+sober he has sense, and never tries to be familiar."
+
+She was amazingly cool under the epithets that he had applied. I admired
+her for that as she gazed at me pleadingly.
+
+"A drunken man is not responsible for words or actions, although he should
+be made so," I consoled her. "Possibly I should not have struck him. In
+the Far West you may be more accustomed to these episodes than we are in
+the East."
+
+"I don't know. There is a limit. You did right. I thank you heartily.
+Still"--and she mused--"you can't always depend on your fists alone. You
+carry no weapon, neither knife nor gun?"
+
+"I never have needed either," said I. "My teaching has been that a man
+should be able to rely upon his fists."
+
+"Then you'd better get 'heeled,' as we say, when you reach Benton. Fists
+are a short-range weapon. The men generally wear a gun somewhere. It is
+the custom."
+
+"And the women, too, if I may judge," I smiled.
+
+"Some of us. Yes," she repeated, "you're likely to do well, out here, if
+you'll permit me to advise you a little."
+
+"Under your tutelage I am sure I shall do well," I accepted. "I may call
+upon you in Benton? If you will favor me with your address----?"
+
+"My address?" She searched my face in manner startled. "You'll have no
+difficulty finding me; not in Benton. But I'll make an appointment with
+you in event"--and she smiled archly--"you are not afraid of strange
+women."
+
+"I have been taught to respect women, madam," said I. "And my respect is
+being strengthened."
+
+"Oh!" I seemed to have pleased her. "You have been carefully brought up,
+sir."
+
+"To fear God, respect woman, and act the man as long as I breathe," I
+asserted. "My mother is a saint, my father a nobleman, and what I may have
+learned from them is to their credit."
+
+"That may go excellently in the East," she answered. "But we in the West
+favor the Persian maxim--to ride, to shoot, and to tell the truth. With
+those three qualities even a tenderfoot can establish himself."
+
+"Whether I can ride and shoot sufficient for the purpose, time will show,"
+I retorted. "At least," and I endeavored to speak with proper emphasis,
+"you hear the truth when I say that I anticipate much pleasure as well as
+renewed health, in Benton."
+
+"Were we by ourselves we would seal the future in another 'smile'
+together," she slyly promised. "Unless that might shock you."
+
+"I am ready to fall in with the customs of the country," I assured. "I
+certainly am not averse to smiles, when fittingly proffered."
+
+So we exchanged fancies while the train rolled over a track remarkable for
+its smoothness and leading ever onward across the vast, empty plains bare
+save for the low shrubs called sage-brush, and rising here and there into
+long swells and abrupt sandstone pinnacles.
+
+We stopped near noon at the town of Cheyenne, in Wyoming Territory.
+Cheyenne, once boasting the title (I was told) "The Magic City of the
+Plains," was located upon a dreary flatness, although from it one might
+see, far southwest, the actual Rocky Mountains in Colorado Territory,
+looking, at this distance of one hundred miles, like low dark clouds. The
+up grade in the west promised that we should soon cross over their
+northern flanks, of the Black Hills.
+
+Last winter, Cheyenne, I was given to understand, had ten thousand
+inhabitants; but the majority had followed the railroad west, so that now
+there remained only some fifteen hundred. After dinner we, too, went
+west.
+
+We overcame the Black Hills Mountains about two o'clock, having climbed to
+the top with considerable puffing of the engine but otherwise almost
+imperceptibly to the passengers. When we were halted, upon the crown, at
+Sherman Station, to permit us to alight and see for ourselves, I scarcely
+might believe that we were more than eight thousand feet in air. There was
+nothing to indicate, except some little difficulty of breath; not so much
+as I had feared when in Cheyenne, whose six thousand feet gave me a
+slightly giddy sensation.
+
+My Lady moved freely, being accustomed to the rarity; and she assured me
+that although Benton was seven thousand feet I would soon grow wonted to
+the atmosphere. The habitués of this country made light of the spot; the
+strangers on tour picked flowers and gathered rocks as mementoes of the
+"Crest of the Continent"--which was not a crest but rather a level
+plateau, wind-swept and chilly while sunny. Then from this Sherman Summit
+of the Black Hills of Wyoming the train swept down by its own momentum
+from gravity, for the farther side.
+
+The fellow Jim had not emerged, as yet, much to my relief. The scenery was
+increasing in grandeur and interest, and the play of my charming companion
+would have transformed the most prosaic of journeys into a trip through
+Paradise.
+
+I hardly noted the town named Laramie City, at the western base of the
+Black Hills; and was indeed annoyed by the vendors hawking what they
+termed "mountain gems" through the train. Laramie, according to My Lady,
+also once had been, as she styled it, "a live town," but had deceased in
+favor of Benton. From Laramie we whirled northwest, through a broad valley
+enlivened by countless antelope scouring over the grasses; thence we
+issued into a wilder, rougher country, skirting more mountains very gloomy
+in aspect.
+
+However, of the panorama outside I took but casual glances; the phenomenon
+of blue and gold so close at hand was all engrossing, and my heart beat
+high with youth and romance. Our passage was astonishingly short, but the
+sun was near to setting beyond distant peaks when by the landmarks that
+she knew we were approaching Benton at last.
+
+We crossed a river--the Platte, again, even away in here; briefly paused
+at a military post, and entered upon a stretch of sun-baked,
+reddish-white, dusty desert utterly devoid of vegetation.
+
+There was a significant bustle in the car, among the travel-worn
+occupants. The air was choking with the dust swirled through every crevice
+by the stir of the wheels--already mobile as it was from the efforts of
+the teams that we passed, of six and eight horses tugging heavy wagons.
+Plainly we were within striking distance of some focus of human energies.
+
+"Benton! Benton in five minutes. End o' track," the brakeman shouted.
+
+"My valise, please."
+
+I brought it. The conductor, who like the other officials knew My Lady,
+pushed through to us and laid hand upon it.
+
+"I'll see you out," he announced. "Come ahead."
+
+"Pardon. That shall be my privilege," I interposed. But she quickly
+denied.
+
+"No, please. The conductor is an old friend. I shall need no other
+help--I'm perfectly at home. You can look out for yourself."
+
+"But I shall see you again--and where? I don't know your address; fact is,
+I'm even ignorant of your name," I pleaded desperately.
+
+"How stupid of me." And she spoke fast and low, over her shoulder.
+"To-night, then, at the Big Tent. Remember."
+
+I pressed after.
+
+"The Big Tent! Shall I inquire there? And for whom?"
+
+"You'll not fail to see me. Everybody knows the Big Tent, everybody goes
+there. So au revoir."
+
+She was swallowed in the wake of the conductor, and I fain must gather my
+own belongings before following. The Big Tent, she said? I had not
+misunderstood; and I puzzled over the address, which impinged as rather
+bizarre, whether in West or East.
+
+We stopped with a jerk, amidst a babel of cries.
+
+"Benton! All out!" Out we stumbled. Here I was, at rainbow's end.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+I MEET FRIENDS
+
+
+What shall I say of a young man like myself, fresh from the green East of
+New York and the Hudson River, landed expectant as just aroused from a
+dream of rare beauty, at this Benton City, Wyoming Territory? The dust, as
+fine as powder and as white, but shot through with the crimson of sunset,
+hung like a fog, amidst which swelled a deafening clamor from figures
+rushing hither and thither about the platform like half-world shades. A
+score of voices dinned into my ears as two score hands grabbed at my
+valise and shoved me and dragged me.
+
+"The Desert Hotel. Best in the West. This way, sir."
+
+"Buffalo Hump Corral! The Buffalo Hump! Free drinks at the Buffalo Hump."
+
+"Vamos, all o' you. Leave the gent to me. I've had him before. Mike's
+Place for you, eh? Come along."
+
+"The Widow's Café! That's yore grub pile, gent. All you can eat for two
+bits."
+
+A deep voice boomed, stunning me.
+
+"The Queen, the Queen! Bath for every room. Individual towels. The Queen,
+the Queen, she's clean, she's clean."
+
+It was a magnificent bass, full toned as an organ, issuing, likewise as
+out of a reed, from a swart dwarf scarcely higher than my waist. The word
+"bath," with the promise of "individual towels," won me over. Something
+must be done, anyway, to get rid of these importunate runners. Thereupon I
+acquiesced, "All right, my man. The Queen," and surrendering my bag to his
+hairy paw I trudged by his guidance. The solicitations instantly ceased as
+if in agreement with some code.
+
+We left the station platform and went ploughing up a street over shoetops
+with the impalpable dust and denoted by tents and white-coated shacks
+sparsely bordering. The air was breezeless and suffocatingly loaded with
+that dust not yet deposited. The noises as from a great city swelled
+strident: shouts, hammerings, laughter, rumble of vehicles, cracking of
+lashes, barkings of dogs innumerable--betokening a thriving mart of
+industry. But although pedestrians streamed to and fro, the men in motley
+of complexions and costumes, the women, some of them fashionably dressed,
+with skirts eddying furiously; and wagons rolled, horses cantered, and
+from right and left merchants and hawksters seemed to be calling their
+wares, of city itself I could see only the veriest husk.
+
+The majority of the buildings were mere canvas-faced up for a few feet,
+perhaps, with sheet iron or flimsy boards; interspersed there were a few
+wooden structures, rough and unpainted; and whereas several of the
+housings were large, none was more than two stories--and when now and
+again I thought that I had glimpsed a substantial stone front a closer
+inspection told me that the stones were imitation, forming a veneer of the
+sheet iron or of stenciled pine. Indeed, not a few of the upper stories,
+viewed from an unfavorable angle, proved to be only thin parapets
+upstanding for a pretense of well-being. Behind them, nothing at all!
+
+In the confusion of that which I took to be the main street because of the
+stores and piles of goods and the medley of signs, what with the hubbub
+from the many barkers for saloons and gambling games, the constant dodging
+among the pedestrians, vehicles and horses and dogs, in a thoroughfare
+that was innocent of sidewalk, I really had scant opportunity to gaze;
+certainly no opportunity as yet to get my bearings. My squat guide
+shuttled aside; a group of loafers gave us passage, with sundry stares at
+me and quips for him; and I was ushered into a widely-open tent-building
+whose canvas sign depending above a narrow veranda declared: "The Queen
+Hotel. Beds $3. Meals $1 each."
+
+Now as whitely powdered as any of the natives I stumbled across a single
+large room bordered at one side by a bar and a number of small tables (all
+well patronized), and was brought up at the counter, under the alert eyes
+of a clerk coatless, silk-shirted, diamond-scarfed, pomaded and
+slick-haired, waiting with register turned and pen extended.
+
+My gnome heavily dropped my bag.
+
+"Gent for you," he presented.
+
+"I wish a room and bath," I said, as I signed.
+
+"Bath is occupied. I'll put you down, Mr.----" and he glanced at the
+signature. "Four dollars and four bits, please. Show the gentleman to
+Number Six, Shorty. That drummer's gone, isn't he?"
+
+"You bet."
+
+"The bath is occupied?" I expostulated. "How so? I wish a private bath."
+
+"Private? Yes, sir. All you've got to do is to close the door while you're
+in. Nobody'll disturb you. But there are parties ahead of you. First come,
+first served."
+
+I persisted.
+
+"Your runner--this gentleman, if I am not mistaken (and I indicated the
+gnome, who grinned from dusty face), distinctly said 'A bath for every
+room.'"
+
+Bystanders had pushed nearer, to examine the register and then me. They
+laughed--nudged one another. Evidently I had a trace of green in my eye.
+
+"Quite right, sir," the clerk assented. "So there is. A bath for every
+room and the best bath in town. Entirely private; fresh towel supplied.
+Only one dollar and four bits. That, with lodging, makes four dollars and
+a half. If you please, sir."
+
+"In advance?" I remonstrated--the bath charge alone being monstrous.
+
+"I see you're from the East. Yes, sir; we have to charge transients in
+advance. That is the rule, sir. You stay in Benton City for some time?"
+
+"I am undetermined."
+
+"Of course, sir. Your own affair. Yes, sir. But we shall hope to make
+Benton pleasant for you. The greatest city in the West. Anything you want
+for pleasure or business you'll find right here."
+
+"The greatest city in the West--pleasure or business!" A bitter wave of
+homesickness welled into my throat as, conscious of the enveloping dust,
+the utter shams, the tawdriness, the alien unsympathetic onlookers, the
+suave but incisive manner of the clerk, the sense of having been "done"
+and through my own fault, I peeled a greenback from the folded packet in
+my purse and handed it over. Rather foolishly I intended that this display
+of funds should rebuke the finicky clerk; but he accepted without comment
+and sought for the change from the twenty.
+
+"And how is old New York, suh?"
+
+A hearty, florid, heavy-faced man, with singularly protruding fishy eyes
+and a tobacco-stained yellowish goatee underneath a loosely dropping lower
+lip, had stepped forward, his pudgy hand hospitably outstretched to me: a
+man in wide-brimmed dusty black hat, frayed and dusty but, in spots,
+shiny, black broadcloth frock coat spattered down the lapels, exceedingly
+soiled collar and shirt front and greasy flowing tie, and trousers tucked
+into cowhide boots.
+
+I grasped the hand wonderingly. It enclosed mine with a soft pulpy
+squeeze; and lingered.
+
+"As usual, when I last saw it, sir," I responded. "But I am from Albany."
+
+"Of course. Albany, the capital, a city to be proud of, suh. I welcome
+you, suh, to our new West, as a fellow-citizen."
+
+"You are from Albany?" I exclaimed.
+
+"Bohn and raised right near there; been there many a time. Yes, suh. From
+the grand old Empire State, like yourself, suh, and without apologies.
+Whenever I meet with a New York State man I cotton to him."
+
+"Have I your name, sir?" I inquired. "You know of my family, perhaps."
+
+"Colonel Jacob B. Sunderson, suh, at your service. Your family name is
+familiar to me, suh. I hark back to it and to the grand old State with
+pleasure. Doubtless I have seen you befoh, sur. Doubtless in the City--at
+Johnny Chamberlain's? Yes?" His fishy eyes beamed upon me, and his breath
+smelled strongly of liquor. "Or the Astor? I shall remember. Meanwhile,
+suh, permit me to do the honors. First, will you have a drink? This way,
+suh. I am partial to a brand particularly to be recommended for clearing
+this damnable dust from one's throat."
+
+"Thank you, sir, but I prefer to tidy my person, first," I suggested.
+
+"Number Six for the gentleman," announced the clerk, returning to me my
+change from the bill. I stuffed it into my pocket--the Colonel's singular
+eyes followed it with uncomfortable interest. The gnome picked up my bag,
+but was interrupted by my new friend.
+
+"The privilege of showing the gentleman to his quarters and putting him at
+home shall be mine."
+
+"All right, Colonel," the clerk carelessly consented. "Number Six."
+
+"And my trunk. I have a trunk at the depot," I informed.
+
+"The boy will tend to it."
+
+I gave the gnome my check.
+
+"And my bath?" I pursued.
+
+"You will be notified, sir. There are only five ahead of you, and one
+gentleman now in. Your turn will come in about two hours."
+
+"This way, suh. Kindly follow me," bade the Colonel. As he strode before,
+slightly listed by the weight of the bag in his left hand, I remarked a
+peculiar bulge elevating the portly contour of his right coat-skirt.
+
+We ascended a flight of rude stairs which quivered to our tread, proceeded
+down a canvas-lined corridor set at regular intervals on either hand with
+numbered deal doors, some open to reveal disorderly interiors; and with
+"Here you are, suh," I was importantly bowed into Number Six.
+
+We were not to be alone. There were three double beds: one well rumpled as
+if just vacated; one (the middle) tenanted by a frowsy headed, whiskered
+man asleep in shirt-sleeves and revolver and boots; the third, at the
+other end, recently made up by having its blanket covering hastily thrown
+against a distinctly dirty pillow.
+
+"Your bed yonduh, suh, I reckon," prompted the Colonel (whose accents did
+not smack of New York at all), depositing my bag with a grunt of relief.
+"Now, suh, as you say, you desire to freshen the outer man after your
+journey. With your permission I will await your pleasure, suh; and your
+toilet being completed we will freshen the inner man also with a glass or
+two of rare good likker."
+
+I gazed about, sickened. Item, three beds; item, one kitchen chair; item,
+one unpainted board washstand, supporting a tin basin, a cake of soap, a
+tin ewer, with a dingy towel hanging from a nail under a cracked mirror
+and over a tin slop-bucket; item, three spittoons, one beside each bed;
+item, a row of nails in a wooden strip, plainly for wardrobe purposes;
+item, one window, with broken pane.
+
+The board floor was bare and creaky, the partition walls were of
+once-white, stained muslin through which sifted unrebuked a mixture of
+sounds not thoroughly agreeable.
+
+The Colonel had seated himself upon a bed; the bulge underneath his skirts
+jutted more pronouncedly, and had the outlines of a revolver butt.
+
+"But surely I can get a room to myself," I stammered. "The clerk mistakes
+me. This won't do at all."
+
+"You are having the best in the house, suh," asserted the Colonel, with
+expansive wave of his thick hand. He spat accurately into the convenient
+spittoon. "It is a front room, suh. Number Six is known as very choice,
+and I congratulate you, suh. I myself will see to it that you shall have
+your bed to yourself, if you entertain objections to doubling up. We are,
+suh, a trifle crowded in Benton City, just at present, owing to the
+unprecedented influx of new citizens. You must remember, suh, that we are
+less than one month old, and we are accommodating from three to five
+thousand people."
+
+"Is this the best hotel?" I demanded.
+
+"It is so reckoned, suh. There are other hostelries, and I do not desire,
+suh, to draw invidious comparisons, their proprietors being friends of
+mine. But I will go so far as to say that the Queen caters only to the
+élite, suh, and its patronage is gilt edge."
+
+I stepped to the window, the lower sash of which was up, and gazed
+out--down into that dust-fogged, noisy, turbulent main street, of floury
+human beings and grime-smeared beasts almost within touch, boiling about
+through the narrow lane between the placarded makeshift structures. I
+lifted my smarting eyes, and across the hot sheet-iron roofs I saw the
+country south--a white-blotched reddish desert stretching on, desolate,
+lifeless under the sunset, to a range of stark hills black against the
+glow.
+
+"There are no private rooms, then?" I asked, choking with a gulp of
+despair.
+
+"You are perfectly private right here, suh," assured the Colonel. "You may
+strip to the hide or you may sleep with your boots on, and no questions
+asked. Gener'ly speaking, gentlemen prefer to retain a layer of artificial
+covering--but you ain't troubled much with the bugs, are you, Bill?"
+
+He leveled this query at the frowsy, whiskered man, who had awakened and
+was blinking contentedly.
+
+"I'm too alkalied, I reckon," Bill responded. "Varmints will leave me any
+time when there's fresh bait handy. That's why I likes to double up. That
+there Saint Louee drummer carried off most of 'em from this gent's bed, so
+he's safe."
+
+"You are again to be congratulated, suh," addressed the Colonel, to me.
+"Allow me to interdeuce you. Shake hands with my friend Mr. Bill Brady.
+Bill, I present to you a fellow-citizen of mine from grand old New York
+State."
+
+The frowsy man struggled up, shifted his revolver so as not to sit on it,
+and extended his hand.
+
+"Proud to make yore acquaintance, sir. Any friend of the Colonel's is a
+friend o' mine."
+
+"We will likker up directly," the Colonel informed. "But fust the
+gentleman desires to attend to his person. Mr. Brady, suh," he continued,
+for my benefit, "is one of our leading citizens, being proprietor of--what
+is it now, Bill?"
+
+"Wall," said Mr. Brady, "I've pulled out o' the Last Chance and I'm on
+spec'. The Last Chance got a leetle too much on the brace for healthy
+play; and when that son of a gun of a miner from South Pass City shot it
+up, I quit."
+
+"Naturally," conceded the Colonel. "Mr. Brady," he explained, "has been
+one of our most distinguished bankers, but he has retired from that
+industry and is considering other investments."
+
+"The bath-room? Where is it, gentlemen?" I ventured.
+
+"If you will step outside the door, suh, you can hear the splashing down
+the hall. It is the custom, however, foh gentlemen at tub to keep the
+bath-room door closed, in case of ladies promenading. You will have time
+foh your preliminary toilet and foh a little refreshment and a pasear in
+town. I judge, with five ahead of you and one in, the clerk was mighty
+near right when he said about two hours. That allows twenty minutes to
+each gentleman, which is the limit. A gentleman who requires more than
+twenty minutes to insure his respectability, suh, is too dirty foh such
+accommodations. He should resort to the river. Ain't that so, Bill?"
+
+"Perfectly correct, Colonel. I kin take an all-over, myself, in fifteen,
+whenever it's healthy."
+
+"But a dollar and a half for a twenty minutes' bath in a public tub is
+rather steep, seems to me," said I, as I removed my coat and opened my
+bag.
+
+"Not so, suh, if I may question your judgment," the Colonel reproved. "The
+tub, suh, is private to the person in it. He is never intruded upon unless
+he hawgs his time or the water disagrees with him. The water, suh, is
+hauled from the river by a toilsome journey of three miles. You
+understand, suh, that this great and growing city is founded upon the
+sheer face of the Red Desert, where the railroad stopped--the river being
+occupied by a Government reservation named Fort Steele. The
+Government--the United States Government, suh--having corralled the river
+where the railroad crosses, until we procure a nearer supply by artesian
+wells or by laying a pipe line we are public spirited enough to haul our
+water bodily, for ablution purposes, at ten dollars the barrel, or ten
+cents, one dime, the bucket. A bath, suh, uses up consider'ble water, even
+if at a slight reduction you are privileged to double up with another
+gentleman."
+
+I shuddered at the thought of thus "doubling up." God, how my stomach sank
+and my gorge rose as I rummaged through that bag, and with my toilet
+articles in hand faced the washstand!
+
+They two intently watched my operations; the Colonel craned to peer into
+my valise--and presently I might interpret his curiosity.
+
+"The prime old bourbon served at the fust-class New York bars still
+maintains its reputation, I dare hope, suh?" he interrogated.
+
+"I cannot say, I'm sure," I replied.
+
+"No, suh," he agreed. "Doubtless you are partial to your own stock. That
+bottle which I see doesn't happen to be a sample of your favorite
+preservative?"
+
+"That?" I retorted. "It is toilet water. I am sorry to say I have no
+liquor with me."
+
+"The deficiency will soon be forgotten, suh," the Colonel bravely
+consoled. "Bill, we shall have to personally conduct him and provide him
+with the proper entertainment."
+
+"What is your special line o' business, if you don't mind my axin'?" Bill
+invited.
+
+"I am out here for my health, at present," said I, vainly hunting a clean
+spot on the towel. "I have been advised by my physician to seek a place in
+the Far West that is high and dry. Benton"--and I laughed miserably,
+"certainly is dry." For now I began to appreciate the frankly affirmative
+responses to my previous confessions. "And high, judging by the rates."
+
+"Healthily dry, suh, in the matter of water," the Colonel approved. "We
+are not cursed by the humidity of New York State, grand old State that she
+is. Foh those who require water, there is the Platte only three miles
+distant. The nearer proximity of water we consider a detriment to the
+robustness of a community. Our rainy weather is toler'bly infrequent. The
+last spell we had--lemme see. There was a brief shower, scurcely enough to
+sanction a parasol by a lady, last May, warn't it, Bill? When we was
+camped at Rawlins' Springs, shooting antelope."
+
+"Some'ers about that time. But didn't last long--not more'n two minutes,"
+Bill responded.
+
+"As foh fluids demanded by the human system, we are abundantly blessed,
+suh. There is scurcely any popular brand that you can't get in Benton, and
+I hold that we have the most skillful mixtologists in history. There are
+some who are artists; artists, suh. But mainly we prefer our likker
+straight."
+
+"We're high, too," Bill put in. "Well over seven thousand feet, 'cordin'
+to them railroad engineers."
+
+"Yes, suh, you are a mile and more nearer Heaven here in Benton than you
+were when beside the noble Hudson," supplemented the Colonel. "And the
+prices of living are reasonable; foh money, suh, is cheap and ready to
+hand. No drink is less than two bits, and a man won't tote a match across
+a street foh less than a drink. Money grows, suh, foh the picking. Our
+merchants are clearing thirty thousand dollars a month, and the
+professional gentleman who tries to limit his game is considered a
+low-down tin-horn. Yes, suh. This is the greatest terminal of the greatest
+railroad in the known world. It has Omaha, No'th Platte, Cheyenne beat to
+a frazzle. You cannot fail to prosper." They had been critically watching
+me wash and rearrange my clothing. "You are not heeled, suh, I see?"
+
+"Heeled?" I repeated.
+
+"Equipped with a shooting-iron, suh. Or do you intend to remedy that
+deficiency also?"
+
+"I have not been in the habit of carrying arms."
+
+"'Most everybody packs a gun or a bowie," Bill remarked. "Gents and ladies
+both. But there's no law ag'in not."
+
+I had finished my meager toilet, and was glad, for the espionage had been
+annoying.
+
+"Now I am at your service during a short period, gentlemen," I announced.
+"Later I have an engagement, and shall ask to be excused."
+
+The Colonel arose with alacrity. Bill stood, and seized his hat hanging at
+the head of the bed.
+
+"A little liquid refreshment is in order fust, I reckon," quoth the
+Colonel. "I claim the privilege, of course. And after that--you have
+sporting blood, suh? You will desire to take a turn or two foh the honor
+of the Empire State?"
+
+The inference was not quite clear. To develop it I replied guardedly,
+albeit unwilling to pose as a milksop.
+
+"I assuredly am not averse to any legitimate amusement."
+
+"That's it," Bill commended. "Nobody is, who has red in him; and a fellow
+kin see you've cut yore eye-teeth. What might you prefer, in line of a
+pass-the-time, on spec'?"
+
+"What is there, if you please?" I encouraged.
+
+He and the Colonel gravely contemplated each other. Bill scratched his
+head, and slowly closed one eye.
+
+"There's a good open game of stud at the North Star," he proffered. "I kin
+get the gentleman a seat. No limit."
+
+"Maybe our friend's luck don't run to stud," hazarded the Colonel. "Stud
+exacts the powers of concentration, like faro." And he also closed one
+eye. "It's rather early in the evening foh close quarters. Are you
+particularly partial to the tiger or the cases, suh?" he queried of me.
+"Or would you be able to secure transient happiness in short games, foh a
+starter, while we move along, like a bee from flower to flower, gathering
+his honey?"
+
+"If you are referring to card gambling, sir," I answered, "you have chosen
+a poor companion. But I do not intend to be a spoil sport, and I shall be
+glad to have you show me whatever you think worth while in the city, so
+far as I have the leisure."
+
+"That's it, that's it, suh." The Colonel appeared delighted. "Let us
+libate to the gods of chance, gentlemen; and then take a stroll."
+
+"My bag will be safe here?" I prompted, as we were about to file out.
+
+"Absolutely, suh. Personal property is respected in Benton. We'd hang the
+man who moved that bag of yours the fraction of one inch."
+
+This at least was comforting. As much could not be said of New York City.
+The Colonel led down the echoing hall and the shaking stairs, into the
+lobby, peopled as before by men in all modes of attire and clustered
+mainly at the bar. He led directly to the bar itself.
+
+"Three, Ed. Name your likker, gentlemen. A little Double X foh me, Ed."
+
+"Old rye," Bill briefly ordered.
+
+The bartender set out bottle and whiskey glasses, and looked upon me. I
+felt that the bystanders were waiting. My garb proclaimed the "pilgrim,"
+but I was resolved to be my own master, and for liquor I had no taste.
+
+"Lemonade, if you have it," I faltered.
+
+"Yes, sir." The bartender cracked not a smile, but a universal sigh,
+broken by a few sniggers, voiced the appraisal of the audience. Some of
+the loafers eyed me amusedly, some turned away.
+
+"Surely, suh, you will temper that with a dash of fortifiah," the Colonel
+protested. "A pony of brandy, Ed--or just a dash to cut the water in it.
+To me, suh, the water in this country is vile--inimical to the human
+stomick."
+
+"Thank you," said I, "but I prefer plain lemonade."
+
+"The gent wants his pizen straight, same as the rest of you," calmly
+remarked the bartender.
+
+My lemonade being prepared, the Colonel and Bill tossed off full glasses
+of whiskey, acknowledged with throaty "A-ah!" and smack of lips; and I
+hastily quaffed my lemonade. From the dollar which the Colonel grandly
+flung upon the bar he received no change--by which I might figure that
+whereas whiskey was twenty-five cents the glass, lemonade was fifty
+cents.
+
+We issued into the street and were at once engulfed by a ferment of sights
+and sounds extraordinary.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+ON GRAND TOUR
+
+
+The sun had set and all the golden twilight was hazy with the dust
+suspended in swirl and strata over the ugly roofs. In the canvas-faced
+main street the throng and noise had increased rather than diminished at
+the approach of dusk. Although clatter of dishes mingled with the cadence,
+the people acted as if they had no thought of eating; and while aware of
+certain pangs myself, I felt a diffidence in proposing supper as yet.
+
+My two companions hesitated a moment, spying up and down, which gave me
+opportunity to view the scene anew. Surely such an hotch-potch never
+before populated an American town: Men flannel shirted, high booted,
+shaggy haired and bearded, stumping along weighted with excess of belts
+and formidable revolvers balanced, not infrequently, by sheathed
+butcher-knives--men whom I took to be teamsters, miners, railroad graders,
+and the like; other men white skinned, clean shaven except perhaps for
+moustaches and goatees, in white silk shirts or ruffled bosoms, broadcloth
+trousers and trim footgear, unarmed, to all appearance, but evidently
+respected; men of Eastern garb like myself--tourists, maybe, or
+merchants; a squad of surveyors in picturesque neckerchiefs, and revolver
+girted; trainmen, grimy engineers and firemen; clerks, as I opined, dapper
+and bustling, clad in the latest fashion, with diamonds in flashy ties and
+heavy gold watch chains across their fancy waistcoats; soldiers; men whom
+I took to be Mexicans, by their velvet jackets, slashed pantaloons and
+filagreed hats; darkly weathered, leathery faced, long-haired personages,
+no doubt scouts and trappers, in fringed buckskins and beaded moccasins;
+blanket wrapped Indians; and women.
+
+Of the women a number were unmistakable as to vocation, being lavishly
+painted, strident, and bold, and significantly dressed. I saw several in
+amazing costumes of tightly fitting black like ballet girls, low necked,
+short skirted, around the smooth waists snake-skin belts supporting
+handsome little pistols and dainty poignards. Contrasted there were women
+of other class and, I did not doubt, of better repute; some in gowns and
+bonnets that would do them credit anywhere in New York, and some, of
+course, more commonly attired in calico and gingham as proper to the
+humbler station of laundresses, cooks, and so forth.
+
+The uproar was a jargon of shouts, hails, music, hammering, barking, scuff
+of feet, trample of horses and oxen, rumble of creaking wagons and Concord
+stages.
+
+"Well, suh," spoke the Colonel, pulling his hat over his eyes, "shall we
+stroll a piece?"
+
+"Might better," assented Bill. "The gentleman may find something of
+interest right in the open. How are you on the goose, sir?" he demanded of
+me.
+
+"The goose?" I uttered.
+
+"Yes. Keno."
+
+"I am a stranger to the goose," said I.
+
+He grunted.
+
+"It gives a quick turn for a small stake. So do the three-card and
+rondo."
+
+Of passageway there was not much choice between the middle of the street
+and the borders. Seemed to me as we weaved along through groups of idlers
+and among busily stepping people that every other shop was a saloon, with
+door widely open and bar and gambling tables well attended. The odor of
+liquor saturated the acrid dust. Yet the genuine shops, even of the rudest
+construction, were piled from the front to the rear with commodities of
+all kinds, and goods were yet heaped upon the ground in front and behind
+as if the merchants had no time for unpacking. The incessant hammering, I
+ascertained, came from amateur carpenters, including mere boys, here and
+there engaged as if life depended upon their efforts, in erecting more
+buildings from knocked-down sections like cardboard puzzles and from
+lumber already cut and numbered.
+
+My guides nodded right and left with "Hello, Frank," "How are you, Dan?"
+"Evening, Charley," and so on. Occasionally the Colonel swept off his
+hat, with elaborate deference, to a woman, but I looked in vain for My
+Lady in Black. I did not see her--nor did I see her peer, despite the fact
+that now and then I observed a face and figure of apparent
+attractiveness.
+
+Above the staccato of conversation and exclamation there arose the appeals
+of the barkers for the gambling resorts.
+
+"This way. Shall we see what he's got?" the Colonel invited. Forthwith
+veering aside he crossed the street in obedience to a summons of whoops
+and shouts that set the very dust to vibrating.
+
+A crowd had gathered before a youth--a perspiring, red-faced youth with a
+billy-cock hat shoved back upon his bullet head--a youth in galluses and
+soiled shirt and belled pantaloons, who, standing upon a box for
+elevation, was exhorting at the top of his lungs.
+
+"Whoo-oop! This way, this way! Everybody this way! Come on, you
+rondo-coolo sports! Give us a bet! A bet! Rondo coolo-oh! Rondo coolo-oh!
+Here's your easy money! Down with your soap! Let her roll! Rondo
+coolo-oh!"
+
+"It's a great game, suh," the Colonel flung back over his shoulder.
+
+We pushed forward, to the front. The center for the crowd was a table not
+unlike a small billiard table or, saving the absence of pins, a tivoli
+table such as enjoyed by children. But across one end there were several
+holes, into which balls, ten or a dozen, resembling miniature billiard
+balls, might roll.
+
+The balls had been banked, in customary pyramid shape for a break as in
+pool, at the opposite end; and just as we arrived they had been propelled
+all forward, scattering, by a short cue rapidly swept across their base.
+
+"Rondo coolo, suh," the Colonel was explaining, "as you see, is an
+improvement on the old rondo, foh red-blooded people. You may place your
+bets in various ways, on the general run, or the odd or the even; and as
+the bank relies, suh, only on percentage, the popular game is strictly
+square. There is no chance foh a brace in rondo coolo. Shall we take a
+turn, foh luck?"
+
+The crowd was craning and eyeing the gyrating balls expectantly. A part of
+the balls entered the pockets; the remainder came to rest.
+
+"Rondo," announced the man with the short cue, amidst excited ejaculations
+from winners and losers. And according to a system which I failed to
+grasp, except that it comprised the number of balls pocketed, he deftly
+distributed from one collection of checks and coins to another, quickly
+absorbed by greedy hands.
+
+"She rolls again. Make your bets, ladies and gents," he intoned. "It's
+rondo coolo--simple rondo coolo." And he reassembled the balls.
+
+"I prefer not to play, sir," I responded to the heavily breathing
+Colonel. "I am new here and I cannot afford to lose until I am better
+established."
+
+"Never yet seen a man who couldn't afford to win, though," Bill growled.
+"Easy pickin', too. But come on, then. We'll give you a straight steer
+some'rs else."
+
+So we left the crowd--containing indeed women as well as men--to their
+insensate fervor over a childish game under the stimulation of the
+raucous, sweating barker. Of gambling devices, in the open of the street,
+there was no end. My conductors appeared to have the passion, for our
+course led from one method of hazard to another--roulette, chuck-a-luck
+where the patrons cast dice for prizes of money and valuables arrayed upon
+numbered squares of an oilcloth covered board, keno where numbered balls
+were decanted one at a time from a bottle-shaped leather receptacle
+called, I learned, the "goose," and the players kept tab by filling in
+little cards as in domestic lotto; and finally we stopped at the simplest
+apparatus of all.
+
+"The spiel game for me, gentlemen," said the Colonel. "Here it is. Yes,
+suh, there's nothing like monte, where any man is privileged to match his
+eyes against fingers. Nobody but a blind man can lose at monte, by
+George!"
+
+"And this spieler's on the level," Bill pronounced, sotto voce. "I vote we
+hook him for a gudgeon, and get the price of a meal. Our friend will join
+us in the turn. He can see for himself that he can't lose. He's got sharp
+eyes."
+
+The bystanders here were stationed before a man sitting at a low tripod
+table; and all that he had was the small table--a plain cheap table with
+folding legs--and three playing cards. Business was a trifle slack. I
+thought that his voice crisped aggressively as we elbowed through, while
+he sat idly skimming the three cards over the table, with a flick of his
+hand.
+
+"Two jacks, and the ace, gentlemen. There they are. I have faced them up.
+Now I gather them slowly--you can't miss them. Observe closely. The jack
+on top, between thumb and forefinger. The ace next--ace in the middle. The
+other jack bottommost." He turned his hand, with the three cards in a
+tier, so that all might see. "The ace is the winning card. You are to
+locate the ace. Observe closely again. It's my hand against your eyes. I
+am going to throw. Who will spot the ace? Watch, everybody. Ready! Go!"
+The backs of the cards were up. With a swift movement he released the
+three, spreading them in a neat row, face down, upon the table. He
+carelessly shifted them hither and thither--and his fingers were
+marvelously nimble, lightly touching. "Twenty dollars against your twenty
+that you can't pick out the ace, first try. I'll let the cards lie. I
+shan't disturb them. There they are. If you've watched the ace fall, you
+win. If you haven't, you lose unless you guess right."
+
+"Just do that trick again, will you, for the benefit of my friend here?"
+bade the Colonel.
+
+The "spieler"--a thin-lipped, cadaverous individual, his soft hat
+cavalierly aslant, his black hair combed flatly in a curve down upon his
+damp forehead, a pair of sloe eyes, and a flannel shirt open upon his bony
+chest--glanced alert. He smiled.
+
+"Hello, sir. I'm agreeable. Yes, sir. But as they lie, will you make a
+guess? No? Or you, sir?" And he addressed Bill. "No? Then you, sir?" He
+appealed to me. "No? But I'm a mind-reader. I can tell by your eyes.
+They're upon the right-end card. Aha! Correct." He had turned up the card
+and shown the ace. "You should have bet. You would have beaten me, sir.
+You've got the eyes. I think you've seen this game before. No? Ah, but you
+have, or else you're born lucky. Now I'll try again. For the benefit of
+these three gentlemen I will try again. Kindly reserve your bets, friends
+all, and you shall have your chance. This game never stops. I am always
+after revenge. Watch the ace. I pick up the cards. Ace first--blessed ace;
+_and_ the jacks. Watch close. There you are." He briefly exposed the faces
+of the cards. "Keep your eyes upon the ace. Ready--go!"
+
+He spread the cards. As he had released he had tilted them slightly, and I
+clearly saw the ace land. The cards fell in the same order as arranged. To
+that I would have sworn.
+
+"Five dollars now that any one card is not the ace," he challenged. "I
+shall not touch them. A small bet--just enough to make it interesting.
+Five dollars from you, sir?" He looked at me direct. I shook my head; I
+was sternly resolved not to be over tempted. "What? No? You will wait
+another turn? Very well. How about you, sir?" to the Colonel.
+
+"I'll go halvers with you, Colonel," Bill proposed.
+
+"I'm on," agreed the Colonel. "There's the soap. And foh the honor of the
+grand old Empire State we will let our friend pick the ace foh us. I have
+faith in those eyes of his, suhs."
+
+"But that is scarcely fair, sir, when I am risking nothing," I protested.
+
+"Go ahead, suh; go ahead," he urged. "It is just a sporting proposition
+foh general entertainment."
+
+"And I'll bet you a dollar on the side that you don't spot the ace," the
+dealer baited. "Come now. Make it interesting for yourself."
+
+"I'll not bet, but since you insist, there's the ace." And I turned up the
+right-end card.
+
+"By the Eternal, he's done it! He has an eye like an eagle's," praised the
+dealer, with evident chagrin. "I lose. Once again, now. Everybody in, this
+time." He gathered the cards. "I'll play against you all, this gentleman
+included. And if I lose, why, that's life, gentleman. Some of us win, some
+of us lose. Watch the ace and have your money ready. You can follow this
+gentleman's tip. I'm afraid he's smarter than me, but I'm game."
+
+He was too insistent. Somehow, I did not like him, anyway, and I was
+beginning to be suspicious of my company. Their minds trended entirely
+toward gambling; to remain with them meant nothing farther than the gaming
+tables, and I was hungry.
+
+"You'll have to excuse me, gentleman," I pleaded. "Another time, but not
+now. I wish to eat and to bathe, and I have an engagement following."
+
+"Gad, suh!" The Colonel fixed me with his fishy eyes. "Foh God's sake
+don't break your winning streak with eatin' and washin'. Fortune is a
+fickle jade, suh; she's hostile when slapped in the face."
+
+Bill glowered at me, but I was firm.
+
+"If you will give me the pleasure of taking supper with me at some good
+place----" I suggested, as they pursued me into the street.
+
+"We can't talk this over while we're dry," the Colonel objected. "That is
+a human impossibility. Let us libate, suhs, in order to tackle our
+provender in proper spirit."
+
+"And no lemonade goes this time, either," Bill declared. "That brand of a
+drink is insultin' to good victuals."
+
+We were standing, for the moment, verging upon argument much to my
+distaste, when on a sudden who should come tripping along but My Lady of
+the Blue Eyes--yes, the very flesh and action of her, her face shielded
+from the dust by a little sunshade.
+
+She saw me, recognized me in startled fashion, and with a swift glance at
+my two companions bowed. My hat was off in a twinkling, with my best
+manner; the Colonel barely had time to imitate ere, leaving me a quick
+smile, she was gone on.
+
+He and Bill stared after; then at me.
+
+"Gad, suh! You know the lady?" the Colonel ejaculated.
+
+"I have the honor. We were passengers upon the same train."
+
+"Clean through, you mean?" queried Bill.
+
+"Yes. We happened to get on together, at Omaha."
+
+"I congratulate you, suh," affirmed the Colonel. "We were not aware, suh,
+that you had an acquaintance of that nature in this city."
+
+Again congratulation over my fortune! It mounted to my head, but I
+preserved decorum.
+
+"A casual acquaintance. We were merely travelers by the same route at the
+same time. And now if you will recommend a good eating place, and be my
+guests at supper, after that, as I have said, I must be excused. By the
+way, while I think of it," I carelessly added, "can you direct me how to
+get to the Big Tent?"
+
+"The Big Tent? If I am not intruding, suh, does your engagement comprise
+the Big Tent?"
+
+"Yes. But I failed to get the address."
+
+The Colonel swelled; his fishy eyes hardened upon me as with righteous
+indignation.
+
+"Suh, you are too damned innocent. You come here, suh, imposing as a
+stranger, suh, and throwing yourself on our goodness, suh, to entertain
+you; and you conceal your irons in the fiah under your hat, suh. Do we
+look green, suh? What is your vocation, suh? I believe, by gad, suh, that
+you are a common capper foh some infernal skinning game, or that you are a
+professional. Suh, I call your hand."
+
+I was about to retort hotly that I had not requested their chaperonage,
+and that my affair with My Lady and the Big Tent, howsoever they might
+take it, was my own; when Mr. Brady, who likewise had been glaring at me,
+growled morosely.
+
+"She's waitin' for you. You can square with us later, and if there's
+something doin' on the table we want a show."
+
+The black-clad figure had lingered beyond; ostensibly gazing into a window
+but now and again darting a glance in our direction. I accepted the
+glances as a token of inclination on her part; without saying another word
+to my ruffled body-guards I approached her.
+
+She received me with a quick turn of head as if not expecting, but with a
+ready smile.
+
+"Well, sir?"
+
+"Madam," I uttered foolishly, "good-evening."
+
+"You have left your friends?"
+
+"Very willingly. Whether they are really my friends I rather question.
+They have seen fit to escort me about, is all."
+
+"And I have rescued you?" She smiled again. "Believe me, sir, you would be
+better off alone. I know the gentlemen. They have been paid for their
+trouble, have they not?"
+
+"They have won a little at gambling, but in that I had no hand," I
+replied. "So far they have asked nothing more."
+
+"Certainly not. And you put up no stakes?"
+
+"Not a penny, madam. Why should I?"
+
+"To make it interesting, as they doubtless said. The Colonel, as all the
+town knows, is a notorious capper and steerer, and the fellow Brady is no
+better, no worse. Had you stayed with them and suffered them to persuade
+you into betting, you would soon have been fleeced as clean as a shaved
+pig. The little gains they are permitted to make, to draw you on, is their
+pay. Their losses if any would have been restored to them, but not yours
+to you."
+
+"Strange to say, they have just accused me of being a 'capper,'" I
+answered, nettled as I began to comprehend.
+
+"From what cause, sir?"
+
+[Illustration: "Madam," I Uttered Foolishly, "Good Evening."]
+
+"They seemed to think that I am smarter than to my actual credit, for one
+thing." I, of course, could not involve her in the subject, and indeed
+could not understand why she should have been held responsible, anyway.
+"And probably they were peeved because I insisted upon eating supper and
+then following my own bent."
+
+"You were about to leave them?" Her face brightened. "That is good. They
+were disappointed in finding you no gudgeon to be hooked by such raw
+methods. And you've not had supper yet? Promise me that you will take up
+with no more strangers or, I assure you, you may wake in the morning with
+your pockets turned inside out and your memory at fault. This is Benton."
+
+"Yes, this is Benton, is it?" I rejoined; and perhaps bitterly.
+
+"Benton, Wyoming Territory; of three thousand people in two weeks; in
+another month, who knows how many? And the majority of us live on one
+another. The country furnishes nothing else. Still, you will find it not
+much different from what I told you."
+
+"I have found it high and dry, certainly," said I.
+
+"Where are you stopping?"
+
+"At the Queen--with a bath for every room. I am now awaiting the turn of
+my room, at the end of another hour."
+
+"Oh!" She laughed heartily. "You are fortunate, sir. The Queen may not be
+considered the best in all ways, but they say the towels for the baths are
+more than napkin size. Meanwhile, let me advise you. Outfit while you
+wait, and become of the country. You look too much the pilgrim--there is
+Eastern dust showing through our Benton dust, and that spells of other
+'dust' in your pockets. Get another hat, a flannel shirt, some coarser
+trousers, a pair of boots, don a gun and a swagger, say little, make few
+impromptu friends, win and lose without a smile or frown, if you play (but
+upon playing I will advise you later), pass as a surveyor, as a railroad
+clerk, as a Mormon--anything they choose to apply to you; and I shall hope
+to see you to-night."
+
+"You shall," I assured, abashed by her raillery. "And if you will kindly
+tell me----"
+
+"The meals at the Belle Marie Café are as good as any. You can see the
+sign from here. So adios, sir, and remember." With no mention of the Big
+Tent she flashed a smile at me and mingled with the other pedestrians
+crossing the street on diagonal course. As I had not been invited to
+accompany her I stood, gratefully digesting her remarks. When I turned for
+a final word with my two guides, they had vanished.
+
+This I interpreted as a confession of jealous fear that I had been, in
+slang phrasing, "put wise." And sooth to say, I saw them again no more.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+"HIGH AND DRY"
+
+
+The counsel to don a garb smacking less of the recent East struck me as
+sound; for although I was not the only person here in Eastern guise,
+nevertheless about the majority of the populace there was an easy
+aggressiveness that my appearance evidently lacked.
+
+So I must hurry ere the shops closed.
+
+"I beg your pardon. What time do the stores close, can you tell me?" I
+asked of the nearest bystander.
+
+He surveyed me.
+
+"Close? Hell!" he said. "They don't close for even a dog fight, pardner.
+Business runs twenty-five hours every day, seven days the week, in these
+diggin's."
+
+"And where will I find a haberdashery?"
+
+"A what? Talk English. What you want?"
+
+"I want a--an outfit; a personal outfit."
+
+"Blanket to moccasins? Levi's, stranger. Levi'll outfit you complete and
+throw in a yellow purp under the wagon."
+
+"And where is Levi's?"
+
+"There." And he jerked his head aside. "You could shut your eyes and spit
+in the doorway."
+
+With that he rudely turned his back upon me. But sure enough, by token of
+the large sign "Levi's Mammoth Emporium: Liquors, Groceries and General
+Merchandise," I was standing almost in front of the store itself.
+
+I entered, into the seething aisle flanked by heaped-up counters and
+stacked goods that bulged the partially boarded canvas walls. At last I
+gained position near one of the perspiring clerks and caught his eye.
+
+"Yes, sir. You, sir? What can I do for you, sir?" He rubbed his hands
+alertly, on edge with a long day.
+
+"I wish a hat, flannel shirt, a serviceable ready-made suit, boots,
+possibly other matters."
+
+"We have exactly the things for you, sir. This way."
+
+"Going out on the advance line, sir?" he asked, while I made selections.
+
+"That is not unlikely."
+
+"They're doing great work. Three miles of track laid yesterday; twelve so
+far this week. Averaging two and one-half miles a day and promising
+better."
+
+"So I understand," I alleged.
+
+"General Jack Casement is a world beater. If he could get the iron as fast
+as he could use it he'd build through to California without a halt. But
+looks now as if somewhere between would have to satisfy him. You are a
+surveyor, I take it?"
+
+"Yes, I am surveying on the line along with the others," I answered. And
+surveying the country I was.
+
+"You are the gentlemen who lay out the course," he complimented. "Now, is
+there something else, sir?"
+
+"I need a good revolver, a belt and ammunition."
+
+"We carry the reliable--the Colt's. That's the favorite holster gun in use
+out here. Please step across, sir."
+
+He led.
+
+"If you're not particular as to shine," he resumed, "we have a second-hand
+outfit that I can sell you cheap. Took it in as a deposit, and the
+gentleman never has called for it. Of course you're broken in to the
+country, but as you know a new belt and holster are apt to be viewed with
+suspicion and a gentleman sometimes has to draw when he'd rather not, to
+prove himself. This gun has been used just enough to take the roughness
+off the trigger pull, and it employs the metallic cartridges--very
+convenient. The furniture for it is O. K. And all at half price."
+
+I was glad to find something cheap. The boots had been fifteen dollars,
+the hat eight, shirt and suit in proportion, and the red silk handkerchief
+two dollars and a half. Yes, Benton was "high."
+
+With my bulky parcel I sought the Belle Marie Café, ate my supper, thence
+hastened through the gloaming to the hotel for bath and change of costume.
+
+I had yet time to array myself, as an experiment and a lark; and that I
+sillily did, hurriedly tossing my old garments upon bed and floor, in
+order to invest with the new. The third bed was occupied when I came in;
+occupied on the outside by a plump, round-faced, dust-scalded man, with
+piggish features accentuated by his small bloodshot eyes; dressed in
+Eastern mode but stripped to the galluses, as was the custom. He lay upon
+his back, his puffy hands folded across his spherical abdomen where his
+pantaloons met a sweaty pink-striped shirt; and he panted wheezingly
+through his nose.
+
+"Hell of a country, ain't it!" he observed in a moment. "You a stranger,
+too?"
+
+"I have been here a short time, sir."
+
+"Thought so. Jest beginnin' to peel, like me. I been here two days. What's
+your line?"
+
+"I have a number of things in view," I evaded.
+
+"Well, you don't have to tell 'em," he granted. "Thought you was a
+salesman. I'm from Saint Louie, myself. Sell groceries, and pasteboards on
+the side. Cards are the stuff. I got the best line of sure-thing
+stock--strippers, humps, rounds, squares, briefs and marked backs--that
+ever were dealt west of the Missouri. Judas Priest, but this is a roarer
+of a burg! What _it_ ain't got I never seen--and I ain't no spring
+goslin', neither. I've plenty sand in my craw. You ain't been plucked
+yet?"
+
+"No, sir. I never gamble."
+
+"Wish I didn't, but my name's Jakey and I'm a good feller. Say, I'm
+supposed to be wise, too, but they trimmed me two hundred dollars. Now I'm
+gettin' out." He groaned. "Take the train in a few minutes. Dasn't risk
+myself on the street again. Sent my baggage down for fear I'd lose that.
+Say," he added, watching me, "looks like you was goin' out yourself. One
+of them surveyor fellers, workin' for the railroad?"
+
+"It might be so, sir," I replied.
+
+He half sat up.
+
+"You'll want to throw a leg, I bet. Lemme tell you. It's a hell of a town
+but it's got some fine wimmen; yes, and a few straight banks, too. You're
+no crabber or piker; I can see that. You go to the North Star. Tell Frank
+that Jakey sent you. They'll treat you white. You be sure and say Jakey
+sent you. But for Gawd's sake keep out of the Big Tent."
+
+"The Big Tent?" I uttered. "Why so?"
+
+"They'll sweat you there," he groaned lugubriously. "Say, friend, could
+you lend me twenty dollars? You've still got your roll. I ain't a stivver.
+I'm busted flat."
+
+"I'm sorry that I can't accommodate you, sir," said I. "I have no more
+money than will see me through--and according to your story perhaps not
+enough."
+
+"I've told you of the North Star. You mention Jakey sent you. You'll make
+more than your twenty back, at the North Star," he urged inconsistent.
+"If it hadn't been for that damned Big Tent----" and he flopped with a
+dismal grunt.
+
+By this time, all the while conscious of his devouring eyes, I had changed
+my clothing and now I stood equipped cap-a-pie, with my hat clapped at an
+angle, and my pantaloons in my boots, and my red silk handkerchief
+tastefully knotted at my throat, and my six-shooter slung; and I could
+scarcely deny that in my own eyes, and in his, I trusted, I was a pretty
+figure of a Westerner who would win the approval, as seemed to me, of My
+Lady in Black or of any other lady.
+
+His reflection upon the Big Tent, however, was the fly in my ointment.
+Therefore, preening and adjusting with assumed carelessness I queried, in
+real concern:
+
+"What about the Big Tent? Where is it? Isn't it respectable?"
+
+"Respectable? Of course it's respectable. You don't ketch your Jakey in no
+place that ain't. I've a family to think of. You ain't been there? Say!
+There's where they all meet, in that Big Tent; all the best people, too,
+you bet you. But I tell you, friend----"
+
+He did not finish. An uproar sounded above the other street clamor: a
+pistol shot, and another--a chorus of hoarse shouts and shrill frightened
+cries, the scurrying rush of feet, all in the street; and in the hall of
+the hotel, and the lobby below, the rush of still more feet, booted, and
+the din of excited voices.
+
+My man on the bed popped with the agility of a jack-in-the-box for the
+window.
+
+"A fight, a fight! Shootin' scrape!" In a single motion grabbing coat and
+hat he was out through the door and pelting down the hall. Overcome by the
+zest of the moment I pelted after, and with several others plunged as
+madly upon the porch. We had left the lobby deserted.
+
+The shots had ceased. Now a baying mob ramped through the street, with
+jangle "Hang him! Hang him! String him up!" Borne on by a hysterical
+company I saw, first a figure bloody-chested and inert flat in the dust,
+with stooping figures trying to raise him; then, beyond, a man bareheaded,
+whiskered, but as white as death, hustled to and fro from clutching hands
+and suddenly forced in firm grips up the street, while the mob trailed
+after, whooping, cursing, shrieking, flourishing guns and knives and
+ropes. There were women as well as men in it.
+
+All this turned me sick. From the outskirts of the throng I tramped back
+to my room and the bath. The hotel was quiet as if emptied; my room was
+vacant--and more than vacant, for of my clothing not a vestige remained!
+My bag also was gone. Worse yet, prompted by an inner voice that stabbed
+me like an icicle I was awakened to the knowledge that every cent I had
+possessed was in those vanished garments.
+
+For an instant I stood paralyzed, fronting the calamity. I could not
+believe. It was as if the floor had swallowed my belongings. I had been
+absent not more than five minutes. Surely this was the room. Yes, Number
+Six; and the beds were familiar, their tumbled covers unaltered.
+
+Now I held the bath-room responsible. The scoundrel in the bath had heard,
+had taken advantage, made a foray and hidden. Out I ran, exploring. Every
+room door was wide open, every apartment blank; but there was a splashing,
+from the bath--I listened at the threshold, gently tried the knob--and
+received such a cry of angry protest that it sent me to the right-about,
+on tiptoe. The thief was not in the bath.
+
+My heart sank as I bolted down for the office. The clerk had reinstated
+himself behind the counter. He composedly greeted me, with calm voice and
+with eyes that noted my costume.
+
+"You can have your bath as soon as the porter gets back from the hanging,
+sir," he said. "That is, unless you'd prefer to hurry up by toting your
+own water. The party now in will be out directly."
+
+"Never mind the bath," I uttered, breathless, in a voice that I scarcely
+recognized, so piping and aghast it was. "I've been robbed--of money,
+clothes, baggage, everything!"
+
+"Well, what at?" he queried, with a glimmer of a smile.
+
+"What at? In my room, I tell you. I had just changed to try on these
+things; the street fight sounded; I was gone not five minutes and
+nevertheless the room was sacked. Absolutely sacked."
+
+"That," he commented evenly, "is hard luck."
+
+"Hard luck!" I hotly rejoined. "It's an outrage. But you seem remarkably
+cool about it, sir. What do you propose to do?"
+
+"I?" He lifted his brows. "Nothing. They're not my valuables."
+
+"But this is a respectable hotel, isn't it?"
+
+"Perfectly; and no orphan asylum. We attend strictly to our business and
+expect our guests to attend to theirs."
+
+"I was told that it was safe for me to leave my things in my room."
+
+"Not by me, sir. Read that." And he called my attention to a placard that
+said, among other matters: "We are not responsible for property of any
+nature left by guests in their rooms."
+
+"Where's the chief of police?" I demanded. "You have officers here, I
+hope."
+
+"Yes, sir. The marshal is the chief of police, and he's the whole show.
+The provost guard from the post helps out when necessary. But you'll find
+the marshal at the mayor's office or else at the North Star gambling hall,
+three blocks up the street. I don't think he'll do you any good, though.
+He's not likely to bother with small matters, especially when he's
+dealing faro bank. He has an interest in the North Star. You'll never see
+your property again. Take my word for it."
+
+"I won't? Why not?"
+
+"You've played the gudgeon for somebody; that's all. Easiest thing in the
+world for a smart gentleman to slip into your room while you were absent,
+go through it, and make his getaway by the end of the hall, out over the
+kitchen roof. It's been done many a time."
+
+"A traveling salesman saw me dressing. He went out before me but he might
+have doubled," I gasped. "He had one of the beds--who is he?"
+
+"I don't know him, sir."
+
+"A round-bellied, fat-faced man--sold groceries and playing cards."
+
+"There is no such guest in your room, sir. You have bed Number One, bed
+Number Two is assigned to Mr. Bill Brady, who doubtless will be in soon.
+Number Three is temporarily vacant."
+
+"The man said he was about to catch the train east," I pursued
+desperately. "A round-bellied, fat-faced man in pink striped shirt----"
+
+"If he was to catch any train, that train has just pulled out."
+
+"And who was in the bath, ten or fifteen minutes ago?"
+
+"My wife, sir; and still there. She has to take her chances like everybody
+else. No, sir; you've been done. You may find your clothes, but I doubt
+it. You are next upon the bath list." And he became all business. "The
+porter will carry up the water and notify you. You are allowed twenty
+minutes. That is satisfactory?"
+
+A bath, now!
+
+"No, certainly not," I blurted. "I have no time nor inclination for a
+bath, at present. And," I faltered, ashamed, "I'll have to ask you to
+refund me the dollar and a half. I haven't a cent."
+
+"Under the circumstances I can do that, although it is against our rules,"
+he replied. "Here it is, sir. We wish to accommodate."
+
+"And will you advance me twenty dollars, say, until I shall have procured
+funds from the East?" I ventured.
+
+A mask fell over his face. He slightly smiled.
+
+"No, sir; I cannot. We never advance money."
+
+"But I've got to have money, to tide me over, man," I pleaded. "This
+dollar and a half will barely pay for a meal. I can give you
+references----"
+
+"From Colonel Sunderson, may I ask?" His voice was poised tentatively.
+
+"No. I never saw the Colonel before. My references are Eastern. My
+father----"
+
+"As a gentleman the Colonel is O. K.," he smoothly interrupted. "I do not
+question his integrity, nor your father's. But we never advance money. It
+is against the policy of the house."
+
+"Has my trunk come up yet?" I queried.
+
+"Yes, sir. If you'd rather have it in your room----"
+
+"In my room!" said I. "No! Else it might walk out the hall window, too.
+You have it safe?"
+
+"Perfectly, except in case of burglary or fire. It is out of the weather.
+We're not responsible for theft or fire, you understand. Not in Benton."
+
+"Good Lord!" I ejaculated, weak. "You have my trunk, you say? Very good.
+Will you advance me twenty dollars and keep the trunk as security? That, I
+think, is a sporting proposition."
+
+He eyed me up and down.
+
+"Are you a surveyor? Connected with the road?"
+
+"No."
+
+"What is your business, then?"
+
+"I'm a damned fool," I confessed. "I'm a gudgeon--I'm a come-on. In fact,
+as I've said before, I'm out here looking for health, where it's high and
+dry." He smiled. "And high and dry I'm landed in short order. But the
+trunk's not empty. Will you keep it and lend me twenty dollars? I presume
+that trunk and contents are worth two hundred."
+
+"I'll speak with the porter," he answered.
+
+By the lapse of time between his departure and his return he and the gnome
+evidently had hefted the trunk and viewed it at all angles. Now he came
+back with quick step.
+
+"Yes, sir; we'll advance you twenty dollars on your trunk. Here is the
+money, sir." He wrote, and passed me a slip of paper also. "And your
+receipt. When you pay the twenty dollars, if within thirty days, you can
+have your trunk."
+
+"And if not?" I asked uncomfortably.
+
+"We shall be privileged to dispose of it. We are not in the pawn business,
+but we have trunks piled to the ceiling in our storeroom, left by
+gentlemen in embarrassed circumstances like yours."
+
+I never saw that trunk again, either. However, of this, more anon. At that
+juncture I was only too glad to get the twenty dollars, pending the time
+when I should be recouped from home; for I could see that to be stranded
+"high and dry" in Benton City of Wyoming Territory would be a dire
+situation. And I could not hope for much from home. It was a bitter dose
+to have to ask for further help. Three years returned from the war my
+father had scarcely yet been enabled to gather the loose ends of his
+former affairs.
+
+"Now if you will direct me to the telegraph office----?" I suggested.
+
+"The telegraph into Benton is the Union Pacific Railroad line," he
+informed; "and that is open to only Government and official business. If
+you wish to send a private dispatch you should forward it by post to
+Cheyenne, one hundred and seventy-five miles, where it will be put on the
+Overland branch line for the East by way of Denver. The rate to New York
+is eight dollars, prepaid."
+
+I knew that my face fell. Eight dollars would make a large hole in my
+slender funds--I had been foolish not to have borrowed fifty dollars on
+the trunk. So I decided to write instead of telegraph; and with him
+watching me I endeavored to speak lightly.
+
+"Thank you. Now where will I find the place known as the Big Tent?"
+
+He laughed with peculiar emphasis.
+
+"If you had mentioned the Big Tent sooner you'd have got no twenty dollars
+from me, sir. Not that I've anything against it, understand. It's all
+right, everybody goes there; perfectly legitimate. I go there myself. And
+you may redeem your trunk to-morrow and be buying champagne."
+
+"I am to meet a friend at the Big Tent," I stiffly explained. "Further
+than that I have no business there. I know nothing whatever about it."
+
+"I beg your pardon, sir. No offense intended. The Big Tent is highly
+regarded--a great place to spend a pleasant evening. All Benton indulges.
+I wish you the best of luck, sir. You are heeled, I see. No one will take
+you for a pilgrim." Despite the assertion there was a twinkle in his eye.
+"You will find the Big Tent one block and a half down this street. You
+cannot miss it."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+I GO TO RENDEZVOUS
+
+
+The hotel lamps were being lighted by the gnome porter. When I stepped
+outside twilight had deepened into dusk, the air was almost frosty, and
+this main street had been made garish by its nightly illumination.
+
+It was a strange sight, as I paused for a moment upon the plank veranda.
+The near vicinity resembled a fair. As if inspired by the freshness and
+coolness of the new air the people were trooping to and fro more
+restlessly than ever, and in greater numbers. All up and down the street
+coal-oil torches or flambeaus, ruddily embossing the heads of the players
+and onlookers, flared like votive braziers above the open-air gambling
+games; there were even smoked-chimney lamps, and candles, set on
+pedestals, signalizing other centers. The walls of the tent
+store-buildings glowed spectral from the lights to be glimpsed through
+doorways and windows, and grotesque, gigantic figures flitted in
+silhouette. While through the interstices between the buildings I might
+see other structures, ranging from those of tolerable size to simple wall
+tents and makeshift shacks, eerily shadowed.
+
+The noise had, if anything, redoubled. To the exclamations, the riotous
+shouts and whoops, the general gay vociferations and the footsteps of a
+busy people, the harangues of the barkers, the more distant puffing and
+shrieking of the locomotives at the railroad yards, the hammering where
+men and boys worked by torchlight, and now and then a revolver shot, there
+had been added the inciting music of stringed instruments, cymbals, and
+such--some in dance measures, some solo, while immediately at hand sounded
+the shuffling stamp of waltz, hoe-down and cotillion.
+
+Night at Benton plainly had begun with a gusto. It stirred one's blood. It
+called--it summoned with such a promise of variety, of adventure, of
+flotsam and jetsam and shuttlecock of chances, that I, a youth with
+twenty-one dollars and a half at disposal, all his clothes on his back, a
+man's weapon at his belt, and an appointment with a lady as his future,
+forgetful of past and courageous in present, strode confidently, even
+recklessly down, as eager as one to the manners of the country born.
+
+The mysterious allusions to the Big Tent now piqued me. It was a
+rendezvous, popular, I deemed, and respectable, as assured. An amusement
+place, judging by the talk; superior, undoubtedly, to other resorts that I
+may have noted. I was well equipped to test it out, for I had little to
+lose, even time was of no moment, and I possessed a friend at court,
+there, whom I had interested and who very agreeably interested me. This
+single factor would have glorified with a halo any tent, big or little, in
+Benton.
+
+There was no need for me to inquire my way to the Big Tent. Upon pushing
+along down the street, beset upon my course by many sights and proffered
+allurements, and keenly alive to the romance of that hurly-burly of
+pleasure and business combined here two thousand miles west of New York,
+always expectant of my goal I was attracted by music again, just ahead,
+from an orchestra. I saw a large canvas sign--The Big Tent--suspended in
+the full shine of a locomotive reflector. Beneath it the people were
+streaming into the wide entrance to a great canvas hall.
+
+Quickening my pace in accord with the increased pace of the throng,
+presently I likewise entered, unchallenged for any admission fee. Once
+across the threshold, I halted, taken all aback by the hubbub and the
+kaleidoscopic spectacle that beat upon my ears and eyes.
+
+The interior, high ceilinged to the ridged roof, was unbroken by supports.
+It was lighted by two score of lamps and reflectors in brackets along the
+walls and hanging as chandeliers from the rafters. The floor, of planed
+boards, already teemed with men and women and children--along one side
+there was an ornate bar glittering with cut glass and silver and backed by
+a large plate mirror that repeated the lights, the people, the glasses,
+decanters and pitchers, and the figures of the white-coated, busy
+bartenders.
+
+At the farther end of the room a stringed orchestra was stationed upon a
+platform, while to the bidding of the music women, and men with hats upon
+their heads and cigars in mouths, and men together, whirled in couples, so
+that the floor trembled to the boot heels. Scattered thickly over the
+intervening space there were games of chance, every description,
+surrounded by groups looking on or playing. Through the atmosphere blue
+with the smoke women, many of them lavishly costumed as if for a ball,
+strolled risking or responding to gallantries. The garb of the men
+themselves ran the scale: from the comme il faut of slender shoes,
+fashionably cut coats and pantaloons, and modish cravats, through the
+campaign uniforms of army officers and enlisted men, to the frontier
+corduroy and buckskin of surveyors and adventurers, the flannel shirts,
+red, blue and gray, the jeans and cowhide boots of trainmen, teamsters,
+graders, miners, and all.
+
+From nearly every waist dangled a revolver. I remarked that not a few of
+the women displayed little weapons as in bravado.
+
+What with the music, the stamp of the dancers, the clink of glasses and
+the ice in pitchers, the rattle of dice, the slap of cards and currency,
+the announcements of the dealers, the clap-trap of barkers and monte
+spielers, the general chatter of voices, one such as I, a newcomer,
+scarcely knew which way to turn.
+
+Altogether this was an amusement palace which, though rough of exterior,
+eclipsed the best of the Bowery and might be found elsewhere, I imagined,
+not short of San Francisco.
+
+From the jostle of the doorway to pick out upon the floor any single
+figure and follow it was well-nigh impossible. Not seeing my Lady in
+Black, at first sight--not being certain of her, that is, for there were a
+number of black dresses--I moved on in. It might be that she was among the
+dancers, where, as I could determine by the vista, beauty appeared to be
+whirling around in the embrace of the whiskered beast.
+
+Then, as I advanced resolutely among the gaming tables, I felt a cuff upon
+the shoulder and heard a bluff voice in my ear.
+
+"Hello, old hoss. How are tricks by this time?"
+
+Facing about quickly with apprehension of having been spotted by another
+capper, if not Bill Brady himself (for the voice was not Colonel
+Sunderson's unctuous tones) I saw Jim of the Sidney station platform and
+the railway coach fracas.
+
+He was grinning affably, apparently none the worse for wear save a
+slightly swollen lower lip; he seemed in good humor.
+
+"Shake," he proffered, extending his hand. "No hard feelin's here. I'm no
+Injun. You knocked the red-eye out o' me."
+
+I shook hands with him, and again he slapped me upon the shoulder. "Hardly
+knowed you in that new rig. Now you're talkin'. That's sense. Well; how
+you comin' on?"
+
+"First rate," I assured, not a little nonplussed by this greeting from a
+man whom I had knocked down, tipsy drunk, only a few hours before. But
+evidently he was a seasoned customer.
+
+"Bucked the tiger a leetle, I reckon?" And he leered cunningly.
+
+"No; I rarely gamble."
+
+"Aw, tell that to the marines." Once more he jovially clapped me. "A young
+gent like you has to take a fling now and then. Hell, this is Benton,
+where everything goes and nobody the worse for it. You bet yuh! Trail
+along with me. Let's likker. Then I'll show you the ropes. I like your
+style. Yes, sir; I know a man when I see him." And he swore freely.
+
+"Another time, sir," I begged off. "I have an engagement this
+evening----"
+
+"O' course you have. Don't I know that, too, by Gawd? The when, where and
+who? Didn't she tell me to keep my eyes skinned for you, and to cotton to
+you when you come in? We'll find her, after we likker up."
+
+"She did?"
+
+"Why not? Ain't I a friend o' hern? You bet! Finest little woman in
+Benton. Trail to the trough along with me, pardner, and name your
+favor-ite. I've got a thirst like a Sioux buck with a robe to trade."
+
+"I'd rather not drink, thank you," I essayed; but he would have none of
+it. He seized me by the arm and hustled me on.
+
+"O' course you'll drink. Any gent I ax to drink has gotto drink. Name your
+pizen--make it champagne, if that's your brand. But the drinks are on
+me."
+
+So willy-nilly I was brought to the bar, where the line of men already
+loafing there made space.
+
+"Straight goods and the best you've got," my self-appointed pilot blared.
+"None o' your agency whiskey, either. What's yourn?" he asked of me.
+
+"The same as yours, sir," I bravely replied.
+
+With never a word the bartender shoved bottle and glasses to us. Jim
+rather unsteadily filled; I emulated, but to scanter measure.
+
+"Here's how," he volunteered. "May you never see the back of your neck."
+
+"Your health," I responded.
+
+We drank. The stuff may have been pure; at least it was stout and cut
+fiery way down my unwonted throat; the one draught infused me with a
+swagger and a sudden rosy view of life through a temporary mist of
+watering eyes.
+
+"A-ah! That puts guts into a man," quoth Jim. "Shall we have another? One
+more?"
+
+"Not now. The next shall be on me. Let's look around," I gasped.
+
+"We'll find her," he promised. "Take a stroll. I'll steer you right. Have
+a seegar, anyway."
+
+As smoking vied with drinking, here in the Big Tent where even the dancers
+cavorted with lighted cigars in their mouths, I saw fit to humor him.
+
+"Cigars it shall be, then. But I'll pay." And to my nod the bartender set
+out a box, from which we selected at twenty-five cents each. With my own
+"seegar" cocked up between my lips, and my revolver adequately heavy at my
+belt, I suffered the guidance of the importunate Jim.
+
+We wended leisurely among games of infinite variety: keno, rondo coolo,
+poker, faro, roulette, monte, chuck-a-luck, wheels of fortune--advertised,
+some, by their barkers, but the better class (if there is such a
+distinction) presided over by remarkably quiet, white-faced,
+nimble-fingered, steady-eyed gentry in irreproachable garb running much to
+white shirts, black pantaloons, velvet waistcoats, and polished boots, and
+diamonds and gold chains worn unaffectedly; low-voiced gentry, these,
+protected, it would appear, mainly by their lookouts perched at their
+sides with eyes alert to read faces and to watch the play.
+
+We had by no means completed the tour, interrupted by many jests and nods
+exchanged between Jim and sundry of the patrons, when we indeed met My
+Lady. She detached herself, as if cognizant of our approach, from a little
+group of four or five standing upon the floor; and turned for me with hand
+outstretched, a gratifying flush upon her spirited face.
+
+"You are here, then?" she greeted.
+
+I made a leg, with my best bow, not omitting to remove hat and cigar,
+while agreeably conscious of her approving gaze.
+
+"I am here, madam, in the Big Tent."
+
+Her small warm hand acted as if unreservedly mine, for the moment. About
+her there was a tingling element of the friendly, even of the intimate.
+She was a haven in a strange coast.
+
+"Told you I'd find him, didn't I?" Jim asserted--the bystanders listening
+curiously. "There he was, lookin' as lonesome as a two-bit piece on a
+poker table in a sky-limit game. So we had a drink and a seegar, and been
+makin' the grand tower."
+
+"You got your outfit, I see," she smiled.
+
+"Yes. Am I correct?"
+
+"You have saved yourself annoyance. You'll do," she nodded. "Have you
+played yet? Win, or lose?"
+
+"I did not come to play, madam," said I. "Not at table, that is."
+Whereupon I must have returned her gaze so glowingly as to embarrass her.
+Yet she was not displeased; and in that costume and with that liquor
+still coursing through my veins I felt equal to any retort.
+
+"But you should play. You are heeled?"
+
+"The best I could procure." I let my hand rest casually upon my revolver
+butt.
+
+She laughed merrily. There were smiles aside.
+
+"Oh, no; I didn't mean that. You are heeled for all to see. I meant, you
+have funds? You didn't come here too light, did you?"
+
+"I am prepared for all emergencies, madam, certainly," I averred with
+proper dignity. Not for the world would I have confessed otherwise. Sooth
+to say, I had the sensation of boundless wealth. The affair at the hotel
+did not bother me, now. Here in the Big Tent prosperity reigned. Money,
+money, money was passing back and forth, carelessly shoved out and
+carelessly pocketed or piled up, while the band played and the people
+laughed and drank and danced and bragged and staked, and laughed again.
+
+"That is good. Shall we walk a little? And when you play--come here." We
+stepped apart from the listeners. "When you play, follow the lead of Jim.
+He'll not lose, and I intend that you shan't, either. But you must play,
+for the sport of it. Everybody games, in Benton."
+
+"So I judge, madam," I assented. "Under your chaperonage I am ready to
+take any risks, the gaming table being among the least."
+
+"Prettily said, sir," she complimented. "And you won't lose. No," she
+repeated suggestively, "you won't lose, with me looking out for you. Jim
+bears you no ill will. He recognizes a man when he meets him, even when
+the proof is uncomfortable."
+
+"For that little episode on the train I ask no reward, madam," said I.
+
+"Of course not." Her tone waxed impatient. "However, you're a stranger in
+Benton and strangers do not always fare well." In this she spoke the
+truth. "As a resident I claim the honors. Let us be old acquaintances.
+Shall we walk? Or would you rather dance?"
+
+"I'd cut a sorry figure dancing in boots," said I. "Therefore I'd really
+prefer to walk, if all the same to you."
+
+"Thank you for having mercy on my poor feet. Walk we will."
+
+"May I get you some refreshment?" I hazarded. "A lemonade--or something
+stronger?"
+
+"Not for you, sir; not again," she laughed. "You are, as Jim would say,
+'fortified.' And I shall need all my wits to keep you from being tolled
+away by greater attractions."
+
+With that, she accepted my arm. We promenaded, Jim sauntering near. And as
+she emphatically was the superior of all other women upon the floor I did
+not fail to dilate with the distinction accorded me: felt it in the
+glances, the deference and the ready make-way which attended upon our
+progress. Frankly to say, possibly I strutted--as a young man will when
+"fortified" within and without and elevated from the station of
+nondescript stranger to that of favored beau.
+
+Whereas an hour before I had been crushed and beggarly, now I turned out
+my toes and stepped bravely--my twenty-one dollars in pocket, my
+six-shooter at belt, a red 'kerchief at throat, the queen of the hall on
+my arm, and my trunk all unnecessary to my well-being.
+
+Thus in easy fashion we moved amidst eyes and salutations from the various
+degrees of the company. She made no mention of any husband, which might
+have been odd in the East but did not impress me as especially odd here in
+the democratic Far West. The women appeared to have an independence of
+action.
+
+"Shall we risk a play or two?" she proposed. "Are you acquainted with
+three-card monte?"
+
+"Indifferently, madam," said I. "But I am green at all gambling devices."
+
+"You shall learn," she encouraged lightly. "In Benton as in Rome, you
+know. There is no disgrace attached to laying down a dollar here and
+there--we all do it. That is part of our amusement, in Benton." She
+halted. "You are game, sir? What is life but a series of chances? Are you
+disposed to win a little and flout the danger of losing?"
+
+"I am in Benton to win," I valiantly asserted. "And if under your
+direction, so much the quicker. What first, then? The three-card monte?"
+
+"It is the simplest. Faro would be beyond you yet. Rondo coolo is
+boisterous and confusing--and as for poker, that is a long session of
+nerves, while chuck-a-luck, though all in the open, is for children and
+fools. You might throw the dice a thousand times and never cast a lucky
+combination. Roulette is as bad. The percentage in favor of the bank in a
+square game is forty per cent. better than stealing. I'll initiate you on
+monte. Are your eyes quick?"
+
+"For some things," I replied meaningly.
+
+She conducted me to the nearest monte game, where the "spieler"--a
+smooth-faced lad of not more than nineteen--sat behind his three-legged
+little table, green covered, and idly shifting the cards about maintained
+a rather bored flow of conversational incitement to bets.
+
+As happened, he was illy patronized at the moment. There were not more
+than three or four onlookers, none risking but all waiting apparently upon
+one another.
+
+At our arrival the youth glanced up with the most innocent pair of
+long-lashed brown eyes that I ever had seen. A handsome boy he was.
+
+"Hello, Bob."
+
+He smiled, with white teeth.
+
+"Hello yourself."
+
+My Lady and he seemed to know each other.
+
+"How goes it to-night, Bob?"
+
+"Slow. There's no nerve or money in this camp any more. She's a dead
+one."
+
+"I'll not have Benton slandered," My Lady gaily retorted. "We'll buck your
+game, Bob. But you must be easy on us. We're green yet."
+
+Bob shot a quick glance at me--in one look had read me from hat to boots.
+He had shrewder eyes than their first languor intimated.
+
+"Pleased to accommodate you, I'm sure," he answered. "The greenies stand
+as good a show at this board as the profesh."
+
+"Will you play for a dollar?" she challenged.
+
+"I'll play for two bits, to-night. Anything to start action." He twisted
+his mouth with ready chagrin. "I'm about ripe to bet against myself."
+
+She fumbled at her reticule, but I was beforehand.
+
+"No, no." And I fished into my pocket. "Allow me. I will furnish the funds
+if you will do the playing."
+
+"I choose the card?" said she. "That is up to you, sir. You are to
+learn."
+
+"By watching, at first," I protested. "We should be partners."
+
+"Well," she consented, "if you say so. Partners it is. A lady brings luck,
+but I shall not always do your playing for you, sir. That kind of
+partnership comes to grief."
+
+"I am hopeful of playing on my own score, in due time," I responded. "As
+you will see."
+
+"What's the card, Bob? We've a dollar on it, as a starter."
+
+He eyed her, while facing the cards up.
+
+"The ace. You see it--the ace, backed by ten and deuce. Here it is. All
+ready?" He turned them down, in order; methodically, even listlessly moved
+them to and fro, yet with light, sure, well-nigh bewildering touch.
+Suddenly lifted his hands. "All set. A dollar you don't face up the ace at
+first try."
+
+She laughed, bantering.
+
+"Oh, Bob! You're too easy. I wonder you aren't broke. You're no monte
+spieler. Is this your best?"
+
+And I believed that I myself knew which card was the ace.
+
+"You hear me, and there's my dollar." He coolly waited.
+
+"Not yours; ours. Will you make it five?"
+
+"One is my limit on this throw. You named it."
+
+"Oho!" With a dart of hand she had turned up the middle card, exposing the
+ace spot, as I had anticipated. She swept the two dollars to her.
+
+"Adios," she bade.
+
+He smiled, indulgent.
+
+"So soon? Don't I get my revenge? You, sir." And he appealed to me. "You
+see how easy it is. I'll throw you a turn for a dollar, two dollars, five
+dollars--anything to combine business and pleasure. Whether I win or lose
+I don't care. You'll follow the lead of the lady? What?"
+
+I was on fire to accept, but she stayed me.
+
+"Not now. I'm showing him around, Bob. You'll get your revenge later.
+Good-bye. I've drummed up trade for you."
+
+As if inspired by the winning several of the bystanders, some newly
+arrived, had money in their hands, to stake. So we strolled on; and I was
+conscious that the youth's brown eyes briefly flicked after us with a
+peculiar glint.
+
+"Yours," she said, extending the coins to me.
+
+I declined.
+
+"No, indeed. It is part of my tuition. If you will play I will stake."
+
+She also declined.
+
+"I can't have that. You will at least take your own money back."
+
+"Only for another try, madam," I assented.
+
+"In that case we'll find a livelier game yonder," said she. "Bob's just a
+lazy boy. His game is a piker game. He's too slow to learn from. Let us
+watch a real game."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+I STAKE ON THE QUEEN
+
+
+Jim had disappeared; until when we had made way to another monte table
+there he was, his hands in his pockets, his cigar half smoked.
+
+More of a crowd was here; the voice of the spieler more insistent, yet
+low-pitched and businesslike. He was a study--a square-shouldered, well
+set-up, wiry man of olive complexion, finely chiseled features save for
+nose somewhat cruelly beaked, of short black moustache, dead black long
+wavy hair, and, placed boldly wide, contrastive hard gray eyes that lent
+atmosphere of coldness to his face. His hat was pulled down over his
+forehead, he held an unlighted cigar between his teeth while he
+mechanically spoke and shifted the three cards (a diamond flashing from a
+finger) upon the baize-covered little table.
+
+Money had been wagered. He had just raked in a few notes, adding them to
+his pile. His monotone droned on.
+
+"Next, ladies and gentlemen. Sometimes I win, sometimes I lose. That is my
+business. The play is yours. You may think I have two chances to your
+one; that is not so. You make the choice. Always the queen, always the
+queen. You have only to watch the queen, one card. I have to watch three
+cards. You have your two eyes, I have my two hands. You spot the card only
+when you think you can. I meet all comers. It is an even gamble."
+
+Jim remarked us as we joined.
+
+"How you comin' now?" he greeted of me.
+
+"We won a dollar," My Lady responded.
+
+"Not I. She did the choosing," I corrected.
+
+"But you would have chosen the same card, you said," she prompted. "You
+saw how easy it was."
+
+"Easy if you know how," Jim asserted. "Think to stake a leetle here? I've
+been keepin' cases and luck's breaking ag'in the bank to-night, by gosh.
+Made several turns, myself, already."
+
+"We'll wait a minute till we get his system," she answered.
+
+"Are you watching, ladies and gentlemen?" bade the dealer, in that even
+tone. "You see the eight of clubs, the eight of spades, the queen of
+hearts. The queen is your card. My hand against your eyes, then. You are
+set? There you are. Pick the queen, some one of you. Put your money on the
+queen of hearts. You can turn the card yourself. What? Nobody? Don't be
+pikers. Let us have a little sport. Stake a dollar. Why, you'd toss a
+dollar down your throat--you'd lay a dollar on a cockroach race--you'd bet
+that much on a yellow dog if you owned him, just to show your spirit. And
+here I'm offering you a straight proposition."
+
+With a muttered "I'll go you another turn, Mister," Jim stepped closer and
+planked down a dollar. The dealer cast a look up at him as with pleased
+surprise.
+
+"You, sir? Very good. You have spirit. Money talks. Here is my dollar.
+Now, to prove to these other people what a good guesser you are, which is
+the queen?"
+
+"Here," Jim said confidently; and sure enough he faced up the queen of
+hearts.
+
+"The money's yours. You never earned a dollar quicker, I'll wager,
+friend," the dealer acknowledged, imperturbable--for he evidently was one
+who never evinced the least emotion, whether he won or lost. "Very good.
+Now----"
+
+From behind him a man--a newcomer to the spot, who looked like any
+respectable Eastern merchant, being well dressed and grave of
+face--touched him upon the shoulder. He turned ear; while he inclined
+farther they whispered together, and I witnessed an arm steal swiftly
+forward at my side, and a thumb and finger slightly bend up the extreme
+corner of the queen. The hand and arm vanished; when the dealer fronted us
+again the queen was apparently just as before. Only we who had seen would
+have marked the bent corner.
+
+The act had been so clever and so audacious that I fairly held my breath.
+But the gambler resumed his flow of talk, while he fingered the cards as
+if totally unaware that they had been tampered with.
+
+"Now, again, ladies and gentlemen. You see how it is done. You back your
+eyes, and you win. I find that I shall have to close early to-night. Make
+your hay while the sun shines. Who'll be in on this turn? Watch the queen
+of hearts. I place her here. I coax the three cards a little----" he gave
+a swift flourish. "There they are."
+
+His audience hesitated, as if fearful of a trick, for the bent corner of
+the queen, raising this end a little, was plain to us who knew. It was
+absurdly plain.
+
+"I'll go you another, Mister," Jim responded. "I'll pick out the queen
+ag'in for a dollar."
+
+The gambler smiled grimly and shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"Oh, pshaw, sir. These are small stakes. You'll never get rich at that
+rate and neither shall I."
+
+"I reckon I can set my own limit," Jim grumbled.
+
+"Yes, sir. But let's have action. Who'll join this gentleman in his guess?
+Who'll back his luck? He's a winner, I admit that."
+
+The gray eyes dwelt upon face and face of our half circle; and still I,
+too, hesitated, although my dollar was burning a hole in my pocket.
+
+My Lady whispered to me.
+
+"All's fair in love and war. Here--put this on, with yours, for me." She
+slipped a dollar of her own into my hand.
+
+Another man stepped forward. He was, I judged, a teamster. His clothes, of
+flannel shirt, belted trousers and six-shooter and dusty boots, so
+indicated. And his beard was shaggy and unkempt, almost covering his face
+underneath his drooping slouch hat.
+
+"I'll stake you a dollar," he said.
+
+"Two from me," I heard myself saying, and I saw my hand depositing them.
+
+"You're all on this gentleman's card, remember?"
+
+We nodded. The bearded man tipped me a wink.
+
+"You, sir, then, turn the queen if you can," the gambler challenged of
+Jim.
+
+With quick movement Jim flopped the bent-corner card, and the queen
+herself seemed to wink jovially at us.
+
+The gambler exclaimed.
+
+"By God, gentlemen, but you've skinned me again. I'm clumsy to-night. I'd
+better quit." And he scarcely varied his level tone despite the chuckles
+of the crowd. "You must let me try once more. But I warn you, I want
+action. I'm willing to meet any sum you stack up against me, if it's large
+enough to spell action. Shall we go another round or two before I close
+up?" He gathered the three cards. "You see the queen--my unlucky queen of
+hearts. Here she is." He stowed the card between thumb and finger. "Here
+are the other two." He held them up in his left hand--the eight of clubs,
+the eight of spades. He transferred them--with his rapid motion he strewed
+the three. "Choose the queen. I put the game to you fair and square. There
+are the cards. Maybe you can read their backs. That's your privilege." He
+fixed his eyes upon the teamster. "You, sir; where's your money, half of
+which was mine?" He glanced at Jim. "And you, sir? You'll follow your
+luck?" Lastly he surveyed me with a flash of steely bravado. "And you,
+young gentleman. You came in before. I dare you."
+
+The bent corner was more pronounced than ever, as if aggravated by the
+manipulations. It could not possibly be mistaken by the knowing. And a
+sudden shame possessed me--a glut of this crafty advantage to which I was
+stooping; an advantage gained not through my own wit, either, but through
+the dishonorable trick of another.
+
+"There's your half from me, if you want it," said Jim, slapping down two
+dollars. "This is my night to howl."
+
+The teamster backed him.
+
+"I'm on the same card," said he.
+
+And not to be outdone--urged, I thought, by a pluck at my sleeve--I boldly
+followed with my own two dollars, reasoning that I was warranted in
+partially recouping, for Benton owed me much.
+
+The gambler laughed shortly. His gaze, cool and impertinent, enveloped
+our front. He leaned back, defiant.
+
+"Give me a chance, gentlemen. I shall not proceed with the play for that
+picayune sum before me. This is my last deal and I've been loser. It's
+make or break. Who else will back that gentleman's luck? I've placed the
+cards the best I know how. But six or eight dollars is no money to me. It
+doesn't pay for floor space. Is nobody else in? What? Come, come; let's
+have some sport. I dare you. This time is my revenge or your good fortune.
+Play up, gentlemen. Don't be crabbers." He smiled sarcastically; his words
+stung. "This isn't pussy-in-a-corner. It's a game of wits. You wouldn't
+bet unless you felt cock-sure of winning. I'll give you one minute,
+gentlemen, before calling all bets off unless you make the pot worth
+while."
+
+The threat had effect. Nobody wished to let the marked card get away. That
+was not human nature. Bets rained in upon the table--bank notes, silver
+half dollars, the rarer dollar coins, and the common greenbacks. He met
+each wager, while he sat negligent and half smiled and chewed his
+unlighted cigar.
+
+"This is the last round, gentlemen," he reminded. "Are you all in? Don't
+leave with regrets. You," he said, direct to me. "Are you in such short
+circumstances that you have no spunk? Why did you come here, sir, if not
+to win? Why, the stakes you play would not buy refreshment for the lady!"
+
+That was too much. I threw scruples aside. He had badgered me--he was
+there to win if he could; I now was hot with the same design. I extracted
+my twenty-dollar note, and deaf to a quickly breathed "Wait the turn" from
+My Lady I planked it down before him. She should know me for a man of
+decision.
+
+"There, sir," said I. "I am betting twenty-two dollars in all, which is my
+limit to-night, on the same right-end card as I stand."
+
+I thought that I had him. Forthwith he straightened alertly, spoke
+tartly.
+
+"The game is closed, gentlemen. Remember, you are wagering on the first
+turn. There are no splits in monte. Not at this table. Our friend says the
+right-end card. You, sir," and he addressed Jim. "They are backing you.
+Which do you say is the queen? Lay your finger on her."
+
+Jim so did, with a finger stubby, and dirty under the nail.
+
+"That is the card, is it? You are agreed?" he queried us, sweeping his
+cold gray eyes from face to face. "We'll have no crabbing."
+
+We nodded, intently eying the card, fearful yet, some of us, that it might
+be denied us.
+
+"You, sir, then." And he addressed me. "You are the heaviest better.
+Suppose you turn the card for yourself and those other gentlemen."
+
+I obediently reached for it. My hand trembled. There were sixty or
+seventy dollars upon the table, and my own contribution was my last cent.
+As I fumbled I felt the strain of bodies pressing against mine, and heard
+the hiss of feverish breaths, and a foolish laugh or two. Nevertheless the
+silence seemed overpowering.
+
+I turned the card--the card with the bent corner, of which I was as
+certain as of my own name; I faced it up, confidently, my capital already
+doubled; and amidst a burst of astonished cries I stared dumbfounded.
+
+It was the eight of clubs! My fingers left it as though it were a snake.
+It was the eight of clubs! Where I had seen, in fancy, the queen of
+hearts, there lay like a changeling the eight of clubs, with corner bent
+as only token of the transformation.
+
+The crowd elbowed about me. With rapid movement the gambler raked in the
+bets--a slender hand flashed by me--turned the next card. The queen that
+was, after all.
+
+The gambler darkened, gathering the pasteboards.
+
+"We can't both win, gentlemen," he said, tone passionless. "But I am
+willing to give you one more chance, from a new deck."
+
+What the response was I did not know, nor care. My ears drummed
+confusedly, and seeing nothing I pushed through into the open, painfully
+conscious that I was flat penniless and that instead of having played the
+knave I had played the fool, for the queen of hearts.
+
+The loss of some twenty dollars might have been a trivial matter to me
+once--I had at times cast that sum away as vainly as Washington had cast a
+dollar across the Potomac; but here I had lost my all, whether large or
+small; and not only had I been bilked out of it--I had bilked myself out
+of it by sinking, in pretended smartness, below the level of a more artful
+dodger.
+
+I heard My Lady speaking beside me.
+
+"I'm so sorry." She laid hand upon my sleeve. "You should have been
+content with small sums, or followed my lead. Next time----"
+
+"There'll be no next time," I blurted. "I am cleaned out."
+
+"You don't mean----?"
+
+"I was first robbed at the hotel. Now here."
+
+"No, no!" she opposed. Jim sidled to us. "That was a bungle, Jim."
+
+He ruefully scratched his head.
+
+"A wrong steer for once, I reckon. I warn't slick enough. Too much money
+on the table. But it looked like the card; I never took my eyes off'n it.
+We'll try ag'in, and switch to another layout. By thunder, I want revenge
+on this joint and I mean to get it. So do you, don't you, pardner?" he
+appealed to me.
+
+As with mute, sickly denial I turned away it seemed to me that I sensed a
+shifting of forms at the monte table--caught the words "You watch here a
+moment"; and close following, a slim white hand fell heavily upon My
+Lady's shoulder. It whirled her about, to face the gambler. His smooth
+olive countenance was dark with a venom of rage incarnate that poisoned
+the air; his syllables crackled.
+
+"You devil! I heard you, at the table. You meddle with my come-ons, will
+you?" And he slapped her with open palm, so that the impact smacked. "Now
+get out o' here or I'll kill you."
+
+She flamed red, all in a single rush of blood.
+
+"Oh!" she breathed. Her hand darted for the pocket in her skirt, but I
+sprang between the two. Forgetful of my revolver, remembering only what I
+had witnessed--a woman struck by a man--with a blow I sent him reeling
+backward.
+
+He recovered; every vestige of color had left his face, except for the
+spot where I had landed; his hat had sprung aside from the shock--his gray
+eyes, contrasted with his black hair, fastened upon my eyes almost
+deliberately and his upper lip lifted over set white teeth. With lightning
+movement he thrust the fingers of his right hand into his waistcoat
+pocket.
+
+I heard a rush of feet, a clamor of voices; and all the while, which
+seemed interminable, I was tugging, awkward with deadly peril, at my
+revolver. His fingers had whipped free of the pocket, I glimpsed as with
+second sight (for my eyes were held strongly by his) the twin little
+black muzzles of a derringer concealed in his palm; a spasm of fear
+pinched me; they spurted, with ringing report, but just at the instant a
+flanneled arm knocked his arm up, the ball had sped ceiling-ward and the
+teamster of the gaming table stood against him, revolver barrel boring
+into his very stomach.
+
+"Stand pat, Mister. I call you."
+
+In a trice all entry of any unpleasant emotion vanished from my
+antagonist's handsome face, leaving it olive tinted, cameo, inert. He
+steadied a little, and smiled, surveying the teamster's visage, close to
+his.
+
+"You have me covered, sir. My hand is in the discard." He composedly
+tucked the derringer into his waistcoat pocket again. "That gentleman
+struck me; he was about to draw on me, and by rights I might have killed
+him. My apologies for this little disturbance."
+
+He bestowed a challenging look upon me, a hard unforgiving look upon the
+lady; with a bow he turned for his hat, and stepping swiftly went back to
+his table.
+
+Now in the reaction I fought desperately against a trembling of the knees;
+there were congratulations, a hubbub of voices assailing me--and the arm
+of the teamster through mine and his bluff invitation:
+
+"Come and have a drink."
+
+"But you'll return. You must. I want to speak with you."
+
+It was My Lady, pleading earnestly. I still could scarcely utter a word;
+my brain was in a smother. My new friend moved me away from her. He
+answered for me.
+
+"Not until we've had a little confab, lady. We've got matters of
+importance jest at present."
+
+I saw her bite her lips, as she helplessly flushed; her blue eyes implored
+me, but I had no will of my own and I certainly owed a measure of courtesy
+to this man who had saved my life.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+I ACCEPT AN OFFER
+
+
+We found a small table, one of the several devoted to refreshments for the
+dancers, in a corner and unoccupied. The affair upon the floor was
+apparently past history--if it merited even that distinction. The place
+had resumed its program of dancing, playing and drinking as though after
+all a pistol shot was of no great moment in the Big Tent.
+
+"You had a narrow shave," my friend remarked as we seated ourselves--I
+with a sigh of gratitude for the opportunity. "If you can't draw quicker
+you'd better keep your hands in your pockets. Let's have a dose of
+t'rant'lar juice to set you up." Whereupon he ordered whiskey from a
+waiter.
+
+"But I couldn't stand by and see him strike a woman," I defended.
+
+"Wall, fists mean guns, in these diggin's. Where you from?"
+
+"Albany, New York State."
+
+"I sized you up as a pilgrim. You haven't been long in camp, either, have
+you?"
+
+"No. But plenty long enough," I miserably replied.
+
+"Long enough to be plucked, eh?"
+
+We had drunk the whiskey. Under its warming influence my tongue loosened.
+Moreover there was something strong and kindly in the hearty voice and the
+rough face of this rudely clad plainsman, black bearded to the piercing
+black eyes.
+
+"Yes; of my last cent."
+
+"All at gamblin', mebbe?"
+
+"No. Only a little, but that strapped me. The hotel had robbed me of
+practically everything else."
+
+"Had, had it? Wall, what's the story?"
+
+I told him of the hotel part; and he nodded.
+
+"Shore. You can't hold the hotel responsible. You can leave stuff loose in
+regular camp; nobody enters flaps without permission. But a room is a
+different proposition. I'd rather take chances among Injuns than among
+white men. Why, you could throw in with a Sioux village for a year and not
+be robbed permanent if the chief thought you straight; but in a white
+man's town--hell! Now, how'd you get tangled up with this other outfit?"
+
+"Which?" I queried.
+
+"That brace outfit I found you with."
+
+"The fellow is a stranger to me, sir," said I. "I simply was foolish
+enough to stake what little I had on a sure thing--I was bamboozled into
+following the lead of the rest of you," I reminded. "Now I see that there
+was a trick, although I don't yet understand. After that the fellow
+assaulted the lady, my companion, and you stepped in--for which, sir, I
+owe you more thanks than I can utter."
+
+"A trick, you think?" He opened his hairy mouth for a gust of short
+laughter. "My Gawd, boy! We were nicely took in, and we desarved it. When
+you buck the tiger, look out for his claws. But I reckoned he'd postpone
+the turn till next time. He would have, if you fellers hadn't come down so
+handsome with the dust. I stood pat, at that. So, you notice, did the
+capper, your other friend."
+
+"The capper? Which was he, sir?"
+
+"Why, Lord bless you, son. You're the greenest thing this side of Omyha. A
+capper touched him on the shoulder, a capper bent that there card, a
+capper tolled you all on with a dollar or two, and another capper fed the
+come-ons to his table. Aye, she's a purty piece. Where'd you meet up with
+her?"
+
+"With her?" I gasped.
+
+"Yes, yes. The woman; the main steerer. That purty piece who damn nigh
+lost you your life as well as losin' you your money."
+
+"You mean the lady with the blue eyes, in black?"
+
+"Yes, the golden hair. Lady! Oh, pshaw! Where'd she hook you? At the
+door?"
+
+"You shall not speak of her in that fashion, sir," I answered. "We were
+together on the train from Omaha. She has been kindness itself. The only
+part she has played to-night, as far as I can see, was to chaperon me here
+in the Big Tent; and whatever small winnings I had made, for amusement,
+was due to her and the skill of an acquaintance named Jim."
+
+"Jim Daily, yep. O' course. And she befriended you. Why, d'you suppose?"
+
+"Perhaps because I was of some assistance to her on the way out West. I
+had a little setto with Mr. Daily, when he annoyed her while he was drunk.
+But sobered up, he seemed to wish to make amends."
+
+"Oh, Lord!" My friend's mouth gaped. "Amends? Yep. That's his nature.
+Might call it mendin' his pocket and his lip. And you don't yet savvy that
+your 'lady' 's Montoyo's wife--his woman, anyhow?"
+
+"Montoyo? Who's Montoyo?"
+
+"The monte thrower. That same spieler who trimmed us," he rapped
+impatiently.
+
+The light that broke upon me dazed. My heart pounded. I must have looked
+what I felt: a fool.
+
+"No," I stammered in my thin small voice of the hotel. "I imagined--I had
+reason to suspect that she might be married. But I didn't know to whom."
+
+"Married? Wall, mebbe. Anyhow, she's bound to Montoyo. He's a breed, some
+Spanish, some white, like as not some Injun. A devil, and as slick as they
+make 'em. She's a power too white for him, herself, but he uses her and
+some day he'll kill her. You're not the fust gudgeon she's hooked, to feed
+to him. Why, she's known all back down the line. They two have been
+followin' end o' track from North Platte, along with Hell on Wheels. Had a
+layout in Omyha, and in Denver. They're not the only double-harness outfit
+hyar, either. You can meet a friendly woman any time, but this one got
+hold you fust."
+
+I writhed to the words.
+
+"And that fellow Jim?" I asked.
+
+"He's jest a common roper. He alluz wins, to encourage suckers like you.
+'Tisn't his money he plays with; he's on commish. Beginnin' to understand,
+ain't you?"
+
+"But the bent card?" I insisted. "That is the mystery. It was the queen.
+What became of the queen?"
+
+"Ho ho!" And again he laughed. "A cute trick, shore. That's what we got
+for bein' so plumb crooked ourselves. Why, o' course it was the queen,
+once. You see 'twas this way. That she-male and the capper in cahoots with
+her tolled you on straight for Montoyo's table; teased you a leetle along
+the trail, no doubt, to keep you interested." I nodded. "They promised you
+winnin's, easy winnin's. Then at Montoyo's table the game was a leetle
+slack; so one capper touched him on the shoulder and another marked the
+card. O' course a gambler like him wouldn't be up to readin' his own
+cards. Oh, no! You sports were the smart ones."
+
+"How about yourself?" I retorted, nettled.
+
+"Me? I know them tricks, but I reckoned I was smart, too. Then that capper
+Jim led out and we all made a small winnin', to prove the system. And
+Montoyo, he gets tired o' losin'--but still he's blind to a card that
+everybody else can see, and he calls for real play so he can go broke or
+even up. I didn't look for much of a deal on that throw myself. Usu'ly it
+comes less promisc'yus, with the gudgeon stakin' the big roll, and then I
+pull out. But you-all slapped down the stuff in a stampede, sartin you had
+him buffaloed. On his last shuffle he'd straightened the queen and turned
+down the eight, usin' an extra finger or two. Them card sharps have six
+fingers on each hand and several in their sleeve, and he was slicker'n I
+thought. He might have refused all bets and got your mad up for the next
+pass; but you'd come down as handsome as you would, he figgered. So he let
+go. 'Twas fair and squar', robber eat robber, and we none of us have any
+call to howl. But you mind my word: Don't aim to put something over on a
+professional gamblin' sharp. It can't be done. As for me, I broke even and
+I alluz expect to lose. When I look to be skinned I leave most my dust
+behind me where I can't get at it."
+
+Now I saw all, or enough. I had received no more than I deserved. Such a
+wave of nausea surged into my mouth--but he was continuing.
+
+"Jest why he struck his woman I don't know. Do you?"
+
+"Yes. She had cautioned me and he must have heard her. And she showed
+which was the right card. I don't understand that."
+
+"To save her face, and egg you on. Shore! Your twenty dollars was nothin'.
+She didn't know you were busted. Next time she'd have steered you to the
+tune of a hundred or two and cleaned you proper. You hadn't been worked
+along, yet, to the right pitch o' smartness. Montoyo must ha' mistook her.
+She encouraged you, didn't she?"
+
+"Yes, she did." I arose unsteadily, clutching the table. "If you'll excuse
+me, sir, I think I'd better go. I--I--I thank you. I only wish I'd met you
+before. You are at liberty to regard me as a saphead. Good-night, sir."
+
+"No! Hold on. Sit down, sit down, man. Have another drink."
+
+"I have had enough. In fact, since arriving in Benton I've had more than
+enough of everything." But I sat down.
+
+"Where were you goin'?"
+
+"To the hotel. I am privileged to stay there until to-morrow. Thank Heaven
+I was obliged to pay in advance."
+
+"Alluz safer," said he. "And then what?"
+
+"To-morrow?"
+
+"Yes. To-morrow."
+
+"I don't know. I must find employment, and earn enough to get home with."
+To write for funds was now impossible through very shame. "Home's the
+only place for a person of my greenness."
+
+"Why did you come out clear to end o' track?" he inquired.
+
+"I was ordered by my physician to find a locality in the Far West, high
+and dry." I gulped at his smile. "I've found it and shall go home to
+report."
+
+"With your tail between your legs?" He clapped me upon the shoulder.
+"Stiffen your back. We all have to pay for eddication. You're not wolf
+meat yet, by a long shot. You've still got your hair, and that's more than
+some men I know of. You look purty healthy, too. Don't turn for home;
+stick it out."
+
+"I shall have to stick it out until I raise the transportation," I
+reminded. "My revolver should tide me over, for a beginning."
+
+"Sell it?" said he. "Sell your breeches fust. Either way you'd be only
+half dressed. No!"
+
+"It would take me a little way. I'll not stay in Benton--not to be pointed
+at as a dupe."
+
+"Oh, pshaw!" he laughed. "Nobody'll remember you, specially if you're
+known to be broke. Busted, you're of no use to the camp. Let me make you a
+proposition. I believe you're straight goods. Can't believe anything else,
+after seein' your play and sizin' you up. Let me make you a proposition.
+I'm on my way to Salt Lake with a bull outfit and I'm in need of another
+man. I'll give you a dollar and a half a day and found, and it will be
+good honest work, too."
+
+"You are teaming west, you mean?" I asked.
+
+"Yes, sir. Freightin' across. Mule-whackin'."
+
+"But I never drove spans in my life; and I'm not in shape to stand
+hardships," I faltered. "I'm here for my health. I have----"
+
+"Stow all that, son," he interrupted more tolerantly than was my due.
+"Forget your lungs, lights and liver and stand up a full-size man. In my
+opinion you've had too much doctorin'. A month with a bull train, and a
+diet of beans and sowbelly will put a linin' in your in'ards and a heart
+in your chest. When you've slept under a wagon to Salt Lake and l'arned to
+sling a bull whip and relish your beans burned, you can look anybody in
+the eye and tell him to go to hell, if you like. This roarin' town
+life--it's no life for you. It's a bobtail, wide open in the middle. I'll
+be only too glad to get away on the long trail myself. So you come with
+me," and he smiled winningly. "I hate to see you ruined by women and
+likker. Mule-skinnin' ain't all beer and skittles, as they say; but this
+job'll tide you over, anyhow, and you'll come out at the end with money in
+your pocket, if you choose, and no doctor's bill to pay."
+
+"Sir," I said gratefully, "may I think it over to-night, and let you know
+in the morning? Where will I find you?"
+
+"The train's camped near the wagon trail, back at the river. You can't
+miss it. It's mainly a Mormon train, that some of us Gentiles have thrown
+in with. Ask for Cap'n Hyrum Adams' train. My name's Jenks--George Jenks.
+You'll find me there. I'll hold open for you till ten o'clock--yes, till
+noon. I mean that you shall come. It'll be the makin' of you."
+
+I arose and gave him my hand; shook with him.
+
+"And I hope to come," I asserted with glow of energy. "You've set me upon
+my feet, Mr. Jenks, for I was desperate. You're the first honest man I've
+met in Benton."
+
+"Tut, tut," he reproved. "There are others. Benton's not so bad as you
+think it. But you were dead ripe; the buzzards scented you. Now you go
+straight to your hotel, unless you'll spend the night with me. No? Then
+I'll see you in the mornin'. I'll risk your gettin' through the street
+alone."
+
+"You may, sir," I affirmed. "At present I'm not worth further robbing."
+
+"Except for your gun and clothes," he rejoined. "But if you'll use the one
+you'll keep the other."
+
+Gazing neither right nor left I strode resolutely for the exit. Now I had
+an anchor to windward. Sometimes just one word will face a man about when
+for lack of that mere word he was drifting. Of the games and the people I
+wished only to be rid forever; but at the exit I was halted by a hand laid
+upon my arm, and a quick utterance.
+
+"Not going? You will at least say good-night."
+
+I barely paused, replying to her.
+
+"Good-night."
+
+Still she would have detained me.
+
+"Oh, no, no! Not this way. It was a mistake. I swear to you I am not to be
+blamed. Please let me help you. I don't know what you've heard--I don't
+know what has been said about me--you are angry----"
+
+I twitched free, for she should not work upon me again. With such as she,
+a vampire and yet a woman, a man's safety lay not in words but in
+unequivocal action.
+
+"Good-night," I bade thickly, half choked by that same nausea, now hot.
+Bearing with me a satisfying but somehow annoyingly persistent imprint of
+moist blue eyes under shimmering hair, and startled white face plashed on
+one cheek with vivid crimson, and small hand left extended empty, I
+roughly stalked on and out, free of her, free of the Big Tent, her lair.
+
+All the way to the hotel, through the garish street, I nursed my wrath
+while it gnawed at me like the fox in the Spartan boy's bosom; and once in
+my room, which fortuitously had no other tenants at this hour, I had to
+lean out of the narrow window for sheer relief in the coolness. Surely
+pride had had a fall this night.
+
+There "roared" Benton--the Benton to which, as to prosperity, I had
+hopefully purchased my ticket ages ago. And here cowered I, holed
+up--pillaged, dishonored, worthless in even this community: a young fellow
+in jaunty frontier costume, new and brave, but really reduced to sackcloth
+and ashes; a young fellow only a husk, as false in appearance as the Big
+Tent itself and many another of those canvas shells.
+
+The street noises--shouts, shots, music, songs, laughter, rattle of dice,
+whirr of wheel and clink of glasses--assailed me discordant. The scores of
+tents and shacks stretching on irregularly had become pocked with dark
+spots, where lights had been extinguished, but the street remained ablaze
+and the desert without winked at the stars. There were moving gleams at
+the railroad yards where switch engines puffed back and forth; up the
+grade and the new track, pointing westward, there were sparks of
+camp-fires; and still in other directions beyond the town other tokens
+redly flickered, where overland freighters were biding till the morning.
+
+Two or three miles in the east (Mr. Jenks had said) was his wagon train,
+camped at the North Platte River; and peering between the high canopy of
+stars and the low stratum of spectrally glowing, earthy--yes, very
+earthy--Benton, I tried to focus upon the haven, for comfort.
+
+I had made up my mind to accept the berth. Anything to get away. Benton I
+certainly hated with the rage of the defeated. So in a fling I drew back,
+wrestled out of coat and boots and belt and pantaloons, tucked them in
+hiding against the wall at the head of my bed and my revolver underneath
+my stained pillow; and tried to forget Benton, all of it, with the blanket
+to my ears and my face to the wall, for sleep.
+
+When once or twice I wakened from restless dreaming the glow and the noise
+of the street seemed scarcely abated, as if down there sleep was despised.
+But when I finally aroused, and turned, gathering wits again, full
+daylight had paled everything else.
+
+Snores sounded from the other beds; I saw tumbled coverings, disheveled
+forms and shaggy heads. In my own corner nothing had been molested. The
+world outside was strangely quiet. The trail was open. So with no
+attention to my roommates I hastily washed and dressed, buckled on my
+armament, and stumped freely forth, down the somnolent hall, down the
+creaking stairs, and into the silent lobby.
+
+Even the bar was vacant. Behind the office counter a clerk sat sunk into a
+doze. At my approach he unclosed blank, heavy eyes.
+
+"I'm going out," I said shortly. "Number Three bed in Room Six."
+
+"For long, sir?" he stammered. "You'll be back, or are you leaving?"
+
+"I'm leaving. You'll find I'm paid up."
+
+"Yes, sir. Of course, sir." He rallied to the problem. "Just a moment.
+Number Three, Room Six, you say. Pulling your freight, are you?" He
+scanned the register. "You're the gentleman from New York who came in
+yesterday and met with misfortune?"
+
+"I am," said I.
+
+"Well, better luck next time. We'll see you again?" He quickened. "Here!
+One moment. Think I have a message for you." And reaching behind him into
+a pigeonhole he extracted an envelope, which he passed to me. "Yours,
+sir?" I stared at the fine slanting script of the address:
+
+                       Please deliver to
+                       Frank R. Beeson, Esqr.,
+                       At the Queen Hotel.
+                       Arrived from Albany, N. Y.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+I CUT LOOSE
+
+
+I nodded; rebuffing his attentive eyes I stuffed the envelope into my
+pantaloons pocket.
+
+"Good-bye, sir."
+
+"Good luck. When you come back remember the Queen."
+
+"I'll remember the Queen," said I; and with the envelope smirching my
+flesh I stepped out, holding my head as high as though my pockets
+contained something of more value.
+
+The events of yesterday had hardened, thank Heaven; and so had I, into an
+obstinacy that defied this mocking Western country. I was down to the
+ground and was going to scratch. To make for home like a whipped dog,
+there to hang about, probably become an invalid and die resistless, was
+unthinkable. Already the Far West air and vigor had worked a change in me.
+In the fresh morning I felt like a fighting cock, or a runner recruited by
+a diet of unbolted flour and strong red meat.
+
+The falsity of the life here I looked upon as only an incident. The gay
+tawdry had faded; I realized how much more enduring were the rough,
+uncouth but genuine products like my friend Mr. Jenks and those of that
+ilk, who spoke me well instead of merely fair. Health of mind and body
+should be for me. Hurrah!
+
+But the note! It could have been sent by only one person--the
+superscription, dainty and feminine, betrayed it. That woman was still
+pursuing me. How she had found out my name I did not know; perhaps from
+the label on my bag, perhaps through the hotel register. I did not recall
+having exchanged names with her--she never had proffered her own name. At
+all events she appeared determined to keep a hold upon me, and that was
+disgusting.
+
+Couldn't she understand that I was no longer a fool--that I had wrenched
+absolutely loose from her and that she could do nothing with me? So in
+wrath renewed by her poor estimate of my common sense I was minded to tear
+the note to fragments, unread, and contemptuously scatter them. Had she
+been present I should have done so, to show her.
+
+Being denied the satisfaction I saw no profit in wasting that modicum of
+spleen, when I might double it by deliberately reading her effusion and
+knowingly casting it into the dust. One always can make excuses to
+oneself, for curiosity. Consequently I halted, around a corner in this
+exhausted Benton; tore the envelope open with gingerly touch. The folded
+paper within contained a five-dollar bank note.
+
+That was enough to pump the blood to my face with a rush. It was an
+insult--a shame, first hand. A shoddy plaster, applied to me--to me, Frank
+Beeson, a gentleman, whether to be viewed as a plucked greenhorn or not.
+With cheeks twitching I managed to read the lines accompanying the dole:
+
+  Sir:
+
+  You would not permit me to explain to you to-night, therefore I must
+  write. The recent affair was a mistake. I had no intention that you
+  should lose, and I supposed you were in more funds. I insist upon
+  speaking with you. You shall not go away in this fashion. You will
+  find me at the Elite Café, at a table, at ten o'clock in the morning.
+  And in case you are a little short I beg of you to make use of the
+  enclosed, with my best wishes and apologies. You may take it as a
+  loan; I do not care as to that. I am utterly miserable.
+
+                                                                    E.
+      To Frank Beeson, Esquire.
+
+Faugh! Had there been a sewer near I believe that I should have thrown the
+whole enclosure in, and spat. But half unconsciously wadding both money
+and paper in my hand as if to squeeze the last drop of rancor from them I
+swung on, seeing blindly, ready to trample under foot any last obstacle to
+my passage out.
+
+Then, in the deserted way, from a lane among the straggling shacks, a
+figure issued. I disregarded it, only to hear it pattering behind me and
+its voice:
+
+"Mr. Beeson! Wait! Please wait."
+
+I had to turn about to avoid the further degradation of acting the churl
+to her, an inferior. And as I had suspected, she it was, arriving
+breathless and cloak inwrapped, only her white face showing.
+
+"You have my note?" she panted.
+
+There were dark half circles under her eyes, pinch lines about her mouth,
+all her face was wildly strained. She simulated distress very well
+indeed.
+
+"Here it is, and your money. Take them." And I thrust my unclosed fist at
+her.
+
+"No! And you were going? You didn't intend to reply?"
+
+"Certainly not. I am done with you, and with Benton, madam. Good-morning.
+I have business."
+
+She caught at my sleeve.
+
+"You are angry. I don't blame you, but you have time to talk with me and
+you shall talk." She spoke almost fiercely. "I demand it, sir. If not at
+the café, then here and now. Will you stand aside, please, where the whole
+town shan't see us; or do you wish me to follow you on? I'm risking
+already, but I'll risk more."
+
+I sullenly stepped aside, around the corner of a sheet-iron groggery
+(plentifully punctured, I noted, with bullet holes) not yet open for
+business and faced by the blank wall of a warehouse.
+
+"I've been waiting since daylight," she panted, "and watching the hotel. I
+knew you were still there; I found out. I was afraid you wouldn't answer
+my note, so I slipped around and cut in on you. Where are you going,
+sir?"
+
+"That, madam, is my private affair," I replied. "And all your efforts to
+influence me in the slightest won't amount to a row of pins. And as I am
+in a hurry, I again bid you good-morning. I advise you to get back to your
+husband and your beauty sleep, in order to be fresh for your Big Tent
+to-night."
+
+"My husband? You know? Oh, of course you know." She gazed affrightedly
+upon me. "To Montoyo, you say? Him? No, no! I can't! Oh, I can't, I
+can't." She wrung her hands, she held me fast. "And I know where you're
+going. To that wagon train. Mr. Jenks has engaged you. You will bull-whack
+to Salt Lake? You? Don't! Please don't. There's no need of it."
+
+"I am done with Benton, and with Benton's society, madam," I insisted. "I
+have learned my lesson, believe me, and I'm no longer a 'gudgeon.'"
+
+"You never were," said she. "Not that. And you don't have to turn
+bull-whacker or mule-skinner either. It's a hard life; you're not fitted
+for it--never, never. Leave Benton if you will. I hate it myself. And let
+us go together."
+
+"Madam!" I rapped; and drew back, but she clung to me.
+
+"Listen, listen! Don't mistake me again. Last night was enough. I want
+to go. I must go. We can travel separately, then; I will meet you
+anywhere--Denver, Omaha, Chicago, New York, anywhere you
+say--anywhere----"
+
+"Your husband, madam," I prompted. "He might have objections to parting
+with you."
+
+"Montoyo? That snake--you fear that snake? He is no husband to me. I could
+kill him--I will do it yet, to be free from him."
+
+"My good name, then," I taunted. "I might fear for my good name more than
+I'd fear a man."
+
+"I have a name of my own," she flashed, "although you may not know it."
+
+"I have been made acquainted with it," I answered roundly.
+
+"No, you haven't. Not the true. You know only another." Her tone became
+humbler. "But I'm not asking you to marry me," she said. "I'm not asking
+you to love me as a paramour, sir. Please understand. Treat me as you
+will; as a sister, a friend, but anything human. Only let me have your
+decent regard until I can get 'stablished in new quarters. I can help
+you," she pursued eagerly. "Indeed I can help you if you stay in the West.
+Yes, anywhere, for I know life. Oh, I'm so tired of myself; I can't run
+true, I'm under false colors. You saw how the trainmen curried favor all
+along the line, how familiar they were, how I submitted--I even dropped
+that coin a-purpose in the Omaha station, for _you_, just to test you.
+Those things are expected of me and I've felt obliged to play my part.
+Men look upon me as a tool to their hands, to make them or break them. All
+they want is my patronage and the secrets of the gaming table. And there
+is Montoyo--bullying me, cajoling me, watching me. But you were different,
+after I had met you. I foolishly wished to help you, and last night the
+play went wrong. Why did I take you to his table? Because I think myself
+entitled, sir," she said on, bridling a little, defiant of my gaze, "to
+promote my friends when I have any. I did not mean that you should wager
+heavily for you. Montoyo is out for large stakes. There is safety in small
+and I know his system. You remember I warned you? I did warn you. I saw
+too late. You shall have all your money back again. And Montoyo struck
+me--_me_, in public! That is the end. Oh, why couldn't I have killed him?
+But if you stayed here, so should I. Not with him, though. Never with him.
+Maybe I'm talking wildly. You'll say I'm in love with you. Perhaps I
+am--quién sabe? No matter as to that. I shall be no hanger-on, sir. I only
+ask a kind of partnership--the encouragement of some decent man near me. I
+have money; plenty, till we both get a footing. But you wouldn't live on
+me; no! I don't fancy that of you for a moment. I would be glad merely to
+tide you over, if you'd let me. And I--I'd be willing to wash floors in a
+restaurant if I might be free of insult. You, I'm sure, would at least
+protect me. Wouldn't you? You would, wouldn't you? Say something, sir."
+She paused, out of breath and aquiver. "Shall we go? Will you help me?"
+
+For an instant her appeal, of swimming blue eyes, upturned face, tensed
+grasp, breaking voice, swayed me. But what if she were an actress, an
+adventuress? And then, my parents, my father's name! I had already been
+cozened once, I had resolved not to be snared again. The spell cleared and
+I drew exultant breath.
+
+"Impossible, madam," I uttered. "This is final. Good-morning."
+
+She staggered and with magnificent but futile last flourish clapped both
+hands to her face. Gazing back, as I hastened, I saw her still there,
+leaning against the sheet-iron of the groggery and ostensibly weeping.
+
+Having shaken her off and resisted contrary temptation I looked not again
+but paced rapidly for the clean atmosphere of the rough-and-honest bull
+train. As a companion, better for me Mr. Jenks. When my wrath cooled I
+felt that I might have acted the cad but I had not acted the simpleton.
+
+The advance of the day's life was stirring all along the road, where under
+clouds of dust the four and six horse-and-mule wagons hauled water for the
+town, pack outfits of donkeys and plodding miners wended one way or the
+other, soldiers trotted in from the military post, and Overlanders slowly
+toiled for the last supply depot before creaking onward into the desert.
+
+Along the railway grade likewise there was activity, of construction
+trains laden high with rails, ties, boxes and bales, puffing out, their
+locomotives belching pitchy black smoke that extended clear to the
+ridiculous little cabooses; of wagon trains ploughing on, bearing supplies
+for the grading camps; and a great herd of loose animals, raising a
+prodigious spume as they were driven at a trot--they also heading
+westward, ever westward, under escort of a protecting detachment of
+cavalry, riding two by two, accoutrements flashing.
+
+The sights were inspiring. Man's work at empire building beckoned me, for
+surely the wagoning of munitions to remote outposts of civilization was
+very necessary. Consequently I trudged best foot forward, although on
+empty stomach and with empty pockets; but glad to be at large, and
+exchanging good-natured greetings with the travelers encountered.
+
+Nevertheless my new boots were burning, my thigh was chafed raw from the
+swaying Colt's, and my face and throat were parched with the dust, when in
+about an hour, the flag of the military post having been my landmark, I
+had arrived almost at the willow-bordered river and now scanned about for
+the encampment of my train.
+
+Some dozen white-topped wagons were standing grouped in a circle upon the
+trampled dry sod to the south of the road. Figures were busily moving
+among them, and the thin blue smoke of their fires was a welcoming signal.
+I marked women, and children. The whole prospect--they, the breakfast
+smoke, the grazing animals, the stout vehicles, a line of washed
+clothing--was homy. So I veered aside and made for the spot, to inquire my
+way if nothing more.
+
+First I addressed a little girl, tow-headed and barelegged, in a single
+cotton garment.
+
+"I am looking for the Captain Adams wagon train. Do you know where it
+is?"
+
+She only pointed, finger of other hand in her mouth; but as she indicated
+this same camp I pressed on. Mr. Jenks himself came out to meet me.
+
+"Hooray! Here you are. I knew you'd do it. That's the ticket. Broke loose,
+have you?"
+
+"Yes, sir. I accept your offer if it's still open," I said.
+
+We shook hands.
+
+"Wide open. Could have filled it a dozen times. Come in, come on in and
+sit. You fetched all your outfit?"
+
+"What you see," I confessed. "I told you my condition. They stripped me
+clean."
+
+He rubbed his beard.
+
+"Wall, all you need is a blanket. Reckon I can rustle you that. You can
+pay for it out of your wages or turn it in at the end of the trip. Fust
+I'd better make you acquainted to the wagon boss. There he is, yonder."
+
+He conducted me on, along the groups and fires and bedding outside the
+wagon circle, and halted where a heavy man, of face smooth-shaven except
+chin, sat upon a wagon-tongue whittling a stick.
+
+"Mornin', Cap'n. Wall, I'm filled out. I've hired this lad and can move
+whenever you say the word. You----" he looked at me. "What's your name,
+you say?"
+
+"Frank Beeson," I replied.
+
+"Didn't ketch it last night," he apologized. "Shake hands with Cap'n Hyrum
+Adams, Frank. He's the boss of the train."
+
+Captain Adams lazily arose--a large figure in his dusty boots, coarse
+trousers and flannel shirt, and weather-beaten black slouch hat. The
+inevitable revolver hung at his thigh. His pursed lips spurted a jet of
+tobacco juice as he keenly surveyed me with small, shrewd, china-blue eyes
+squinting from a broad flaccid countenance. But the countenance was
+unemotional while he offered a thick hand which proved singularly soft and
+flatulent under the callouses.
+
+"Glad to meet you, stranger," he acknowledged in slow bass. "Set down, set
+down."
+
+He waved me to the wagon-tongue, and I thankfully seated myself. All of a
+sudden I seemed utterly gone; possibly through lack of food. My sigh must
+have been remarked.
+
+"Breakfasted, stranger?" he queried passively.
+
+"Not yet, sir. I was anxious to reach the train."
+
+"Pshaw! I was about to ask you that," Mr. Jenks put in. "Come along and
+I'll throw together a mess for you."
+
+"Nobody goes hungry from the Adams wagon, stranger," Captain Adams
+observed. He slightly raised his voice, peremptory. "Rachael! Fetch our
+guest some breakfast."
+
+"But as Mr. Jenks has invited me, Captain, and I am in his employ----" I
+protested. He cut me short.
+
+"I have said that nobody, man, woman or child, or dog, goes hungry from
+the Adams wagon. The flesh must be fed as well as the soul."
+
+There were two women in view, busied with domestic cares. I had sensed
+their eyes cast now and then in my direction. One was elderly, as far as
+might be judged by her somewhat slatternly figure draped in a draggled
+snuff-colored, straight-flowing gown, and by the merest glimpse of her
+features within her faded sunbonnet. The other promptly moved aside from
+where she was bending over a wash-board, ladled food from a kettle to a
+platter, poured a tin cupful of coffee from the pot simmering by the fire,
+and bore them to me; her eyes down, shyly handed them.
+
+I thanked her but was not presented. To the Captain's "That will do,
+Rachael," she turned dutifully away; not so soon, however, but that I had
+seen a fresh young face within the bonnet confines--a round rosy face
+according well with the buxom curves of her as she again bent over her
+wash-board.
+
+"Our fare is that of the tents of Abraham, stranger," spoke the Captain,
+who had resumed his whittling. "Such as it is, you are welcome to. We are
+a plain people who walk in the way of the Lord, for that is commanded."
+
+His sonorous tones were delivered rather through the nose, but did not
+fail of hospitality.
+
+"I ask nothing better, sir," I answered. "And if I did, my appetite would
+make up for all deficiencies."
+
+"A healthy appetite is a good token," he affirmed. "Show me a well man who
+picks at his victuals and I will show you a candidate for the devil. His
+thoughts will like to be as idle as his knife."
+
+The mess of pork and beans and the black unsweetened coffee evidently were
+what I needed, for I began to mend wonderfully ere I was half through the
+course. He had not invited me to further conversation--only, when I had
+drained the cup he called again: "Rachael! More coffee," whereupon the
+same young woman advanced, without glancing at me, received my cup, and
+returned it steaming.
+
+"You are from the East, stranger?" he now inquired.
+
+"Yes, sir. I arrived in Benton only yesterday."
+
+"A Sodom," he growled harshly. "A tented sepulcher. And it will perish. I
+tell you, you do well to leave it, you do well to yoke yourself with the
+appointed of this earth, rather than stay in that sink-pit of the
+eternally damned."
+
+"I agree with you, sir," said I. "I did not find Benton to be a pleasant
+place. But I had not known, when I started from Omaha."
+
+"Possibly not," he moodily assented. "The devil is attentive; he is
+present in the stations, and on the trains; he will ride in those gilded
+palaces even to the Jordan, but he shall not cross. In the name of the
+Lord we shall face him. What good there shall come, shall abide; but the
+evil shall wither. Not," he added, "that we stand against the railroad. It
+is needed, and we have petitioned without being heard. We are strong but
+isolated, we have goods to sell, and the word of Brigham Young has gone
+forth that a railroad we must have. Against the harpies, the gamblers, the
+loose women and the lustful men and all the Gentile vanities we will stand
+upon our own feet by the help of Almighty God."
+
+At this juncture, when I had finished my platter of pork and beans and my
+second cup of coffee, a tall, double-jointed youth of about my age,
+carrying an ox goad in his hand, strolled to us as if attracted by the
+harangue. He was clad in the prevalent cowhide boots, linsey-woolsey
+pantaloons tucked in, red flannel shirt, and battered hat from which
+untrimmed flaxen hair fell down unevenly to his shoulder line. He wore at
+his belt butcher-knife and gun.
+
+By his hulk, his light blue eyes, albeit a trifle crossed, and the general
+lineaments of his stolid, square, high-cheeked countenance I conceived him
+to be a second but not improved edition of the Captain.
+
+A true raw-bone he was; and to me, as I casually met his gaze, looked to
+be obstinate, secretive and small minded. But who can explain those sudden
+antagonisms that spring up on first sight?
+
+"My son Daniel," the Captain introduced. "This stranger travels to Zion
+with us, Daniel, in the employ of Mr. Jenks."
+
+The youth had the grip of a vise, and seemed to enjoy emphasizing it while
+cunningly watching my face.
+
+"Haowdy?" he drawled. With that he twanged a sentence or two to his
+father. "I faound the caow, Dad. Do yu reckon to pull aout to-day?"
+
+"I have not decided. Go tend to your duties, Daniel."
+
+Daniel bestowed upon me a parting stare, and lurched away, snapping the
+lash of his goad.
+
+"And with your permission I will tend to mine, sir," I said. "Mr. Jenks
+doubtless has work for me. I thank you for your hospitality."
+
+"We are commanded by the prophet to feed the stranger, whether friend or
+enemy," he reproved. "We are also commanded by the Lord to earn our bread
+by the sweat of our brow. As long as you are no trifler you will be
+welcome at my wagon. Good-day to you."
+
+As I passed, the young woman, Rachael--whom I judged to be his daughter,
+although she was evidently far removed from parent stock--glanced quickly
+up. I caught her gaze full, so that she lowered her eyes with a blush. She
+was indeed wholesome if not absolutely pretty. When later I saw her with
+her sunbonnet doffed and her brown hair smoothly brushed back I thought
+her more wholesome still.
+
+Mr. Jenks received me jovially.
+
+"Got your belly full, have you?"
+
+"I'm a new man," I assured.
+
+"Wall, those Mormons are good providers. They'll share with you whatever
+they have, for no pay, but if you rub 'em the wrong way or go to dickerin'
+with 'em they're closer'n the hide on a cold mule. You didn't make sheep's
+eyes at ary of the women?"
+
+"No, sir. I am done with women."
+
+"And right you are."
+
+"However, I could not help but see that the Captain's daughter is pleasing
+to look upon. I should be glad to know her, were there no objections."
+
+"How? His daughter?"
+
+"Miss Rachael, I believe. That is the name he used."
+
+"The young one, you mean?"
+
+"Yes, sir. The one who served me with breakfast. Rosy-cheeked and plump."
+
+"Whoa, man! She's his wife, and not for Gentiles. They're both his wives;
+whether he has more in Utah I don't know. But you'd best let her alone.
+She's been j'ined to him."
+
+This took me all aback, for I had no other idea than that she was his
+daughter, or niece--stood in that kind of relation to him. He was twice
+her age, apparently. Now I could only stammer:
+
+"I've no wish to intrude, you may be sure. And Daniel, his son--is he
+married?"
+
+"That whelp? Met him, did you? No, he ain't married, yet. But he will be,
+soon as he takes his pick 'cordin' to law and gospel among them people.
+You bet you: he'll be married plenty."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+WE GET A "SUPER"
+
+
+What with assorting and stowing the bales of cloth and the other goods in
+the Jenks two wagons, watering the animals and staking them out anew,
+tinkering with the equipment and making various essays with the bull whip,
+I found occupation enough; nevertheless there were moments of interim, or
+while passing to and fro, when I was vividly aware of the scenes and
+events transpiring in this Western world around about.
+
+The bugles sounded calls for the routine at Fort Steele--a mere
+cantonment, yet, of tents and rough board buildings squatting upon the
+bare brown soil near the river bank, north of us, and less than a month
+old. The wagon road was a line of white dust from the river clear to
+Benton, and through the murk plodded the water haulers and emigrants and
+freighters, animals and men alike befloured and choked. The dust cloud
+rested over Benton. It fumed in another line westward, kept in suspense by
+on-traveling stage and wagon--by wheel, hoof and boot, bound for Utah and
+Idaho. From the town there extended northward a third dust line, marking
+the stage and freighting road through the Indian country to the mining
+settlements of the famous South Pass of the old Oregon Trail; yes, and
+with branches for the gold regions of Montana.
+
+The railroad trains kept thundering by us--long freights, dusty and
+indomitable, bringing their loads from the Missouri River almost seven
+hundred miles in the east. And rolling out of Benton the never-ceasing
+construction trains sped into the desert as if upon urgent errands in
+response to some sudden demand of More, More, More.
+
+Upon all sides beyond this business and energy the country stretched lone
+and uninhabited; a great waste of naked, hot, resplendent land blotched
+with white and red, showing not a green spot except the course of the
+Platte; with scorched, rusty hills rising above its fantastic surface,
+and, in the distance, bluish mountain ranges that appeared to float and
+waver in the sun-drenched air.
+
+The sounds from Benton--the hammering, the shouting, the babbling, the
+puffing of the locomotives--drifted faintly to us, merged into the
+cracking of whips and the oaths and songs by the wagon drivers along the
+road. Of our own little camp I took gradual stock.
+
+It, like the desert reaches, evinced little of feverishness, for while
+booted men busied themselves at tasks similar to mine, others lolled,
+spinning yarns and whittling; the several women, at wash-boards and at
+pots and pans and needles, worked contentedly in sun and shade; children
+played at makeshift games, dogs drowsed underneath the wagons, and outside
+our circle the mules and oxen grazed as best they might, their only
+vexation the blood-sucking flies. The flies were kin of Benton.
+
+Captain Adams loped away, as if to town. Others went in. While I was idle
+at last and rather enjoying the hot sun as I sat resting upon a convenient
+wagon-tongue Daniel hulked to me, still snapping his ox goad.
+
+"Haowdy?" he addressed again; and surveyed, eying every detail of my
+clothing.
+
+"Howdy?" said I.
+
+"Yu know me?"
+
+"Your name is Daniel, isn't it?"
+
+"No, 'tain't. It's Bonnie Bravo on the trail."
+
+"All right, sir," said I. "Whichever you prefer."
+
+"I 'laow we pull out this arternoon," he volunteered farther.
+
+"I'm agreeable," I responded. "The sooner the better, where I'm
+concerned."
+
+"I 'laow yu (and he pronounced it, nasally, yee-ou) been seein' the
+elephant in Benton an' it skinned yu."
+
+"I saw all of Benton I wish to see," I granted. "You've been there?"
+
+"I won four bits, an' then yu bet I quit," he greedily proclaimed. "I was
+too smart for 'em. I 'laow yu're a greenie, ain't yu?"
+
+"In some ways I am, in some ways I'm not."
+
+"I 'laow yu aim to go through with this train to Salt Lake, do yu?"
+
+"That's the engagement I've made with Mr. Jenks."
+
+"Don't feel too smart, yoreself, in them new clothes?"
+
+"No. They're all I have. They won't be new long."
+
+"Yu bet they won't. Ain't afeared of peterin' aout on the way, be yu? I
+'laow yu're sickly."
+
+"I'll take my chances," I smiled, although he was irritating in the
+extreme.
+
+"It's four hunderd mile, an' twenty mile at a stretch withaout water. Most
+the water's pizen, too, from hyar to the mountings."
+
+"I'll have to drink what the rest drink, I suppose."
+
+"I 'laow the Injuns are like to get us. They're powerful bad in that thar
+desert. Ain't afeared o' Injuns, be yu?"
+
+"I'll have to take my chances on that, too, won't I?"
+
+"They sculped a whole passel o' surveyors, month ago," he persisted.
+"Yu'll sing a different tyune arter yu've been corralled with nothin' to
+drink." He viciously snapped his whip, the while inspecting me as if
+seeking for other joints in my armor. "Yu aim to stay long in Zion?"
+
+"I haven't planned anything about that."
+
+"Reckon yu're wise, Mister. We don't think much o' Gentiles, yonder. We
+don't want 'em, nohaow. They'd all better git aout. The Saints settled
+that country an' it's ourn."
+
+"If you're a sample, you're welcome to live there," I retorted. "I think
+I'd prefer some place else."
+
+"Haow?" he bleated. "Thar ain't no place as good. All the rest the world
+has sold itself to the devil."
+
+"How much of the world have you seen?" I asked.
+
+"I've seen a heap. I've been as fur east as Cheyenne--I've teamed acrost
+twice, so I know. An' I know what the elders say; they come from the East
+an' some of 'em have been as fur as England. Yu can't fool me none with
+yore Gentile lies."
+
+As I did not attempt, we remained in silence for a moment while he waited,
+provocative.
+
+"Say, Mister," he blurted suddenly. "Kin yu shoot?"
+
+"I presume I could if I had to. Why?"
+
+"Becuz I'm the dangest best shot with a Colt's in this hyar train, an'
+I'll shoot ye for--I'll shoot ye for (he lowered his voice and glanced
+about furtively)--I'll shoot ye for two bits when my paw ain't 'raound."
+
+"I've no cartridges to waste at present," I informed. "And I don't claim
+to be a crack shot."
+
+"Damn ye, I bet yu think yu are," he accused. "Yu set thar like it. All
+right, Mister; any time yu want to try a little poppin' yu let me know."
+And with this, which struck me as a veiled threat, he lurched on,
+snapping that infernal whip.
+
+He left me with the uneasy impression that he and I were due to measure
+strength in one way or another.
+
+Wagon Boss Adams returned at noon. The word was given out that the train
+should start during the afternoon, for a short march in order to break in
+the new animals before tackling the real westward trail.
+
+After a deal of bustle, of lashing loads and tautening covers and geeing,
+hawing and whoaing, about three o'clock we formed line in obedience to the
+commands "Stretch out, stretch out!"; and with every cask and barrel
+dripping, whips cracking, voices urging, children racing, the Captain
+Adams wagon in the lead (two pink sunbonnets upon the seat), the valorous
+Daniel's next, and Mormons and Gentiles ranging on down, we toiled
+creaking and swaying up the Benton road, amidst the eddies of hot,
+scalding dust.
+
+It was a mixed train, of Gentile mules and the more numerous Mormon oxen;
+therefore not strictly a "bull" train, but by pace designated as such. And
+in the vernacular I was a "mule-whacker" or even "mule-skinner" rather
+than a "bull-whacker," if there is any appreciable difference in rôle.
+There is none, I think, to the animals.
+
+Trudging manfully at the left fore wheel behind Mr. Jenks' four span of
+mules, trailing my eighteen-foot tapering lash and occasionally well-nigh
+cutting off my own ear when I tried to throw it, I played the
+teamster--although sooth to say there was little of play in the job, on
+that road, at that time of the day.
+
+The sun was more vexatious, being an hour lower, when we bravely entered
+Benton's boiling main street. We made brief halt for the finishing up of
+business; and cleaving a lane through the pedestrians and vehicles and
+animals there congregated, the challenges of the street gamblers having
+assailed us in vain, we proceeded--our Mormons gazing straight ahead,
+scornful of the devil's enticements, our few Gentiles responding in kind
+to the quips and waves and salutations.
+
+Thus we eventually left Benton; in about an hour's march or some three
+miles out we formed corral for camp on the farther side of the road from
+the railroad tracks which we had been skirting.
+
+Travel, except upon the tracks (for they were rarely vacant) ceased at
+sundown; and we all, having eaten our suppers, were sitting by our fires,
+smoking and talking, with the sky crimson in the west and the desert
+getting mysterious with purple shadows, when as another construction train
+of box cars and platform cars clanked by I chanced to note a figure spring
+out asprawl, alight with a whiffle of sand, and staggering up hasten for
+us.
+
+First it accosted the hulk Daniel, who was temporarily out on herd,
+keeping the animals from the tracks. I saw him lean from his saddle; then
+he rode spurring in, bawling like a calf:
+
+"Paw! Paw! Hey, yu-all! Thar's a woman yonder in britches an' she 'laows
+to come on. She's lookin' for Mister Jenks."
+
+Save for his excited stuttering silence reigned, a minute. Then in a storm
+of rude raillery--"That's a hoss on you, George!" "Didn't know you owned
+one o' them critters, George," "Does she wear the britches, George?" and
+so forth--my friend Jenks arose, peering, his whiskered mouth so agape
+that he almost dropped his pipe. And we all peered, with the women of the
+caravan smitten mute but intensely curious, while the solitary figure,
+braving our stares, came on to the fires.
+
+"Gawd almighty!" Mr. Jenks delivered.
+
+Likewise straightening I mentally repeated the ejaculation, for now I knew
+her as well as he. Yes, by the muttered babble others in our party knew
+her. It was My Lady--formerly My Lady--clad in embroidered short Spanish
+jacket, tightish velvet pantaloons, booted to the knees, pulled down upon
+her yellow hair a black soft hat, and hanging from the just-revealed belt
+around her slender waist, a revolver trifle.
+
+She paused, small and alone, viewing us, her eyes very blue, her face very
+white.
+
+"Is Mr. Jenks there?" she hailed clearly.
+
+"Damn' if I ain't," he mumbled. He glowered at me. "Yes, ma'am, right
+hyar. You want to speak with me?"
+
+"By gosh, it's Montoyo's woman, ain't it?" were the comments.
+
+"I do, sir."
+
+"You can come on closer then, ma'am," he growled. "There ain't no secrets
+between us."
+
+Come on she did, with only an instant's hesitation and a little
+compression of the lips. She swept our group fearlessly--her gaze crossed
+mine, but she betrayed no sign.
+
+"I wish to engage passage to Salt Lake."
+
+"With this hyar train?" gasped Jenks.
+
+"Yes. You are bound for Salt Lake, aren't you?"
+
+"For your health, ma'am?" he stammered.
+
+She faintly smiled, but her eyes were steady and wide.
+
+"For my health. I'd like to throw in with your outfit. I will cook, keep
+camp, and pay you well besides."
+
+"We haven't no place for a woman, ma'am. You'd best take the stage."
+
+"No. There'll be no stage out till morning. I want to make arrangements at
+once--with you. There are other women in this train." She flashed a glance
+around. "And I can take care of myself."
+
+"If you aim to go to Salt Lake your main holt is Benton and the stage. The
+stage makes through in four days and we'll use thirty," somebody
+counseled.
+
+"An' this bull train ain't no place for yore kind, anyhow," grumbled
+another. "We've quit roarin'--we've cut loose from that hell-hole
+yonder."
+
+"So have I." But she did not turn on him. "I'm never going back. I--I
+can't, now; not even for the stage. Will you permit me to travel with you,
+sir?"
+
+"No, ma'am, I won't," rasped Mr. Jenks. "I can't do it. It's not in my
+line, ma'am."
+
+"I'll be no trouble. You have only Mr. Beeson. I don't ask to ride. I'll
+walk. I merely ask protection."
+
+"So do we," somebody sniggered; and I hated him, for I saw her sway upon
+her feet as if the words had been a blow.
+
+"No, ma'am, I'm full up. I wouldn't take on even a yaller dog, 'specially
+a she one," Jenks announced. "What your game is now I can't tell, and I
+don't propose to be eddicated to it. But you can't travel along with me,
+and that's straight talk. If you can put anything over on these other
+fellers, try your luck."
+
+"Oh!" she cried, wincing. Her hands clenched nervously, a red spot dyed
+either cheek as she appealed to us all. "Gentlemen! Won't one of you help
+me? What are you afraid of? I can pay my way--I ask no favors--I swear to
+you that I'll give no trouble. I only wish protection across."
+
+"Where's Pedro? Where's Montoyo?"
+
+She turned quickly, facing the jeer; her two eyes blazed, the red spots
+deepened angrily.
+
+"He? That snake? I shot him."
+
+"What! You? Killed him?" Exclamations broke from all quarters.
+
+She stamped her foot.
+
+"No. I didn't have to. But when he tried to abuse me I defended myself.
+Wasn't that right, gentlemen?"
+
+"Right or wrong, he'll be after you, won't he?"
+
+The question held a note of alarm. Her lip curled.
+
+"You needn't fear. I'll meet him, myself."
+
+"By gosh, I don't mix up in no quarrel 'twixt a man and his woman."
+And--"'Tain't our affair. When he comes he'll come a-poppin'." Such were
+the hasty comments. I felt a peculiar heat, a revulsion of shame and
+indignation, which made the present seem much more important than the
+past. And there was the recollection of her, crying, and still the accents
+of her last appeals in the early morning.
+
+"I thought that I might find men among you," she disdainfully said--a
+break in her voice. "So I came. But you're afraid of _him_--of that breed,
+that vest-pocket killer. And you're afraid of me, a woman whose cards are
+all on the table. There isn't a one of you--even you, Mr. Beeson, sir,
+whom I tried to befriend although you may not know it." And she turned
+upon me. "You have not a word to say. I am never going back, I tell you
+all. You won't take me, any of you? Very well." She smiled wanly. "I'll
+drift along, gentlemen. I'll play the lone hand. Montoyo shall never seize
+me. I'd rather trust to the wolves and the Indians. There'll be another
+wagon train."
+
+"I am only an employee, madam," I faltered. "If I had an outfit of my own
+I certainly would help you."
+
+She flushed painfully; she did not glance at me direct again, but her
+unspoken thanks enfolded me.
+
+"Here's the wagon boss," Jenks grunted, and spat. "Mebbe you can throw in
+with him. When it comes to supers, that's his say-so. I've all I can tend
+to, myself, and I don't look for trouble. I've got no love for Montoyo,
+neither," he added. "Damned if I ain't glad you give him a dose."
+
+Murmurs of approval echoed him, as if the tide were turning a little. All
+this time--not long, however--Daniel had been sitting his mule, transfixed
+and gaping, his oddly wry eyes upon her. Now the large form of Captain
+Adams came striding in contentious, through the gathering dusk.
+
+"What's this?" he demanded harshly. "An ungodly woman? I'll have no
+trafficking in my train. Get you gone, Delilah. Would you pursue us even
+here?"
+
+"I am going, sir," she replied. "I ask nothing from you or
+these--gentlemen."
+
+"Them's the two she's after, paw: Jenks an' that greenie," Daniel bawled.
+"They know her. She's follered 'em. She aims to travel with 'em. Oh, gosh!
+She's shot her man in Benton. Gosh!" His voice trailed off. "Ain't she
+purty, though! She's dressed in britches."
+
+"Get you gone," Captain Adams thundered. "And these your paramours with
+you. For thus saith the Lord: There shall be no lusting of adultery among
+his chosen. And thus say I, that no brazen hussy in men's garments shall
+travel with this train to Zion--no, not a mile of the way."
+
+Jenks stiffened, bristling.
+
+"Mind your words, Adams. I'm under no Mormon thumb, and I'll thank you not
+to connect me and this--lady in ary such fashion. As for your brat on
+horseback, he'd better hold his yawp. She came of her own hook, and damned
+if I ain't beginnin' to think----"
+
+I sprang forward. Defend her I must. She should not stand there, slight,
+lovely, brave but drooping, aflame with the helplessness of a woman alone
+and insulted.
+
+"Wait!" I implored. "Give her a chance. You haven't heard her story. All
+she wants is protection on the road. Yes, I know her, and I know the cur
+she's getting away from. I saw him strike her; so did Mr. Jenks. What were
+you intending to do? Turn her out into the night? Shame on you, sir. She
+says she can't go back to Benton, and if you'll be humane enough to
+understand why, you'll at least let her stay in your camp till morning.
+You've got women there who'll care for her, I hope."
+
+I felt her instant look. She spoke palpitant.
+
+"You have one man among you all. But I am going. Good-night, gentlemen."
+
+"No! Wait!" I begged. "You shall not go by yourself. I'll see you into
+safety."
+
+Daniel cackled.
+
+"Haw haw! What'd I tell yu, paw? Hear him?"
+
+"By gum, the boy's right," Jenks declared. "Will you go back to Benton if
+we take you?" he queried of her. "Are you 'feared of Montoyo? Can he shoot
+still, or is he laid out?"
+
+"I'll not go back to Benton, and I'm not afraid of that bully," said she.
+"Yes, he can shoot, still; but next time I should kill him. I hope never
+to see him again, or Benton either."
+
+The men murmured.
+
+"You've got spunk, anyhow," said they. And by further impulse: "Let her
+stay the night, Cap'n. It'll be plumb dark soon. She won't harm ye. Some
+o' the woman folks can take care of her."
+
+Captain Adams had been frowning sternly, his heavy face unsoftened.
+
+"Who are you, woman?"
+
+"I am the wife of a gambler named Montoyo."
+
+"Why come you here, then?"
+
+"He has been abusing me, and I shot him."
+
+"There is blood on your hands? Are you a murderess as well as a harlot?"
+
+"Shame!" cried voices, mine among them. "That's tall language."
+
+Strangely, and yet not strangely, sentiment had veered. We were
+Americans--and had we been English that would have made no difference. It
+was the Anglo-Saxon which gave utterance.
+
+She crimsoned, defiant; laughed scornfully.
+
+"You would not dare bait a man that way, sir. Blood on my hands? Not
+blood; oh, no! He couldn't pan out blood."
+
+"You killed him, woman?"
+
+"Not yet. He's likely fleecing the public in the Big Tent at this very
+moment."
+
+"And what did you expect here, in my train?"
+
+"A little manhood and a little chivalry, sir. I am going to Salt Lake and
+I knew of no safer way."
+
+"She jumped off a railway train, paw," bawled Daniel. "I seen her. An' she
+axed for Mister Jenks, fust thing."
+
+"I'll give you something to stop that yawp. Come mornin', we'll settle,
+young feller," my friend Jenks growled.
+
+"I did," she admitted. "I have seen Mr. Jenks; I have also seen Mr.
+Beeson; I have seen others of you in Benton. I was glad to know of
+somebody here. I rode on the construction train because it was the
+quickest and easiest way."
+
+"And those garments!" Captain Adams accused. "You wish to show your
+shape, woman, to tempt men's eyes with the flesh?"
+
+She smiled.
+
+"Would you have me jump from a train in skirts, sir? Or travel far afoot
+in crinoline? But to soothe your mind I will say that I wore these clothes
+under my proper attire and cloak until the last moment. And if you turn me
+away I shall cut my hair and continue as a boy."
+
+"If you are for Salt Lake--where we are of the Lord's choosing and wish
+none of you--there is the stage," he prompted shrewdly. "Go to the stage.
+You cannot make this wagon train your instrument."
+
+"The stage?" She slowly shook her head. "Why, I am too well known, sir,
+take that as you will. And the stage does not leave until morning. Much
+might happen between now and morning. I have nobody in Benton that I can
+depend upon--nobody that I dare depend upon. And by railway, for the East?
+No. That is too open a trail. I am running free of Benton and Pedro
+Montoyo, and stage and train won't do the trick. I've thought that out."
+She tossed back her head, deliberately turned. "Good-night, ladies and
+gentlemen."
+
+Involuntarily I started forward to intercept. The notion of her heading
+into the vastness and the gloom was appalling; the inertness of that
+increasing group, formed now of both men and women collected from all the
+camp, maddened. So I would have besought her, pleaded with her, faced
+Montoyo for her--but a new voice mediated.
+
+"She shall stay, Hyrum? For the night, at least? I will look after her."
+
+The Captain's younger wife, Rachael, had stepped to him; laid one hand
+upon his arm--her smooth hair touched ashine by the firelight as she gazed
+up into his face. Pending reply I hastened directly to My Lady herself and
+detained her by her jacket sleeve.
+
+"Wait," I bade.
+
+Whereupon we both turned. Side by side we fronted the group as if we might
+have been partners--which, in a measure, we were, but not wholy according
+to the lout Daniel's cackle and the suddenly interrogating countenances
+here and there.
+
+"You would take her in, Rachael?" the Captain rumbled. "Have you not heard
+what I said?"
+
+"We are commanded to feed the hungry and shelter the homeless, Hyrum."
+
+"Verily that is so. Take her. I trust you with her till the morning. The
+Lord will direct us further. But in God's name clothe her for the daylight
+in decency. She shall not advertise her flesh to men's eyes."
+
+"Quick!" I whispered, with a push. Rachael, however, had crossed for us,
+and with eyes brimming extended her hand.
+
+"Will you come with me, please?" she invited.
+
+"You are not afraid of me?"
+
+"I? No. You are a woman, are you not?" The intonation was gentle, and
+sweet to hear--as sweet as her rosy face to see.
+
+"Yes," sighed My Lady, wearily. "Good-night, sir." She fleetingly smiled
+upon me. "I thank you; and Mr. Jenks."
+
+They went, Rachael's arm about her; other women closed in; we heard
+exclamations, and next they were supporting her in their midst, for she
+had crumpled in a faint.
+
+Captain Adams walked out a piece as if musing. Daniel pressed beside him,
+talking eagerly. His voice reached me.
+
+"She's powerful purty, ain't she, paw! Gosh, I never seen a woman in
+britches before. Did yu? Paw! She kin ride in my wagon, paw. Be yu goin'
+to take her on, paw? If yu be, I got room."
+
+"Go. Tend to your stock and think of other things," boomed his father.
+"Remember that the Scriptures say, beware of the scarlet woman."
+
+Daniel galloped away, whooping like an idiot.
+
+"Wall, there she is," my friend Jenks remarked non-committally. "What
+next'll happen, we'll see in the mornin'. Either she goes on or she goes
+back. I don't claim to read Mormon sign, myself. But she had me jumpin'
+sideways, for a spell. So did that young whelp."
+
+There was some talk, idle yet not offensive. The men appeared rather in a
+judicial frame of mind: laid a few bets upon whether her husband would
+turn up, in sober fashion nodded their heads over the hope that he had
+been "properly pinked," all in all sided with her, while admiring her
+pluck roundly denied responsibility for women in general, and genially but
+cautiously twitted Mr. Jenks and me upon our alleged implication in the
+affair.
+
+Darkness, still and chill, had settled over the desert--the only
+discernible horizon the glow of Benton, down the railroad track. The ashes
+of final pipes were rapped out upon our boot soles. Our group dispersed,
+each man to his blanket under the wagons or in the open.
+
+"Wall," friend Jenks again broadly uttered, in last words as he turned
+over with a grunt, for easier posture, near me, "hooray! If it simmers
+down to you and Dan'l, I'll be there."
+
+With that enigmatical comment he was silent save for stertorous breathing.
+Vaguely cogitating over his promise I lay, toes and face up, staring at
+the bright stars; perplexed more and more over the immediate events of the
+future, warmly conscious of her astonishing proximity in this very train,
+prickled by the hope that she would continue with us, irritated by the
+various assumptions of Daniel, and somehow not at all adverse to the
+memory of her in "britches."
+
+That phase of the matter seemed to have affected Daniel and me similarly.
+Under his hide he was human.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+DANIEL TAKES POSSESSION
+
+
+I was more than ever convinced of her wisdom in choice of garb when in
+early morning I glimpsed her with the two other women at the Adams fire;
+for, bright-haired and small, she had been sorrily dulled by the plain
+ill-fitting waist and long shapeless skirt in one garment, as adopted by
+the feminine contingent of the train. In her particular case these were
+worse fitting and longer than common--an artifice that certainly snuffed a
+portion of her charms for Gentile and Mormon eyes alike.
+
+What further disposition of her was to be made we might not yet know. We
+all kept to our own tasks and our own fires, with the exception that
+Daniel gawked and strutted in the manner of a silly gander, and made
+frequent errands to his father's household.
+
+It was after the red sun-up and the initial signaling by dust cloud to
+dust cloud announcing the commencement of another day's desert traffic,
+and in response to the orders "Ketch up!" we were putting animals to
+wagons (My Lady still in evidence forward), when a horseman bored in at a
+gallop, over the road from the east.
+
+"Montoyo, by Gawd!" Jenks pronounced, in a grumble of disgust rather than
+with any note of alarm. "Look alive." And--"He don't hang up my pelt; no,
+nor yourn if I can help it."
+
+I saw him give a twitch to his holster and slightly loosen the Colt's. But
+I was unburthened by guilt in past events, and I conceived no reason for
+fearing the future--other than that now I was likely to lose her. Heaven
+pity her! Probably she would have to go, even if she managed later to kill
+him. The delay in our start had been unfortunate.
+
+It was dollars to doughnuts that every man in the company had had his eye
+out for Montoyo, since daylight; and the odds were that every man had
+sighted him as quickly as we. Notwithstanding, save by an occasional quick
+glance none appeared to pay attention to his rapid approach. We ourselves
+went right along hooking up, like the others.
+
+As chanced, our outfit was the first upon his way in. I heard him rein
+sharply beside us and his horse fidget, panting. Not until he spoke did we
+lift eyes.
+
+"Howdy, gentlemen?"
+
+"Howdy yourself, sir," answered Mr. Jenks, straightening up and meeting
+his gaze. I paused, to gaze also. Montoyo was pale as death, his lips hard
+set, his peculiar gray eyes and his black moustache the only vivifying
+features in his coldly menacing countenance.
+
+He was in white linen shirt, his left arm slung; fine riding boots
+encasing his legs above the knees and Spanish spurs at their heels--his
+horse's flanks reddened by their jabs. The pearl butt of a six-shooter
+jutted from his belt holster. He sat jaunty, excepting for his lips and
+eyes.
+
+He looked upon me, with a trace of recognition less to be seen than felt.
+His glance leaped to the wagon--traveled swiftly and surely and returned
+to Mr. Jenks.
+
+"You're pulling out, I believe."
+
+"Yes, you bet yuh."
+
+"This is the Adams train?"
+
+"It is."
+
+"I'm looking for my wife, gentlemen. May I ask whether you've seen her?"
+
+"You can."
+
+"You have seen her?"
+
+"Yes, sir. We'll not beat around any bush over that."
+
+He meditated, frowning a bit, eying us narrowly.
+
+"I had the notion," he said. "If you have staked her to shelter I thank
+you; but now I aim to play the hand myself. This is a strictly private
+game. Where is she?"
+
+"I call yuh, Pedro," my friend answered. "We ain't keepin' cases on her,
+or on you. You don't find her in my outfit, that's flat. She spent the
+night with the Adams women. You'll find her waitin' for you, on ahead."
+He grinned. "She'll be powerful glad to see you." He sobered. "And I'll
+say this: I'm kinder sorry I ain't got her, for she'd be interestin'
+company on the road."
+
+"The road to hell, yes," Montoyo coolly remarked. "I'd guarantee you quick
+passage. Good-day."
+
+With sudden steely glare that embraced us both he jumped his mount into a
+gallop and tore past the team, for the front. He must have inquired, once
+or twice, as to the whereabouts of the Captain's party; I saw fingers
+pointing.
+
+"Here! You've swapped collars on your lead span, boy," Mr. Jenks
+reproved--but he likewise fumbling while he gazed.
+
+I could hold back no longer.
+
+"Just a minute, if you please," I pleaded; and hastened on up, half
+running in my anxiety to face the worst; to help, if I might, for the
+best.
+
+A little knot of people had formed, constantly increasing by oncomers like
+myself and friend Jenks who had lumbered behind me. Montoyo's horse stood
+heaving, on the outskirts; and ruthlessly pushing through I found him
+inside, with My Lady at bay before him--her eyes brilliant, her cheeks
+hot, her two hands clenched tightly, her slim figure dangerously tense
+within her absurd garment, and the arm of the brightly flushed but calm
+Rachael resting restraintfully around her. The circling faces peered.
+
+Captain Adams, at one side apart, was replying to the gambler. His small
+china-blue eyes had begun to glint; otherwise he maintained an air of
+stolidity as if immune to the outcome.
+
+"You see her," he said. "She has had the care of my own household, for I
+turn nobody away. She came against my will, and she shall go of her will.
+I am not her keeper."
+
+"You Mormons have the advantage of us white men, sir," Montoyo sneered.
+"No one of the sex seems to be denied bed and board in your
+establishments."
+
+"By the help of the Lord we of the elect can manage our establishments
+much better than you do yours," big Hyrum responded; and his face
+sombered. "Who are you? A panderer to the devil, a thief with painted
+card-boards, a despoiler of the ignorant, and a feeder to hell--yea, a
+striker of women and a trafficker in flesh! Who are you, to think the name
+of the Lord's anointed? There she is, your chattel. Take her, or leave
+her. This train starts on in ten minutes."
+
+"I'll take her or kill her," Montoyo snarled. "You call me a feeder, but
+she shall not be fed to your mill, Adams. You'll get on that horse pronto,
+madam," he added, stepping forward (no one could question his nerve), "and
+we'll discuss our affairs in private."
+
+She cast about with swift beseeching look, as if for a friendly face or
+sign of rescue. And that agonized quest was enough. Whether she saw me or
+not, here I was. With a spring I had burst in.
+
+But somebody already had drawn fresh attention. Daniel Adams was standing
+between her and her husband.
+
+"Say, Mister, will yu fight?" he drawled, breathing hard, his broad
+nostrils quivering.
+
+A silence fell. Singularly, the circle parted right and left in a jostle
+and a scramble.
+
+Montoyo surveyed him.
+
+"Why?"
+
+"For her, o' course."
+
+The gambler smiled--a slow, contemptuous smile while his gray eyes focused
+watchfully.
+
+"It's a case where I have nothing to gain," said he. "And you've nothing
+to lose. I never bet in the teeth of a pat hand. Sabe? Besides, my young
+Mormon cub, when did you enter this game? Where's your ante? For the sport
+of it, now, what do you think of putting up, to make it interesting? One
+of your mammies? Tut, tut!"
+
+Daniel's freckled bovine face flushed muddy red; in the midst of it his
+faulty eyes were more pronounced than ever--beady, twinkling, and so at
+cross purposes that they apparently did not center upon the gambler at
+all. But his right hand had stiffened at his side--extended there flat and
+tremulous like the vibrant tail of a rattlesnake. He blurted harshly:
+
+"I 'laow to kill yu for that. Draw, yu----!"
+
+We caught breath. Montoyo's hand had darted down, and up, with motion too
+smooth and elusive for the eye, particularly when our eyes had to be upon
+both. His revolver poised half-way out of the scabbard, held there
+rigidly, frozen in mid course; for Daniel had laughed loudly over leveled
+barrel.
+
+How he had achieved so quickly no man of us knew. Yet there it was--his
+Colt's, out, cocked, wicked and yearning and ready.
+
+He whirled it with tempting carelessness, butt first, muzzle first, his
+discolored teeth set in a yellow grin. The breath of the spectators vented
+in a sigh.
+
+"Haow'll yu take it, Mister?" he gibed. "I could l'arn an old caow to beat
+yu on the draw. Aw, shucks! I 'laow yu'd better go back to yore
+pasteboards. Naow git!"
+
+Montoyo, his eyes steady, scarcely changed expression. He let his revolver
+slip down into its scabbard. Then he smiled.
+
+"You have a pretty trick," he commented, relaxing. "Some day I'd like to
+test it out again. Just now I pass. Madam, are you coming?"
+
+"You know I'm not," she uttered clearly.
+
+"Your choice of company is hardly to your credit," he sneered. "Or, I
+should say, to your education. Saintliness does not set well upon you,
+madam. Your clothes are ill-fitting already. Of your two champions----"
+
+And here I realized that I was standing out, one foot advanced, my fists
+foolishly doubled, my presence a useless factor.
+
+"--I recommend the gentleman from New York as more to your tastes. But you
+are going of your own free will. You will always be my wife. You can't get
+away from that, you devil. I shall expect you in Benton, for I have the
+hunch that your little flight will fetch you back pretty well tamed, to
+the place where damaged goods are not so heavily discounted." He ignored
+Daniel and turned upon me. "As for you," he said, "I warn you you are
+playing against a marked deck. You will find fists a poor hand. Ladies and
+gentlemen, good-morning." With that he strode straight for his horse,
+climbed aboard (a trifle awkwardly by reason of his one arm disabled) and
+galloped, granting us not another glance.
+
+Card shark and desperado that he was, his consummate aplomb nobody could
+deny, except Daniel, now capering and swaggering and twirling his
+revolver.
+
+"I showed him. I made him take water. I 'laow I'm 'bout the best man with
+a six-shooter in these hyar parts."
+
+"Ketch up and stretch out," Captain Adams ordered, disregarding. "We've no
+more time for foolery."
+
+My eyes met My Lady's. She smiled a little ruefully, and I responded,
+shamed by the poor rôle I had borne. With that still jubilating lout to
+the fore, certainly I cut small figure.
+
+This night we made camp at Rawlins' Springs, some twelve miles on. The
+day's march had been, so to speak, rather pensive; for while there were
+the rough jokes and the talking back and forth, it seemed as though the
+scene of early morning lingered in our vista. The words of Montoyo had
+scored deeply, and the presence of our supernumerary laid a kind of
+incubus, like an omen of ill luck, upon us. Indeed the prophecies darkly
+uttered showed the current of thought.
+
+"It's a she Jonah we got. Sure a woman the likes o' her hain't no place in
+a freightin' outfit. We're off on the wrong fut," an Irishman declared to
+wagging of heads. "Faith, she's enough to set the saints above an' the
+saints below both by the ears." He paused to light his dudeen. "There'll
+be a Donnybrook Fair in Utah, if belike we don't have it along the way."
+
+"No Mormon'll need another wife if he takes her," laughed somebody else.
+
+"She'll be promised to Dan'l 'fore ever we cross the Wasatch." And they
+all in the group looked slyly at me. "Acts as if she'd been sealed to him
+already, he does."
+
+This had occurred at our nooning hour, amidst the dust and the heat, while
+the animals drooped and dozed and panted and in the scant shade of the
+hooded wagons we drank our coffee and crunched our hardtack. Throughout
+the morning My Lady had ridden upon the seat of Daniel's wagon, with him
+sometimes trudging beside, in pride of new ownership, cracking his whip,
+and again planted sidewise upon one of the wheel animals, facing backward
+to leer at her.
+
+Why I should now have especially detested him I would not admit to myself.
+At any rate the dislike dated before her arrival. That was one sop to
+conscience when I remembered that she was a wife.
+
+Friend Jenks must have read my thoughts, inasmuch as during the course of
+the afternoon he had uttered abruptly:
+
+"These Mormons don't exactly recognize Gentile marriages. Did you know
+that?" He flung me a look from beneath shaggy brows.
+
+"What?" I exclaimed. "How so?"
+
+"Meanin' to say that layin' on of hands by the Lord's an'inted is
+necessary to reel j'inin' in marriage."
+
+"But that's monstrous!" I stammered.
+
+"Dare say," said he. "It's the way white gospelers look at Injuns, ain't
+it? Anyhow, to convert her out of sin, as they'd call it, and put her over
+into the company of the saints wouldn't be no bad deal, by their kind o'
+thinkin'. It's been done before, I reckon. Jest thought I'd warn you.
+She's made her own bed and if it's a Mormon bed she's well quit of
+Montoyo, that's sartin. Did you ever see the beat of that young feller on
+the draw?"
+
+"No," I admitted. "I never did."
+
+"And you never will."
+
+"He says his name's Bonnie Bravo. Where did he find that?"
+
+"Haw haw." Friend Jenks spat. "Must ha' heard it in a play-house or got it
+read to him out a book. Sounds to him like he was some punkins. Anyhow, if
+you've any feelin's in the matter keep 'em under your hat. I don't know
+what there's been between you and her, but the Mormon church is between
+you now and it's got the dead-wood on you. It's either that for her, or
+Montoyo. He knows; he's no fool and he'll take his time. So you'd better
+stick to mule-whacking and sowbelly."
+
+Still it was only decent that I should inquire after her. No Daniel and no
+"Bonnie Bravo" was going to shut me from my duty. Therefore this evening
+after we had formed corral, watered our animals at the one good-water
+spring, staked them out in the bottoms of the ravine here, and eaten our
+supper, I went with clean hands and face and, I resolved, a clean heart,
+to pay my respects at the Hyrum Adams fire.
+
+A cheery sight it was, too, for one bred as I had been to the company of
+women. Whereas during the day and somewhat in the evenings we Gentiles and
+the Mormon men fraternized without conflict of sect save by long-winded
+arguments, at nightfall the main Mormon gathering centered about the Adams
+quarters, where the men and women sang hymns in praise of their
+pretensions, and listened to homilies by Hyrum himself.
+
+They were singing now, as I approached--every woman busy also with her
+hands. The words were destined to be familiar to me, being from their
+favorite lines:
+
+          Cheer, saints, cheer! We're bound for peaceful Zion!
+          Cheer, saints, cheer! For that free and happy land!
+          Cheer, saints, cheer! We'll Israel's God rely on;
+          We will be led by the power of His hand.
+
+          Away, far away to the everlasting mountains,
+          Away, far away to the valley in the West;
+          Away, far away to yonder gushing fountains,
+          Where all the faithful in the latter days are blest.
+
+Into this domestic circle I civilly entered just as they had finished
+their hymn. She was seated beside the sleek-haired Rachael, with Daniel
+upon her other hand. I sensed her quickly ready smile; and with the same a
+surly stare from him, disclosing that by one person at least I was not
+welcomed.
+
+"Anything special wanted, stranger?" Hyrum demanded.
+
+"No, sir. I was attracted by your singing," I replied. "Do I intrude?"
+
+"Not at all, not at all." He was more hospitable. "Set if you like, in the
+circle of the Saints. You'll get no harm by it, that's certain."
+
+So I seated myself just behind Rachael. A moment of constraint seemed to
+fall upon the group. I broke it by my inquiry, addressed to a clean
+profile.
+
+"I came also to inquire after Mrs. Montoyo," I carefully said. "You have
+stood the journey well, this far, madam?"
+
+Daniel turned instantly.
+
+"Thar's no 'Mrs. Montoyo' in this camp, Mister. And I'll thank yu it's a
+name yu'd best leave alone."
+
+"How so, sir?"
+
+"Cause that's the right of it. I 'laow I've told yu."
+
+"I'm called Edna now, by my friends," she vouchsafed, coloring. "Yes,
+thank you, I've enjoyed the day."
+
+Rachael spoke softly, in her gentle English accents. I learned later that
+she was an English girl, convert to Mormonism.
+
+"We Latter Day Saints know that the marriage rites of Gentiles are not
+countenanced by the Lord. If you would see the light you would understand.
+Sister Edna is being well cared for. Whatever we have is hers."
+
+"You will take her on with you to Salt Lake?"
+
+"That is as Hyrum says. He has spoken of putting her on the stage at the
+next crossing. He will decide."
+
+"I think I'd rather stay with the train," My Lady murmured.
+
+"Yu will, too, by gum," Daniel pronounced. "I'll talk with paw. Yu're
+goin' to travel on to Zion 'long with me. I 'laow I'm man enough to look
+out for ye an' I got plenty room. The hull wagon's yourn. Guess thar won't
+nobody have anything to say ag'in that." His tone was pointed,
+unmistakable, and I sat fuming with it.
+
+My Lady drily acknowledged.
+
+"You are very kind, Daniel."
+
+"Wall, yu see I'm the best man on the draw in this hyar train. I'm a bad
+one, I am. My name's Bonnie Bravo. That gambler--he 'laowed to pop me but
+I could ha' killed him 'fore his gun was loose. I kin ride, wrastle, drive
+a bull team ag'in ary man from the States, an' I got the gift o' tongues.
+Ain't afeared o' Injuns, neither. I'm elected. I foller the Lord an' some
+day I'll be a bishop. I hain't been more'n middlin' interested in wimmen,
+but I'm gittin' old enough, an' yu an' me'll be purty well acquainted by
+the time we reach Zion. Thar's a long spell ahead of us, but I aim to look
+out for yu, yu bet."
+
+His blatancy was arrested by the intonation of another hymn. They all
+chimed in, except My Lady and me.
+
+       There is a people in the West, the world calls Mormonites
+       in jest,
+       The only people who can say, we have the truth, and
+       own its sway.
+       Away in Utah's valleys, away in Utah's valleys,
+       Away in Utah's valleys, the chambers of the Lord.
+
+       And all ye saints, where'er you be, from bondage try to
+       be set free,
+       Escape unto fair Zion's land, and thus fulfil the Lord's
+       command,
+       And help to build up Zion, and help to build up Zion,
+       And help to build up Zion, before the Lord appear.
+
+They concluded; sat with heads bowed while Hyrum, standing, delivered
+himself of a long-winded blessing, through his nose. It was the signal for
+breaking up. They stood. My Lady arose lithely; encumbered by her trailing
+skirt she pitched forward and I caught her. Daniel sprang in a moment,
+with a growl.
+
+"None o' that, Mister. I'm takin' keer of her. Hands off."
+
+"Don't bully me, sir," I retorted, furious. "I'm only acting the
+gentleman, and you're acting the boor."
+
+I would willingly have fought him then and there, probably to my disaster,
+but Hyrum's heavy voice cut in.
+
+"Who quarrels at my fire? Mark you, I'll have no more of it. Stranger, get
+you where you belong. Daniel, get you to bed. And you, woman, take
+yourself off properly and thank God that you are among his chosen and not
+adrift in sin."
+
+"Good-night, sir," I answered. And I walked easily away, a triumphant
+warmth buoying me, for ere releasing her strong young body I had felt a
+note tucked into my hand.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+SOMEONE FEARS
+
+
+A note from a pretty woman always is a potential thing, no matter in what
+humor it may have been received. The mere possession titillates; and
+although the contents may be most exemplary to the eye, the mind is apt to
+go hay-making between the lines and no offense intended.
+
+All the fatuousness that had led me astray to the lure of her blue eyes,
+upon the train and in hollow Benton, surged anew now--perhaps seasoned to
+present taste by my peppery defiance of Daniel. A man could do no less
+than bristle a little, under the circumstances; could do no less than
+challenge the torpedoes, like Farragut in Mobile Bay. Whether the game was
+worth the candle, I was not to be bullied out of my privileges by a clown
+swash-buckler who aped the characteristics of a pouter pigeon.
+
+Mr. Jenks was just going to bed under the wagon. With pretext of warming
+up the coffee I kicked the fire together; while squatting and sipping I
+managed to unfold the note and read it by the flicker, my back to the
+camp.
+
+All that it said, was:
+
+  If you are not disgusted with me I will walk a stretch with you on
+  the trail, during the morning.
+
+The engagement sent me to my blanket cogitating. When a woman proposes,
+one never knows precisely the reason. Anyway, I was young enough so to
+fancy. For a long time I lay outside the wagons, apart in the desert camp,
+gazing up at the twinkling stars, while the wolves whimpered around, and
+somewhere she slept beside the gentle Rachael, and somewhere Daniel
+snored, and here I conned her face and her words, elatedly finding them
+very pleasing.
+
+Salt Lake was far, the Big Tent farther by perspective if not by miles. I
+recognized the legal rights of her husband, but no ruffling Daniel should
+quash the undeniable rights of Yours Truly. I indeed felt virtuous and
+passing valorous, with that commonplace note in my pocket.
+
+We all broke camp at sunrise. She rode for a distance upon the seat of
+Daniel's wagon--he lustily trudging alongside. Then I marked her walking,
+herself; she had shortened her skirt; and presently lingering by the trail
+she dropped behind, leaving the wagon to lumber on, with Daniel helplessly
+turning head over shoulder, bereft.
+
+"Bet you the lady up yonder is aimin' to pay you a visit," quoth friend
+Jenks the astute. "And Dan'l, he don't cotton to it. You ain't great
+shakes with a gun, I reckon?"
+
+"I've never had use for one," said I. "But her whereabouts in the train is
+not a matter of shooting, is it?"
+
+"A feller quick on the draw, like him, is alluz wantin' to practice, to
+keep his hand in. Anyhow I'd advise you to stay clear of her, else watch
+him mighty sharp. He's thinkin' of takin' a squaw."
+
+We rolled on, in the dust, while the animals coughed and the teamsters
+chewed and swore. And next, here she was, idling until our outfit drew
+abreast.
+
+"Mornin'," Jenks grunted, with a shortness that bespoke his disapproval;
+whereupon he fell back and left us.
+
+She smiled at me.
+
+"Will you offer me a ride, sir?"
+
+My response was instant: a long "Whoa-oa!" in best mule-whacker. The
+eight-team hauled negligent, their mulish senses steeped in the drudgery
+of the trail; only the wheel pair flopped inquiring ears. When I hailed
+again, Jenks came puffing.
+
+"What's the matter hyar?" He ran rapid eye over wagon and animals and saw
+nothing amiss.
+
+"Mrs. Montoyo wishes to ride."
+
+"The hell, man!" He snatched whip and launched it, up the faltering team.
+The cracker popped an inch above the off lead mule's cringing haunch
+twenty feet before. "You can't stop hyar! Can't hold the rest of the
+train. Joe! Baldy! Hep with you!" The team straightened out; he restored
+me the whip. His wrath subsided, for in less dudgeon he addressed her.
+
+"Want to ride, do ye?"
+
+"I did, sir."
+
+"Wall, in Gawd's name ride, then. But we don't stop for passengers."
+
+With that, in another white heat he had picked her up bodily, swung her
+upon the nearest mule; so that before she knew (she scarce had time to
+utter an astonished little ejaculation as she yielded to his arms) there
+she was, perched, breathless, upon the sweaty hide. I awaited results.
+
+Jenks chuckled.
+
+"What you need is an old feller, lady. These young bucks ain't broke to
+the feed canvas. Now when you want to get off you call me. You don't weigh
+more'n a peck of beans."
+
+With a bantering wink at me he again fell back. Once more I had been
+forestalled. There should be no third time.
+
+My Lady sat clinging, at first angry-eyed, but in a moment softened by my
+discomfiture.
+
+"Your partner is rather sudden," she averred. "He asked permission of
+neither me nor the mule."
+
+"He meant well. He isn't used to women," I apologized.
+
+"More used to mules, I judge."
+
+"Yes. If he had asked the mule it would have objected, whereas it's
+delighted."
+
+"Perhaps he knows there's not much difference between a woman and a mule,
+in that respect," she proffered. "You need not apologize for him."
+
+"I apologize for myself," I blurted. "I see I'm a little slow for this
+country."
+
+"You?" She soberly surveyed me as I ploughed through the dust, at her
+knees. "I think you'll catch up. If you don't object to my company,
+yourself, occasionally, maybe I can help you."
+
+"I certainly cannot object to your company whenever it is available,
+madam," I assured.
+
+"You do not hold your experience in Benton against me?"
+
+"I got no more than I deserved, in the Big Tent," said I. "I went in as a
+fool and I came out as a fool, but considerably wiser."
+
+"You reproached me for it," she accused. "You hated me. Do you hate me
+still, I wonder? I tell you I was not to blame for the loss of your
+money."
+
+"The money has mattered little, madam," I informed. "It was only a few
+dollars, and it turned me to a job more to my liking and good health than
+fiddling my time away, back there. I have you to thank for that."
+
+"No, no! You are cruel, sir. You thank me for the good and you saddle me
+with the bad. I accept neither. Both, as happened, were misplays. You
+should not have lost money, you should not have changed vocation. You
+should have won a little money and you should have pursued health in
+Benton." She sighed. "And we all would have been reasonably content. Now
+here you and I are--and what are we going to do about it?"
+
+"We?" I echoed, annoyingly haphazard. "Why so? You're being well cared
+for, I take it; and I'm under engagement for Salt Lake myself."
+
+The answer did sound rude. I was still a cad. She eyed me, with a certain
+whiteness, a certain puzzled intentness, a certain fugitive wistfulness--a
+mute estimation that made me too conscious of her clear appraising gaze
+and rack my brain for some disarming remark.
+
+"You're not responsible for me, you would say?"
+
+"I'm at your service," I corrected. The platitude was the best that I
+could muster to my tongue.
+
+"That is something," she mused. "Once you were not that--when I proposed a
+partnership. You are afraid of me?" she asked.
+
+"Why should I be?" I parried. But I was beginning; or continuing. I had
+that curious inward quiver, not unpleasant, anticipatory of possible
+events.
+
+"You are a cautious Yankee. You answer one question with another." She
+laughed lightly. "Yes, why should you be? I cannot run away with you; not
+when Daniel and your Mr. Jenks are watching us so closely. And you have
+no desire to be run away with. And Pedro must be considered. Altogether,
+you are well protected, even if your conscience slips. But tell me: Do you
+blame me for running away from Montoyo?"
+
+"Not in the least," I heartily assured.
+
+"You would have helped me, at the last?"
+
+"I think I should have felt fully warranted." Again I floundered.
+
+"Even to stowing me with a bull train?"
+
+"Anywhere, madam, for your betterment, to free you from that brute."
+
+"Oh!" She clapped her hands. "But you didn't have to. I only embarrassed
+you by appearing on my own account. You have some spirit, though. You came
+to the Adams circle, last night. You did your duty. I expected you. But
+you must not do it again."
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"There are objections, there."
+
+"From you?"
+
+"No."
+
+"From Hyrum?"
+
+"Not yet."
+
+"From that Daniel, then. Well, I will come to Captain Adams' camp as often
+as I like, if with the Captain's permission. And I shall come to see you,
+whether with his permission or not."
+
+"I don't know," she faltered. "I--you would have helped me once, you say?
+And once you refused me. Would you help me next time?"
+
+"As far as I could," said I--another of those damned hedging responses
+that for the life of me I could not manipulate properly.
+
+"Oh!" she cried. "Of course! The queen deceived you; now you are wise. You
+are afraid. But so am I. Horribly afraid. I have misplayed again." She
+laughed bitterly. "I am with Daniel--it is to be Daniel and I in the
+Lion's den. You know they call Brigham Young the Lion of the Lord. I doubt
+if even Rachael is angel enough." She paused. "They're going to make
+nooning, aren't they? I mustn't stay. Good-bye."
+
+I sprang to lift her, but with gay shake of head she slipped off of
+herself and landed securely.
+
+"I can stand alone. I have to. Men are always ready to do what I don't ask
+them to do, as long as I can serve as a tool or a toy. You will be very,
+very careful. Good-day, sir."
+
+She flashed just the trace of a smile; gathering her skirt she ran on,
+undeterred by the teamsters applauding her spryness.
+
+"Swing out!" shouted Jenks, from rear. "We're noonin'." The lead wagons
+had halted beside the trail and all the wagons following began to imitate.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+I TAKE A LESSON
+
+
+From this hour's brief camp, early made, we should have turned southward,
+to leave the railroad line and cross country for the Overland Stage trail
+that skirted the southern edge of the worse desert before us. But Captain
+Hyrum was of different mind. With faith in the Lord and bull confidence in
+himself he had resolved to keep straight on by the teamster road which
+through league after league ever extended fed supplies to the advance of
+the builders.
+
+Under its adventitious guidance we should strike the stage road at Bitter
+Creek, eighty or one hundred miles; thence trundle, veering southwestward,
+for the famed City of the Saints, near two hundred miles farther.
+
+Therefore after nooning at a pool of stagnant, scummy water we hooked up
+and plunged ahead, creaking and groaning and dust enveloped, constantly
+outstripped by the hurrying construction trains thundering over the newly
+laid rails, we ourselves the tortoise in the race.
+
+My Lady did not join me again to-day, nor on the morrow. She abandoned me
+to a sense of dissatisfaction with myself, of foreboding, and of a void
+in the landscape.
+
+Our sorely laden train went swaying and pitching across the gaunt face of
+a high, broad plateau, bleak, hot, and monotonous in contour; underfoot
+the reddish granite pulverized by grinding tire and hoof, over us the pale
+bluish fiery sky without a cloud, distant in the south the shining tips of
+a mountain range, and distant below in the west the slowly spreading vista
+of a great, bared ocean-bed, simmering bizarre with reds, yellows and
+deceptive whites, and ringed about by battlements jagged and rock hewn.
+
+Into this enchanted realm we were bound; by token of the smoke blotches
+the railroad line led thither. The teamsters viewed the unfolding expanse
+phlegmatically. They called it the Red Basin. But to me, fresh for the
+sight, it beckoned with fantastic issues. Even the name breathed magic.
+Wizard spells hovered there; the railroad had not broken them--the cars
+and locomotives, entering, did not disturb the brooding vastness. A man
+might still ride errant into those slumberous spaces and discover for
+himself; might boldly awaken the realm and rule with a princess by his
+side.
+
+But romance seemed to have no other sponsor in this plodding,
+whip-cracking, complaining caravan. So I lacked, woefully lacked, kindred
+companionship.
+
+Free to say, I did miss My Lady, perched upon the stoic mule while like
+an Arab chief I convoyed her. The steady miles, I admitted, were going to
+be as disappointing as tepid water, when not aërated by her counsel and
+piquant allusions, by her sprightly readiness and the essential elements
+of her blue eyes, her facile lips, and that bright hair which no dust
+could dim.
+
+After all she was distinctly feminine--bravely feminine; and if she wished
+to flirt as a relief from the cock-sure Daniel and the calm methods of her
+Mormon guardians, why, let us beguile the way. I should second with eyes
+open. That was accepted.
+
+Moreover, something about her weighed upon me. A consciousness of failing
+her, a woman, in emergency, stung my self-respect. She had twitted me with
+being "afraid"; afraid of her, she probably meant. That I could pass
+warily. But she had said that she, too, was afraid: "horribly afraid," and
+an honest shudder had attended upon the words as if a real danger hedged.
+She had an intuition. The settled convictions of my Gentile friends
+coincided. "With Daniel in the Lion's den"--that phrase repeated itself
+persistent. She had uttered it in a fear accentuated by a mirthless laugh.
+Could such a left-handed wooer prove too much for her? Well, if she was
+afraid of Daniel I was not and she should not think so.
+
+I could see her now and then, on before. She rode upon the wagon seat of
+her self-appointed executor. And I might see him and his paraded
+impertinences.
+
+Except for the blowing of the animals and the mechanical noises of the
+equipment the train subsided into a dogged patience, while parched by the
+dust and the thin dry air and mocked by the speeding construction crews
+upon the iron rails it lurched westward at two and a half miles an hour,
+for long hours outfaced by the blinding sun.
+
+Near the western edge of the plateau we made an evening corral. After
+supper the sound of revolver shots burst flatly from a mess beyond us, and
+startled. Everything was possible, here in this lone horizon-land where
+rough men, chafed by a hard day, were gathered suddenly relaxed and idle.
+But the shots were accompanied by laughter.
+
+"They're only tryin' to spile a can," Jenks reassured. "By golly, we'll go
+over and l'arn 'em a lesson." He glanced at me. "Time you loosened up that
+weepon o' yourn, anyhow. Purty soon it'll stick fast."
+
+I arose with him, glad of any diversion. The circle had not yet formed at
+Hyrum's fire.
+
+"It strikes me as a useless piece of baggage," said I. "I bought it in
+Benton but I haven't needed it. I can kill a rattlesnake easier with my
+whip."
+
+"Wall," he drawled, "down in yonder you're liable to meet up with a
+rattler too smart for your whip, account of his freckles. 'Twon't do you
+no harm to spend a few ca'tridges, so you'll be ready for business."
+
+The men were banging, by turn, at a sardine can set up on the sand about
+twenty paces out. Their shadows stretched slantwise before them,
+grotesquely lengthened by the last efforts of the disappearing sun. Some
+aimed carefully from under pulled-down hat brims; others, their brims
+flared back, fired quickly, the instant the gun came to the level. The
+heavy balls sent the loose soil flying in thick jets made golden by the
+evening glow. But amidst the furrows the can sat untouched by the plunging
+missiles.
+
+We were greeted with hearty banter.
+
+"Hyar's the champeens!"
+
+"Now they'll show us."
+
+"Ain't never see that pilgrim unlimber his gun yit, but I reckon he's a
+bad 'un."
+
+"Jenks, old hoss, cain't you l'an that durned can manners?"
+
+"I'll try to oblige you, boys," friend Jenks smiled. "What you thinkin' to
+do: hit that can or plant a lead mine?"
+
+"Give him room. He's made his brag," they cried. "And if he don't plug it
+that pilgrim sure will."
+
+Mr. Jenks drew and took his stand; banged with small preparation and
+missed by six inches--a fact that brought him up wide awake, so to speak,
+badgered by derision renewed. A person needs must have a bull hide, to
+travel with a bull train, I saw.
+
+"Gimme another, boys, and I'll hit it in the nose," he growled sheepishly;
+but they shoved him aside.
+
+"No, no. Pilgrim's turn. Fetch on yore shootin'-iron, young feller. Thar's
+yore turkey. Show us why you're packin' all that hardware."
+
+Willy-nilly I had to demonstrate my greenness; so in all good nature I
+drew, and stood, and cocked, and aimed. The Colt's exploded with
+prodigious blast and wrench--jerking, in fact, almost above head; and
+where the bullet went I did not see, nor, I judged, did anybody else.
+
+"He missed the 'arth!" they clamored.
+
+"No; I reckon he hit Montany 'bout the middle. That's whar he scored
+center!"
+
+"Shoot! Shoot!" they begged. "Go ahead. Mebbe you'll kill an Injun
+unbeknownst. They's a pack o' Sioux jest out o' sight behind them hills."
+
+And I did shoot, vexed; and I struck the ground, this time, some fifty
+yards beyond the can. Jenks stepped from amidst the riotous laughter.
+
+"Hold down on it, hold down, lad," he urged. "To hit him in the heart aim
+at his feet. Here! Like this----" and taking my revolver he threw it
+forward, fired, the can plinked and somersaulted, lashed into action too
+late.
+
+"By Gawd," he proclaimed, "when I move like it had a gun in its fist I can
+snap it. But when I think on it as a can I lack guts."
+
+The remark was pat. I had seen several of the men snip the head from a
+rattlesnake with a single offhand shot--yes, they all carried their
+weapons easily and wontedly. But the target of an immobile can lacked in
+stimulation to concord of nerve and eye.
+
+Now I shot again, holding lower and more firmly, out of mere guesswork,
+and landed appreciably closer although still within the zone of ridicule.
+And somebody else shot, and somebody else, and another, until we all were
+whooping and laughing and jesting, and the jets flew as if from the balls
+of a mitrailleuse, and the can rocked and gyrated, spurring us to haste as
+it constantly changed the range. Presently it was merely a twist of ragged
+tin. Then in the little silence, as we paused, a voice spoke
+irritatingly.
+
+"I 'laow yu fellers ain't no great shucks at throwin' lead."
+
+Daniel stood by, with arms akimbo, his booted legs braggartly straddled
+and his freckled face primed with an intolerant grin at our recent
+efforts. My Lady had come over with him. Raw-boned, angular, cloddish but
+as strong as a mule, he towered over her in a maddening atmosphere of
+proprietorship.
+
+She smiled at me--at all of us: at me, swiftly; at them, frankly. And I
+knew that she was still afraid.
+
+"Reckon we don't ask no advice, friend," they answered. Again a constraint
+enfolded, fastened upon us by an unbidden guest. "Like as not you can do
+better."
+
+Daniel laughed boisterously, his mouth widely open.
+
+"I couldn't do wuss. I seen yu poppin' at that can. Hadn't but one hole in
+it till yu all turned loose an' didn't give it no chance. Haw haw! I 'laow
+for a short bit I'd stand out in front o' that greenie from the States an'
+let him empty two guns at me."
+
+"S'pose you do it," friend Jenks promptly challenged. "By thunder, I'll
+hire ye with the ten cents, and give him four bits if he hits you."
+
+"He wouldn't draw on me, nohaow," scoffed Daniel. "I daren't shoot for
+money, but I'll shoot for fun. Anybody want to shoot ag'in me?"
+
+"Wasted powder enough," they grumbled.
+
+"Ever see me shoot?" He was eager. "I'll show ye somethin'. I don't take
+back seat for ary man. Yu set me up a can. That thar one wouldn't jump to
+a bullet."
+
+In sullen obedience a can was produced.
+
+"How fur?"
+
+"Fur as yu like."
+
+It was tossed contemptuously out; and watching it, to catch its last roll,
+I heard Daniel gleefully yelp "Out o' my way, yu-all!"--half saw his hand
+dart down and up again, felt the jar of a shot, witnessed the can jump
+like a live thing; and away it went, with spasm after spasm, to explosion
+after explosion, tortured by him into fruitless capers until with the
+final ball peace came to it, and it lay dead, afar across the twilight
+sand.
+
+Verily, by his cries and the utter savagery and malevolence of his
+bombardment, one would have thought that he took actual lust in fancied
+cruelty.
+
+"I 'laow thar's not another man hyar kin do that," he vaunted.
+
+There was not, judging by the silence again ensuing. Only--
+
+"A can's a different proposition from a man, as I said afore," Jenks
+coolly remarked. "A can don't shoot back."
+
+"I don't 'laow any man's goin' to, neither." Daniel reloaded his smoking
+revolver, bolstered it with a flip; faced me in turning away. "That's
+somethin' for yu to l'arn on, ag'in next time, young feller," he
+vouchsafed.
+
+If he would have eyed me down he did not succeed. His gaze shifted and he
+passed on, swaggering.
+
+"Come along, Edna," he bade. "We'll be goin' back."
+
+A devil--or was it he himself?--twitted me, incited me, and in a moment,
+with a gush of assertion, there I was, saying to her, my hat doffed:
+
+"I'll walk over with you."
+
+"Do," she responded readily. "We're to have more singing."
+
+The men stared, they nudged one another, grinned. Daniel whirled.
+
+"I 'laow yu ain't been invited, Mister."
+
+"If Mrs. Montoyo consents, that's enough," I informed, striving to keep
+steady. "I'm not walking with you, sir; I am walking with her. The only
+ground you control is just in front of your own wagon."
+
+"Yu've been told once thar ain't no 'Mrs. Montoyo,'" he snarled. "And
+whilst yu're l'arnin' to shoot yu'd better be l'arnin' manners. Yu comin'
+with me, Edna?"
+
+"As fast as I can, and with Mr. Beeson also, if he chooses," said she. "I
+have my manners in mind, too."
+
+"By gosh, I don't walk with ye," he jawed. And in a huff, like the big boy
+that he was, he flounced about, vengefully striding on as though punishing
+her for a misdemeanor.
+
+She dropped the grinning group a little curtsy. A demure sparkle was in
+her eyes.
+
+"The entertainment is concluded, gentlemen. I wish you good-night."
+
+Yet underneath her raillery and self-possession there lay an appeal, the
+stronger because subtle and unvoiced. It seemed to me every man must
+appreciate that as a woman she invoked protection by him against an
+impending something, of which she had given him a glimpse.
+
+So we left them somewhat subdued, gazing after us, their rugged faces
+sobered reflectively.
+
+"Shall we stroll?" she asked.
+
+"With pleasure," I agreed.
+
+Daniel was angrily shouldering for the Mormon wagons, his indignant
+figure black against the western glow. She laughed lightly.
+
+"You're not afraid, after all, I see."
+
+"Not of him, madam."
+
+"And of me?"
+
+"I think I'm more afraid for you," I confessed. "That clown is getting
+insufferable. He sets out to bully you. Damn him," I flashed, with
+pardonable flame, "and he ruffles at me on every occasion. In fact, he
+seems to seek occasion. Witness this evening."
+
+"Witness this evening," she murmured. "I'm afraid, too. Yes," she
+breathed, confronted by a portent, "I'm afraid. I never have been afraid
+before. I didn't fear Montoyo. I've always been able to take care of
+myself. But now, here----"
+
+"You have your revolver?" I suggested.
+
+"No, I haven't. It's gone. Mormon women don't carry revolvers."
+
+"They took it from you?"
+
+"It's disappeared."
+
+"But you're not a Mormon woman."
+
+"Not yet." She caught quick breath. "God forbid. And sometimes I fear God
+willing. For I do fear. You can't understand. Those other men do, though,
+I think. Do you know," she queried, with sudden glance, "that Daniel means
+to marry me?"
+
+"He?" I gasped. "How so? With your--consent, of course. But you're not
+free; you have a husband." My gorge rose, regardless of fact. "You
+scarcely expect me to congratulate you, madam. Still he may have points."
+
+"Daniel?" She shrugged her shoulders. "I cannot say. Pedro did. Most men
+have. Oh!" she cried, impulsively stopping short. "Why don't you learn to
+shoot? Won't you?"
+
+"I've about decided to," I admitted. "That appears to be the saving
+accomplishment of everybody out here."
+
+"Of everybody who stays. You must learn to draw and to shoot, both. The
+drawing you will have to practice by yourself, but I can teach you to
+shoot. So can those men. Let me have your pistol, please."
+
+I passed it to her. She was all in a flutter.
+
+"You must grasp the handle firmly; cover it with your whole palm, but
+don't squeeze it to death; just grip it evenly--tuck it away. And keep
+your elbow down; and crook your wrist, in a drop, until your trigger
+knuckle is pointing very low--at a man's feet if you're aiming for his
+heart."
+
+"At his feet, for his heart?" I stammered. The words had an ugly sound.
+
+"Certainly. We are speaking of shooting now, and not at a tin can. You
+have to allow for the jump of the muzzle. Unless you hold it down with
+your wrist, you over shoot; and it's the first shot that counts. Of
+course, there's a feel, a knack. But don't aim with your eyes. You won't
+have time. Men file off the front sight--it sometimes catches, in the
+draw. And it's useless, anyway. They fire as they point with the finger,
+by the feel. You see, they _know_."
+
+"Evidently you do, too, madam," I faltered, amazed.
+
+"Not all," she panted. "But I've heard the talk; I've watched--I've seen
+many things, sir, from Omaha to Benton. Oh, I wish I could tell you more;
+I wish I could help you right away. I meant, a dead-shot with the revolver
+knows beforehand, in the draw, where his bullet shall go. Some men are
+born to shoot straight; some have to practice a long, long while. I wonder
+which you are."
+
+"If there is pressing need in my case," said I, "I shall have to rely upon
+my friends to keep me from being done for."
+
+"You?" she uttered, with a touch of asperity. "Oh, yes. Pish, sir!
+Friends, I am learning, have their own hides to consider. And those
+gentlemen of yours are Gentiles with goods for Salt Lake Mormons. Are they
+going to throw all business to the winds?"
+
+"You yourself may appeal to his father, and to the women, for protection
+if that lout annoys you," I ventured.
+
+"To them?" she scoffed. "To Hyrum Adams' outfit? Why, they're Mormons and
+good Mormons, and why should I not be made over? I'm under their
+teachings; I am Edna, already; it's time Daniel had a wife--or two, for
+replenishing Utah. Rachael calls me 'sister,' and I can't resent it. Good
+at heart as she is, even she is convinced. Why," and she laughed
+mirthlessly, "I may be sealed to Hyrum himself, if nothing worse is in
+store. Then I'll be assured of a seat with the saints."
+
+"You can depend upon me, then. I'll protect you, I'll fight for you, and
+I'll kill for you," I was on the point of roundly declaring; but didn't.
+Her kind, I remembered, had spelled ruin upon the pages of men more
+experienced than I. Therefore out of that super-caution born of Benton, I
+stupidly said nothing.
+
+She had paused, expectant. She resumed.
+
+"But no matter. Here I am, and here you are. We were speaking of shooting.
+This is a lesson in shooting, not in marrying, isn't it? As to the
+pressing need, you must decide. You've seen and heard enough for that. I
+like you, sir; I respect your spirit and I'm sorry I led you into
+misadventure. Now if I may lend you a little something to keep you from
+being shot like a dog, I'll feel as though I had wiped out your score
+against me. Take your gun." I took it, the butt warm from her clasp.
+"There he is. Cover him!"
+
+"Where?" I asked. "Who?"
+
+"There, before you. Oh, anybody! Think of his heart and cover him. I want
+to see you hold."
+
+I aimed, squinting.
+
+"No, no! You'll not have time to close an eye; both eyes are none too
+many. And you are awkward; you are stiff." She readjusted my arm and
+fingers. "That's better. You see that little rock? Hit it. Cock your
+weapon, first. Hold firmly, not too long. There; I think you're going to
+hit it, but hold low, low, with the wrist. Now!"
+
+I fired. The sand obscured the rock. She clapped her hands, delighted.
+
+"You would have killed him. No--he would have killed you. Quick! Give it
+to me!"
+
+And snatching the revolver she cocked, leveled and fired instantly. The
+rock split into fragments.
+
+"I would have killed him," she murmured, gazing tense, seeing I knew not
+what. Wrenching from the vision she handed back the revolver to me. "I
+think you're going to do, sir. Only, you must learn to draw. I can tell
+you but I can't show you. The men will. You must draw swiftly, decisively,
+without a halt, and finger on trigger and thumb on hammer and be ready to
+shoot when the muzzle clears the scabbard. It's a trick."
+
+"Like this?" I queried, trying.
+
+"Partly. But it's not a sword you're drawing; it's a gun. You may draw
+laughing, if you wish to dissemble for a sudden drop; they do, when they
+have iron in their heart and the bullet already on its way, in their mind.
+I mustn't stay longer. Shall we go to the fire now? I am cold." She
+shivered. "Daniel is waiting. And when you've delivered me safe you'd
+better leave me, please."
+
+"Why so?"
+
+She smiled, looking me straight in the eyes.
+
+"Quién sabe? To avoid a scene, perhaps; perhaps, to postpone. I have an
+idea that it is better so. You've baited Daniel far enough for to-night."
+
+We walked almost without speaking, to the Hyrum Adams fire. Daniel lifted
+upper lip at me as we entered; his eyes never wandered from my face. I
+marked his right hand quivering stiffly; and I disregarded him. For if I
+had challenged him by so much as an overt glance he would have burst
+bonds.
+
+Rachael's eyes, the older woman's eyes, the eyes of all, men and women,
+curious, admonitory, hostile and apprehensive, hot and cold
+together--these I felt also amidst the dusk. I was distinctly unwelcome.
+Accordingly I said a civil "Good-evening" to Hyrum (whose response out of
+compressed lips was scarce more than a grunt) and raising my hat to My
+Lady turned my back upon them, for my own bailiwick.
+
+The other men were waiting en route.
+
+"Didn't kill ye, did he?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Wall," said one, "if you can swing a rattler by the tail, all right. But
+watch his haid."
+
+Friend Jenks paced on with me to our fire.
+
+"We were keepin' cases on you, and so was he. He saw that practice--damn,
+how he did crane! She was givin' you pointers, eh?"
+
+"Yes; she wanted amusement."
+
+"It'll set Bonnie Bravo to thinkin'--it'll shorely set him to thinkin',"
+Jenks chuckled, mouthing his pipe. "She's a smart one." He comfortably
+rocked to and fro as we sat by the fire. "Hell! Wall, if you got to kill
+him you got to kill him and do it proper. For if you don't kill him he'll
+kill you; snuff you out like a--wall, you saw that can travel."
+
+"I don't want to kill him," I pleaded. "Why should I?"
+
+Jenks sat silent; and sitting silent I foresaw that kill Daniel I must. I
+was being sucked into it, irrevocably willed by him, by her, by them all.
+If I did not kill him in defense of myself I should kill him in defense of
+her. Yet why I had to, I wondered; but when I had bought my ticket for
+Benton I had started the sequence, to this result. Here I was. As she had
+said, here I was, and here she was. I might not kill for love--no, not
+that; I was going to kill for hate. And while I never had killed a man,
+and in my heart of hearts did not wish to kill a man, since I had to kill
+one, named Daniel, even though he was a bully, a braggart and an infernal
+over-stepper it was pleasanter to think that I should kill him in hot
+blood rather than in cold.
+
+Jenks spat, and yawned.
+
+"I can l'arn you a few things; all the boys'll help you out," he
+proffered, "When you git him you'll have to git him quick; for if you
+don't--adios. But we'll groom ye."
+
+Could this really be I? Frank Beeson, not a fortnight ago still living at
+jog-trot in dear Albany, New York State? It was puzzling how detached and
+how strong I felt.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+THE TRAIL NARROWS
+
+
+Again we broke camp. We rolled down from the plateau into that wizard
+basin lying all beautiful and slumberous and spell-locked like some land
+of heart's desire. We replenished our water casks from the tank cars, we
+swapped for a little feed, we occasionally exchanged greetings with
+contractor outfits, and with grading crews. In due time we passed end o'
+track, where a bevy of sweated men were moiling like mad, clanging down
+the rails upon the hasty ties and ever calling for more, more. I witnessed
+little General "Jack" Casement of Ohio--a small man with full russet beard
+and imperative bold blue eyes--teetering and tugging at his whiskers and
+rampantly swearing while he drove the work forward. And we left end o'
+track, vainly reaching out after us, until the ring of the rails and the
+staccato of the rapid sledges faded upon our ears.
+
+Now we were following the long line of bare grade, upturned reddish by the
+plows and scrapers and picks and shovels; sometimes elevated, for contour,
+sometimes merged with the desert itself. There the navvies digged and
+delved, scarcely taking time to glance at us. And day by day we plodded
+in the interminable clouds of desert dust raised by the supply wagons.
+
+Captain Hyrum fought shy of their camps. The laborers were mainly Irish,
+trans-shipped from steerage, dock, and Bowery, and imported from Western
+mining centers; turbulent in their relaxations and plentifully supplied
+with whiskey: companies, they, not at all to the Mormon mind. Consequently
+we halted apart from them--and well so, for those were womanless camps and
+the daily stint bred strong appetites.
+
+There were places where we made half circuit out from the grade and
+abandoned it entirely. In this way we escaped the dust, the rough talk,
+and the temptations; now and again obtained a modicum of forage in the
+shape of coarse weedy grasses at the borders of sinks.
+
+But it was a cruel country on men and beasts. Our teamsters who had been
+through by the Overland Trail said that the Bitter Creek desert was yet
+worse: drier, barer, dustier and uglier. Nevertheless this was our daily
+program:
+
+To rise after a shivery night, into the crisp dawn which once or twice
+glinted upon a film of ice formed in the water buckets; to herd the
+stiffened animals and place them convenient; to swallow our hot coffee and
+our pork and beans, and flapjacks when the cooks were in the humor; to
+hook the teams to the wagons and break corral, and amidst cracking of
+lashes stretch out into column, then to lurch and groan onward, at snail's
+pace, through the constantly increasing day until soon we also were wrung
+and parched by a relentless heat succeeding the frosty night.
+
+The sleeping beauties of the realm were ever farther removed. In the
+distances they awaited, luring with promise of magic-invested azure
+battlements, languid reds and yellows like tapestry, and patches of liquid
+blue and dazzling snowy white, canopied by a soft, luxurious sky. But when
+we arrived, near spent, the battlements were only isolated sandstone
+outcrops inhabited by rattlesnakes, the reds and yellows were sun-baked
+soil as hard, the liquid blue was poisonous, stagnant sinks, the snow
+patches were soda and bitter alkali, the luxurious sky was the same old
+white-hot dome, reflecting the blazing sun upon the fuming earth.
+
+Then at sunset we made corral; against theft, when near the grade; against
+Indians and pillage when out from the grade, with the animals under herd
+guard. There were fires, there was singing at the Mormon camp, there was
+the heavy sleep beneath blanket and buffalo robe, through the biting chill
+of a breezeless night, the ground a welcomed bed, the stars vigilant from
+horizon to horizon, the wolves stalking and bickering like avid ghouls.
+
+So we dulled to the falsity of the desert and the drudgery of the trail;
+and as the grading camps became less frequent the men grew riper for any
+diversion. That My Lady and Daniel and I were to furnish it seemed to be
+generally accepted. Here were the time-old elements: two men, one
+woman--elements so constituted that in other situation they might have
+brought comedy but upon such a trail must and should pronounce for
+tragedy, at least for true melodrama.
+
+Besides, I was expected to uphold the honor of our Gentile mess along with
+my own honor. That was demanded; ever offered in cajolery to encourage my
+pistol practice. I was, in short, "elected," by an obsession equal to a
+conviction; and what with her insistently obtruded as a bonus I never was
+permitted to lose sight of the ghastly prize of skill added to merit.
+
+At first the matter had disturbed and horrified me mightily, to the extent
+that I anticipated evading the issue while preparing against it. Surely
+this was the current of a prankish dream. And dreams I had--frightfully
+tumultuous dreams, of red anger and redder blood, sometimes my own blood,
+sometimes another's; dreams from which I awakened drenched in cold
+nightmare sweat.
+
+To be infused, even by bunkum and banter, with the idea of killing, is a
+sad overthrow of sane balance. I would not have conceived the thing
+possible to me a month back. But the monotonous desert trail, the close
+companying with virile, open minds, and the strict insistence upon
+individual rights--yes, and the irritation of the same faces, the same
+figures, the same fare, the same labor, the same scant recreations, all
+worked as poison, to depress and fret and stimulate like alternant chills
+and fever.
+
+Practice I did, if only in friendly emulation of the others, as a
+pass-the-time. I improved a little in drawing easily and firing snap-shot.
+The art was good to know, bad to depend upon. In the beginnings it worried
+me as a sleight-of-hand, until I saw that it was the established code and
+that Daniel himself looked to no other.
+
+In fact, he pricked me on, not so much by word as by manner, which was
+worse. Since that evening when, in the approving parlance of my friends, I
+had "cut him out" by walking with her to the Adams fire, we had exchanged
+scarcely a word; he ruffled about at his end of the train and mainly in
+his own precincts, and I held myself in leash at mine, with
+self-consciousness most annoying to me.
+
+But his manner, his manner--by swagger and covert sneer and ostentatious
+triumph of alleged possession emanating an unwearied challenge to my
+manhood. My revolver practice, I might mark, moved him to shrugs and
+flings; when he hulked by me he did so with a stare and a boastful grin,
+but without other response to my attempted "Howdy?"; now and again he
+assiduously cleaned his gun, sitting out where I should see even if I did
+not straightway look; in this he was most faithful, with sundry
+flourishes babying me by thinking to intimidate.
+
+Withal he gave me never excuse of ending him or placating him, but shifted
+upon me the burden of choosing time and spot.
+
+Once, indeed, we near had it. That was on an early morning. He was driving
+in a yoke of oxen that had strayed, and he stopped short in passing where
+I was busied with gathering our mules.
+
+"Say, Mister, I want a word with yu," he demanded.
+
+"Well, out with it," I bade; and my heart began to thump. Possibly I
+paled, I know that I blinked, the sun being in my eyes.
+
+He laughed, and spat over his shoulder, from the saddle.
+
+"Needn't be skeered. I ain't goin' to hurt ye. I 'laow yu expected to make
+up to that woman, didn't yu, 'fore this?"
+
+"What woman?" I encouraged; but I was wondering if my revolver was loose.
+
+"Edna. 'Cause if yu did, 'tain't no use, Mister. Why," indulgently, "yu
+couldn't marry her--yu couldn't marry her no more'n yu could kill me.
+Yu're a Gentile, an' yu'd be bustin' yore own laws. But thar ain't no
+Gentile laws for the Lord's an'inted; so I thought I'd tell yu I'm liable
+to marry her myself. Yu've kep' away from her consider'ble; this is to
+tell yu yu mought as well keep keepin' away."
+
+"I sha'n't discuss Mrs. Montoyo with you, sir," I broke, cold, instead of
+hot, watching him very narrowly (as I had been taught to do), my hand
+nerved for the inevitable dart. "But I am her friend--her friend, mind
+you; and if she is in danger of being imposed upon by you, I stand ready
+to protect her. For I want you to know that I'm not afraid of you, day or
+night. Why, you low dog----!" and I choked, itching for the crisis.
+
+He gawked, reddening; his right hand quivered; and to my chagrin he slowly
+laughed, scanning me.
+
+"I seen yu practicin'. Go ahead. I wouldn't kill yu _naow_. Or if yu want
+practice in 'arnest, start to draw." He waited a moment, in easy
+insolence. I did not draw. "Let yore dander cool. Thar's no use yu tryin'
+to buck the Mormons. I've warned ye." And he passed on, cracking his
+lash.
+
+Suddenly I was aware that, as seemed, every eye in the camp had been
+fastened upon us two. My fingers shook while with show of nonchalance I
+resumed adjusting the halters.
+
+"Gosh! Looked for a minute like you and him was to have it out proper,"
+Jenks commented, matter of fact, when I came in. "Hazin' you a bit, was
+he? What'd he say?"
+
+"He warned me to keep away from Mrs. Montoyo. Went so far as to lay claim
+to her himself, the whelp. Boasted of it."
+
+"Throwed it in your face, did he? Wall, you goin' to let him cache her
+away?"
+
+"Look here," I said desperately, still a-tremble: "Why do you men put that
+up to me? Why do you egg me on to interfere? She's no more to me than she
+is to you. Damn it, I'll take care of myself but I don't see why I should
+shoulder her, except that she's a woman and I won't see any woman
+mistreated."
+
+He pulled his whiskers, and grinned.
+
+"Dunno jest how fur you're elected. Looks like there was something between
+you and her--though I don't say for shore. But she's your kind; she may be
+a leetle devil, but she's your kind--been eddicated and acts the lady. She
+ain't our kind. Thunderation! What'd we do with her? She'd be better off
+marryin' Dan'l. He'd give her a home. If you hadn't been with this train I
+don't believe she'd have follered in. That's the proposition. You got to
+fight him anyway; he's set out to back you down. It's your fracas, isn't
+it?"
+
+"I know it," I admitted. "He's been ugly toward me from the first, without
+reason."
+
+"Reckoned to amuse himself. He's one o' them fellers that think to show
+off by ridin' somebody they think they can ride. The boys hate to see you
+lay down to that; for you'd better call him and eat lead or else quit the
+country. So you might as well give him a full dose and take the pot."
+
+"What pot?"
+
+"The woman, o' course."
+
+"I tell you, Mrs. Montoyo has nothing to do with it, any more than any
+woman. It's a matter between him and me--he began it by jeering at me
+before she appeared. I want her left out of it."
+
+"Oh, pshaw!" Jenks scoffed. "That can't be did. He's fetched her into it.
+What do you aim to do, then? Dodge her? When you're dodgin' her you're
+dodgin' him, or so he'll take it."
+
+"I'll not dodge him, you can bet on that," I vowed. "I don't seek her, nor
+him; but I shall not go out of my way to avoid either of them."
+
+"And when you give him his dose, what'll you do?"
+
+"If that is forced upon me, nothing. It will be in defense of my rights,
+won't it? But I don't want any further trouble with him. I hope to God I
+won't have."
+
+"Shore," Jenks soothed. "You're not a killer. All the same, you're
+elected; he began it and you'll have to finish it. Then you'll needs look
+out for yourself and her too, for he's made her the stakes."
+
+"Why will I?"
+
+"Got to. The hull train thinks so, one way or t'other, and you're white."
+
+"She can stay with the Mormons, if she wants to."
+
+"Oh, yes; if she wants to. But do you reckon she does? Not much! She's
+lookin' to you--she's lookin' to you. She's a smart leetle piece--knows
+how to play her cards, and she's got you and Dan'l goin'."
+
+"But she's married. You can't expect----"
+
+"Oh, yes," he wagged again, interrupting. "Shore. There's Montoyo. I don't
+envy you your job, but damn' if you mightn't work harder and do wuss.
+She's a clipper, and I never did hear anything 'specially bad of her,
+beyond cappin'. Whoa, Jinny!"
+
+I wrathfully cogitated. Now I began to hate her. I was a tool to her hand,
+once more, was I? And how had it come about? She had not directly besought
+me to it--not by word. Daniel had decreed, and already our antagonism had
+been on. And I had defied him--naturally. He should not bilk me of free
+movement. But the issue might, on the face of it, appear to be she. As I
+tugged at the harness, under breath I cursed the scurvy turn of events;
+and in seeking to place the blame found amazing cleverness in her. Just
+the same, I was not going to kill him for her account; never, never! And I
+wished to the deuce that she'd kept clear of me.
+
+Jenks was speaking.
+
+"So the fust chance you get you might as well walk straight into him, call
+him all the names you can lay tongue to, and when he makes a move for his
+gun beat him to the draw and come up shootin'. Then it'll be over with.
+The longer it hangs, the less peace you'll have; for you've got to do it
+sooner or later. It's you or him."
+
+"Not necessarily," I faltered. "There may be another way."
+
+"There ain't, if you're a he critter on two legs," snapped Jenks. "Not in
+this country or any other white man's country; no, nor in red man's
+country neither. What you do back in the States, can't say. Trust in
+pray'r, mebbe."
+
+Nevertheless I determined to make a last effort even at the risk of losing
+caste. In the reaction from the pressure of that recent encounter when I
+might have killed, but didn't, I again had a spell of fierce, sick protest
+against the rôle being foisted upon me--foisted, I could see, by her
+machinations as well as by his animosity. The position was too false to be
+borne. There was no joy in it, no zest, no adequate reward. Why, in God's
+name, should I be sentenced to have blood upon my hands and soul? Surely I
+might be permitted to stay clean.
+
+Therefore this evening immediately after corral was formed I sought out
+Captain Adams, as master of the train; and disregarding the gazes that
+followed me and that received me I spoke frankly, here at his own wagon,
+without preliminary.
+
+"Daniel and I appear to be at outs, sir," I said. "Why, I do not know,
+except that he seems to have had a dislike for me from the first day. If
+he'll let me alone I'll let him alone. I'm not one to look for trouble."
+
+His heavy face, with those thick pursed lips and small china blue eyes,
+changed not a jot.
+
+"Daniel will take care of himself."
+
+"That is his privilege," I answered. "I am not here to question his
+rights, Captain, as long as he keeps within them; but I don't require of
+him to take care of me also. If he will hold to his own trail I'll hold to
+mine, and I assure you there'll be no trouble."
+
+"Daniel will take care of himself, I say," he reiterated. "Yes, and look
+after all that belongs to him, stranger. There's no use threatening
+Daniel. What he does he does as servant of the Lord and he fears naught."
+
+"Neither do I, sir," I retorted hotly. "One may wish to avoid trouble and
+still not fear it. I have not come to you with complaint. I merely wish to
+explain. You are captain of the train and responsible for its conduct. I
+give you notice that I shall defend myself against insult and annoyance."
+
+I turned on my heel--sensed poised forms and inquiring faces; and his
+booming voice stayed me.
+
+"A moment, stranger. Your talk is big. What have you to do with this woman
+Edna?"
+
+"With Mrs. Montoyo? What I please, if it pleases her, sir. If she claims
+your protection, very good. Should she claim mine, she'll have it." And
+there, confound it, I had spoken. "But with this, Daniel has nothing to
+do. I believe that the lady you mention is simply your present guest and
+my former acquaintance."
+
+"You err," he thundered, darkening. "You cannot be expected to see the
+light. But I say to you, keep away, keep away. I will have no
+gallivanting, no cozening and smiling and prating and distracting. She
+must be nothing to you. Never can be, never shall be. Her way is
+appointed, the instrument chosen, and as a sister in Zion she shall know
+you not. Now get you gone----" a favorite expression of his. "Get you
+gone, meddle not hereabouts, and I'll see to it that you are spared from
+harm."
+
+Surprising myself, and perhaps him, I gazed full at him and laughed
+without reserve or irritation.
+
+"Thank you, Captain," I heard myself saying. "I am perfectly capable of
+self-protection. And I expect to remain a friend of Mrs. Montoyo as long
+as she permits me. For your bluster and Daniel's I care not a sou. In
+fact, I consider you a pair of damned body-snatchers. Good-evening."
+
+Then out I stormed, boiling within, reckless of opposition--even courting
+it; but met none, Daniel least of all (for he was elsewhere), until as I
+passed on along the lined-up wagons I heard my name uttered breathlessly.
+
+"Mr. Beeson."
+
+It was not My Lady; her I had not glimpsed. The gentle English girl
+Rachael had intercepted me. She stood between two wagons, whither she had
+hastened.
+
+"You will be careful?"
+
+"How far, madam?"
+
+"Of yourself, and for her. Oh, be careful. You can gain nothing."
+
+Her face and tone entreated me. She was much in earnest, the roses of her
+round cheeks paled, her hands clasped.
+
+"I shall only look out for myself," said I. "That seems necessary."
+
+"You should keep away from our camp, and from Daniel. There is nothing you
+can do. You--if you could only understand." Her hands tightened upon each
+other. "Won't you be careful? More careful? For I know. You cannot
+interfere; there is no way. You but run great risk. Sister Edna will be
+happy."
+
+"Did she send you, madam?" I asked.
+
+"N-no; yes. Yes, she wishes it. Her place has been found. The Lord so
+wills. We all are happy in Zion, under the Lord. Surely you would not try
+to interfere, sir?"
+
+"I have no desire to interfere with the future happiness of Mrs. Montoyo,"
+I stiffly answered. "She is not the root of the business between Daniel
+and me, although he would have it appear so. And you yourself, a woman,
+are satisfied to have her forced into Mormonism?"
+
+"She has been living in sin, sir. The truth is appointed only among the
+Latter Day Saints. We have the book and the word--the Gentile priests are
+not ordained of the Lord for laying on of hands. In Zion Edna shall be
+purged and set free; there she shall be brought to salvation. Our bishops,
+perhaps Brigham Young himself, will show her the way. But no woman in Zion
+is married without consent. The Lord directs through our prophets. Oh,
+sir, if you could only see!"
+
+An angel could not have pleaded more sweetly. To have argued with her
+would have been sacrilege, for I verily believed that she was pure of
+heart.
+
+"There is nothing for me to say, madam," I responded. "As far as I can do
+so with self-respect I will avoid Daniel. I certainly shall not intrude
+upon your party, or bother Mrs. Montoyo. But if Daniel brings trouble to
+me I will hand it back to him. That's flat. He shall not flout me out of
+face. It rests with him whether we travel on peacefully or not. And I
+thank you for your interest."
+
+"I will pray for you," she said simply. "Good-bye, sir."
+
+She withdrew, hastening again, sleek haired, round figured, modest in her
+shabby gown. I proceeded to the outfit with a new sense of disease. If
+she--if Mrs. Montoyo really had yielded, if she were out of the game--but
+she never had been in it; not to me. And still I conned the matter over
+and over, vainly convincing myself that the situation had cleared.
+Notwithstanding all my effort, I somehow felt that an incentive had
+vanished, leaving a gap. The affair now had simmered down to plain temper
+and tit for tat. I championed nothing, except myself.
+
+Why, with her submissive, in a fracas I might be working hurt to her,
+beyond the harm to him. But she be hanged, as to that phase of it. I had
+been led on so far that there was no solution save as Daniel turned aside.
+Heaven knows that the matter would have been sordid enough had it focused
+upon a gambler's wife; and here it looked only prosaic. Thus viewing it I
+fought an odd disappointment in myself, coupled with a keener
+disappointment in her.
+
+"You talked to Hyrum, I see," Jenks commented.
+
+"I did."
+
+"'Bout Dan'l, mebbe?"
+
+"I wanted to make plain that the business is none of my seeking. Hyrum is
+wagon master."
+
+"Didn't get any satisfaction, I'll bet."
+
+"No. On the contrary."
+
+"I could have told you you'd be wastin' powder."
+
+"At any rate," I informed, "Mrs. Montoyo is entirely out of the matter.
+She never was in it except as she was entitled to protection, but now she
+requires no further notice."
+
+"How so?"
+
+"That is her wish. She sent me word by Rachael."
+
+"She did? Wall?" He eyed me. "You swaller that?"
+
+"Willingly." And I swallowed my bitterness also.
+
+"Means to marry him, does she?"
+
+"Rachael did not say as to that. Rather, she gave me to understand that a
+way would be found to release Mrs. Montoyo from Benton connections, but
+that no woman in Utah is obliged to marry. Is that true?"
+
+"Um-m." Jenks rubbed his beard. "Wall, they do say Brigham Young is ag'in
+promisc'yus swappin', and things got to be done straight, 'cordin' to the
+faith. But an unjined female in the church is a powerful lonely critter.
+Sticks out like a sore thumb. They read the Bible at her plenty. Um-m,"
+mused he. "I don't put much stock in that yarn you bring me. There's a
+nigger in the wood-pile, but he ain't black. What you goin' to do about
+it?"
+
+"Nothing. It's not my concern. Now if Daniel will mind his affairs I'll
+continue to mind mine."
+
+"Wall, Zion's a long way off yet," quoth friend Jenks. "I don't look to
+see you or she get there--nor Dan'l either."
+
+He being stubborn, I let him have the last word; did not seek to develop
+his views. But his contentious harping shadowed like an omen.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+I DO THE DEED
+
+
+We had camped well beyond a last bunch of the red-shirted graders, so that
+the thread of a trail wended before, lonely, sand-obscured, leading
+apparently nowhere, through this desert devoid of human life. Line stakes
+of the surveyors denoted the grade; but the surveyors' work was done,
+here. Rush orders from headquarters had sent them all westward still, to
+set their final stakes across other deserts and across the mountains,
+clear to Ogden at the north end of the Salt Lake itself.
+
+Seemingly we had cut loose and were more than ever a world to ourselves.
+The country had grown sterile beneath ordinary, if possible; and our
+thoughts and talk would have been sterile also were it not for that one
+recurrent topic which kept them quick. In these journeyings men seize upon
+little things and magnify them; discuss and rediscuss a phase until
+launched maybe as an empty joke it returns freighted with tragedy.
+
+However, now that once My Lady had eliminated herself from my field I did
+not see but that Daniel and I might taper off into at least an armed
+neutrality. If he continued to nag me, it would be wholly of his own free
+will. He had no grievance.
+
+Then in case that I did kill him--if kill him I must (and that eventuality
+hung over me like the sword of Damocles) I should be not ashamed to tell
+even my mother. In this I took what small comfort I might.
+
+I had not spoken at length with Mrs. Montoyo for several days. We had
+exchanged merely civil greetings. To-day I did not see her during the
+march; did not attempt to see her--did not so much as curiously glance her
+way, being content to let well enough alone, although aware that my care
+might be misinterpreted as a token of fear. But as to proving the case
+against me, Daniel was at liberty to experiment with the status in quo.
+
+Toward evening we climbed a second wide, flat divide. We were leaving the
+Red Basin, they said, and about to cross into the Bitter Creek Plains,
+which, according to the talk, were "a damned sight wuss!" Somewhere in the
+Bitter Creek Plains our course met the course of the Overland Stage road,
+trending up from the south for the passage of the Green River at the
+farther edge of the Plains.
+
+I had only faint hope that Mrs. Montoyo would be delivered over to the
+stage there. It scarcely would be her wish. We were destined to travel on
+to Salt Lake City together--she, Daniel and I.
+
+If the Red Basin had been bad and if the Bitter Creek Plains were to be
+worse, assuredly this plateau was limbo: a gray, bleak, wind-swept
+elevation fairly level and extending, in elevation perceptible mainly by
+the vista, as far as eye might see, northward and southward, separating
+basin from basin--one Hell, as Jenks declared, from the other.
+
+Nevertheless there was a wild grandeur in the site, flooded all with
+crimson as the sun sank in the clear western sky beyond the Plains
+themselves, so that our plateau was still bathed in ruddy color when the
+Red Basin upon the one hand had deepened to purple and the white blotches
+of soda and alkali down in the Plains upon the other hand gleamed evilly
+in a tenuous gloaming.
+
+We had corralled adjacent to another tainted pond, of which the animals
+refused to drink but which furnished a little rank forage for them and an
+oasis for a half dozen ducks. A pretty picture these made, too, as they
+lightly sat the open water, burnished to brass by the sunset so that the
+surface shimmered iridescent, its ripples from the floating bodies flowing
+molten in all directions.
+
+After supper I took the notion to go over there, in the twilight, on idle
+exploration. Water of any kind had an appeal; a solitary pond always has;
+the ducks brought thoughts of home. Many a teal and widgeon and canvasback
+had fallen to my double-barreled Manton, back on the Atlantic coast--very
+long ago, before I had got entangled in this confounded web of
+misadventure and homicidal tendencies.
+
+To the pond I went, mood subdued. It set slightly in a cup; and when I had
+emerged from a little swale or depression that I had followed, attracted
+by the laughter of children playing at the marge, whom should I see,
+approaching on line diagonal, but Mrs. Montoyo--her very hair and
+form--coming in likewise, perhaps with errand similar to mine: simple
+inclination.
+
+And that (again perhaps) was a mutual surprise, indeed awkward to me, for
+we both were in plain sight from the camp. Certainly I could not turn off,
+nor turn back. Not now. It was make or break. Hesitate I did, with
+involuntary action of muscles; I thought that she momentarily hesitated;
+then I drove on, defiant, and so did she. The fates were resolved that
+there should be no dilly-dallying by the principals chosen for this drama
+that they had staged.
+
+Our obstinate paths met at the base of a small point white with alkali,
+running shortly into the sedges. Had we timed by agreement beforehand we
+could not have acted with more precision. So here we halted, in narrow
+quarters, either willing but unable to yield to the other.
+
+She smiled. I thought that she looked thinner.
+
+"An unexpected pleasure, Mr. Beeson. At least, for me. It has been some
+days."
+
+"I believe it has," I granted. "Shall I pass on?"
+
+"You might have turned aside."
+
+"And so," I reminded, "might you."
+
+"But I didn't care to."
+
+"Neither did I, madam. The pond is free to all."
+
+I was conscious that a hush seemed to have gripped the whole camp, so that
+even the animals had ceased bawling. The children near us stared, eyes and
+mouths open.
+
+"You have kept away from me purposely?" she asked. "I do not blame your
+discretion."
+
+"I am not courting trouble. And as long as you are contented yonder----"
+
+"I contented?" She drew up, paling. "Why do you say that, when you must
+know." She laughed weakly. "I am still for the Lion's den."
+
+"You have become more reconciled--I've been requested not to interfere."
+
+"You? Without doubt. By Daniel, by Captain Adams, likely by others. More
+than requested, I fancy. And you do perfectly right to avoid trouble if
+possible. In fact, you can leave me now and continue your walk, sir, with
+no reproaches. Believe me, I shall not drag you farther into my affairs."
+
+"Daniel and Captain Adams have no weight with me, madam," I stammered.
+"But when you yourself requested----"
+
+"That was merely for the time being. I asked you to leave me at the fire
+because I felt sure that Daniel would kill you."
+
+"But yesterday evening--I refer to yesterday," I corrected. "You sent me
+word, following my talk with Hyrum."
+
+"I did not."
+
+"Not by Rachael?"
+
+"No, sir."
+
+"I so understood. I thought that she intimated as much. She said that you
+were to be happy; were already content. And that I would only be making
+you trouble if I continued our acquaintance."
+
+"Oh! Rachael." She smiled with sudden softness. "Rachael cannot
+understand, either. I'm sure she intended well, poor soul. Were they all
+like Rachael---- But I had no knowledge of her talk with you. Anyway,
+please leave me if you feel disposed. Whether I marry Daniel or not should
+be no concern of yours. I shall have to find my own trail out. Look! There
+go the ducks. I came down to watch them. Now neither of us has any excuse
+for staying. Good----"
+
+The hush had tightened into a strange pent stillness like the poise of
+earth and sky and beast and bird just before the breaking of a great and
+lowering storm. The quick clatter of the ducks' wings somehow alarmed
+me--the staring of the children, their eyes directed past us, sharpened my
+senses for a new focus. And glancing, I witnessed Daniel nearing--striding
+rapidly, straight for the point, a figure portentous in the fading glow,
+bringing the storm with him.
+
+She saw, too. Her eyes widened, startled, surveying not him, but me.
+
+"Please go. At once! I'll keep him."
+
+"It is too late now," I asserted, in voice not mine. "I am here first and
+I'll go when I get ready."
+
+"You mean to face him?"
+
+"I mean to hear what he has to say, and learn what he intends to do. I
+don't see any other way--unless you really wish me to go?"
+
+"No, no!" cried My Lady. "I don't want you to be harmed; but oh, how I
+have suffered." All her countenance was suffused--with anger, with shame,
+and even with hope. She trembled, gazing at me, and fluctuant.
+
+"So have I, madam," said I, grimly.
+
+"I think," she remarked in quiet tone, "that in a show-down you will best
+him. I'm sure of it; yes, I know it. You will play the man. You act cool.
+Good! Watch him very close. He'll give you little grace, this time. But
+remember this: I'll never, never, never marry him. Rather than be bound to
+him I'll deal with him myself."
+
+"It won't be necessary, madam," said I--a catch in my throat; for while I
+was all iciness and clamminess, my hands cold and my tongue dry, I felt
+that I was going to kill him at last. Something told me; the sheer horror
+of it struck through; the inevitable loomed grisly and near indeed.
+
+A panoramic lifetime crowds the brain of a drowning man; that same crowded
+my brain during the few moments which swung in to us Daniel, scowling,
+masterful, his raw bulk and his long shambling stride never before so
+insolent.
+
+From New York and home and peace I traveled clear here to desert, outlawry
+and blood--and thence on through a second life as a marked man; but while
+I knew very well where I should shoot him (right through the heart), I
+turned over and over the one doubtful pass: where would he shoot me? Shoot
+me he would--chest, shoulder, arm, head; I could not escape, did not hope
+to escape. Yet no matter where his ball ploughed (and I poignantly felt it
+enter and sear me) my final bullet would end the match. Also, I argued my
+rights in the business; argued them before my father and mother, before
+the camp, before the world.
+
+These thoughts which precede a certain duel to the death are not inspiring
+thoughts; since then I have learned that other men, even practiced
+gun-men, have had the same trepidation to the instant of pulling weapon.
+
+Daniel charged in for us. I did not touch revolver butt; he did not. My
+Lady lifted chin, to receive him. My eyes, fastened upon him, noted her,
+and noted, beyond us, the spying visages of the camp folk, all turned our
+way, transfixed and agog.
+
+He barked first at her.
+
+"Go whar yu belong, yu Jezebel! Then I'll tend to this----" The rabid
+epithet leveled at me I shall not repeat.
+
+She straightened whitely.
+
+"Be careful what you say, Daniel. No man on this earth can speak to me
+like that."
+
+All his face flushed livid with a sneer, merging together yellow freckles
+and tanned skin.
+
+"Can't, can't he? I kin an' I do. Why yu--yu--yu reckon yu kin shame me
+'fore that hull train? Yu sneak out this-away, meetin' this spindle-shank,
+no-'count States greenie who hain't sense enough to swing a bull whip an'
+ain't man enough to draw a gun? I've told yu an' I'm done tellin' yu. Now
+yu git. I've stood yore fast an' loose plenty. I mean business. Git! Whar
+yu'll be safe. I'll not hold off much longer."
+
+"You threaten _me_?"
+
+Her blue eyes were blazing above a spot of color in either cheek--with a
+growl he took a step, so that she shrank from his clutching hand, its
+scarred, burly fingers outcurved. And the time, perhaps the very moment
+had arrived. I must, I must.
+
+"No more of that, you brute," I uttered, while my pounding heart flooded
+me with a cold, tingling stream. "If you have anything to say, say it to
+me."
+
+He whirled.
+
+"Yu! Why, yu leetle piece o' nothin'--yu shut up!" By sudden reach he
+gripped her arm; to her sharp, short scream he thrust her about.
+
+"Git! I'm boss hyar." And at me: "What yu goin' to do? She's promised to
+me. I'm takin' keer of her; she's rode on my wagon; an' naow yu think to
+toll her off? Yu meet her ag'in right under my nose arter I've warned yu?
+Git, yoreself, or I'll stomp on yu like on a louse."
+
+Absolutely, hot tears of mortification, of bitter injury, showed in his
+glaring eyes. He was but a big boy, after all.
+
+"Our meeting here was entirely by accident," I answered. "Mrs. Montoyo had
+no expectation of seeing me, nor I of seeing her. You're making a fool of
+yourself."
+
+He burst, red, quivering, insensate.
+
+"Yu're a liar! Yu're a sneakin', thievin' liar, like all Gentiles. Yu're
+both o' yu liars. What's she?" And he spoke it, raving with insult. "But
+I'll tame her. She'll be snatched from yu an' yore kind. We'll settle
+naow. Yu're a liar, I say. Yu gonna draw on me? Draw, yu Gentile dog; for
+if I lay hands on yu once----"
+
+"Look out!" she gasped tensely. But she had spoken late. That cold blood
+which had kept me in a tremor and a wonderment, awaiting his pistol
+muzzle, exploded into a seethe of heat almost blinding me. I forgot
+instructions, I disregarded every movement preliminary to the onset, I
+remembered only the criminations and recriminations culminating here at
+last. Bullets were too slow and easy. I did not see his revolver, I saw
+but the hulk of him and the intolerable sneer of him, and that his flesh
+was ready to my fingers. And quicker than his hand I was upon him, into
+him, climbing him, clinging to him, arms binding him, legs twining around
+his, each ounce of me greedy to crush him down and master him.
+
+The shock drove him backward. Again My Lady screamed shortly; the children
+screamed. He proved very strong. Swelling and tugging and cursing he broke
+one grip, but I was fast to him, now with guard against his holstered gun.
+We swayed and staggered, grappling hither and thither. I had his arms
+pinioned once more, to bend him. He spat into my face; and shifting, set
+his teeth into my shoulder so that they champed like the teeth of a horse,
+through shirt and hide to the flesh. I raised him; his boots hammered at
+my shins, his knee struck me in the stomach and for an instant I sickened.
+Now I tripped him; we toppled together, came to the ground with a thump.
+Here we churned, while he flung me and still I stuck. The acrid dust of
+the alkali enveloped us. Again he spat, fetid--I sprawled upon him,
+smothering his flailing arms; gave him all my weight and strength; smelled
+the sweat of him, snarled into his snarling face, close beneath mine.
+
+Once he partially freed himself and buffeted me in the mouth with his
+fist, but I caught him--while struggling, tossed and upheaved, dimly saw
+that as by a miracle we were surrounded by a ring of people, men and
+women, their countenances pale, alarmed, intent. Voices sounded in a dull
+roar.
+
+Presently I had him crucified: his one outstretched arm under my knees,
+his other arm tethered by my two hands, my body across his chest, while
+his legs threshed vainly. I looked down into his bulging crooked eyes,
+glaring back presumably into my eyes, and might draw breath.
+
+"'Nuf? Cry "Nuf,'" I bade.
+
+"'Nuf! Say "Nuf,'" echoed the crowd.
+
+He strained again, convulsive; and relaxed.
+
+"'Nuf!" he panted through bared teeth. "Lemme up, Mister."
+
+"This settles it?"
+
+"I said "Nuf,'" he growled.
+
+With quick movement I sprang clear of him, to my feet. He lay for a
+moment, baleful, and slowly scrambled up. On a sudden, as he faced me, his
+hand shot downward--I heard the surge and shout of men and women, to the
+stunning report of his revolver ducked aside, felt my left arm jerk and
+sting--felt my own gun explode in my hand (and how it came there I did not
+know)--beheld him spin around and collapse; an astonishing sight.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+THE TRAIL FORKS
+
+
+So there I stood, amidst silence, gaping foolishly, breathing hard, my
+revolver smoking in my fingers and my enemy in a shockingly prone posture
+at my feet, gradually reddening the white of the torn soil. He was upon
+his face, his revolver hand outflung. He was harmless. The moment had
+arrived and passed. I was standing here alive, I had killed him.
+
+Then I heard myself babbling.
+
+"Have I killed him? I didn't want to. I tell you, I didn't want to."
+
+Figures rushed in between. Hands grasped me, impelled me away, through a
+haze; voices spoke in my ear while I feebly resisted, a warm salty taste
+in my throat.
+
+"I killed him. I didn't want to kill him. He made me do it. He shot
+first."
+
+"Yes, yes," they said, soothing gruffly. "Shore he did; shore you didn't.
+It's all right. Come along, come along."
+
+Then----
+
+"Pick him up. He's bad hurt, himself. See that blood? No, 'tain't his arm,
+is it? He's bleedin' internal. Whar's the hole? Wait! He's busted
+something."
+
+They would have carried me.
+
+"No," I cried, while their bearded faces swam. "He said "Nuf'--he shot me
+afterward. Not bad, is it? I can walk."
+
+"Not bad. Creased you in the arm, if that's all. What you spittin' blood
+for?"
+
+As they hustled me onward I wiped my swollen lips; the back of my hand
+seemed to be covered with thin blood.
+
+"Where he struck me, once," I wheezed.
+
+"Yes, mebbe so. But come along, come along. We'll tend to you."
+
+The world had grown curiously darkened, so that we moved as through an
+obscuring veil; and I dumbly wondered whether this was night (had it been
+morning or evening when I started for the pond?) or whether I was dying
+myself. I peered and again made out the sober, stern faces hedging me, but
+they gave me no answer to my mutely anxious query. Across a great distance
+we stumbled by the wagons (the same wagons of a time agone), and halted at
+a fire.
+
+"Set down. Fetch a blanket, somebody. Whar's the water? Set down till we
+look you over."
+
+I let them sit me down.
+
+"Wash your mouth out."
+
+That was done, pinkish; and a second time, clearer.
+
+"You're all right." Jenks apparently was ministering to me. "Swaller
+this."
+
+The odor of whiskey fumed into my nostrils. I obediently swallowed, and
+gasped and choked. Jenks wiped my face with a sopping cloth. Hands were
+rummaging at my left arm; a bandage being wound about.
+
+"Nothin' much," was the report. "Creased him, is all. Lucky he dodged. It
+was comin' straight for his heart."
+
+"He's all right," Jenks again asserted.
+
+Under the bidding of the liquor the faintness from the exertion and
+reaction was leaving me. The slight hemorrhage from the strain to my weak
+lungs had ceased. I would live, I would live. But he--Daniel?
+
+"Did I kill him?" I besought. "Not that! I didn't aim--I don't know how I
+shot--but I had to. Didn't I?"
+
+"You did. He'll not bother you ag'in. She's yourn."
+
+That hurt.
+
+"But it wasn't about her, it wasn't over Mrs. Montoyo. He bullied
+me--dared me. We were man to man, boys. He made me fight him."
+
+"Yes, shore," they agreed--and they were not believing. They still linked
+me with a woman, whereas she had figured only as a transient occasion.
+
+Then she herself, My Lady, appeared, running in breathless and appealing.
+
+"Is Mr. Beeson hurt? Badly? Where is he? Let me help."
+
+She knelt beside me, her hand grasped mine, she gazed wide-eyed and
+imploring.
+
+"No, he's all right, ma'am."
+
+"I'm all right, I assure you," I mumbled thickly, and helpless as a babe
+to the clinging of her cold fingers.
+
+"How's the other man?" they abruptly asked.
+
+"I don't know. He was carried away. But I think he's dead. I hope so--oh,
+I hope so. The coward, the beast!"
+
+"There, there," they quieted. "That's all over with. What he got is his
+own business now. He hankered for it and was bound to have it. You'd best
+stay right hyar a spell. It's the place for you at present."
+
+They grouped apart, on the edge of the flickering fire circle. The dusk
+had heightened apace (for nightfall this really was), the glow and flicker
+barely touched their blackly outlined forms, the murmur of their voices
+sounded ominous. In the circle we two sat, her hand upon mine, thrilling
+me comfortably yet abashing me. She surveyed me unwinkingly and grave--a
+triumph shining from her eyes albeit there were seamy shadows etched into
+her white face. It was as though she were welcoming me through the
+outposts of hell.
+
+"You killed him. I knew you would--I knew you'd have to."
+
+"I knew it, too," I miserably faltered. "But I didn't want to--I shot
+without thinking. I might have waited."
+
+"Waited! How could you wait? 'Twas either you or he."
+
+"Then I wish it had been I," I attempted.
+
+"What nonsense," she flashed. "We all know you did your best to avoid it.
+But tell me: Do you think I dragged you into it? Do you hate me for it?"
+
+"No. It happened when you were there. That's all. I'm sorry; only sorry.
+What's to be done next?"
+
+"That will be decided, of course," she said. "You will be protected, if
+necessary. You acted in self-defense. They all will swear to that and back
+you up."
+
+"But you?" I asked, arousing from this unmanly despair which played me for
+a weakling. "You must be protected also. You can't go to that other camp,
+can you?"
+
+She laughed and withdrew her hand; laughed hardly, even scornfully.
+
+"I? Above all things, don't concern yourself about me, please. I shall
+take care of myself. He is out of the way. You have freed me of that much,
+Mr. Beeson, whether intentionally or not. And you shall be free, yourself,
+to act as your friends advise. You must leave me out of your plans
+altogether. Yes, I know; you killed him. Why not? But he wasn't a man; he
+was a wild animal. And you'll find there are matters more serious than
+killing even a man, in this country."
+
+"You! You!" I insisted. "You shall be looked out for. We are partners in
+this. He used your name; he made that an excuse. We shall have to make
+some new arrangements for you--put you on the stage as soon as we can. And
+meanwhile----"
+
+"There is no partnership, and I shall require no looking after, sir," she
+interrupted. "If you are sorry that you killed him, I am not; but you are
+entirely free."
+
+The group at the edge of the fire circle dissolved. Jenks came and seated
+himself upon his hams, beside us.
+
+"Wall, how you feelin' now?" he questioned of me.
+
+"I'm myself again," said I.
+
+"Your arm won't trouble you. Jest a flesh wound. There's nothin' better
+than axle grease. And you, ma'am?"
+
+"Perfectly well, thank you."
+
+"You're the coolest of the lot, and no mistake," he praised admiringly.
+"Wall, there'll be no more fracas to-night. Anyhow, the boys'll be on
+guard ag'in it; they're out now. You two can eat and rest a bit, whilst
+gettin' good and ready; and if you set out 'fore moon-up you can easy get
+cl'ar, with what help we give you. We'll furnish mounts, grub, anything
+you need. I'll make shift without Frank."
+
+"Mounts!" I blurted, with a start that waked my arm to throbbing. "'Set
+out,' you say? Why? And where?"
+
+"Anywhar. The stage road south'ard is your best bet. You didn't think to
+stay, did you? Not after that--after you'd plugged a Mormon, the son of
+the old man, besides! We reckoned you two had it arranged, by this time."
+
+"No! Never!" I protested. "You're crazy, man. I've never dreamed of any
+such thing; nor Mrs. Montoyo, either. You mean that I--we--should run
+away? I'll not leave the train and neither shall she, until the proper
+time. Or do I understand that you disown us; turn your backs upon us;
+deliver us over?"
+
+"Hold on," Jenks bade. "You're barkin' up the wrong tree. 'Tain't a
+question of disownin' you. Hell, we'd fight for you and proud to do it,
+for you're white. But I tell you, you've killed one o' that party ahead,
+you've killed the wagon boss's son; and Hyrum, he's consider'ble of a man
+himself. He stands well up, in the church. But lettin' that alone, he's
+captain of this train, he's got a dozen and more men back of him; and when
+he comes in the mornin' demandin' of you for trial by his Mormons, what
+can we do? Might fight him off; yes. Not forever, though. He's nearest to
+the water, sech as it is, and our casks are half empty, critters dry. We
+sha'n't surrender you; if we break with him we break ourselves and likely
+lose our scalps into the bargain. Why, we hadn't any idee but that you and
+her were all primed to light out, with our help. For if you stay you won't
+be safe anywhere betwixt here and Salt Lake; and over in Utah they'll
+vigilant you, shore as kingdom. As for you, ma'am," he bluntly addressed,
+"we'd protect you to the best of ability, o' course; but you can see for
+yourself that Hyrum won't feel none too kindly toward you, and that if
+you'll pull out along with Beeson as soon as convenient you'll avoid a
+heap of unpleasantness. We'll take the chance on sneakin' you both away,
+and facin' the old man."
+
+"Mr. Beeson should go," she said. "But I shall return to the Adams camp. I
+am not afraid, sir."
+
+"Tut, tut!" he rapped. "I know you're not afraid; nevertheless we won't
+let you do it."
+
+"They wouldn't lay hands on me."
+
+"Um-m," he mused. "Mebbe not. No, reckon they wouldn't. I'll say that
+much. But by thunder they'd make you wish they did. They'd claim you
+trapped Dan'l. You'd suffer for that, and in place of this boy, and
+a-plenty. Better foller your new man, lady, and let him stow you in
+safety. Better go back to Benton."
+
+"Never to Benton," she declared. "And he's not my 'new man.' I apologize
+to him for that, from you, sir."
+
+"If you stay, I stay, then," said I. "But I think we'd best go. It's the
+only way." And it was. We were twain in menace to the outfit and to each
+other but inseparable. We were yoked. The fact appalled. It gripped me
+coldly. I seemed to have bargained for her with word and fist and bullet,
+and won her; now I should appear to carry her off as my booty: a wife and
+a gambler's wife. Yet such must be.
+
+"You shall go without me."
+
+"I shall not."
+
+With a little sob she buried her face in her hands.
+
+"If you don't hate me now you soon will," she uttered. "The cards don't
+fall right--they don't, they don't. They've been against me from the
+first. I'm always forcing the play."
+
+Whereupon I knew that go together we should, or I was no man.
+
+"Pshaw, pshaw," Jenks soothed. "Matters ain't so bad. We'll fix ye out and
+cover your trail. Moon'll be up in a couple o' hours. I'd advise you to
+take an hour's start of it, so as to get away easier. If you travel
+straight south'ard you'll strike the stage road sometime in the mornin'.
+When you reach a station you'll have ch'ice either way."
+
+"I have money," she said; and sat erect.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+VOICES IN THE VOID
+
+
+The directions had been plain. With the North Star and the moon as our
+guides we scarcely could fail to strike the stage road where it bore off
+from the mountains northward into the desert.
+
+For the first half mile we rode without a word from either of us to
+violate the truce that swathed us like the night. What her thoughts were I
+might not know, but they sat heavy upon her, closing her throat with the
+torture of vain self-reproach. That much I sensed. But I could not
+reassure her; could not volunteer to her that I welcomed her company, that
+she was blameless, that I had only defended my honor, that affairs would
+have reduced to pistol work without impulse from her--that, in short, the
+responsibility had been wholly Daniel's. My own thoughts were so grievous
+as to crush me with aching woe that forebade civil utterance.
+
+This, then, was I: somebody who had just killed a man, had broken from the
+open trail and was riding, he knew not where, through darkness worse than
+night, himself an outlaw with an outlawed woman--at the best a chance
+woman, an adventuring woman, and as everybody could know, a claimed
+woman, product of dance hall and gaming resort, wife of a half-breed
+gambler, and now spoil of fist and revolver.
+
+But that which burned me almost to madness, like hot lava underneath the
+deadening crust, was the thought that I had done a deed and a defensible
+deed, and was fleeing from it the same as a criminal. Such a contingency
+never had occurred to me or I might have taken a different course, still
+with decency; although what course I could not figure.
+
+We rode, our mules picking their way, occasionally stumbling on rocks and
+shrubs. At last she spoke in low, even tones.
+
+"What do you expect to do with me, please?"
+
+"We shall have to do whatever is best for yourself," I managed to answer.
+"That will be determined when we reach the stage line, I suppose."
+
+"Thank you. Once at the stage line and I shall contrive. You must have no
+thought of me. I understand very well that we should not travel far in
+company--and you may not wish to go in my direction. You have plans of
+your own?"
+
+"None of any great moment. Everything has failed me, to date. There is
+only the one place left: New York State, where I came from. I probably can
+work my way back--at least, until I can recoup by telegraph message and
+the mails."
+
+"You have one more place than I," she replied. She hesitated. "Will you
+let me lend you some money?"
+
+"I've been paid my wages due," said I. "But," I added, "you have a place,
+you have a home: Benton."
+
+"Oh, Benton!" She laughed under breath. "Never Benton. I shall make shift
+without Benton."
+
+"You will tell me, though?" I urged. "I must have your address, to know
+that you reach safety."
+
+"You are strictly business. I believe that I accused you before of being a
+Yankee." And I read sarcasm in her words.
+
+Her voice had a quality of definite estimation which nettled, humbled, and
+isolated me, as if I lacked in some essential to a standard set.
+
+"So you are going home, are you?" she resumed. "With the clothes on your
+back, or will you stop at Benton for your trunk?"
+
+"With the clothes on my back," I asserted bitterly. "I've no desire to see
+Benton. The trunk can be shipped to me."
+
+She said on, in her cool impersonal tone.
+
+"That is the easiest way. You will live warm and comfortably. You will
+need to wear no belt weapon. The police will protect you. If a man injures
+you, you can summon him at law and wash your hands of him. Instead of
+staking on your luck among new people, you can enter into business among
+your friends and win from them. You can marry the girl next door--or even
+take the chance of the one across the street, her parentage being comme il
+faut. You can tell stories of your trip into the Far West; your children
+will love to hear of the rough mule-whacker trail--yes, you will have
+great tales but you will not mention that you killed a man who tried to
+kill you and then rode for a night with a strange woman alone at your
+stirrup. Perhaps you will venture to revisit these parts by steam train,
+and from the windows of your coach point out the places where you suffered
+those hardships and adventures from which you escaped by leaving them
+altogether. Your course is the safe course. By all means take it, Mr.
+Beeson, and have your trunk follow you."
+
+"That I shall do, madam," I retorted. "The West and I have not agreed;
+and, I fear, never shall."
+
+"By honest confession, it has bested you; and in short order."
+
+"In short order, since you put it that way. Only a fool doesn't know when
+to quit."
+
+"The greatest fool is the one who fools himself, in the quitting as in
+other matters. But you will have no regrets--except about Daniel,
+possibly."
+
+"None whatever, save the regret that I ever tried this country. I wish to
+God I had never seen it--I did not conceive that I should have to take a
+human life--should be forced to that--become like an outlaw in the night,
+riding for refuge----" And I choked passionately.
+
+"You deserve much sympathy," she remarked, in that even tone.
+
+I lapsed into a turbulence of voiceless rage at myself, at her, at
+Daniel's treachery, at all the train, at Benton, and again at this damning
+predicament wherein I had landed. When I was bound to wrest free after
+having done my utmost, she appeared to be twitting me because I would not
+submit to farther use by her. I certainly had the right to extricate
+myself in the only way left.
+
+So I conned over and over, and my heart gnawed, and the acid of vexation
+boiled in my throat, and despite the axle grease my arm nagged; while we
+rode unspeaking, like some guilty pair through purgatory.
+
+My lip had subsided; the pistol wound was superficial. Under different
+circumstances the way would have been full of beauty. The high desert
+stretched vastly, far, far, far before, behind, on either side, the
+parched gauntness of its daytime aspect assuaged and evanescent. For the
+moon, now risen, although on the wane, shed a light sufficient, whitening
+the rocks and the scattered low shrubs, painting the land with sharp black
+shadows, and enclosing us about with the mystery of great softly illumined
+spaces into which silent forms vanished as if tempting us aside. Of
+these--rabbits, wolves, animals only to be guessed--there were many, like
+potential phantoms quickened by the touch of the moonbeams. Mule-back, we
+twain towered, the sole intruders visible between the two elysians of
+glorified earth and beatific sky.
+
+The course was southward. After a time it seemed to me that we were
+descending from the plateau; craunching gradually down a flank until, in a
+mile or so, we were again upon the level, cutting through another basin
+formed by the dried bed of an ancient lake whose waters had evaporated
+into deposits of salt and soda.
+
+At first the mules had plodded with ears pricked forward, and with sundry
+snorts and stares as if they were seeing portents in the moonshine.
+Eventually their imaginings dulled, so that they now moved careless of
+where or why, their heads drooped, their minds devoted to achieving what
+rest they might in the merely mechanical setting of hoof before hoof.
+
+I could not but be aware of my companion. Her hair glinted paly, for she
+rode bareheaded; her gown, tightened under her as she sat astride,
+revealed the lines of her boyish limbs. She was a woman, in any guise; and
+I being a man, protect her I should, as far as necessary. I found myself
+wishing that we could upturn something pleasant to talk about; it was
+ungracious, even wicked, to ride thus side by side through peace and
+beauty, with lips closed and war in the heart, and final parting as the
+main desire.
+
+But her firm pose and face steadily to the fore invited with no sign; and
+after covertly stealing a glance or two at her clear unresponsive profile
+I still could manage no theme that would loosen my tongue. Thereby let
+her think me a dolt. Thank Heaven, after another twenty-four hours at most
+it might not matter what she thought.
+
+The drooning round of my own thoughts revolved over and over, and the
+scuffing gait of the mules upon way interminable began to numb me.
+Lassitude seemed to be enfolding us both; I observed that she rode laxly,
+with hand upon the horn and a weary yielding to motion. Words might have
+stirred us, but no words came. Presently I caught myself dozing in the
+saddle, aroused only by the twitching of my wounded arm. Then again I
+dozed, and kept dozing, fairly dead for sleep, until speak she did, her
+voice drifting as from afar but fetching me awake and blinking.
+
+"Hadn't we better stop?" she repeated.
+
+That was a curious sensation. When I stared about, uncomprehending, my
+view was shut off by a whiteness veiling the moon above and the earth
+below except immediately underneath my mule's hoofs. She herself was a
+specter; the weeds that we brushed were spectral; every sound that we made
+was muffled, and in the intangible, opaquely lucent shroud which had
+enveloped us like the spirit of a sea there was no life nor movement.
+
+"What's the matter?" I propounded.
+
+"The fog. I don't know where we are."
+
+"Oh! I hadn't noticed."
+
+"No," she said calmly. "You've been asleep."
+
+"Haven't you?"
+
+"Not lately. But I don't think there's any use in riding on. We've lost
+our bearings."
+
+She was ahead; evidently had taken the lead while I slept. That
+realization straightened me, shamed, in my saddle. The fog, fleecy, not so
+wet as impenetrable--when had it engulfed us?
+
+"How long have we been in it?" I asked, thoroughly vexed.
+
+"An hour, maybe. We rode right into it. I thought we might leave it, but
+we don't. It's as thick as ever. We ought to stop."
+
+"I suppose we ought," said I.
+
+And at the moment we entered into a sudden clearing amidst the fog
+enclosure: a tract of a quarter of an acre, like a hollow center, with the
+white walls held apart and the stars and moon faintly glimmering down
+through the mist roof overhead.
+
+She drew rein and half turned in the saddle. I could see her face. It was
+dank and wan and heavy-eyed; her hair, somewhat robbed of its sheen,
+crowned with a pallid golden aureole.
+
+"Will this do? If we go on we'll only be riding into the fog again."
+
+I was conscious of the thin, apparently distant piping of frogs.
+
+"There seems to be a marsh beyond," she uttered.
+
+"Yes, we'd better stop where we are," I agreed. "Then in the morning we
+can take stock."
+
+"In the morning, surely. We may not be far astray." She swung off before I
+had awkwardly dismounted to help her. Her limbs failed--my own were
+clamped by stiffness--and she staggered and collapsed with a little
+laugh.
+
+"I'm tired," she confessed. "Wait just a moment."
+
+"You stay where you are," I ordered, staggering also as I hastily landed.
+"I'll make camp."
+
+But she would have none of that; pleaded my one-handedness and insisted
+upon coöperating at the mules. We seemed to be marooned upon a small rise
+of gravel and coarsely matted dried grasses. The animals were staked out,
+fell to nibbling. I sought a spot for our beds; laid down a buffalo robe
+for her and placed her saddle as her pillow. She sank with a sigh, tucking
+her skirt under her, and I folded the robe over.
+
+Her face gazed up at me; she extended her hand.
+
+"You are very kind, sir," she said, in a smile that pathetically curved
+her lips. There, at my knees, she looked so worn, so slight, so childish,
+so in need of encouragement that all was well and that she had a friend to
+serve her, that with a rush of sudden sympathy I would--indeed I could
+have kissed her, upon the forehead if not upon the lips themselves. It was
+an impulse well-nigh overmastering; an impulse that must have dazed me so
+that she saw or felt, for a tinge of pink swept into her skin; she
+withdrew her hand and settled composedly.
+
+"Good-night. Please sleep. In the morning we'll reach the stage road and
+your troubles will be near the end."
+
+Under my own robe I lay for a long time reviewing past and present and
+discussing with myself the future. Strangely enough the present occupied
+me the most; it incorporated with that future beyond the fog, and when I
+put her out back she came as if she were part and parcel of my life. There
+was a sense of balance; we had been associates, fellow tenants--in fact,
+she was entwined with the warp and woof of all my memories dating far back
+to my entrance, fresh and hopeful, into the new West. It rather
+flabbergasted me to find myself thinking that the future was going to be
+very tame; perhaps, as she had suggested, regretful. I had not apprehended
+that the end should be so drastic.
+
+And whether the regrets would center upon my slinking home defeated, or in
+having definitely cast her away, puzzled me as sorely as it did to
+discover that I was well content to be here, with her, in our little
+clearing amidst the desert fog, listening to her soft breathing and
+debating over what she might have done had I actually kissed her to
+comfort her and assure her that I was not unmindful of her really brave
+spirit.
+
+Daniel had been disposed of, Montoyo did not deserve her; I had won her,
+she could inspire and guide me if I stayed; and I saw myself staying, and
+I saw myself going home, and I already regretted a host of things, as a
+man will when at the forking of the trails.
+
+The fog gently closed in during the night. When I awakened we were again
+enshrouded by the fleece of it, denser than when we had ridden through it,
+but now whiter with the dawn. As I gazed sleepily about I could just make
+out the forms of the two mules, standing motionless and huddled; I could
+see her more clearly, at shorter distance--her buffalo robe moist with the
+semblance of dew that had beaded also upon her massy hair.
+
+Evidently she had not stirred all night; might be still asleep. No; her
+eyes were open, and when I stiffly shifted posture she looked across at
+me.
+
+"Sh!" she warned, with quick shake of head. The same warning bade me
+listen. In a moment I heard voices.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+I STAKE AGAIN
+
+
+They were indistinguishable except as vocal sounds deadened by the
+impeding fog; but human voices they certainly were. Throwing off her robe
+she abruptly sat up, seeking, her features tensed with the strain. She
+beckoned to me. I scuttled over, as anxious as she. The voices might be
+far, they might be near; but it was an eerie situation, as if we were
+neighboring with warlocks.
+
+"I've been hearing them some little while," she whispered.
+
+"The Captain Adams men may be trailing us?"
+
+"I hope not! Oh, I hope not," she gasped, in sheer agony. "If we might
+only know in time."
+
+Suddenly the fog was shot with gold, as the sun flashed in. In obedience
+to the command a slow and stately movement began, by all the troops of
+mist. The myriad elements drifted in unison, marching and countermarching
+and rearranging, until presently, while we crouched intent to fathom the
+secrets of their late camp, a wondrously beautiful phenomenon offered.
+
+The great army rose for flight, lifting like a blanket. Gradually the
+earth appeared in glimpses beneath their floating array, so that whereas
+our plot of higher ground was still invested, stooping low and scanning we
+could see beyond us by the extent of a narrow thinning belt capped with
+the heavier white.
+
+"There!" she whispered, pointing. "Look! There they are!"
+
+Feet, legs, moving of themselves, cut off at the knees by the fog layer,
+distant not more than short rifle range: that was what had been revealed.
+A peculiar, absurd spectacle of a score or two of amputated limbs now
+resurrected and blindly in quest of bodies.
+
+"The Mormons!" I faltered.
+
+"No! Leggins! Moccasins! They are Indians. We must leave right away before
+they see us."
+
+With our stuff she ran, I ran, for the mules. We worked rapidly, bridling
+and saddling while the fog rose with measured steadiness.
+
+"Hurry!" she bade.
+
+The whole desert was a golden haze when having packed we climbed
+aboard--she more spry than I, so that she led again.
+
+As we urged outward the legs, behind, had taken to themselves thighs. But
+the mist briefly eddied down upon us; our mules' hoofs made no sound
+appreciable, on the scantily moistened soil; we lost the legs, and the
+voices, and pressing the pace I rode beside her.
+
+"Where?" I inquired.
+
+"As far as we can while the fog hangs. Then we must hide in the first good
+place. If they don't strike our trail we'll be all right."
+
+The fog lingered in patches. From patch to patch we threaded, with many a
+glance over shoulder. But time was traveling faster. I marked her
+searching about nervously. Blue had already appeared above, the sun found
+us again and again, and the fog remnants went spinning and coiling, in
+last ghostly dance like that of frenzied wraiths.
+
+Now we came to a rough outcrop of red sandstone, looming ruddily on our
+right. She quickly swerved for it.
+
+"The best chance. I see nothing else," she muttered. "We can tie the mules
+under cover, and wait. We'll surely be spied if we keep on."
+
+"Couldn't we risk it?"
+
+"No. We've not start enough."
+
+In a moment we had gained the refuge. The sculptured rock masses, detached
+one from another, several jutting ten feet up, received us. We tied the
+mules short, in a nook at the rear; and we ourselves crawled on, farther
+in, until we lay snug amidst the shadowing buttresses, with the desert
+vista opening before us.
+
+The fog wraiths were very few; the sun blazed more vehemently and wiped
+them out, so that through the marvelously clear air the expanse of lone,
+weird country stood forth clean cut. No moving object could escape notice
+in this watchful void. And we had been just in time. The slight knoll had
+been left not a mile to the southwest. I heard My Lady catch breath, felt
+her hand find mine as we lay almost touching. Rounding the knoll there
+appeared a file of mounted figures; by their robes and blankets, their
+tufted lances and gaudy shields, yes, by the very way they sat their
+painted ponies, Indians unmistakably.
+
+"They must have been camped near us all night." And she shuddered. "Now if
+they only don't cross our trail. We mustn't move."
+
+They came on at a canter, riding bravely, glancing right and left--a score
+of them headed by a scarlet-blanketed man upon a spotted horse. So
+transparent was the air, washed by the fog and vivified by the sun, that I
+could decipher the color pattern of his shield emblazonry: a checkerboard
+of red and black.
+
+"A war party. Sioux, I think," she said. "Don't they carry scalps on that
+first lance? They've been raiding the stage line. Do you see any squaws?"
+
+"No," I hazarded, with beating heart. "All warriors, I should guess."
+
+"All warriors. But squaws would be worse."
+
+On they cantered, until their paint stripes and daubs were hideously
+plain; we might note every detail of their savage muster. They were
+paralleling our outward course; indeed, seemed to be diverging from our
+ambush and making more to the west. And I had hopes that, after all, we
+were safe. Then her hand clutched mine firmly. A wolf had leaped from
+covert in the path of the file; loped eastward across the desert, and
+instantly, with a whoop that echoed upon us like the crack of doom, a
+young fellow darted from the line in gay pursuit.
+
+My Lady drew quick breath, with despairing exclamation.
+
+"That is cruel, cruel! They might have ridden past; but now--look!"
+
+The stripling warrior (he appeared to be scarcely more than a boy)
+hammered in chase, stringing his bow and plucking arrow. The wolf cast eye
+over plunging shoulder, and lengthened. Away they tore, while the file
+slackened, to watch. Our trail of flight bore right athwart the wolf's
+projected route. There was just the remote chance that the lad would
+overrun it, in his eagerness; and for that intervening moment of grace we
+stared, fascinated, hand clasping hand.
+
+"He's found it! He's found it!" she announced, in a little wail.
+
+In mid-career the boy had checked his pony so shortly that the four hoofs
+ploughed the sand. He wheeled on a pivot and rode back for a few yards,
+scanning the ground, letting the wolf go. The stillness that had settled
+while we gazed and the file of warriors, reining, gazed, gripped and
+fairly hurt. I cursed the youth. Would to God he had stayed at home--God
+grant that mangy wolf died by trap or poison. Our one chance made the
+sport of an accidental view-halloo, when all the wide desert was open.
+
+The youth had halted again, leaning from his saddle pad. He raised, he
+flung up glad hand and commenced to ride in circles, around and around and
+around. The band galloped to him.
+
+"Yes, he has found it," she said. "Now they will come."
+
+"What shall we do?" I asked her.
+
+And she answered, releasing my hand.
+
+"I don't know. But we must wait. We can stand them off for a while, I
+suppose----"
+
+"I'll do my best, with the revolver," I promised.
+
+"Yes," she murmured. "But after that----?"
+
+I had no reply. This contingency--we two facing Indians--was outside my
+calculations.
+
+The Indians had grouped; several had dismounted, peering closely at our
+trail, reading it, timing it, accurately estimating it. They had no
+difficulty, for the hoof prints were hardly dried of the fog moisture. The
+others sat idly, searching the horizons with their eyes, but at confident
+ease. In the wide expanse this rock fortress of ours seemed to me to
+summon imperatively, challenging them. They surely must know. Yet there
+they delayed, torturing us, playing blind, emulating cat and mouse; but of
+course they were reasoning and making certain.
+
+Now the dismounted warriors vaulted ahorse; at a gesture from the chief
+two men rode aside, farther to the east, seeking other sign. They found
+none, and to his shrill hail they returned.
+
+There was another command. The company had strung bows, stripped their
+rifles of the buckskin sheaths, had dropped robe and blanket about their
+loins; they spread out to right and left in close skirmish order; they
+advanced three scouts, one on the trail, one on either flank; and in a
+broadened front they followed with a discipline, an earnestness, a
+precision of purpose and a deadly anticipation that drowned every fleeting
+hope.
+
+This was unbearable: to lie here awaiting an inevitable end.
+
+"Shall we make a break for it?" I proposed. "Ride and fight? We might
+reach the train, or a stage station. Quick!"
+
+In my wild desire for action I half arose. Her hand restrained me.
+
+"It would be madness, Mr. Beeson. We'd stand no show at all in the open;
+not on these poor mules." She murmured to herself. "Yes, they're Sioux.
+That's not so bad. Were they Cheyennes--dog-soldiers---- Let me think. I
+must talk with them."
+
+"But they're coming," I rasped. "They're getting in range. We've the gun,
+and twenty cartridges. Maybe if I kill the chief----"
+
+She spoke, positive, under breath.
+
+"Don't shoot! Don't! They know we're here--know it perfectly well. I shall
+talk with them."
+
+"You? How? Why? Can you persuade them? Would they let us go?"
+
+"I'll do what I can. I have a few words of Sioux; and there's the sign
+language. See," she said. "They've discovered our mules. They know we're
+only two."
+
+The scouts on either flanks had galloped outward and onward, in swift
+circle, peering at our defenses. Lying low they scoured at full speed;
+with mutual whoop they crisscrossed beyond and turned back for the main
+body halted two hundred yards out upon the flat plain.
+
+There was a consultation; on a sudden a great chorus of exultant cries
+rang, the force scattered, shaking fists and weapons, preparing for a
+tentative charge; and ere I could stop her My Lady had sprung upright, to
+mount upon a rock and all in view to hold open hand above her head. The
+sunshine glinted upon her hair; a fugitive little breeze bound her shabby
+gown closer about her slim figure.
+
+They had seen her instantly. Another chorus burst, this time in
+astonishment; a dozen guns were leveled, covering her and our nest while
+every visage stared. But no shot belched; thank God, no shot, with me
+powerless to prevent, just as I was powerless to intercept her. The chief
+rode forward, at a walk, his hand likewise lifted.
+
+[Illustration: The Scouts Galloped Onward]
+
+"Keep down! Keep down, please," she directed to me, while she stood
+motionless. "Let me try."
+
+The chief neared until we might see his every lineament--every item of his
+trappings, even to the black-tipped eagle feather erect at the part in his
+braids. And he rode carelessly, fearlessly, to halt within easy speaking
+distance; sat a moment, rifle across his leggined thighs and the folds of
+his scarlet blanket--a splendid man, naked from the waist up, his coppery
+chest pigment-daubed, his slender arms braceleted with metal, his eyes
+devouring her so covetously that I felt the gloating thoughts behind
+them.
+
+He called inquiringly: a greeting and a demand in one, it sounded. She
+replied. And what they two said, in word and sign, I could not know, but
+all the time I held my revolver upon him, until to my relief he abruptly
+wheeled his horse and cantered back to his men, leaving me with wrist
+aching and heart pounding madly.
+
+She stepped lightly down; answered my querying look.
+
+"It's all right. I'm going, and so are you," she said, with a faint smile,
+oddly subtle--a tremulous smile in a white face.
+
+About her there was a mystery which alarmed me; made me sit up, chilled,
+to eye her and accuse.
+
+"Where? We are free, you mean? What's the bargain?"
+
+"I go to them. You go where you choose--to the stage road, of course. I
+have his promise."
+
+This brought me to my feet, rigid; more than scandalized, for no word can
+express the shock.
+
+"You go to them? And then where?"
+
+She answered calmly, flushing a little, smiling a little, her eyes
+sincere.
+
+"It's the best way and the only way. We shall neither of us be harmed,
+now. The chief will provide for me and you yourself are free. No, no," she
+said, checking my first indignant cry. "Really I don't mind. The Indians
+are about the only persons left to me. I'll be safe with them." She
+laughed rather sadly, but brightened. "I don't know but that I prefer them
+to the whites. I told you I had no place. And this saves you also, you
+see. I got you into it--I've felt that you blamed me, almost hated me.
+Things have been breaking badly for me ever since we met again in Benton.
+So it's up to me to make good. You can go home, and I shall not be
+unhappy, I think. Please believe that. The wife of a great chief is quite
+a personage--he won't inquire into my past. But if we try to stay here you
+will certainly be killed, and I shall suffer, and we shall gain nothing.
+You must take my money. Please do. Then good-bye. I told him I would come
+out, under his promise."
+
+She and the rocks reeled together. That was my eyes, giddy with a rush of
+blood, surging and hot.
+
+"Never, never, never!" I was shouting, ignoring her hand. How she had
+misjudged me! What a shame she had put upon me! I could not credit. "You
+shall not--I tell you, you sha'n't. I won't have it--it's monstrous,
+preposterous. You sha'n't go, I sha'n't go. But wherever we go we'll go
+together. We'll stand them off. Then if they can take us, let 'em. You
+make a coward of me--a dastard. You've no right to. I'd rather die."
+
+"Listen," she chided, her hand grasping my sleeve. "They would take me
+anyway--don't you see? After they had killed you. It would be the worse
+for both of us. What can you do, with one arm, and a revolver, and an
+unlucky woman? No, Mr. Beeson (she was firm and strangely formal); the
+cards are faced up. I have closed a good bargain for both of us. When you
+are out, you need say nothing. Perhaps some day I may be ransomed, should
+I wish to be. But we can talk no further now. He is impatient. The
+money--you will need the money, and I shall not. Please turn your back and
+I'll get at my belt. Why," she laughed, "how well everything is coming.
+You are disposed of, I am disposed of----"
+
+"Money!" I roared. "God in Heaven! You disposed of? I disposed of? And my
+honor, madam! What of that?"
+
+"And what of mine, Mr. Beeson?" She stamped her foot, coloring. "Will you
+turn your back, or----? Oh, we've talked too long. But the belt you shall
+have. Here----" She fumbled within her gown. "And now, adios and good
+luck. You shall not despise me."
+
+The chief was advancing accompanied by a warrior. Behind him his men
+waited expectant, gathered as an ugly blotch upon the dun desert. Her
+honor? The word had double meaning. Should she sacrifice the one honor in
+this crude essay to maintain the other which she had not lost, to my now
+opened eyes? I could not deliver her tender body over to that painted
+swaggerer--any more than I could have delivered it over to Daniel himself.
+At last I knew, I knew. History had written me a fool, and a cad, but it
+should not write me a dastard. We were together, and together we should
+always be, come weal or woe, life or death.
+
+The money belt had been dropped at my feet. She had turned--I leaped
+before her, thrust her to rear, answered the hail of the pausing chief.
+
+"No!" I squalled. And I added for emphasis: "You go to hell."
+
+He understood. The phrase might have been familiar English to him. I saw
+him stiffen in his saddle; he called loudly, and raised his rifle,
+threatening; with a gasp--a choked "Good-bye"--she darted by me, running
+on for the open and for him. She and he filled all my landscape. In a
+stark blinding rage of fear, chagrin, rancorous jealousy, I leveled
+revolver and pulled trigger, but not at her, though even that was not
+beyond me in the crisis.
+
+The bullet thwacked smartly; the chief uttered a terrible cry, his rifle
+was tossed high, he bowed, swayed downward, his comrade grabbed him, and
+they were racing back closely side by side and she was running back to me
+and the warriors were shrieking and brandishing their weapons and bullets
+spatted the rocks--all this while yet my hand shook to the recoil of the
+revolver and the smoke was still wafting from the poised muzzle.
+
+What had I done? But done it was.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+THE QUEEN WINS
+
+
+She arrived breathless, distraught, instantly to drag me down beside her,
+from where I stood stupidly defiant.
+
+"Keep out of sight," she panted. And--"Oh, why did you do it? Why did you?
+I think you killed him--they'll never forgive. They'll call it treachery.
+You're lost, lost."
+
+"But he sha'n't have you," I gabbled. "Let them kill me if they can. Till
+then you're mine. Mine! Don't you understand? I want you."
+
+"I don't understand," she faltered. She turned frightened face upon me.
+"You should have let me go. Nothing can save you now; not even I. You've
+ruined the one chance you had. I wonder why. It was my own choice--you had
+no hand in it, and it was my own chance, too." Her voice broke, her eyes
+welled piteously. "But you fired on him."
+
+"That was the only answer left me," I entreated. "You misjudged me, you
+shamed me. I tell you----"
+
+Her lips slightly curled.
+
+"Misjudged you? Shamed you? Was that all? You've misjudged and shamed me
+for so long----" A burst of savage hoots renewed interrupted. "They're
+coming!" She knelt up, to peer; I peered. The Indians had deployed,
+leaving the chief lying upon the ground, their fierce countenances glaring
+at our asylum. How clear their figures were, in the sunshine, limned
+against the lazy yellowish sand, under the peaceful blue! "They'll
+surround us. I might parley for myself, but I can do nothing for you."
+
+"Parley, then," I bade. "Save yourself, any way you can."
+
+She drew in, whitening as if I had struck her.
+
+"And you accuse me of having misjudged you! I save myself--merely myself?
+What do you intend to do? Fight?"
+
+"As long as you are with me; and after. They'll never take me alive; and
+take you they shall not if I can prevent it. Damn them, if they get you I
+mean to make them pay for you. You're all I have."
+
+"You'd rather I'd stay? You need me? Could I help?"
+
+"Need you!" I groaned. "I'm just finding out, too late."
+
+"And help? How? Quick! Could I?"
+
+"By staying; by not surrendering yourself--your honor, my honor. By saying
+that you'd rather stay with me, for life, for death, here,
+anywhere--after I've said that I'm not deaf, blind, dumb, ungrateful. I
+love you; I'd rather die for you than live without you."
+
+Such a glory glowed in her haggard face and shone from her brimming eyes.
+
+"We will fight, we will fight!" she chanted. "Now I shall not leave you.
+Oh, my man! Had you kissed me last night we would have known this longer.
+We have so little time." She turned from my lips. "Not now. They're
+coming. Fight first; and at the end, then kiss me, please, and we'll go
+together."
+
+The furious yells from that world outside vibrated among our rocks. The
+Sioux all were in motion, except the prostrate figure of the chief.
+Straight onward they charged, at headlong gallop, to ride over us like a
+grotesquely tinted wave, and the dull drumming of their ponies' hoofs beat
+a diapason to the shrill clamor of their voices. It was enough to cow, but
+she spoke steadily.
+
+"You must fire," she said. "Hurry! Fire once, maybe twice, to split them.
+I don't think they'll rush us, yet."
+
+So I rose farther on my knees and fired once--and again, pointblank at
+them with the heavy Colt's. It worked a miracle. Every mother's son of
+them fell flat upon his pony; they all swooped to right and to left as if
+the bullets had cleaved them apart in the center; and while I gaped,
+wondering, they swept past at long range, half on either flank, pelting in
+bullet and near-spent arrow.
+
+She forced me down.
+
+"Low, low," she warned. "They'll circle. They hold their scalps dearly. We
+can only wait. That was three. You have fifteen shots left, for them;
+then, one for me, one for you. You understand?"
+
+"I understand," I replied. "And if I'm disabled----?"
+
+She answered quietly.
+
+"It will be the same. One for you, one for me."
+
+The circle had been formed: a double circle, to move in two directions,
+scudding ring reversed within scudding ring, the bowmen outermost. Around
+and 'round and 'round they galloped, yelling, gibing, taunting, shooting
+so malignantly that the air was in a constant hum and swish. The lead
+whined and smacked, the shafts streaked and clattered----
+
+"Are you sorry I shot the chief?" I asked. Amid the confusion my blood was
+coursing evenly, and I was not afraid. Of what avail was fear?
+
+"I'm glad, glad," she proclaimed. But with sudden movement she was gone,
+bending low, then crawling, then whisking from sight. Had she abandoned
+me, after all? Had she--no! God be thanked, here she came back, flushed
+and triumphant, a canteen in her hand.
+
+"The mules might break," she explained, short of breath. "This canteen is
+full. We'll need it. The other mule is frantic. I couldn't touch her."
+
+At the moment I thought how wise and brave and beautiful she was! Mine for
+the hour, here--and after? Montoyo should never have her; not in life nor
+in death.
+
+"You must stop some of those fiends from sneaking closer," she counseled.
+"See? They're trying us out."
+
+More and more frequently some one of the scurrying enemy veered sharply,
+tore in toward us, hanging upon the farther side of his horse; boldly
+jerked erect and shot, and with demi-volt of his mount was away,
+whooping.
+
+I had been desperately saving the ammunition, to eke out this hour of mine
+with her. Every note from the revolver summoned the end a little nearer.
+But we had our game to play; and after all, the end was certain. So under
+her prompting (she being partner, commander, everything), when the next
+painted ruffian--a burly fellow in drapery of flannel-fringed cotton
+shirt, with flaunting crimson tassels on his pony's mane--bore down, I
+guessed shrewdly, arose and let him have it.
+
+She cried out, clapping her hands.
+
+"Good! Good!"
+
+The pony was sprawling and kicking; the rider had hurtled free, and went
+jumping and dodging like a jack-rabbit.
+
+"To the right! Watch!"
+
+Again I needs must fire, driving the rascals aside with the report of the
+Colt's. That was five. Not sparing my wounded arm I hastily reloaded, for
+by custom of the country the hammer had rested over an empty chamber. I
+filled the cylinder.
+
+"They're killing the mules," she said. "But we can't help it."
+
+The two mules were snorting and plunging; their hoofs rang against the
+rocks. Sioux to rear had dismounted and were shooting carefully. There was
+exultant shout--one mule had broken loose. She galloped out, reddened,
+stirrups swinging, canteen bouncing, right into the waiting line; and down
+she lunged, abristle with feathered points launched into her by sheer
+spiteful joy.
+
+The firing was resumed. We heard the other mule scream with note
+indescribable; we heard him flounder and kick; and again the savages
+yelled.
+
+Now they all charged recklessly from the four sides; and I had to stand
+and fire, right, left, before, behind, emptying the gun once more ere they
+scattered and fled. I sensed her fingers twitching at my belt, extracting
+fresh cartridges. We sank, breathing hard. Her eyes were wide, and bluer
+than any deepest summer sea; her face aflame; her hair of purest gold--and
+upon her shoulder a challenging oriflamme of scarlet, staining a rent in
+the faded calico.
+
+"You're hurt!" I blurted, aghast.
+
+"Not much. A scratch. Don't mind it. And you?"
+
+"I'm not touched."
+
+"Load, sir. But I think we'll have a little space. How many left? Nine."
+She had been counting. "Seven for them."
+
+"Seven for them," I acknowledged. I tucked home the loads; the six-shooter
+was ready.
+
+"Now let them come," she murmured.
+
+"Let them come," I echoed. We looked one upon the other, and we smiled. It
+was not so bad, this place, our minds having been made up to it. In fact,
+there was something sweet. Our present was assured; we faced a future
+together, at least; we were in accord.
+
+The Sioux had retired, mainly to sit dismounted in close circle, for a
+confab. Occasionally a young brave, a vidette, exuberantly galloped for
+us, dared us, shook hand and weapon at us, no doubt spat at us, and gained
+nothing by his brag.
+
+"What will they do next?" I asked.
+
+"I don't know," said she. "We shall see, though."
+
+So we lay, gazing, not speaking. The sun streamed down, flattening the
+desert with his fervent beams until the uplifts cringed low and in the
+horizons the mountain peaks floated languidly upon the waves of heat. And
+in all this dispassionate land, from horizon to horizon, there were only
+My Lady and I, and the beleaguering Sioux. It seemed unreal, a fantasy;
+but the rocks began to smell scorched, a sudden thirst nagged and my
+wounded arm pained with weariness as if to remind that I was here, in the
+body. Yes, and here she was, also, in the flesh, as much as I, for she
+stirred, glanced at me, and smiled. I heard her, saw her, felt her
+presence. I placed my hand over hers.
+
+"What is it?" she queried.
+
+"Nothing. I wanted to make sure."
+
+"Of yourself?"
+
+"Of you, me--of everything."
+
+"There can be no doubt," she said. "I wish there might, for your sake."
+
+"No," I thickly answered. "If you were only out of it--if we could find
+some way."
+
+"I'd rather be in here, with you," said she.
+
+"And I, with you, then," I replied honestly. The thought of water
+obsessed. She must have read, for she inquired:
+
+"Aren't you thirsty?"
+
+"Are you?"
+
+"Yes. Why don't we drink?"
+
+"Should we?"
+
+"Why not? We might as well be as comfortable as we can." She reached for
+the canteen lying in a fast dwindling strip of rock shade. We drank
+sparingly. She let me dribble a few drops upon her shoulder. Thenceforth
+by silent agreement we moistened our tongues, scrupulously turn about,
+wringing the most from each brief sip as if testing the bouquet of
+exquisite wine. Came a time when we regretted this frugalness; but just
+now there persisted within us, I suppose, that germ of hope which seems to
+be nourished by the soul.
+
+The Sioux had counciled and decided. They faced us, in manner determined.
+We waited, tense and watchful. Without even a premonitory shout a pony
+bolted for us, from their huddle. He bore two riders, naked to the sun,
+save for breech clouts. They charged straight in, and at her mystified,
+alarmed murmur I was holding on them as best I could, finger crooked
+against trigger, coaxing it, praying for luck, when the rear rider dropped
+to the ground, bounded briefly and dived headlong, worming into a little
+hollow of the sand.
+
+He lay half concealed; the pony had wheeled to a shrill, jubilant chorus;
+his remaining rider lashed him in retreat, leaving the first digging
+lustily with hand and knife.
+
+That was the system, then: an approach by rushes.
+
+"We mustn't permit it," she breathed. "We must rout him out--we must keep
+them all out or they'll get where they can pick you off. Can you reach
+him?"
+
+"I'll try," said I.
+
+The tawny figure, prone upon the tawny sand, was just visible, lean and
+snakish, slightly oscillating as it worked. And I took careful aim, and
+fired, and saw the spurt from the bullet.
+
+"A little lower--oh, just a little lower," she pleaded.
+
+The same courier was in leash, posted to bring another fellow; all the
+Sioux were gazing, statuesque, to analyze my marksmanship. And I fired
+again--"Too low," she muttered--and quickly, with a curse, again.
+
+She cried out joyfully. The snake had flopped from its hollow, plunged at
+full length aside; had started to crawl, writhing, dragging its hinder
+parts. But with a swoop the pony arrived before we were noting; the
+recruit plumped into the hollow; and bending over in his swift circle the
+courier snatched the snake from the ground; sped back with him.
+
+The Sioux seized upon the moment of stress. They cavorted, scouring hither
+and thither, yelling, shooting, and once more our battered haven seethed
+with the hum and hiss and rebound of lead and shaft. That, and my
+eagerness, told. The fellow in the foreground burrowed cleverly; he
+submerged farther and farther, by rapid inches. I fired twice--we could
+not see that I had even inconvenienced him. My Lady clutched my revolver
+arm.
+
+"No! Wait!" The tone rang dismayed.
+
+Trembling, blinded with heat and powder smoke, and heart sick, I paused,
+to fumble and to reload the almost emptied cylinder.
+
+"I can't reach him," said I. "He's too far in."
+
+Her voice answered gently.
+
+"No matter, dear. You're firing too hastily. Don't forget. Please rest a
+minute, and drink. You can bathe your eyes. It's hard, shooting across the
+hot sand. They'll bring others. We've no need to save water, you know."
+
+"I know," I admitted.
+
+We niggardly drank. I dabbled my burning eyes, cleared my sight. Of the
+fellow in the rifle pit there was no living token. The Sioux had ceased
+their gambols. They sat steadfast, again anticipative. A stillness,
+menaceful and brooding, weighted the landscape.
+
+She sighed.
+
+"Well?"
+
+The pregnant truce oppressed. What was hatching out, now? I cautiously
+shifted posture, to stretch and scan; instinctively groped for the
+canteen, to wet my lips again; a puff of smoke burst from the hollow, the
+canteen clinked, flew from my hand and went clattering among the rocks.
+
+"Oh!" she cried, aghast. "But you're not hurt?" Then--"I saw him. He'll
+come up again, in a moment. Be ready."
+
+The Sioux in the background were shrieking. They had accounted for our
+mules; by chance shot they had nipped our water. Yet neither event
+affected us as they seemed to think it should. Mules, water--these were
+inconsequentials in the long-run that was due to be short, at most. We
+husbanded other relief in our keeping.
+
+Suddenly, as I craned, the fellow fired again; he was a good shot, had
+discovered a niche in our rampart, for the ball fanned my cheek with the
+wings of a vicious wasp. On the instant I replied, snapping quick answer.
+
+"I don't think you hit him," she said. "Let me try. It may change the
+luck. You're tired. I'll hold on the spot--he'll come up in the same
+place, head and shoulders. You'll have to tempt him. Are you afraid, sir?"
+She smiled upon me as she took the revolver.
+
+"But if he kills me----?" I faltered.
+
+"What of that?"
+
+"You."
+
+"I?" Her face filled. "I should not be long."
+
+She adjusted the revolver to a crevice a little removed from me--"They
+will be hunting you, not me," she said--and crouched behind it, peering
+earnestly out, intent upon the hollow. And I edged farther, and farther,
+as if seeking for a mark, but with all my flesh a-prickle and my breath
+fast, like any man, I assert, who forces himself to invite the striking
+capabilities of a rattlesnake.
+
+Abruptly it came--the strike, so venomous that it stung my face and
+scalded my eyes with the spatter of sandstone and hot lead; at the moment
+her Colt's bellowed into my ears, thunderous because even unexpected. I
+could not see; I only heard an utterance that was cheer and sob in one.
+
+"I got him! Are you hurt? Are you hurt?"
+
+"No. Hurrah!"
+
+"Hurrah, dear."
+
+The air rocked with the shouts of the Sioux; shouts never before so
+welcome in their tidings, for they were shouts of rage and disappointment.
+They flooded my eyes with vigor, wiped away the daze of the bullet impact;
+the hollow leaped to the fore--upon its low parapet a dull shade where no
+shade should naturally be, and garnished with crimson.
+
+He had doubled forward, reflexing to the blow. He was dead, stone dead;
+his crafty spirit issued upon the red trail of ball through his brain.
+
+"Thank God," I rejoiced.
+
+She had sunk back wearily.
+
+"That is the last."
+
+"Won't they try again, you think?"
+
+"The last spare shot, I mean. We have only our two left. We must save
+those." She gravely surveyed me.
+
+"Yes, we must save those," I assented. The realization broke unbelievable
+across a momentary hiatus; brought me down from the false heights, to face
+it with her.
+
+A dizzy space had opened before me. I knew that she moved aside. She
+exclaimed.
+
+"Look!"
+
+It was the canteen, drained dry by a jagged gash from the sharpshooter's
+lead.
+
+"No matter, dear," she said.
+
+"No matter," said I.
+
+The subject was not worth pursuing.
+
+"We have discouraged their game, again. And in case they rush us----"
+
+This from her.
+
+"In case they rush us----" I repeated. "We can wait a little, and see."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+WE WAIT THE SUMMONS
+
+
+The Sioux had quieted. They let the hollow alone, tenanted as it was with
+death; there was for us a satisfaction in that tribute to our defense.
+Quite methodically, and with cruel show of leisure they distributed
+themselves by knots, in a half-encircling string around our asylum; they
+posted a sentry, ahorse, as a lookout; and lolling upon the bare ground in
+the sun glare they chatted, laughed, rested, but never for an instant were
+we dismissed from their eyes and thoughts.
+
+"They will wait, too. They can afford it," she murmured. "It is cheaper
+for them than losing lives."
+
+"If they knew we had only the two cartridges----?"
+
+"They don't, yet."
+
+"And they will find out too late," I hazarded.
+
+"Yes, too late. We shall have time." Her voice did not waver; it heartened
+with its vengeful, determined mien.
+
+Occasionally a warrior invoked us by brandishing arm or weapon in surety
+of hate and in promise of fancied reprisal. What fools they were! Now and
+again a warrior galloped upon the back trail; returned gleefully, perhaps
+to flourish an army canteen at us.
+
+"There probably is water where we heard the frogs last night," she
+remarked.
+
+"I'm glad we didn't try to reach it, for camp," said I.
+
+"So am I," said she. "We might have run right into them. We are better
+here. At least, I am."
+
+"And I," I confirmed.
+
+Strangely enough we seemed to have little to say, now in this precious
+doldrums where we were becalmed, between the distant past and the unlogged
+future. We had not a particle of shade, not a trace of coolness: the sun
+was high, all our rocky recess was a furnace, fairly reverberant with the
+heat; the flies (and I vaguely pondered upon how they had existed,
+previously, and whence they had gathered) buzzed briskly, attracted by the
+dead mule, unseen, and captiously diverted to us also. We lay tolerably
+bolstered, without much movement; and as the Sioux were not firing upon
+us, we might wax careless of their espionage.
+
+Her eyes, untroubled, scarcely left my face; I feared to let mine leave
+hers. Of what she was thinking I might not know, and I did not seek to
+know--was oddly yielding and content, for our decisions had been made. And
+still it was unreal, impossible: we, in this guise; the Sioux, watching;
+the desert, waiting; death hovering--a sudden death, a violent death, the
+end of that which had barely begun; an end suspended in sight like the
+Dionysian sword, with the single hair already frayed by the greedy shears
+of the Fate. A snap, at our own signal; then presto, change!
+
+It simply could not be true. Why, somewhere my father and mother busied,
+mindless; somewhere Benton roared, mindless; somewhere the wagon train
+toiled on, mindless; the stage road missed us not, nor wondered; the
+railroad graders shoveled and scraped and picked as blithely as if the
+same desert did not contain them, and us; cities throbbed, people worked
+and played, and we were of as little concern to them now as we would be a
+year hence.
+
+Then it all pridefully resolved to this, like the warming tune of a fine
+battle chant: That I was here, with my woman, my partner woman, the much
+desirable woman whom I had won; which was more than Daniel, or Montoyo, or
+the Indian chief, or the wide world of other men could boast.
+
+Soon she spoke, at times, musingly.
+
+"I did make up to you, at first," she said. "In Omaha, and on the train."
+
+"Did you?" I smiled. She was so childishly frank.
+
+"But that was only passing. Then in Benton I knew you were different. I
+wondered what it was; but you were different from anybody that I had met
+before. There's always such a moment in a woman's life."
+
+I soberly nodded. Nothing could be a platitude in such a place and such an
+hour.
+
+"I wished to help you. Do you believe that now?"
+
+"I believe you, dear heart," I assured.
+
+"But it was partly because I thought you could help me," she said, like a
+confession. And she added: "I had nothing wrong in mind. You were to be a
+friend, not a lover. I had no need of lovers; no, no."
+
+We were silent for an interval. Again she spoke.
+
+"Do you care anything about my family? I suppose not. That doesn't matter,
+here. But you wouldn't be ashamed of them. I ran away with Montoyo. I
+thought he was something else. How could I go home after that? I tried to
+be true to him, we had plenty of money, he was kind to me at first, but he
+dragged me down and my father and mother don't know even yet. Yes, I tried
+to help him, too. I stayed. It's a life that gets into one's blood. I
+feared him terribly, in time. He was a breed, and a devil--a gentleman
+devil." She referred in the past tense, as to some fact definitely bygone.
+"I had to play fair with him, or---- And when I had done that, hoping,
+why, what else could I do or where could I go? So many people knew me."
+She smiled. "Suddenly I tied to you, sir. I seemed to feel--I took the
+chance."
+
+"Thank God you did," I encouraged.
+
+"But I would not have wronged myself, or you, or him," she eagerly
+pursued. "I never did wrong him." She flushed. "No man can convict me. You
+hurt me when you refused me, dear; it told me that you didn't understand.
+Then I was desperate. I had been shamed before you, and by you. You were
+going, and not understanding, and I couldn't let you. So I did follow you
+to the wagon train. You were my star. I wonder why. I did feel that you'd
+get me out--you see, I was so madly selfish, like a drowning person. I
+clutched at you; might have put you under while climbing up, myself."
+
+"We have climbed together," said I. "You have made me into a man."
+
+"But I forced myself on you. I played you against Daniel. I foresaw that
+you might have to kill him, to rid me of him. You were my weapon. And I
+used you. Do you blame me that I used you?"
+
+"Daniel and I were destined to meet, just as you and I were destined to
+meet," said I. "I had to prove myself on him. It would have happened
+anyway. Had I not stood up to him you would not have loved me."
+
+"That was not the price," she sighed. "Maybe you don't understand yet. I'm
+so afraid you don't understand," she pleaded. "At the last I had resigned
+you, I would have left you free, I saw how you felt; but, oh, it happened
+just the same--we were fated, and you showed that you hated me."
+
+"I never hated you. I was perplexed. That was a part of love," said I.
+
+"You mean it? You are holding nothing back?" she asked, anxious.
+
+"I am holding nothing back," I answered. "As you will know, I think, in
+time to come."
+
+Again we reclined, silent, at peace: a strange peace of mind and body, to
+which the demonstrations by the waiting Sioux were alien things.
+
+She spoke.
+
+"Are we very guilty, do you think?"
+
+"In what, dearest?"
+
+"In this, here. I am already married, you know."
+
+"That is another life," I reasoned. "It is long ago and under different
+law."
+
+"But if we went back into it--if we escaped?"
+
+"Then we should--but don't let's talk of that."
+
+"Then you should forget and I should return to Benton," she said. "I have
+decided. I should return to Benton, where Montoyo is, and maybe find
+another way. But I should not live with him; never, never! I should ask
+him to release me."
+
+"I, with you," I informed. "We should go together, and do what was best."
+
+"You would? You wouldn't be ashamed, or afraid?"
+
+"Ashamed or afraid of what?"
+
+She cried out happily, and shivered.
+
+"I hope we don't have to. He might kill you. Yes, I hope we don't have to.
+Do you mind?"
+
+I shook my head, smiling my response. There were tears in her eyes,
+repaying me.
+
+Our conversation became more fitful. Time sped, I don't know how, except
+that we were in a kind of lethargy, taking no note of time and hanging
+fast to this our respite from the tempestuous past.
+
+Once she dreamily murmured, apropos of nothing, yet apropos of much:
+
+"We must be about the same age. I am not old, not really very old."
+
+"I am twenty-five," I answered.
+
+"So I thought," she mused.
+
+Then, later, in manner of having revolved this idea also, more distinctly
+apropos and voiced with a certain triumph:
+
+"I'm glad we drank water when we might; aren't you?"
+
+"You were so wise," I praised; and I felt sorry for her cracked lips. It
+is astonishing with what swiftness, even upon the dry desert, amid the dry
+air, under the dry burning sun, thirst quickens into a consuming fire
+scorching from within outward to the skin.
+
+We lapsed into that remarkable patience, playing the game with the Sioux
+and steadily viewing each other; and she asked, casually:
+
+"Where will you shoot me, Frank?"
+
+This bared the secret heart of me.
+
+"No! No!" I begged. "Don't speak of that. It will be bad enough at the
+best. How can I? I don't know how I can do it!"
+
+"You will, though," she soothed. "I'd rather have it from you. You must be
+brave, for yourself and for me; and kind, and quick. I think it should be
+through the temple. That's sure. But you won't wait to look, will you?
+You'll spare yourself that?"
+
+This made me groan, craven, and wipe my hand across my forehead to brush
+away the frenzy. The fingers came free, damp with cold sticky sweat--a
+prodigy of a parchment skin which puzzled me.
+
+We had not exchanged a caress, save by voice; had not again touched each
+other. Sometimes I glanced at the Sioux, but not for long; I dreaded to
+lose sight of her by so much as a moment. The Sioux remained virtually as
+from the beginning of their vigil. They sat secure, drank, probably ate,
+with time their ally: sat judicial and persistent, as though depending
+upon the progress of a slow fuse, or upon the workings of poison, which
+indeed was the case.
+
+Thirst and heat tortured unceasingly. The sun had passed the zenith--this
+sun of a culminating summer throughout which he had thrived regal and
+lustful. It seemed ignoble of him that he now should stoop to torment only
+us, and one of us a small woman. There was all his boundless domain for
+him.
+
+But stoop he did, burning nearer and nearer. She broke with sudden passion
+of hoarse appeal.
+
+"Why do we wait? Why not now?"
+
+"We ought to wait," I stammered, miserable and pitying.
+
+"Yes," she whispered, submissive, "I suppose we ought. One always does.
+But I am so tired. I think," she said, "that I will let my hair down. I
+shall go with my hair down. I have a right to, at the last."
+
+Whereupon she fell to loosening her hair and braiding it with hurried
+fingers.
+
+Then after a time I said:
+
+"We'll not be much longer, dear."
+
+"I hope not," said she, panting, her lips stiff, her eyes bright and
+feverish. "They'll rush us at sundown; maybe before."
+
+"I believe," said I, blurring the words, for my tongue was getting
+unmanageable, "they're making ready now."
+
+She exclaimed and struggled and sat up, and we both gazed. Out there the
+Sioux, in that world of their own, had aroused to energy. I fancied that
+they had palled of the inaction. At any rate they were upon their feet,
+several were upon their horses, others mounted hastily, squad joined squad
+as though by summons, and here came their outpost scout, galloping in, his
+blanket streaming from one hand like a banner of an Islam prophet.
+
+They delayed an instant, gesticulating.
+
+"It will be soon," she whispered, touching my arm. "When they are
+half-way, don't fail. I trust you. Will you kiss me? That is only the
+once."
+
+I kissed her; dry cracked lips met dry cracked lips. She laid herself down
+and closed her eyes, and smiled.
+
+"I'm all right," she said. "And tired. I've worked so hard, for only this.
+You mustn't look."
+
+"And you must wait for me, somewhere," I entreated. "Just a moment."
+
+"Of course," she sighed.
+
+The Sioux charged, shrieking, hammering, lashing, all of one purpose:
+that, us; she, I; my life, her body; and quickly kneeling beside her (I
+was cool and firm and collected) I felt her hand guide the revolver
+barrel. But I did not look. She had forbidden, and I kept my eyes upon
+them, until they were half-way, and in exultation I pulled the trigger, my
+hand already tensed to snatch and cock and deliver myself under their very
+grasp. That was a sweetness.
+
+The hammer clicked. There had been no jar, no report. The hammer had only
+clicked, I tell you, shocking me to the core. A missed cartridge? An empty
+chamber? Which? No matter. I should achieve for her, first; then, myself.
+I heard her gasp, they were very near, how they shouted, how the bullets
+and arrows spatted and hissed, and I had convulsively cocked the gun, she
+had clutched it--when looking through them, agonized and blinded as I
+was--looking through them as if they were phantasms I sensed another sound
+and with sight sharpened I saw.
+
+Then I wrested the revolver from her. I fired pointblank, I fired again
+(the Colt's did not fail); they swept by, hooting, jostling; they thudded
+on; and rising I screeched and waved, as bizarre, no doubt, as any
+animated scarecrow.
+
+It had been a trumpet note, and a cavalry guidon and a rank of bobbing
+figures had come galloping, galloping over an imperceptible swell.
+
+She cried to me, from my feet.
+
+"You didn't do it! You didn't do it!"
+
+"We're saved," I blatted. "Hurrah! We're saved! The soldiers are here."
+
+Again the trumpet pealed, lilting silvery. She tottered up, clinging to
+me. She stared. She released me, and to my gladly questing gaze her face
+was very white, her eyes struggling for comprehension, like those of one
+awakened from a dream.
+
+"I must go back to Benton," she faltered. "I shall never get away from
+Benton."
+
+We stood mute while the blue-coats raced on with hearty cheers and brave
+clank of saber and canteen. We were sitting composedly when the lieutenant
+scrambled to us, among our rocks; the troopers followed, curiously
+scanning.
+
+His stubbled red face, dust-smeared, queried us keenly; so did his curt
+voice.
+
+"Just in time?"
+
+"In time," I croaked. "Water! For her--for me."
+
+There was a canteen apiece. We sucked.
+
+"You are the two from the Mormon wagon train?" he asked.
+
+"Yes, sir. You know?" I uttered.
+
+"We came on as fast as we could. The Sioux are raiding again. By God, you
+had a narrow squeak, sir," he reproved. "You were crazy to try it--you and
+a woman, alone. We'll take you along as soon as my Pawnees get in from
+chasing those beggars."
+
+Distant whoops from a pursuit drifted in to us, out of the desert.
+
+"Captain Adams sent you?" I inquired.
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"I will go back," I agreed. "I will go back, but there's no need of Mrs.
+Montoyo. If you could see her safely landed at a stage station, and for
+Benton----?"
+
+"We'll land you both. I have to report at Bridger. The train is all right.
+It has an escort to Bitter Creek."
+
+"I can overtake it, or join it," said I. "But the lady goes to Benton."
+
+"Yes, yes," he snapped. "That's nothing to me, of course. But you'll do
+better to wait for the train at Bridger, Mr. ----? I don't believe I have
+your name?"
+
+"Beeson," I informed, astonished.
+
+"And the lady's? Your sister? Wife?"
+
+"Mrs. Montoyo," I informed. And I repeated, that there should be no
+misunderstanding. "Mrs. Montoyo, from Benton. No relative, sir."
+
+He passed it over, as a gentleman should.
+
+"Well, Mr. Beeson, you have business with the train?"
+
+"I have business with Captain Adams, and he with me," I replied. "As
+probably you know. Since he sent you, I shall consider myself under
+arrest; but I will return of my own free will as soon as Mrs. Montoyo is
+safe."
+
+"Under arrest? For what?" He blankly eyed me.
+
+"For killing that man, sir. Captain Adams' son. But I was forced to it--I
+did it in self-defense. I should not have left, and I am ready to face the
+matter whenever possible."
+
+"Oh!" said he, with a shrug, tossing the idea aside. "If that's all! I did
+hear something about that, from some of my men, but nothing from Adams.
+You didn't kill him, I understand; merely laid him out. I saw him, myself,
+but I didn't ask questions. So you can rest easy on that score. His old
+man seemed to have no grudge against you for it. Fact is, he scarcely
+allowed me time to warn him of the Sioux before he told me you and a woman
+were out and were liable to lose your scalps, if nothing worse. I think,"
+the lieutenant added, narrowing upon me, "that you'll find those Mormons
+are as just as any other set, in a show down. The lad, I gathered from the
+talk, drew on you after he'd cried quits." He turned hastily. "You spoke,
+madam? Anything wanted?"
+
+The trumpeter orderly plucked me by the sleeve. He was a squat,
+sun-scorched little man, and his red-rimmed blue eyes squinted at me with
+painful interest. He whispered harshly from covert of bronzed hand.
+
+"Beg your pardon, sorr. Mrs. Montoyo, be it--that lady?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"From Benton City, sorr, ye say?"
+
+"From Benton City."
+
+"Sure, I know the name. It's the same of a gambler the vigilantes strung
+up last week; for I was there to see."
+
+I heard a gusty sigh, an exclamation from the lieutenant. My Lady had
+fainted again.
+
+"The reaction, sir," I apologized, to the lieutenant, as we worked.
+
+"Naturally," answered he. "You'll both go back to Benton?"
+
+"Certainly," said I.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+STAR SHINE
+
+
+It was six weeks later, with My Lady all recovered and I long since
+healed, and Fort Bridger pleasant in our memories, when we two rode into
+Benton once more, by horse from the nearest stage point. And here we sat
+our saddles, silent, wondering; for of Benton there was little significant
+of the past, very little tangible of the present, naught promising of its
+future.
+
+Roaring Benton City had vanished, you might say, utterly. The iron
+tendrils of the Pacific Railway glistened, stretching westward into the
+sunset, and Benton had followed the lure, to Rawlins (as had been told
+us), to Green River, to Bryan--likely now still onward, for the track was
+traveling fast, charging the mountain slopes of Utah. The restless dust
+had settled. The Queen Hotel, the Big Tent, the rows of canvas, plank,
+tin, sheet metal, what-not stores, saloons, gambling dens, dance halls,
+human habitations--the blatant street and the station itself had subsided
+into this: a skeleton company of hacked and weazened posts, a fantastic
+outcrop of coldly blackened clay chimneys, a sprinkling of battered cans.
+The fevered populace who had ridden high upon the tide of rapid life had
+remained only as ghosts haunting a potter's field, and the turmoil of
+frenzied pleasure had dwindled to a coyote's yelp mocking the twilight.
+
+"It all, all is wiped out, like he is," she said. "But I wished to see."
+
+"All, all is wiped out, dear heart," said I. "All of that. But here are
+you and I."
+
+Through star shine we cantered side by side eastward down the old, empty
+freighting road, for the railway station at Fort Steele.
+
+THE END
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Desert Dust, by Edwin L. Sabin
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DESERT DUST ***
+
+***** This file should be named 27437-8.txt or 27437-8.zip *****
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+        http://www.gutenberg.org/2/7/4/3/27437/
+
+Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
+will be renamed.
+
+Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
+one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
+(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
+permission and without paying copyright royalties.  Special rules,
+set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
+copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
+protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark.  Project
+Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
+charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission.  If you
+do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
+rules is very easy.  You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
+such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
+research.  They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
+practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks.  Redistribution is
+subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
+redistribution.
+
+
+
+*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
+http://gutenberg.org/license).
+
+
+Section 1.  General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works
+
+1.A.  By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement.  If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
+all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
+If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
+terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
+entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
+
+1.B.  "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark.  It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement.  There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.  See
+paragraph 1.C below.  There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
+and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.  See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C.  The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
+or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works.  Nearly all the individual works in the
+collection are in the public domain in the United States.  If an
+individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
+located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
+copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
+works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
+are removed.  Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
+Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
+freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
+this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
+the work.  You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
+keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D.  The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work.  Copyright laws in most countries are in
+a constant state of change.  If you are outside the United States, check
+the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
+before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
+creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
+Gutenberg-tm work.  The Foundation makes no representations concerning
+the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
+States.
+
+1.E.  Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1.  The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
+access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
+whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
+phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
+copied or distributed:
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+1.E.2.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
+from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
+posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
+and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
+or charges.  If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
+with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
+work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
+through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
+Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
+1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
+terms imposed by the copyright holder.  Additional terms will be linked
+to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
+permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4.  Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5.  Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6.  You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
+word processing or hypertext form.  However, if you provide access to or
+distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
+"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
+posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
+you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
+copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
+request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
+form.  Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7.  Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8.  You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
+that
+
+- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+     the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+     you already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  The fee is
+     owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
+     has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
+     Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.  Royalty payments
+     must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
+     prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
+     returns.  Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
+     sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
+     address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
+     the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+     you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+     does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+     License.  You must require such a user to return or
+     destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
+     and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
+     Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
+     money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+     electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
+     of receipt of the work.
+
+- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+     distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9.  If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
+forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
+both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
+Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark.  Contact the
+Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1.  Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
+collection.  Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
+"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
+property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
+computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
+your equipment.
+
+1.F.2.  LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
+of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees.  YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3.  YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3.  LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from.  If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
+your written explanation.  The person or entity that provided you with
+the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
+refund.  If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
+providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
+receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund.  If the second copy
+is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
+opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4.  Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
+WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5.  Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
+If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
+law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
+interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
+the applicable state law.  The invalidity or unenforceability of any
+provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6.  INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
+with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
+promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
+harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
+that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
+or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
+work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
+Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
+
+
+Section  2.  Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
+including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.  It exists
+because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
+people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come.  In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
+To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
+and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org.
+
+
+Section 3.  Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
+Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service.  The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541.  Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at
+http://pglaf.org/fundraising.  Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
+permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
+Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
+throughout numerous locations.  Its business office is located at
+809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
+business@pglaf.org.  Email contact links and up to date contact
+information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
+page at http://pglaf.org
+
+For additional contact information:
+     Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+     Chief Executive and Director
+     gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+
+Section 4.  Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment.  Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States.  Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements.  We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance.  To
+SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
+particular state visit http://pglaf.org
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States.  U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses.  Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations.
+To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate
+
+
+Section 5.  General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
+with anyone.  For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
+Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
+
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we do not necessarily
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
+
+     http://www.gutenberg.org
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
diff --git a/27437-8.zip b/27437-8.zip
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5e63264
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-8.zip
diff --git a/27437-h.zip b/27437-h.zip
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ea1f1e3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-h.zip
diff --git a/27437-h/27437-h.htm b/27437-h/27437-h.htm
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4bacef6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-h/27437-h.htm
@@ -0,0 +1,9530 @@
+<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
+"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
+<head>
+<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" />
+<title>
+The Project Gutenberg eBook of Desert Dust, by Edwin L. Sabin.
+</title>
+
+<style type="text/css">
+/*<![CDATA[  XML blockout */
+<!--
+    p                 {margin-top: 0.5em; text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.5em;}
+    body              {margin-left: 11%; margin-right: 10%;}
+    a                 {text-decoration: none;}
+    @media screen     {
+      hr.ppg-pb       {margin:30px 0; width:100%; border:none;border-top:thin dashed silver;}
+      .pagenum        {display: inline; font-size: x-small; text-align: right; position: absolute; right: 2%; padding: 1px 3px; font-style: normal; font-variant:normal; font-weight:normal; text-decoration: none; background-color: inherit; border:1px solid #eee;}
+      .pncolor        {color: silver;}
+    }
+    @media print      {
+      hr.ppg-pb       {border:none;page-break-after: always;}
+      .pagenum        { display:none; }
+    }
+    h3                {text-align:center; font-weight:normal; font-size: 1.2em;}
+    div.ce p          {text-align: center; margin: auto 0;}
+    .figcenter        {margin: 2em auto 2em auto; text-align: center;}
+    .caption          {font-size:.8em;}
+    table             {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; clear: both;}
+    .blockquot        {margin:0.5em 5% 0.5em 5%;}
+    div.ra p          {text-align: right; margin: auto 0;}
+    hr.major          {width: 65%; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 2em; border:none; border-bottom:1px solid black; clear:both;}
+    h2                {text-align:center; font-weight:normal; font-size: 1.4em;}
+// -->
+/* XML end  ]]>*/
+</style>
+
+</head>
+<body>
+
+
+<pre>
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Desert Dust, by Edwin L. Sabin
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Desert Dust
+
+Author: Edwin L. Sabin
+
+Illustrator: J. Clinton Shepherd
+
+Release Date: December 7, 2008 [EBook #27437]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DESERT DUST ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+<hr class='ppg-pb' />
+<div class='figcenter'>
+<a name='linki_1' id='linki_1'></a>
+<img src='images/illus-fpc.jpg' alt='' title='' style='width: 369px; height: 502px;' /><br />
+<p class='caption' style='margin: 0 auto; text-align:center;width: 369px;'>
+Like some land of Heart&#8217;s Desire (<i>see page</i> 22).<br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<hr class='ppg-pb' />
+<div class='ce'>
+<p style='font-size:2.2em; margin-bottom:2em;'>DESERT DUST</p>
+<p>By</p>
+<p style='font-size:1.2em;'>EDWIN L. SABIN</p>
+<p style='margin-bottom:4em; font-style:italic;'>Author of &#8220;How Are You Feeling Now?&#8221; etc.</p>
+<p style='font-size:0.8em;'>ILLUSTRATED BY</p>
+<p style='margin-bottom:3em;'>J. CLINTON SHEPHERD</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class='figcenter'>
+<img src='images/illus-emb.jpg' alt='' title='' style='width: 79px; height: 79px;' /><br />
+</div>
+
+<div class='ce'>
+<p style='margin-top:3em;'>PHILADELPHIA</p>
+<p style='font-size:1.4em;'>GEORGE W. JACOBS &amp; COMPANY</p>
+<p style='margin-bottom:2em;'>PUBLISHERS</p>
+</div>
+
+<hr class='ppg-pb' />
+<div class='ce'>
+<p>Copyright, 1921, by</p>
+<p style='margin-bottom:1em;'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>Frank A. Munsey Company</span></p>
+<p>Copyright, 1922, by</p>
+<p style='margin-bottom:3em;'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>George W. Jacobs &amp; Company</span></p>
+<p><i>All rights reserved</i></p>
+<p>Printed in U. S. A.</p>
+</div>
+
+<hr class='ppg-pb' />
+<div class='ce'>
+<p style='font-size:1.4em; margin-bottom:1em;'>CONTENTS</p>
+</div>
+
+<table border='0' width='500' cellpadding='2' cellspacing='0' summary='Contents' style='margin:1em auto;'>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'><span style='font-size:small;'>CHAPTER</span></td>
+  <td></td>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small;'>PAGE</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>I.</td>
+  <td valign='top' align='left'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>A Pair of Blue Eyes</span>&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#I_A_PAIR_OF_BLUE_EYES'>9</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>II.</td>
+  <td valign='top' align='left'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>To Better Acquaintance</span>&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#II_TO_BETTER_ACQUAINTANCE'>22</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>III.</td>
+  <td valign='top' align='left'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>I Rise in Favor</span>&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#III_I_RISE_IN_FAVOR'>36</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>IV.</td>
+  <td valign='top' align='left'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>I Meet Friends</span>&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#IV_I_MEET_FRIENDS'>54</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>V.</td>
+  <td valign='top' align='left'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>On Grand Tour</span>&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#V_ON_GRAND_TOUR'>72</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>VI.</td>
+  <td valign='top' align='left'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>&#8220;High and Dry&#8221;</span>&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#VI__HIGH_AND_DRY'>88</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>VII.</td>
+  <td valign='top' align='left'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>I Go to Rendezvous</span>&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#VII_I_GO_TO_RENDEZVOUS'>102</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>VIII.</td>
+  <td valign='top' align='left'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>I Stake on the Queen</span>&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#VIII_I_STAKE_ON_THE_QUEEN'>118</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>IX.</td>
+  <td valign='top' align='left'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>I Accept an Offer</span>&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#IX_I_ACCEPT_AN_OFFER'>131</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>X.</td>
+  <td valign='top' align='left'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>I Cut Loose</span>&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#X_I_CUT_LOOSE'>145</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>XI.</td>
+  <td valign='top' align='left'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>We Get a &#8220;Super&#8221;</span>&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#XI_WE_GET_A__SUPER'>162</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>XII.</td>
+  <td valign='top' align='left'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>Daniel Takes Possession</span>&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#XII_DANIEL_TAKES_POSSESSION'>181</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>XIII.</td>
+  <td valign='top' align='left'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>Someone Fears</span>&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#XIII_SOMEONE_FEARS'>197</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>XIV.</td>
+  <td valign='top' align='left'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>I Take a Lesson</span>&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#XIV_I_TAKE_A_LESSON'>205</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>XV.</td>
+  <td valign='top' align='left'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>The Trail Narrows</span>&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#XV_THE_TRAIL_NARROWS'>223</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>XVI.</td>
+  <td valign='top' align='left'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>I Do the Deed</span>&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#XVI_I_DO_THE_DEED'>240</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>XVII.</td>
+  <td valign='top' align='left'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>The Trail Forks</span>&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#XVII_THE_TRAIL_FORKS'>252</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>XVIII.</td>
+  <td valign='top' align='left'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>Voices in the Void</span>&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#XVIII_VOICES_IN_THE_VOID'>261</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>XIX.</td>
+  <td valign='top' align='left'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>I Stake Again</span>&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#XIX_I_STAKE_AGAIN'>272</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>XX.</td>
+  <td valign='top' align='left'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>The Queen Wins</span>&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#XX_THE_QUEEN_WINS'>286</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>XXI.</td>
+  <td valign='top' align='left'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>We Wait the Summons</span>&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#XXI_WE_WAIT_THE_SUMMONS'>300</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>XXII.</td>
+  <td valign='top' align='left'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>Star Shine</span>&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#XXII_STAR_SHINE'>314</a></td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+<hr class='ppg-pb' />
+<div class='ce'>
+<p style='font-size:1.4em; margin-bottom:1em;'>ILLUSTRATIONS</p>
+</div>
+
+<table border='0' width='400' cellpadding='2' cellspacing='0' summary='Illustrations' style='margin:1em auto'>
+<col style='width:80%;' />
+<col style='width:20%;' />
+<tr>
+  <td></td>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'>PAGE</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='left'>Like some land of Heart&#8217;s Desire (<i>see page</i> 22).</td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#linki_1'><i>Frontispiece</i></a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='left'>&#8220;Madam,&#8221; I Uttered Foolishly, &#8220;Good Evening.&#8221;</td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#linki_2'>85</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='left'>The Scouts Galloped Onward</td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#linki_3'>280</a></td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+<hr class='ppg-pb' />
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_9' name='page_9'></a>9</span></div>
+<div class='ce'>
+<p style='font-size:1.6em;'>Desert Dust </p>
+</div>
+
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='I_A_PAIR_OF_BLUE_EYES' id='I_A_PAIR_OF_BLUE_EYES'></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER I</h2>
+<h3>A PAIR OF BLUE EYES</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>In the estimate of the affable brakeman (a gentleman
+wearing sky-blue army pantaloons tucked into
+cowhide boots, half-buttoned vest, flannel shirt open
+at the throat, and upon his red hair a flaring-brimmed
+black slouch hat) we were making a fair average of
+twenty miles an hour across the greatest country on
+earth. It was a flat country of far horizons, and for
+vast stretches peopled mainly, as one might judge
+from the car windows, by antelope and the equally
+curious rodents styled prairie dogs.</p>
+<p>Yet despite the novelty of such a ride into that
+unknown new West now being spanned at giant&#8217;s
+strides by the miraculous Pacific Railway, behold me,
+surfeited with already five days&#8217; steady travel,
+engrossed chiefly in observing a clear, dainty profile
+and waiting for the glimpses, time to time, of a pair
+of exquisite blue eyes.</p>
+<p>Merely to indulge myself in feminine beauty, however,
+I need not have undertaken the expense and
+fatigue of journeying from Albany on the Hudson
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_10' name='page_10'></a>10</span>
+out to Omaha on the plains side of the Missouri
+River; thence by the Union Pacific Railroad of the
+new transcontinental line into the Indian country.
+There were handsome women a-plenty in the East; and
+of access, also, to a youth of family and parts. I had
+pictures of the same in my social register. A man
+does not attain to twenty-five years without having
+accomplished a few pages of the heart book. Nevertheless
+all such pages were&mdash;or had seemed to be&mdash;wholly
+retrospective now, for here I was, advised by
+the physicians to &#8220;go West,&#8221; meaning by this not
+simply the one-time West of Ohio, or Illinois, or even
+Iowa, but the remote and genuine West lying beyond
+the Missouri.</p>
+<p>Whereupon, out of desperation that flung the
+gauntlet down to hope I had taken the bull by the
+horns in earnest. West should be full dose, at the utmost
+procurable by modern conveyance.</p>
+<p>The Union Pacific announcements acclaimed that
+this summer of 1868 the rails should cross the Black
+Hills Mountains of Wyoming to another range of the
+Rocky Mountains, in Utah; and that by the end of
+the year one might ride comfortably clear to Salt
+Lake City. Certainly this was &#8220;going West&#8221; with
+a vengeance; but as appeared to me&mdash;and to my father
+and mother and the physicians&mdash;somewhere in
+the expanse of brand new Western country, the plains
+and mountains, I would find at least the breath of
+life.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_11' name='page_11'></a>11</span></p>
+<p>When I arrived in Omaha the ticket agent was enabled
+to sell me transportation away to the town of
+Benton, Wyoming Territory itself, six hundred and
+ninety miles (he said) west of the Missouri.</p>
+<p>Of Benton I had never heard. It was upon no
+public maps, as yet. But in round figures, seven hundred
+miles! Practically the distance from Albany to
+Cincinnati, and itself distant from Albany over two
+thousand miles! All by rail.</p>
+<p>Benton was, he explained, the present end of passenger
+service, this August. In another month&mdash;and
+he laughed.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Fact is, while you&#8217;re standing here,&#8221; he alleged,
+&#8220;I may get orders any moment to sell a longer ticket.
+The Casements are laying two to three miles of track
+a day, seven days in the week, and stepping right on
+the heels of the graders. Last April we were selling
+only to Cheyenne, rising of five hundred miles. Then
+in May we began to sell to Laramie, five hundred and
+seventy-six miles. Last of July we began selling to
+Benton, a hundred and twenty miles farther. Track&#8217;s
+now probably fifty or more miles west of Benton and
+there&#8217;s liable to be another passenger terminus to-morrow.
+So it might pay you to wait.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;No,&#8221; I said. &#8220;Thank you, but I&#8217;ll try Benton.
+I can go on from there as I think best. Could you
+recommend local accommodations?&#8221;</p>
+<p>He stared, through the bars of the little window
+behind which lay a six-chambered revolver.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_12' name='page_12'></a>12</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;Could I do what, sir?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Recommend a hotel, at Benton where I&#8217;m going.
+There is a hotel, I suppose?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Good Lord!&#8221; he exclaimed testily. &#8220;In a city
+of three thousand people? A hotel? A dozen of
+&#8217;em, but I don&#8217;t know their names. What do you
+expect to find in Benton? You&#8217;re from the East, I
+take it. Going out on spec&#8217;, or pleasure, or health?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I have been advised to try Western air for a
+change,&#8221; I answered. &#8220;I am looking for some place
+that is high, and dry.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Consumption, eh?&#8221; he shrewdly remarked.
+&#8220;High and dry; that&#8217;s it. Oh, yes; you&#8217;ll find Benton
+high enough, and toler&#8217;bly dry. You bet! And
+nobody dies natural, at Benton, they say. Here&#8217;s
+your ticket. Thank you. And the change. Next,
+please.&#8221;</p>
+<p>It did not take me long to gather the change remaining
+from seventy dollars greenbacks swapped for
+six hundred and ninety miles of travel at ten cents a
+mile. I hastily stepped aside. A subtle fragrance
+and a rustle warned me that I was obstructing a
+representative of the fair sex. So did the smirk and
+smile of the ticket agent.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Your pardon, madam,&#8221; I proffered, lifting my
+hat&mdash;agreeably dazzled while thus performing.</p>
+<p>She acknowledged the tribute with a faint blush.
+While pocketing my change and stowing away my
+ticket I had opportunity to survey her further.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_13' name='page_13'></a>13</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;Benton,&#8221; she said briefly, to the agent.</p>
+<p>We were bound for the same point, then. Ye gods,
+but she was a little beauty: a perfect blonde, of the
+petite and fully formed type, with regular features
+inclined to the clean-cut Grecian, a piquant mouth
+deliciously bowed, two eyes of the deepest blue veiled
+by long lashes, and a mass of glinting golden hair
+upon which perched a ravishing little bonnet. The
+natural ensemble was enhanced by her costume, all of
+black, from the closely fitting bodice to the rustling
+crinoline beneath which there peeped out tiny shoes.
+I had opportunity also to note the jet pendant in the
+shelly ear toward me, and the flashing rings upon the
+fingers of her hands, ungloved in order to sort out the
+money from her reticule.</p>
+<p>Sooth to say, I might not stand there gawking.
+Once, by a demure sideways glance, she betrayed
+knowledge of my presence. Her own transaction was
+all matter-of-fact, as if engaging passage to Benton of
+Wyoming Territory contained no novelty for her.
+Could she by any chance live there&mdash;a woman dressed
+like she was, as much à la mode as if she walked
+Broadway in New York? Omaha itself had astonished
+me with the display upon its streets; and now if
+Benton, far out in the wilderness, should prove
+another surprise&mdash;&mdash;! Indeed, the Western world
+was not so raw, after all. Strange to say, as soon as
+one crossed the Missouri River one began to sense
+romance, and to discover it.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_14' name='page_14'></a>14</span></p>
+<p>As seemed to me, the ticket agent would have
+detained her, in defiance of the waiting line; but she
+finished her business shortly, with shorter replies to
+his idle remarks; and I turned away under pretense of
+examining some placards upon the wall advertising
+&#8220;Platte Valley lands&#8221; for sale. I had curiosity to
+see which way she wended. Then as she tripped for
+the door, casting eyes never right nor left, and still
+fumbling at her reticule, a coin slipped from her
+fingers and rolled, by good fortune, across the floor.</p>
+<p>I was after it instantly; caught it, and with best
+bow presented it.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Permit me, madam.&#8221;</p>
+<p>She took it.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Thank you, sir.&#8221;</p>
+<p>For a moment she paused to restore it to its company;
+and I grasped the occasion.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I beg your pardon. You are going to Benton, of
+Wyoming Territory?&#8221;</p>
+<p>Her eyes met mine so completely as well-nigh to
+daze me with their glory. There was a quizzical uplift
+in her frank, arch smile.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I am, sir. To Benton City, of Wyoming Territory.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;You are acquainted there?&#8221; I ventured.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, sir. I am acquainted there. And you are
+from Benton?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, no,&#8221; I assured. &#8220;I am from New York
+State.&#8221; As if anybody might not have known.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_15' name='page_15'></a>15</span>
+&#8220;But I have just purchased my ticket to Benton,
+and&mdash;&mdash;&#8221; I stammered, &#8220;I have made bold to wonder
+if you would not have the goodness to tell me
+something of the place&mdash;as to accommodations, and
+all that. You don&#8217;t by any chance happen to live
+there, do you?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;And why not, sir, may I ask?&#8221; she challenged.</p>
+<p>I floundered before her query direct, and her bewildering
+eyes and lips&mdash;all tantalizing.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I didn&#8217;t know&mdash;I had no idea&mdash;Wyoming Territory
+has been mentioned in the newspapers as
+largely Indian country&mdash;&mdash;&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;At Benton we are only six days behind New York
+fashions,&#8221; she smiled. &#8220;You have not been out over
+the railroad, then, I suspect. Not to North Platte?
+Nor to Cheyenne?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I have never been west of Cincinnati before.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;You have surely been reading of the railroad?
+The Pacific Railway between the East and California?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, indeed. In fact, a friend of mine, named
+Stephen Clark, nephew of the Honorable Thurlow
+Weed formerly of Albany, was killed a year ago by
+your Indians while surveying west of the Black Hills.
+And of course there have been accounts in the New
+York papers.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;You are not on survey service? Or possibly,
+yes?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;No, madam.&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_16' name='page_16'></a>16</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;A pleasure trip to end of track?&#8221;</p>
+<p>She evidently was curious, but I was getting accustomed
+to questions into private matters. That was
+the universal license, out here.</p>
+<p>&#8220;The pleasure of finding health,&#8221; I laughed. &#8220;I
+have been advised to seek a location high and dry.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh!&#8221; She dimpled adorably. &#8220;I congratulate
+you on your choice. You will make no mistake, then,
+in trying Benton. I can promise you that it is high
+and reasonably dry. And as for accommodations&mdash;so
+far as I have ever heard anybody is accommodated
+there with whatever he may wish.&#8221; She darted a
+glance at me; stepped aside as if to leave.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I am to understand that it is a city?&#8221; I pleaded.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Benton? Why, certainly. All the world is
+flowing to Benton. We gained three thousand people
+in two weeks&mdash;much to the sorrow of poor old
+Cheyenne and Laramie. No doubt there are five
+thousand people there now, and all busy. Yes, a
+young man will find his opportunities in Benton. I
+think your choice will please you. Money is plentiful,
+and so are the chances to spend it.&#8221; She bestowed
+upon me another sparkling glance. &#8220;And since we
+are both going to Benton I will say &#8217;Au revoir,&#8217; sir.&#8221;
+She left me quivering.</p>
+<p>&#8220;You do live there?&#8221; I besought, after; and received
+a nod of the golden head as she entered the
+sacred Ladies&#8217; Waiting Room.</p>
+<p>Until the train should be made up I might only
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_17' name='page_17'></a>17</span>
+stroll, restless and strangely buoyed, with that vision
+of an entrancing fellow traveler filling my eyes.
+Summoned in due time by the clamor &#8220;Passengers
+for the Pacific Railway! All aboard, going west on
+the Union Pacific!&#8221; here amidst the platform hurly-burly
+of men, women, children and bundles I had the
+satisfaction to sight the black-clad figure of My Lady
+of the Blue Eyes; hastening, like the rest, but not unattended&mdash;for
+a brakeman bore her valise and the
+conductor her parasol. The scurrying crowd gallantly
+parted before her. It as promptly closed upon her
+wake; try as I might I was utterly unable to keep in
+her course.</p>
+<p>Obviously, the train was to be well occupied.
+Carried on willy-nilly I mounted the first steps at
+hand; elbowed on down the aisle until I managed to
+squirm aside into a vacant seat. The remaining half
+was at once effectually filled by a large, stout, red-faced
+woman who formed the base of a pyramid of
+boxes and parcels.</p>
+<p>My neighbor, who blocked all egress, was going to
+North Platte, three hundred miles westward, I
+speedily found out. And she almost as speedily
+learned that I was going to Benton.</p>
+<p>She stared, round-eyed.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I reckon you&#8217;re a gambler, young man,&#8221; she
+accused.</p>
+<p>&#8220;No, madam. Do I look like a gambler?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;You can&#8217;t tell by looks, young man,&#8221; she asserted,
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_18' name='page_18'></a>18</span>
+still suspicious, &#8220;Maybe you&#8217;re on spec&#8217;, then, in
+some other way.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I am seeking health in the West, is all, where the
+climate is high and dry.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;My Gawd!&#8221; she blurted. &#8220;High and dry!
+You&#8217;re goin&#8217; to the right place. For all I hear tell,
+Benton is high enough and dry enough. Are your
+eye-teeth peeled, young man?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;My eye-teeth?&#8221; I repeated. &#8220;I hope so, madam.
+Are eye-teeth necessary in Benton?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Peeled, and with hair on &#8217;em, young man,&#8221; she
+assured. &#8220;I guess you&#8217;re a pilgrim, ain&#8217;t you? I see
+a leetle green in your eye. No, you ain&#8217;t a tin-horn.
+You&#8217;re some mother&#8217;s boy, jest gettin&#8217; away from the
+trough. My sakes! Sick, too, eh? Weak lungs,
+ain&#8217;t it? Now you tell me: Why you goin&#8217; to Benton?&#8221;</p>
+<p>There was an inviting kindness in her query.
+Plainly she had a good heart, large in proportion with
+her other bulk.</p>
+<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s the farthest point west that I can reach by
+railroad, and everybody I have talked with has recommended
+it as high and dry.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;So it is,&#8221; she nodded; and chuckled fatly. &#8220;But
+laws sakes, you don&#8217;t need to go that fur. You can
+as well stop off at North Platte, or Sidney or Cheyenne.
+They&#8217;ll sculp you sure at Benton, unless you
+watch out mighty sharp.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;How so, may I ask?&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_19' name='page_19'></a>19</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;You&#8217;re certainly green,&#8221; she apprised. &#8220;Benton&#8217;s
+roarin&#8217;&mdash;and I know what that means. Didn&#8217;t
+North Platte roar? I seen it at its beginnin&#8217;s. My
+old man and me, we were there from the fust, when
+it started in as the railroad terminal. My sakes, but
+them were times! What with the gamblin&#8217; and the
+shootin&#8217; and the drinkin&#8217; and the high-cockalorums
+night and day, &#8217;twasn&#8217;t no place for innocence. Easy
+come, easy go, that was the word. I don&#8217;t say but
+what times were good, though. My old man contracted
+government freight, and I run an eatin&#8217; house
+for the railroaders, so we made money. Then when
+the railroad moved terminus, the wust of the crowd
+moved, too, and us others who stayed turned North
+Platte into a strictly moral town. But land sakes!
+North Platte in its roarin&#8217; days wasn&#8217;t no place for a
+young man like you. Neither was Julesburg, or Sidney,
+or Cheyenne, when they was terminuses. And I
+hear tell Benton is wuss&#8217;n all rolled into one. Young
+man, now listen: You stop off at North Platte, Nebrasky.
+It&#8217;s healthy and it&#8217;s moral, and it&#8217;s goin&#8217; to
+make Omyha look like a shinplaster. I&#8217;ll watch after
+you. Maybe I can get you a job in my man&#8217;s store.
+You&#8217;ve j&#8217;ined some church, I reckon? Now if you&#8217;re
+a Baptist&mdash;&mdash;?&#8221;</p>
+<p>But since I had crossed the Missouri something had
+entered into my blood which rendered me obstinate
+against such allurements. For her North Platte,
+&#8220;strictly moral,&#8221; and the guardianship of her broad
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_20' name='page_20'></a>20</span>
+motherly wing I had no ardent feeling. I was set
+upon Benton; foolishly, fatuously set. And in after
+days&mdash;soon to arrive&mdash;I bitterly regretted that I had
+not yielded to her wholesome, honest counsel.</p>
+<p>Nevertheless this was true, at present:</p>
+<p>&#8220;But I have already purchased my ticket to Benton,&#8221;
+I objected. &#8220;I understand that I shall find the
+proper climate there, and suitable accommodations.
+And if I don&#8217;t like it I can move elsewhere. Possibly
+to Salt Lake City, or Denver.&#8221;</p>
+<p>She snorted.</p>
+<p>&#8220;In among them Mormons? My Gawd, young
+man! Where they live in conkibinage&mdash;several
+women to one man, like a buffler herd or other beasts
+of the field? I guess your mother never heard you
+talk like that. Denver&mdash;well, Denver mightn&#8217;t be bad,
+though I do hear tell that folks nigh starve to death
+there, what with the Injuns and the snow. Denver
+ain&#8217;t on no railroad, either. If you want health, and
+to grow up with a strictly moral community, you
+throw in with North Platte of Nebrasky, the great
+and growin&#8217; city of the Plains. I reckon you&#8217;ve heard
+of North Platte, even where you come from. You
+take my word for it, and exchange your ticket.&#8221;</p>
+<p>It struck me here that the good woman might not
+be unbiased in her fondness for North Platte. To
+extol the present and future of these Western towns
+seemed a fixed habit. During my brief stay in
+Omaha&mdash;yes, on the way across Illinois and Iowa
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_21' name='page_21'></a>21</span>
+from Chicago, I had encountered this peculiar trait.
+Iowa was rife with aspiring if embryonic metropolises.
+Now in Nebraska, Columbus was destined to be
+the new national capital and the center of population
+for the United States; Fremont was lauded as one of
+the great railroad junctions of the world; and North
+Platte, three hundred miles out into the plains, was
+proclaimed as the rival of Omaha, and &#8220;strictly
+moral.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I thank you,&#8221; I replied. &#8220;But since I&#8217;ve started
+for Benton I think I&#8217;ll go on. And if I don&#8217;t like it
+or it doesn&#8217;t agree with me you may see me in North
+Platte after all.&#8221;</p>
+<p>She grunted.</p>
+<p>&#8220;You can find me at the Bon Ton restaurant. If
+you get in broke, I&#8217;ll take care of you.&#8221;</p>
+<p>With that she settled herself comfortably. In remarkably
+short order she was asleep and snoring.</p>
+<hr class='major' />
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='II_TO_BETTER_ACQUAINTANCE' id='II_TO_BETTER_ACQUAINTANCE'></a>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_22' name='page_22'></a>22</span>
+<h2>CHAPTER II</h2>
+<h3>TO BETTER ACQUAINTANCE</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>The train had started amidst clangor of bell and
+the shouts of good-bye and good-luck from the crowd
+upon the station platform. We had rolled out
+through train yards occupied to the fullest by car
+shops, round house, piled-up freight depot, stacks of
+ties and iron, and tracks covered with freight cars
+loaded high to rails, ties, baled hay, all manner and
+means of supplies designed, I imagined, for the building
+operations far in the West.</p>
+<p>Soon we had left this busy Train Town behind, and
+were entering the open country. The landscape was
+pleasing, but the real sights probably lay ahead; so I
+turned from my window to examine my traveling
+quarters.</p>
+<p>The coach&mdash;a new one, built in the company&#8217;s shops
+and decidedly upon a par with the very best coaches
+of the Eastern roads&mdash;was jammed; every seat taken.
+I did not see My Lady of the Blue Eyes, nor her
+equal, but almost the whole gamut of society was
+represented: Farmers, merchants, a few soldiers,
+plainsmen in boots and flannel shirt-sleeves and long
+hair and large hats, with revolvers hanging from the
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_23' name='page_23'></a>23</span>
+racks above them or from the seat ends; one or two
+white-faced gentry in broadcloth and patent-leather
+shoes&mdash;who I fancied might be gamblers such as now
+and then plied their trade upon the Hudson River
+boats; two Indians in blankets; Eastern tourists, akin
+to myself; women and children of country type; and
+so forth. What chiefly caught my eye were the carbines
+racked against the ends of the coach, for protection
+in case of Indians or highwaymen, no doubt.
+I observed bottles being passed from hand to hand,
+and tilted en route. The amount and frequency of
+the whiskey for consumption in this country were astonishing.</p>
+<p>My friend snored peacefully. Near noon we halted
+for dinner at the town of Fremont, some fifty miles
+out. She awakened at the general stir, and when I
+squeezed by her she immediately fished for a packet of
+lunch. We had thirty minutes at Fremont&mdash;ample
+time in which to discuss a very excellent meal of
+antelope steaks, prairie fowl, fried potatoes and hot
+biscuits. There was promise of buffalo meat farther
+on, possibly at the next meal station, Grand Island.</p>
+<p>The time was sufficient, also, to give me another
+glimpse of My Lady of the Blue Eyes, who appeared
+to have been awarded the place of honor between the
+conductor and the brakeman, at table. She bestowed
+upon me a subtle glance of recognition&mdash;with a smile
+and a slight bow in one; but I failed to find her upon
+the station platform after the meal. That I should
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_24' name='page_24'></a>24</span>
+obtain other opportunities I did not doubt. Benton
+was yet thirty hours&#8217; travel.</p>
+<p>All that afternoon we rocked along up the Platte
+Valley, with the Platte River&mdash;a broad but shallow
+stream&mdash;constantly upon our left. My seat companion
+evidently had exhausted her repertoire, for
+she slumbered at ease, gradually sinking into a shapeless
+mass, her flowered bonnet askew. Several other
+passengers also were sleeping; due, in part, to the
+whiskey bottles. The car was thinning out, I noted,
+and I might bid in advance for the chance of obtaining
+a new location in a certain car ahead.</p>
+<p>The scenery through the car window had merged
+into a monotony accentuated by great spaces. As far
+as Fremont the country along the railroad had been
+well settled with farms and unfenced cultivated fields.
+Now we had issued into the untrammeled prairies,
+here and there humanized by an isolated shack or a
+lonely traveler by horse or wagon, but in the main a
+vast sun-baked dead sea of gentle, silent undulations
+extending, brownish, clear to the horizons. The only
+refreshing sights were the Platte River, flowing blue
+and yellow among sand-bars and islands, and the side
+streams that we passed. Close at hand the principal
+tokens of life were the little flag stations, and the
+tremendous freight trains side-tracked to give us the
+right of way. The widely separated hamlets where
+we impatiently stopped were the oases in the desert.</p>
+<p>In the sunset we halted at the supper station, named
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_25' name='page_25'></a>25</span>
+Grand Island. My seat neighbor finished her lunch
+box, and I returned well fortified by another excellent
+meal at the not exorbitant price, one dollar and
+a quarter. There had been buffalo meat&mdash;a poor
+apology, to my notion, for good beef. Antelope
+steak, on the contrary, was of far finer flavor than the
+best mutton.</p>
+<p>At Grand Island a number of wretched native Indians
+drew my attention, for the time being, from
+quest of My Lady of the Blue Eyes. However, she
+was still escorted by the conductor, who in his brass
+buttons and officious air began to irritate me. Such
+a persistent squire of dames rather overstepped the
+duties of his position. Confound the fellow! He
+surely would come to the end of his run and his rope
+before we went much farther.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Now, young man, if you get shet of your foolishness
+and decide to try North Platte instead of some
+fly-by-night town on west,&#8221; my seat companion addressed,
+&#8220;you jest follow me when I leave. We get
+to North Platte after plumb dark, and you hang onto
+my skirts right up town, till I land you in a good
+place. For if you don&#8217;t, you&#8217;re liable to be skinned
+alive.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;If I decide upon North Platte I certainly will take
+advantage of your kindness,&#8221; I evaded. Forsooth,
+she had a mind to kidnap me!</p>
+<p>&#8220;Now you&#8217;re talkin&#8217; sensible,&#8221; she approved.
+&#8220;My sakes alive! Benton!&#8221; And she sniffed.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_26' name='page_26'></a>26</span>
+&#8220;Why, in Benton they&#8217;ll snatch you bald-headed &#8217;fore
+you&#8217;ve been there an hour.&#8221;</p>
+<p>She composed herself for another nap.</p>
+<p>&#8220;If that pesky brakeman don&#8217;t remember to wake
+me, you give me a poke with your elbow. I wouldn&#8217;t
+be carried beyond North Platte for love or money.&#8221;</p>
+<p>She gurgled, she snored. The sunset was fading
+from pink to gold&mdash;a gold like somebody&#8217;s hair; and
+from gold to lemon which tinted all the prairie and
+made it beautiful. Pursuing the sunset we steadily
+rumbled westward through the immensity of unbroken
+space.</p>
+<p>The brakeman came in, lighting the coal-oil lamps.
+Outside, the twilight had deepened into dusk. Numerous
+passengers were making ready for bed: the
+men by removing their boots and shoes and coats and
+galluses and stretching out; the women by loosening
+their stays, with significant clicks and sighs, and laying
+their heads upon adjacent shoulders or drooping
+against seat ends. Babies cried, and were hushed.
+Final night-caps were taken, from the prevalent bottles.</p>
+<p>The brakeman, returning, paused and inquired
+right and left on his way through. He leaned to me.</p>
+<p>&#8220;You for North Platte?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;No, sir. Benton, Wyoming Territory.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Then you&#8217;d better move up to the car ahead.
+This car stops at North Platte.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;What time do we reach North Platte?&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_27' name='page_27'></a>27</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;Two-thirty in the morning. If you don&#8217;t want to
+be waked up, you&#8217;d better change now. You&#8217;ll find
+a seat.&#8221;</p>
+<p>At that I gladly followed him out. He indicated a
+half-empty seat.</p>
+<p>&#8220;This gentleman gets off a bit farther on; then
+you&#8217;ll have the seat to yourself.&#8221;</p>
+<p>The arrangement was satisfactory, albeit the
+&#8220;gentleman&#8221; with whom I shared appeared, to nose
+and eyes, rather well soused, as they say; but fortune
+had favored me&mdash;across the aisle, only a couple of
+seats beyond, I glimpsed the top of a golden head,
+securely low and barricaded in by luggage.</p>
+<p>Without regrets I abandoned my former seat-mate
+to her disappointment when she waked at North
+Platte. This car was the place for me, set apart by
+the salient presence of one person among all the
+others. That, however, is apt to differentiate city
+from city, and even land from land.</p>
+<p>Eventually I, also, slept&mdash;at first by fits and starts
+concomitant with railway travel by night, then more
+soundly when the &#8220;gentleman,&#8221; my comrade in adventure,
+had been hauled out and deposited elsewhere.
+I fully awakened only at daylight.</p>
+<p>The train was rumbling as before. The lamps had
+been extinguished&mdash;the coach atmosphere was heavy
+with oil smell and the exhalations of human beings
+in all stages of deshabille. But the golden head was
+there, about as when last sighted.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_28' name='page_28'></a>28</span></p>
+<p>Now it stirred, and erected a little. I felt the unseemliness
+of sitting and waiting for her to make her
+toilet, so I hastily staggered to achieve my own by
+aid of the water tank, tin basin, roller towel and small
+looking-glass at the rear&mdash;substituting my personal
+comb and brush for the pair hanging there by
+cords.</p>
+<p>The coach was the last in the train. I stepped out
+upon the platform, for fresh air.</p>
+<p>We were traversing the real plains of the Great
+American Desert, I judged. The prairie grasses had
+shortened to brown stubble interspersed with bare
+sandy soil rising here and there into low hills. It
+was a country without north, south, east, west, save
+as denoted by the sun, broadly launching his first
+beams of the day. Behind us the single track of
+double rails stretched straight away as if clear to the
+Missouri. The dull blare of the car wheels was the
+only token of life, excepting the long-eared rabbits
+scampering with erratic high jumps, and the prairie
+dogs sitting bolt upright in the sunshine among their
+hillocked burrows. Of any town there was no sign.
+We had cut loose from company.</p>
+<p>Then we thundered by a freight train, loaded with
+still more ties and iron, standing upon a siding
+guarded by the idling trainmen and by an operator&#8217;s
+shack. Smoke was welling from the chimney of the
+shack&mdash;and that domestic touch gave me a sense of
+homesickness. Yet I would not have been home, even
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_29' name='page_29'></a>29</span>
+for breakfast. This wide realm of nowhere fascinated
+with the unknown.</p>
+<p>The train and shack flattened into the landscape.
+A bevy of antelope flashed white tails at us as they
+scudded away. Two motionless figures, horseback,
+whom I took to be wild Indians, surveyed us from a
+distant sand-hill. Across the river there appeared a
+fungus of low buildings, almost indistinguishable,
+with a glimmer of canvas-topped wagons fringing it.
+That was the old emigrant road.</p>
+<p>While I was thus orienting myself in lonesome
+but not entirely hopeless fashion the car door opened
+and closed. I turned my head. The Lady of the
+Blue Eyes had joined me. As fresh as the morning
+she was.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh! You? I beg your pardon, sir.&#8221; She apologized,
+but I felt that the diffidence was more politic
+than sincere.</p>
+<p>&#8220;You are heartily welcome, madam,&#8221; I assured.
+&#8220;There is air enough for us both.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;The car is suffocating,&#8221; she said. &#8220;However, the
+worst is over. We shall not have to spend another
+such a night. You are still for Benton?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;By all means.&#8221; And I bowed to her. &#8220;We are
+fellow-travelers to the end, I believe.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes?&#8221; She scanned me. &#8220;But I do not like
+that word: the end. It is not a popular word, in the
+West. Certainly not at Benton. For instance&mdash;&mdash;&#8221;</p>
+<p>We tore by another freight waiting upon a siding
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_30' name='page_30'></a>30</span>
+located amidst a wide débris of tin cans, scattered
+sheet-iron, stark mud-and-stone chimneys, and barren
+spots, resembling the ruins from fire and quake.</p>
+<p>&#8220;There is Julesburg.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;A town?&#8221; I gasped.</p>
+<p>&#8220;The end.&#8221; She smiled. &#8220;The only inhabitants
+now are in the station-house and the graveyard.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;And the others? Where are they?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Farther west. Many of them in Benton.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Indeed? Or in North Platte!&#8221; I bantered.</p>
+<p>&#8220;North Platte!&#8221; She laughed merrily. &#8220;Dear
+me, don&#8217;t mention North Platte&mdash;not in the same
+breath with Benton, or even Cheyenne. A town of
+hayseeds and dollar-a-day clerks whose height of
+sport is to go fishing in the Platte! A young man
+like you would die of ennui in North Platte. Julesburg
+was a good town while it lasted. People <i>lived</i>,
+there; and moved on because they wished to keep
+alive. What is life, anyway, but a constant shuffle
+of the cards? Oh, I should have laughed to see you
+in North Platte.&#8221; And laugh she did. &#8220;You might
+as well be dead underground as buried in one of those
+smug seven-Sabbaths-a-week places.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Her free speech accorded ill with what I had been
+accustomed to in womankind; and yet became her
+sparkling eyes and general dash.</p>
+<p>&#8220;To be dead is past the joking, madam,&#8221; I reminded.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Certainly. To be dead is the end. In Benton we
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_31' name='page_31'></a>31</span>
+live while we live, and don&#8217;t mention the end. So I
+took exception to your gallantry.&#8221; She glanced behind
+her, through the door window into the car.
+&#8220;Will you,&#8221; she asked hastily, &#8220;join me in a little
+appetizer, as they say? You will find it a superior
+cognac&mdash;and we breakfast shortly, at Sidney.&#8221;</p>
+<p>From a pocket of her skirt she had extracted a
+small silver flask, stoppered with a tiny screw cup.
+Her face swam before me, in my astonishment.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I rarely drink liquor, madam,&#8221; I stammered.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Nor I. But when traveling&mdash;you know. And in
+high and&mdash;dry Benton liquor is quite a necessity.
+You will discover that, I am sure. You will not decline
+to taste with a lady? Let us drink to better
+acquaintance, in Benton.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;With all my heart, madam,&#8221; I blurted.</p>
+<p>She poured, while swaying to the motion of the
+train; passed the cup to me with a brightly challenging
+smile.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Ladies first. That is the custom, is it not?&#8221; I
+queried.</p>
+<p>&#8220;But I am hostess, sir. I do the honors. Pray do
+you your duty.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;To our better acquaintance, then, madam,&#8221; I accepted.
+&#8220;In Benton.&#8221;</p>
+<p>The cognac swept down my throat like a stab of
+hot oil. She poured for herself.</p>
+<p>&#8220;A vôtre santé, monsieur&mdash;and continued beginnings,
+no ends.&#8221; She daintily tossed it off.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_32' name='page_32'></a>32</span></p>
+<p>We had consummated our pledges just in time.
+The brakeman issued, stumping noisily and bringing
+discord into my heaven of blue and gold and comfortable
+warmth.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Howdy, lady and gent? Breakfast in twenty
+minutes.&#8221; He grinned affably at her; yes, with a trace
+of familiarity. &#8220;Sleep well, madam?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Passably, thank you.&#8221; Her voice held a certain
+element of calm interrogation as if to ask how far he
+intended to push acquaintance. &#8220;We&#8217;re nearing Sidney,
+you say? Then I bid you gentlemen good-morning.&#8221;</p>
+<p>With a darting glance at him and a parting smile
+for me she passed inside. The brakeman leaned
+for an instant&#8217;s look ahead, up the track, and lingered.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Friend of yours, is she?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I met her at Omaha, is all,&#8221; I stiffly informed.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Considerable of a dame, eh?&#8221; He eyed me.
+&#8220;You&#8217;re booked for Benton, too?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, sir.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Never been there, myself. She&#8217;s another hell-roarer,
+they say.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Sir!&#8221; I remonstrated.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, the town, the town,&#8221; he enlightened. &#8220;I&#8217;m
+saying nothing against it, for that matter&mdash;nor
+against her, either. They&#8217;re both O. K.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;You are acquainted with the lady, yourself?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Her? Sure. I know about everybody along the
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_33' name='page_33'></a>33</span>
+line between Platte and Cheyenne. Been running on
+this division ever since it opened.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;She lives in Benton, though, I understand,&#8221; I
+proffered.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Why, yes; sure she does. Moved there from
+Cheyenne.&#8221; He looked at me queerly. &#8220;Naturally.
+Ain&#8217;t that so?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Probably it is,&#8221; I admitted. &#8220;I see no reason to
+doubt your word.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yep. Followed her man. A heap of people
+moved from Cheyenne to Benton, by way of Laramie.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;She is married, then?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Far as I know. Anyway, she&#8217;s not single, by a
+long shot.&#8221; And he laughed. &#8220;But, Lord, that cuts
+no great figger. People here don&#8217;t stand on ceremony
+in those matters. Everything&#8217;s aboveboard.
+Hands on the table until time to draw&mdash;then draw
+quick.&#8221;</p>
+<p>His language was a little too bluff for me.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Her husband is in business, no doubt?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Business?&#8221; He stared unblinking. &#8220;I see.&#8221;
+He laid a finger alongside his nose, and winked
+wisely. &#8220;You bet yuh! And good business. Yes,
+siree. Are you on?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Am I on?&#8221; I repeated. &#8220;On what? The
+train?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, on your way.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;To Benton; certainly.&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_34' name='page_34'></a>34</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;Do you see any green in my eye, friend?&#8221; he demanded.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I do not.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Or in the moon, maybe?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;No, nor in the moon,&#8221; I retorted. &#8220;But what is
+all this about?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ll be damned!&#8221; he roundly vouchsafed. And&mdash;&#8220;You&#8217;ve
+been having a quiet little smile with her,
+eh?&#8221; He sniffed suspiciously. &#8220;A few swigs of
+that&#8217;ll make a pioneer of you quicker&#8217;n alkali. She&#8217;s
+favoring you&mdash;eh? Now if she tells you of a system,
+take my advice and quit while your hair&#8217;s long.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;My hair is my own fashion, sir,&#8221; I rebuked.
+&#8220;And the lady is not for discussion between gentlemen,
+particularly as my acquaintance with her is only
+casual. I don&#8217;t understand your remarks, but if they
+are insinuations I shall have to ask you to drop the
+subject.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Tut, tut!&#8221; he grinned. &#8220;No offense intended,
+Mister Pilgrim. Well, you&#8217;re all right. We can&#8217;t be
+young more than once, and if the lady takes you in
+tow in Benton you&#8217;ll have the world by the tail as long
+as it holds. She moves with the top-notchers; she&#8217;s a
+knowing little piece&mdash;no offense. Her and me are
+good enough friends. There&#8217;s no brace game in that
+deal. I only aim to give you a steer. Savvy?&#8221; And
+he winked. &#8220;You&#8217;re out to see the elephant, yourself.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I am seeking health, is all,&#8221; I explained. &#8220;My
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_35' name='page_35'></a>35</span>
+physician had advised a place in the Far West, high
+and dry; and Benton is recommended.&#8221;</p>
+<p>His response was identical with others preceding.</p>
+<p>&#8220;High and dry? By golly, then Benton&#8217;s the
+ticket. It&#8217;s sure high, and sure dry. You bet yuh!
+High and dry and roaring.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Why &#8217;roaring&#8217;?&#8221; I demanded at last. The word
+had been puzzling me.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Up and coming. Pop goes the weasel, at Benton.
+Benton? Lord love you! They say it&#8217;s got Cheyenne
+and Laramie backed up a tree, the best days they ever
+seen. When you step off at Benton step lively and
+keep an eye in the back of your head. There&#8217;s money
+to be made at Benton, by the wise ones. Watch out
+for ropers and if you get onto a system, play it.
+There ain&#8217;t any limit to money or suckers.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I may not qualify as to money,&#8221; I informed.
+&#8220;But I trust that I am no sucker.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;No green in the eye, eh?&#8221; he approved. &#8220;Anyhow,
+you have a good lead if your friend in black
+cottons to you.&#8221; Again he winked. &#8220;You&#8217;re not a
+bad-looking young feller.&#8221; He leaned over the side
+steps, and gazed ahead. &#8220;Sidney in sight. Be there
+directly. We&#8217;re hitting twenty miles and better
+through the greatest country on earth. The engineer
+smells breakfast.&#8221;</p>
+<hr class='major' />
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='III_I_RISE_IN_FAVOR' id='III_I_RISE_IN_FAVOR'></a>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_36' name='page_36'></a>36</span>
+<h2>CHAPTER III</h2>
+<h3>I RISE IN FAVOR</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>With that he went forward. So did I; but the
+barricade at the end of My Lady&#8217;s seat was intact,
+and I sat down in my own seat, to keep expectant
+eye upon her profile&mdash;a decided relief amidst that
+crude mélange of people in various stages of hasty
+dressing after a night of cramped postures.</p>
+<p>The brakeman&#8217;s words, although mysterious in
+part, had concluded reassuringly. My Lady, he said,
+would prove a valuable friend in Benton. A friend
+at hand means a great deal to any young man,
+stranger in a strange land.</p>
+<p>The conductor came back&mdash;a new conductor;
+stooped familiarly over the barricade and evidently
+exchanged pleasantries with her.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Sidney! Sidney! Twenty minutes for breakfast!&#8221;
+the brakeman bawled, from the door.</p>
+<p>There was the general stir. My Lady shot a glance
+at me, with inviting eyes, but arose in response to the
+proffered arm of the conductor, and I was late. The
+aisle filled between us as he ushered her on and the
+train slowed to grinding of brakes and the tremendous
+clanging of a gong.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_37' name='page_37'></a>37</span></p>
+<p>Of Sidney there was little to see: merely a station-house
+and the small Railroad Hotel, with a handful
+of other buildings forming a single street&mdash;all squatting
+here near a rock quarry that broke the expanse
+of uninhabited brown plains. The air, however, was
+wonderfully invigorating; the meal excellent, as usual;
+and when I emerged from the dining-room, following
+closely a black figure crowned with gold, I found her
+strolling alone upon the platform.</p>
+<p>Therefore I caught up with her. She faced me
+with ready smile.</p>
+<p>&#8220;You are rather slow in action, sir,&#8221; she lightly
+accused. &#8220;We might have breakfasted together; but
+it was the conductor again, after all.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I plead guilty, madam,&#8221; I admitted. &#8220;The trainmen
+have an advantage over me, in anticipating
+events. But the next meal shall be my privilege. We
+stop again before reaching Benton?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;For dinner, yes; at Cheyenne.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;And after that you will be home.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Home?&#8221; she queried, with a little pucker between
+her brows.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes. At Benton.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Of course.&#8221; She laughed shortly. &#8220;Benton is
+now home. We have moved so frequently that I
+have grown to call almost no place home.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I judge then that you are connected, as may happen,
+with a flexible business,&#8221; I hazarded. &#8220;If you
+are in the army I can understand.&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_38' name='page_38'></a>38</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;No, I&#8217;m not an army woman; but there is money
+in following the railroad, and that is our present life,&#8221;
+she said frankly. &#8220;A town springs up, you know, at
+each terminus, booms as long as the freight and passengers
+pile up&mdash;and all of a sudden the go-ahead
+business and professional men pull stakes for the
+next terminus as soon as located. That has been
+the custom, all the way from North Platte to Benton.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Which accounts for your acquaintance along the
+line. The trainmen seem to know you.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Trainmen and others; oh, yes. It is to be expected.
+I have no objections to that. I am quite able
+to take care of myself, sir.&#8221;</p>
+<p>We were interrupted. A near-drunken rowdy
+(upon whom I had kept an uneasy corner of an eye)
+had been careening over the platform, a whiskey bottle
+protruding from the hip pocket of his sagging
+jeans, a large revolver dangling at his thigh, his
+slouch hat cocked rakishly upon his tousled head. His
+language was extremely offensive&mdash;he had an ugly
+mood on, but nobody interfered. The crowd stood
+aside&mdash;the natives laughing, the tourists like myself
+viewing him askance, and several Indians watching
+only gravely.</p>
+<p>He sighted us, and staggered in.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Howdy?&#8221; he uttered, with an oath. &#8220;Shay&mdash;hello,
+stranger. Have a smile. Take two, one for
+lady. Hic!&#8221; And he thrust his bottle at me.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_39' name='page_39'></a>39</span></p>
+<p>My Lady drew back. I civilly declined the
+&#8220;smile.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Thank you. I do not drink.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;What?&#8221; He stared blearily. His tone stiffened.
+&#8220;The hell you say. Too tony, eh? Too&mdash;&#8217;ic! Have
+a smile, I ask you, one gent to &#8217;nother. Have a smile,
+you (unmentionable) pilgrim; fer if you don&#8217;t&mdash;&mdash;&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Train&#8217;s starting, Jim,&#8221; she interposed sharply.
+&#8220;If you want to get aboard you&#8217;d better hurry.&#8221;</p>
+<p>The engine tooted, the bell was ringing, the passengers
+were hurrying, incited by the conductor&#8217;s
+shout: &#8220;All &#8217;board!&#8221;</p>
+<p>Without another word she tripped for the car steps.
+I gave the fellow one firm look as he stood stupidly
+scratching his thatch as if to harrow his ideas; and
+perforce left him. By the cheers he undoubtedly
+made in the same direction. I was barely in time
+myself. The train moved as I planted foot upon the
+steps of the nearest car&mdash;the foremost of the two.
+The train continued; halted again abruptly, while
+cheers rang riotous; and when I crossed the passageway
+between this car and ours the conductor and
+brakeman were hauling the tipsy Jim into safety.</p>
+<p>My Lady was ensconced.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Did they get him?&#8221; she inquired, when I paused.</p>
+<p>&#8220;By the scruff of the neck. The drunken fellow,
+you mean.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes; Jim.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;You know him?&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_40' name='page_40'></a>40</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;He&#8217;s from Benton. I suppose he&#8217;s been down
+here on a little pasear, as they say.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;If you think he&#8217;ll annoy you&mdash;&mdash;?&#8221; I made
+bold to suggest, for I greatly coveted the half of her
+seat.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, I&#8217;m not afraid of Jim. But yes, do sit down.
+You can put these things back in your seat. Then we
+can talk.&#8221;</p>
+<p>I had no more than settled triumphantly, when the
+brakeman ambled through, his face in a broad grin.
+He also paused, to perch upon the seat end, his arm
+extended friendlily along the back.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well, we got him corralled,&#8221; he proclaimed needlessly.
+&#8220;That t&#8217;rantular juice nigh broke his neck for
+him.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Did you take his bottle away, Jerry?&#8221; she
+asked.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Sure thing. He&#8217;ll be peaceable directly. Soused
+to the guards. Reckon he&#8217;s inclined to be a trifle ugly
+when he&#8217;s on a tear, ain&#8217;t he? They&#8217;d shipped him
+out of Benton on a down train. Now he&#8217;s going back
+up.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;He&#8217;s safe, you think?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Sewed tight. He&#8217;ll sleep it off and be ready
+for night.&#8221; The brakeman winked at her. &#8220;You
+needn&#8217;t fear. He&#8217;ll be on deck, right side up with
+care.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve told this gentleman that I&#8217;m not afraid,&#8221; she
+answered quickly.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_41' name='page_41'></a>41</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;Of course. And he knows what&#8217;s best for him,
+himself.&#8221; The brakeman slapped me on the shoulder
+and good-naturedly straightened. &#8220;So does this
+young gentleman, I rather suspicion. I can see his
+fortune&#8217;s made. You bet, if he works it right. I
+told him if you cottoned to him&mdash;&mdash;&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Now you&#8217;re talking too much, Jerry,&#8221; she reproved.
+&#8220;The gentleman and I are only traveling acquaintances.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, ma&#8217;am. To Benton. Let &#8217;er roar. Cheyenne&#8217;s
+the closest I can get, myself, and Cheyenne&#8217;s a
+dead one&mdash;blowed up, busted worse&#8217;n a galvanized
+Yank with a pocket full o&#8217; Confed wall-paper.&#8221; He
+yawned. &#8220;Guess I&#8217;ll take forty winks. Was up all
+night, and a man can stand jest so much, Injuns or
+no Injuns.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Did you expect to meet with Indians, sir, along
+the route?&#8221; I asked.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Hell, yes. Always expect to meet &#8217;em between
+Kearney and Julesburg. It&#8217;s about time they were
+wrecking another train. Well, so long. Be good to
+each other.&#8221; With this parting piece of impertinence
+he stumped out.</p>
+<p>&#8220;A friendly individual, evidently,&#8221; I hazarded, to
+tide her over her possible embarrassment.</p>
+<p>Her laugh assured me that she was not embarrassed
+at all, which proved her good sense and elevated her
+even farther in my esteem.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, Jerry&#8217;s all right. I don&#8217;t mind Jerry, except
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_42' name='page_42'></a>42</span>
+that his tongue is hung in the middle. He probably
+has been telling you some tall yarns?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;He? No, I don&#8217;t think so. He may have tried
+it, but his Western expressions are beyond me as yet.
+In fact, what he was driving at on the rear platform
+I haven&#8217;t the slightest idea.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Driving at? In what way, sir?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;He referred to the green in his eye and in the
+moon, as I recall; and to a mysterious &#8216;system&#8217;; and
+gratuitously offered me a &#8216;steer.&#8217;&#8221;</p>
+<p>Her face hardened remarkably, so that her chin set
+as if tautened by iron bands. Those eyes glinted with
+real menace.</p>
+<p>&#8220;He did, did he? Along that line of talk! The
+clapper-jaw! He&#8217;s altogether too free.&#8221; She surveyed
+me keenly. &#8220;And naturally you couldn&#8217;t understand
+such lingo.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I was not curious enough to try, my dear madam.
+He talked rather at random; likely enjoyed bantering
+me. But,&#8221; I hastily placated in his behalf, &#8220;he recommended
+Benton as a lively place, and you as a friend
+of value in case that you honored me with your patronage.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;My patronage, for you?&#8221; she exclaimed. &#8220;Indeed?
+To what extent? Are you going into business,
+too? As one of&mdash;us?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;If I should become a Bentonite, as I hope,&#8221; I gallantly
+replied, &#8220;then of course I should look to permanent
+investment of some nature. And before my
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_43' name='page_43'></a>43</span>
+traveling funds run out I shall be glad of light employment.
+The brakeman gave me to understand
+merely that by your kindly interest you might be disposed
+to assist me.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh!&#8221; Her face lightened. &#8220;I dare say Jerry
+means well. But when you spoke of &#8216;patronage&#8217;&mdash;&mdash;
+That is a current term of certain import
+along the railroad.&#8221; She leaned to me; a glow emanated
+from her. &#8220;Tell me of yourself. You have red
+blood? Do you ever game? For if you are not
+afraid to test your luck and back it, there is money to
+be made very easily at Benton, and in a genteel way.&#8221;
+She smiled bewitchingly. &#8220;Or are you a Quaker, to
+whom life is deadly serious?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;No Quaker, madam.&#8221; How could I respond
+otherwise to that pair of dancing blue eyes, to that
+pair of derisive lips? &#8220;As for gaming&mdash;if you mean
+cards, why, I have played at piquet and romp, in a
+social way, for small stakes; and my father brought
+Old Sledge back from the army, to the family table.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;You are lucky. I can see it,&#8221; she alleged.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I am, on this journey,&#8221; I asserted.</p>
+<p>She blushed.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well said, sir. And if you choose to make use of
+your luck, in Benton, by all means&mdash;&mdash;&#8221;</p>
+<p>Whether she would have shaped her import clearly
+I did not know. There was a commotion in the forward
+part of the car. That same drunken wretch
+Jim had appeared; his bottle (somehow restored to
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_44' name='page_44'></a>44</span>
+him) in hand, his hat pushed back from his flushed
+greasy forehead.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Have a smile, ladies an&#8217; gents,&#8221; he was bellowing
+thickly. &#8220;Hooray! Have a smile on me. Great an&#8217;
+gloryus &#8217;casion&mdash;&#8217;ic! Ever&#8217;body smile. Drink to
+op&#8217;nin&#8217; gloryus Pac&#8217;fic&mdash;&#8217;ic&mdash;Railway. Thash it.
+Hooray!&#8221; Thus he came reeling down the aisle,
+thrusting his bottle right and left, to be denied with
+shrinkings or with bluff excuses.</p>
+<p>It seemed inevitable that he should reach us. I
+heard My Lady utter a little gasp, as she sat more
+erect; and here he was, espying us readily enough
+with that uncanny precision of a drunken man, his
+bottle to the fore.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Have a smile, you two. Wouldn&#8217;t smile at station;
+gotto smile now. Yep. &#8217;Ic! &#8217;Ray for Benton!
+All goin&#8217; to Benton. Lesh be good fellers.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;You go back to your seat, Jim,&#8221; she ordered
+tensely. &#8220;Go back, if you know what&#8217;s good for
+you.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Whash that? Who your dog last year? Shay!
+You can&#8217;t come no highty-tighty over me. Who your
+new friend? Shay!&#8221; He reeled and gripped the
+seat, flooding me with his vile breath. &#8220;By Gawd,
+I got the dead-wood on you, you&mdash;&mdash;!&#8221; and he had
+loosed such a torrent of low epithets that they are
+inconceivable.</p>
+<p>&#8220;For that I&#8217;d kill you in any other place, Jim,&#8221;
+she said. &#8220;You know I&#8217;m not afraid of you. Now
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_45' name='page_45'></a>45</span>
+get, you wolf!&#8221; Her voice snapped like a whip-lash
+at the close; she had made sudden movement of hand&mdash;it
+was extended and I saw almost under my nose
+the smallest pistol imaginable; nickeled, of two barrels,
+and not above three inches long; projecting from her
+palm, the twin hammers cocked; and it was as steady
+as a die.</p>
+<p>Assuredly My Lady did know how to take care of
+herself. Still, that was not necessary now.</p>
+<p>&#8220;No!&#8221; I warned. &#8220;No matter. I&#8217;ll tend to
+him.&#8221;</p>
+<p>The fellow&#8217;s face had convulsed with a snarl of
+redder rage, his mouth opened as if for fresh abuse&mdash;and
+half rising I landed upon it with my fist.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Go where you belong, you drunken whelp!&#8221;</p>
+<p>I had struck and spoken at the same time, with a
+rush of wrath that surprised me; and the result surprised
+me more, for while I was not conscious of having
+exerted much force he toppled backward clear
+across the aisle, crashed down in a heap under the opposite
+seat. His bottle shattered against the ceiling.
+The whiskey spattered in a sickening shower over the
+alarmed passengers.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Look out! Look out!&#8221; she cried, starting
+quickly. Up he scrambled, cursing, and wrenching at
+his revolver. I sprang to smother him, but there was
+a flurry, a chorus of shouts, men leaped between us,
+the brakeman and conductor both had arrived, in a
+jiffy he was being hustled forward, swearing and
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_46' name='page_46'></a>46</span>
+blubbering. And I sank back, breathless, a degree
+ashamed, a degree rather satisfied with my action and
+my barked knuckles.</p>
+<p>Congratulations echoed dully.</p>
+<p>&#8220;The right spirit!&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;That&#8217;ll l&#8217;arn him to insult a lady.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;You sartinly rattled him up, stranger. Squar&#8217; on
+the twitter!&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Shake, Mister.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;For a pilgrim you&#8217;re consider&#8217;ble of a hoss.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;If he&#8217;d drawn you&#8217;d have give him a pill, I reckon,
+lady. I know yore kind. But he won&#8217;t bother you
+ag&#8217;in; not he.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, what a terrible scene!&#8221;</p>
+<p>To all this I paid scant attention. I heard her, as
+she sat composedly, scarcely panting. The little pistol
+had disappeared.</p>
+<p>&#8220;The play has been made, ladies and gentlemen,&#8221;
+she said. And to me: &#8220;Thank you. Yes,&#8221; she continued,
+with a flash of lucent eyes and a dimpling
+smile, &#8220;Jim has lost his whiskey and has a chance to
+sober up. He&#8217;ll have forgotten all about this before
+we reach Benton. But I thank you for your promptness.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I didn&#8217;t want you to shoot him,&#8221; I stammered.
+&#8220;I was quite able to tend to him myself. Your pistol
+is loaded?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;To be sure it is.&#8221; And she laughed gaily. Her
+lips tightened, her eyes darkened. &#8220;And I&#8217;d kill him
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_47' name='page_47'></a>47</span>
+like a dog if he presumed farther. In this country we
+women protect ourselves from insult. I always carry
+my derringer, sir.&#8221;</p>
+<p>The brakeman returned with a broom, to sweep up
+the chips of broken bottle. He grinned at us.</p>
+<p>&#8220;There&#8217;s no wind in him now,&#8221; he communicated.
+&#8220;Peaceful as a baby. We took his gun off him. I&#8217;ll
+pass the word ahead to keep him safe, on from Cheyenne.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Please do, Jerry,&#8221; she bade. &#8220;I&#8217;d prefer to have
+no more trouble with him, for he might not come out
+so easily next time. He knows that.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Surely ought to, by golly,&#8221; the brakeman agreed
+roundly. &#8220;And he ought to know you go heeled.
+But that there tanglefoot went to his head. Looks
+now as if he&#8217;d been kicked in the face by a mule.
+Haw haw! No offense, friend. You got me plumb
+buffaloed with that fivespot o&#8217; yourn.&#8221; And finishing
+his job he retired with dust-pan and broom.</p>
+<p>&#8220;You&#8217;re going to do well in Benton,&#8221; she said suddenly,
+to me, with a nod. &#8220;I regret this scene&mdash;I
+couldn&#8217;t help it, though, of course. When Jim&#8217;s sober
+he has sense, and never tries to be familiar.&#8221;</p>
+<p>She was amazingly cool under the epithets that he
+had applied. I admired her for that as she gazed at
+me pleadingly.</p>
+<p>&#8220;A drunken man is not responsible for words or
+actions, although he should be made so,&#8221; I consoled
+her. &#8220;Possibly I should not have struck him. In the
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_48' name='page_48'></a>48</span>
+Far West you may be more accustomed to these episodes
+than we are in the East.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t know. There is a limit. You did right.
+I thank you heartily. Still&#8221;&mdash;and she mused&mdash;&#8220;you
+can&#8217;t always depend on your fists alone. You carry
+no weapon, neither knife nor gun?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I never have needed either,&#8221; said I. &#8220;My teaching
+has been that a man should be able to rely upon
+his fists.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Then you&#8217;d better get &#8217;heeled,&#8217; as we say, when
+you reach Benton. Fists are a short-range weapon.
+The men generally wear a gun somewhere. It is the
+custom.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;And the women, too, if I may judge,&#8221; I smiled.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Some of us. Yes,&#8221; she repeated, &#8220;you&#8217;re likely
+to do well, out here, if you&#8217;ll permit me to advise you
+a little.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Under your tutelage I am sure I shall do well,&#8221;
+I accepted. &#8220;I may call upon you in Benton? If you
+will favor me with your address&mdash;&mdash;?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;My address?&#8221; She searched my face in manner
+startled. &#8220;You&#8217;ll have no difficulty finding me; not
+in Benton. But I&#8217;ll make an appointment with you in
+event&#8221;&mdash;and she smiled archly&mdash;&#8220;you are not afraid
+of strange women.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I have been taught to respect women, madam,&#8221;
+said I. &#8220;And my respect is being strengthened.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh!&#8221; I seemed to have pleased her. &#8220;You have
+been carefully brought up, sir.&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_49' name='page_49'></a>49</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;To fear God, respect woman, and act the man as
+long as I breathe,&#8221; I asserted. &#8220;My mother is a
+saint, my father a nobleman, and what I may have
+learned from them is to their credit.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;That may go excellently in the East,&#8221; she answered.
+&#8220;But we in the West favor the Persian
+maxim&mdash;to ride, to shoot, and to tell the truth. With
+those three qualities even a tenderfoot can establish
+himself.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Whether I can ride and shoot sufficient for the
+purpose, time will show,&#8221; I retorted. &#8220;At least,&#8221; and
+I endeavored to speak with proper emphasis, &#8220;you
+hear the truth when I say that I anticipate much pleasure
+as well as renewed health, in Benton.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Were we by ourselves we would seal the future
+in another &#8217;smile&#8217; together,&#8221; she slyly promised.
+&#8220;Unless that might shock you.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I am ready to fall in with the customs of the
+country,&#8221; I assured. &#8220;I certainly am not averse to
+smiles, when fittingly proffered.&#8221;</p>
+<p>So we exchanged fancies while the train rolled over
+a track remarkable for its smoothness and leading
+ever onward across the vast, empty plains bare save
+for the low shrubs called sage-brush, and rising here
+and there into long swells and abrupt sandstone pinnacles.</p>
+<p>We stopped near noon at the town of Cheyenne, in
+Wyoming Territory. Cheyenne, once boasting the
+title (I was told) &#8220;The Magic City of the Plains,&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_50' name='page_50'></a>50</span>
+was located upon a dreary flatness, although from it
+one might see, far southwest, the actual Rocky Mountains
+in Colorado Territory, looking, at this distance
+of one hundred miles, like low dark clouds. The up
+grade in the west promised that we should soon cross
+over their northern flanks, of the Black Hills.</p>
+<p>Last winter, Cheyenne, I was given to understand,
+had ten thousand inhabitants; but the majority had
+followed the railroad west, so that now there remained
+only some fifteen hundred. After dinner we,
+too, went west.</p>
+<p>We overcame the Black Hills Mountains about two
+o&#8217;clock, having climbed to the top with considerable
+puffing of the engine but otherwise almost imperceptibly
+to the passengers. When we were halted, upon
+the crown, at Sherman Station, to permit us to alight
+and see for ourselves, I scarcely might believe that we
+were more than eight thousand feet in air. There was
+nothing to indicate, except some little difficulty of
+breath; not so much as I had feared when in Cheyenne,
+whose six thousand feet gave me a slightly
+giddy sensation.</p>
+<p>My Lady moved freely, being accustomed to the
+rarity; and she assured me that although Benton was
+seven thousand feet I would soon grow wonted to the
+atmosphere. The habitués of this country made light
+of the spot; the strangers on tour picked flowers and
+gathered rocks as mementoes of the &#8220;Crest of the
+Continent&#8221;&mdash;which was not a crest but rather a level
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_51' name='page_51'></a>51</span>
+plateau, wind-swept and chilly while sunny. Then
+from this Sherman Summit of the Black Hills of
+Wyoming the train swept down by its own momentum
+from gravity, for the farther side.</p>
+<p>The fellow Jim had not emerged, as yet, much to
+my relief. The scenery was increasing in grandeur
+and interest, and the play of my charming companion
+would have transformed the most prosaic of journeys
+into a trip through Paradise.</p>
+<p>I hardly noted the town named Laramie City, at the
+western base of the Black Hills; and was indeed annoyed
+by the vendors hawking what they termed
+&#8220;mountain gems&#8221; through the train. Laramie, according
+to My Lady, also once had been, as she styled
+it, &#8220;a live town,&#8221; but had deceased in favor of Benton.
+From Laramie we whirled northwest, through a
+broad valley enlivened by countless antelope scouring
+over the grasses; thence we issued into a wilder,
+rougher country, skirting more mountains very
+gloomy in aspect.</p>
+<p>However, of the panorama outside I took but casual
+glances; the phenomenon of blue and gold so close
+at hand was all engrossing, and my heart beat high
+with youth and romance. Our passage was astonishingly
+short, but the sun was near to setting beyond
+distant peaks when by the landmarks that she knew
+we were approaching Benton at last.</p>
+<p>We crossed a river&mdash;the Platte, again, even away
+in here; briefly paused at a military post, and entered
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_52' name='page_52'></a>52</span>
+upon a stretch of sun-baked, reddish-white, dusty desert
+utterly devoid of vegetation.</p>
+<p>There was a significant bustle in the car, among
+the travel-worn occupants. The air was choking with
+the dust swirled through every crevice by the stir of
+the wheels&mdash;already mobile as it was from the efforts
+of the teams that we passed, of six and eight
+horses tugging heavy wagons. Plainly we were
+within striking distance of some focus of human
+energies.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Benton! Benton in five minutes. End o&#8217; track,&#8221;
+the brakeman shouted.</p>
+<p>&#8220;My valise, please.&#8221;</p>
+<p>I brought it. The conductor, who like the other
+officials knew My Lady, pushed through to us and
+laid hand upon it.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ll see you out,&#8221; he announced. &#8220;Come ahead.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Pardon. That shall be my privilege,&#8221; I interposed.
+But she quickly denied.</p>
+<p>&#8220;No, please. The conductor is an old friend. I
+shall need no other help&mdash;I&#8217;m perfectly at home.
+You can look out for yourself.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;But I shall see you again&mdash;and where? I don&#8217;t
+know your address; fact is, I&#8217;m even ignorant of your
+name,&#8221; I pleaded desperately.</p>
+<p>&#8220;How stupid of me.&#8221; And she spoke fast and
+low, over her shoulder. &#8220;To-night, then, at the Big
+Tent. Remember.&#8221;</p>
+<p>I pressed after.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_53' name='page_53'></a>53</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;The Big Tent! Shall I inquire there? And for
+whom?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;You&#8217;ll not fail to see me. Everybody knows the
+Big Tent, everybody goes there. So au revoir.&#8221;</p>
+<p>She was swallowed in the wake of the conductor,
+and I fain must gather my own belongings before following.
+The Big Tent, she said? I had not misunderstood;
+and I puzzled over the address, which impinged
+as rather bizarre, whether in West or East.</p>
+<p>We stopped with a jerk, amidst a babel of cries.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Benton! All out!&#8221; Out we stumbled. Here I
+was, at rainbow&#8217;s end.</p>
+<hr class='major' />
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='IV_I_MEET_FRIENDS' id='IV_I_MEET_FRIENDS'></a>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_54' name='page_54'></a>54</span>
+<h2>CHAPTER IV</h2>
+<h3>I MEET FRIENDS</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>What shall I say of a young man like myself, fresh
+from the green East of New York and the Hudson
+River, landed expectant as just aroused from a dream
+of rare beauty, at this Benton City, Wyoming Territory?
+The dust, as fine as powder and as white, but
+shot through with the crimson of sunset, hung like a
+fog, amidst which swelled a deafening clamor from
+figures rushing hither and thither about the platform
+like half-world shades. A score of voices dinned into
+my ears as two score hands grabbed at my valise and
+shoved me and dragged me.</p>
+<p>&#8220;The Desert Hotel. Best in the West. This way,
+sir.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Buffalo Hump Corral! The Buffalo Hump!
+Free drinks at the Buffalo Hump.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Vamos, all o&#8217; you. Leave the gent to me. I&#8217;ve
+had him before. Mike&#8217;s Place for you, eh? Come
+along.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;The Widow&#8217;s Café! That&#8217;s yore grub pile, gent.
+All you can eat for two bits.&#8221;</p>
+<p>A deep voice boomed, stunning me.</p>
+<p>&#8220;The Queen, the Queen! Bath for every room.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_55' name='page_55'></a>55</span>
+Individual towels. The Queen, the Queen, she&#8217;s
+clean, she&#8217;s clean.&#8221;</p>
+<p>It was a magnificent bass, full toned as an organ,
+issuing, likewise as out of a reed, from a swart dwarf
+scarcely higher than my waist. The word &#8220;bath,&#8221;
+with the promise of &#8220;individual towels,&#8221; won me
+over. Something must be done, anyway, to get rid
+of these importunate runners. Thereupon I acquiesced,
+&#8220;All right, my man. The Queen,&#8221; and surrendering
+my bag to his hairy paw I trudged by his
+guidance. The solicitations instantly ceased as if in
+agreement with some code.</p>
+<p>We left the station platform and went ploughing
+up a street over shoetops with the impalpable dust
+and denoted by tents and white-coated shacks sparsely
+bordering. The air was breezeless and suffocatingly
+loaded with that dust not yet deposited. The noises
+as from a great city swelled strident: shouts, hammerings,
+laughter, rumble of vehicles, cracking of
+lashes, barkings of dogs innumerable&mdash;betokening a
+thriving mart of industry. But although pedestrians
+streamed to and fro, the men in motley of complexions
+and costumes, the women, some of them fashionably
+dressed, with skirts eddying furiously; and
+wagons rolled, horses cantered, and from right and
+left merchants and hawksters seemed to be calling
+their wares, of city itself I could see only the veriest
+husk.</p>
+<p>The majority of the buildings were mere
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_56' name='page_56'></a>56</span>
+canvas-faced up for a few feet, perhaps, with sheet iron or
+flimsy boards; interspersed there were a few wooden
+structures, rough and unpainted; and whereas several
+of the housings were large, none was more than two
+stories&mdash;and when now and again I thought that I
+had glimpsed a substantial stone front a closer inspection
+told me that the stones were imitation, forming a
+veneer of the sheet iron or of stenciled pine. Indeed,
+not a few of the upper stories, viewed from an unfavorable
+angle, proved to be only thin parapets upstanding
+for a pretense of well-being. Behind them,
+nothing at all!</p>
+<p>In the confusion of that which I took to be the main
+street because of the stores and piles of goods and the
+medley of signs, what with the hubbub from the many
+barkers for saloons and gambling games, the constant
+dodging among the pedestrians, vehicles and horses
+and dogs, in a thoroughfare that was innocent of
+sidewalk, I really had scant opportunity to gaze; certainly
+no opportunity as yet to get my bearings. My
+squat guide shuttled aside; a group of loafers gave us
+passage, with sundry stares at me and quips for him;
+and I was ushered into a widely-open tent-building
+whose canvas sign depending above a narrow veranda
+declared: &#8220;The Queen Hotel. Beds $3. Meals $1
+each.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Now as whitely powdered as any of the natives I
+stumbled across a single large room bordered at one
+side by a bar and a number of small tables (all well
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_57' name='page_57'></a>57</span>
+patronized), and was brought up at the counter, under
+the alert eyes of a clerk coatless, silk-shirted, diamond-scarfed,
+pomaded and slick-haired, waiting with register
+turned and pen extended.</p>
+<p>My gnome heavily dropped my bag.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Gent for you,&#8221; he presented.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I wish a room and bath,&#8221; I said, as I signed.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Bath is occupied. I&#8217;ll put you down, Mr.&mdash;&mdash;&#8221;
+and he glanced at the signature. &#8220;Four dollars and
+four bits, please. Show the gentleman to Number
+Six, Shorty. That drummer&#8217;s gone, isn&#8217;t he?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;You bet.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;The bath is occupied?&#8221; I expostulated. &#8220;How
+so? I wish a private bath.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Private? Yes, sir. All you&#8217;ve got to do is to
+close the door while you&#8217;re in. Nobody&#8217;ll disturb you.
+But there are parties ahead of you. First come, first
+served.&#8221;</p>
+<p>I persisted.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Your runner&mdash;this gentleman, if I am not mistaken
+(and I indicated the gnome, who grinned from
+dusty face), distinctly said &#8216;A bath for every
+room.&#8217;&#8221;</p>
+<p>Bystanders had pushed nearer, to examine the register
+and then me. They laughed&mdash;nudged one another.
+Evidently I had a trace of green in my
+eye.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Quite right, sir,&#8221; the clerk assented. &#8220;So there
+is. A bath for every room and the best bath in town.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_58' name='page_58'></a>58</span>
+Entirely private; fresh towel supplied. Only one dollar
+and four bits. That, with lodging, makes four
+dollars and a half. If you please, sir.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;In advance?&#8221; I remonstrated&mdash;the bath charge
+alone being monstrous.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I see you&#8217;re from the East. Yes, sir; we have
+to charge transients in advance. That is the rule, sir.
+You stay in Benton City for some time?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I am undetermined.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Of course, sir. Your own affair. Yes, sir. But
+we shall hope to make Benton pleasant for you. The
+greatest city in the West. Anything you want for
+pleasure or business you&#8217;ll find right here.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;The greatest city in the West&mdash;pleasure or business!&#8221;
+A bitter wave of homesickness welled into
+my throat as, conscious of the enveloping dust, the
+utter shams, the tawdriness, the alien unsympathetic
+onlookers, the suave but incisive manner of the clerk,
+the sense of having been &#8220;done&#8221; and through my own
+fault, I peeled a greenback from the folded packet in
+my purse and handed it over. Rather foolishly I intended
+that this display of funds should rebuke the
+finicky clerk; but he accepted without comment and
+sought for the change from the twenty.</p>
+<p>&#8220;And how is old New York, suh?&#8221;</p>
+<p>A hearty, florid, heavy-faced man, with singularly
+protruding fishy eyes and a tobacco-stained yellowish
+goatee underneath a loosely dropping lower lip, had
+stepped forward, his pudgy hand hospitably outstretched
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_59' name='page_59'></a>59</span>
+to me: a man in wide-brimmed dusty black
+hat, frayed and dusty but, in spots, shiny, black broadcloth
+frock coat spattered down the lapels, exceedingly
+soiled collar and shirt front and greasy flowing
+tie, and trousers tucked into cowhide boots.</p>
+<p>I grasped the hand wonderingly. It enclosed mine
+with a soft pulpy squeeze; and lingered.</p>
+<p>&#8220;As usual, when I last saw it, sir,&#8221; I responded.
+&#8220;But I am from Albany.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Of course. Albany, the capital, a city to be
+proud of, suh. I welcome you, suh, to our new West,
+as a fellow-citizen.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;You are from Albany?&#8221; I exclaimed.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Bohn and raised right near there; been there
+many a time. Yes, suh. From the grand old Empire
+State, like yourself, suh, and without apologies.
+Whenever I meet with a New York State man I cotton
+to him.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Have I your name, sir?&#8221; I inquired. &#8220;You
+know of my family, perhaps.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Colonel Jacob B. Sunderson, suh, at your service.
+Your family name is familiar to me, suh. I hark
+back to it and to the grand old State with pleasure.
+Doubtless I have seen you befoh, sur. Doubtless in the
+City&mdash;at Johnny Chamberlain&#8217;s? Yes?&#8221; His fishy
+eyes beamed upon me, and his breath smelled strongly
+of liquor. &#8220;Or the Astor? I shall remember. Meanwhile,
+suh, permit me to do the honors. First, will
+you have a drink? This way, suh. I am partial to
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_60' name='page_60'></a>60</span>
+a brand particularly to be recommended for clearing
+this damnable dust from one&#8217;s throat.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Thank you, sir, but I prefer to tidy my person,
+first,&#8221; I suggested.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Number Six for the gentleman,&#8221; announced the
+clerk, returning to me my change from the bill. I
+stuffed it into my pocket&mdash;the Colonel&#8217;s singular eyes
+followed it with uncomfortable interest. The gnome
+picked up my bag, but was interrupted by my new
+friend.</p>
+<p>&#8220;The privilege of showing the gentleman to his
+quarters and putting him at home shall be mine.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;All right, Colonel,&#8221; the clerk carelessly consented.
+&#8220;Number Six.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;And my trunk. I have a trunk at the depot,&#8221; I
+informed.</p>
+<p>&#8220;The boy will tend to it.&#8221;</p>
+<p>I gave the gnome my check.</p>
+<p>&#8220;And my bath?&#8221; I pursued.</p>
+<p>&#8220;You will be notified, sir. There are only five
+ahead of you, and one gentleman now in. Your turn
+will come in about two hours.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;This way, suh. Kindly follow me,&#8221; bade the
+Colonel. As he strode before, slightly listed by the
+weight of the bag in his left hand, I remarked a peculiar
+bulge elevating the portly contour of his right
+coat-skirt.</p>
+<p>We ascended a flight of rude stairs which quivered
+to our tread, proceeded down a canvas-lined corridor
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_61' name='page_61'></a>61</span>
+set at regular intervals on either hand with numbered
+deal doors, some open to reveal disorderly interiors;
+and with &#8220;Here you are, suh,&#8221; I was importantly
+bowed into Number Six.</p>
+<p>We were not to be alone. There were three double
+beds: one well rumpled as if just vacated; one (the
+middle) tenanted by a frowsy headed, whiskered man
+asleep in shirt-sleeves and revolver and boots; the
+third, at the other end, recently made up by having its
+blanket covering hastily thrown against a distinctly
+dirty pillow.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Your bed yonduh, suh, I reckon,&#8221; prompted the
+Colonel (whose accents did not smack of New York
+at all), depositing my bag with a grunt of relief.
+&#8220;Now, suh, as you say, you desire to freshen the
+outer man after your journey. With your permission
+I will await your pleasure, suh; and your toilet
+being completed we will freshen the inner man also
+with a glass or two of rare good likker.&#8221;</p>
+<p>I gazed about, sickened. Item, three beds; item,
+one kitchen chair; item, one unpainted board washstand,
+supporting a tin basin, a cake of soap, a tin
+ewer, with a dingy towel hanging from a nail under
+a cracked mirror and over a tin slop-bucket; item,
+three spittoons, one beside each bed; item, a row of
+nails in a wooden strip, plainly for wardrobe purposes;
+item, one window, with broken pane.</p>
+<p>The board floor was bare and creaky, the partition
+walls were of once-white, stained muslin through
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_62' name='page_62'></a>62</span>
+which sifted unrebuked a mixture of sounds not thoroughly
+agreeable.</p>
+<p>The Colonel had seated himself upon a bed; the
+bulge underneath his skirts jutted more pronouncedly,
+and had the outlines of a revolver butt.</p>
+<p>&#8220;But surely I can get a room to myself,&#8221; I stammered.
+&#8220;The clerk mistakes me. This won&#8217;t do at
+all.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;You are having the best in the house, suh,&#8221; asserted
+the Colonel, with expansive wave of his thick
+hand. He spat accurately into the convenient spittoon.
+&#8220;It is a front room, suh. Number Six is
+known as very choice, and I congratulate you, suh. I
+myself will see to it that you shall have your bed to
+yourself, if you entertain objections to doubling up.
+We are, suh, a trifle crowded in Benton City, just at
+present, owing to the unprecedented influx of new
+citizens. You must remember, suh, that we are less
+than one month old, and we are accommodating from
+three to five thousand people.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Is this the best hotel?&#8221; I demanded.</p>
+<p>&#8220;It is so reckoned, suh. There are other hostelries,
+and I do not desire, suh, to draw invidious comparisons,
+their proprietors being friends of mine.
+But I will go so far as to say that the Queen caters
+only to the élite, suh, and its patronage is gilt
+edge.&#8221;</p>
+<p>I stepped to the window, the lower sash of which
+was up, and gazed out&mdash;down into that dust-fogged,
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_63' name='page_63'></a>63</span>
+noisy, turbulent main street, of floury human beings
+and grime-smeared beasts almost within touch, boiling
+about through the narrow lane between the placarded
+makeshift structures. I lifted my smarting
+eyes, and across the hot sheet-iron roofs I saw the
+country south&mdash;a white-blotched reddish desert
+stretching on, desolate, lifeless under the sunset, to a
+range of stark hills black against the glow.</p>
+<p>&#8220;There are no private rooms, then?&#8221; I asked,
+choking with a gulp of despair.</p>
+<p>&#8220;You are perfectly private right here, suh,&#8221; assured
+the Colonel. &#8220;You may strip to the hide or
+you may sleep with your boots on, and no questions
+asked. Gener&#8217;ly speaking, gentlemen prefer to retain
+a layer of artificial covering&mdash;but you ain&#8217;t troubled
+much with the bugs, are you, Bill?&#8221;</p>
+<p>He leveled this query at the frowsy, whiskered
+man, who had awakened and was blinking contentedly.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m too alkalied, I reckon,&#8221; Bill responded.
+&#8220;Varmints will leave me any time when there&#8217;s fresh
+bait handy. That&#8217;s why I likes to double up. That
+there Saint Louee drummer carried off most of &#8217;em
+from this gent&#8217;s bed, so he&#8217;s safe.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;You are again to be congratulated, suh,&#8221; addressed
+the Colonel, to me. &#8220;Allow me to interdeuce
+you. Shake hands with my friend Mr. Bill Brady.
+Bill, I present to you a fellow-citizen of mine from
+grand old New York State.&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_64' name='page_64'></a>64</span></p>
+<p>The frowsy man struggled up, shifted his revolver
+so as not to sit on it, and extended his hand.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Proud to make yore acquaintance, sir. Any
+friend of the Colonel&#8217;s is a friend o&#8217; mine.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;We will likker up directly,&#8221; the Colonel informed.
+&#8220;But fust the gentleman desires to attend to his person.
+Mr. Brady, suh,&#8221; he continued, for my benefit,
+&#8220;is one of our leading citizens, being proprietor of&mdash;what
+is it now, Bill?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Wall,&#8221; said Mr. Brady, &#8220;I&#8217;ve pulled out o&#8217; the
+Last Chance and I&#8217;m on spec&#8217;. The Last Chance got
+a leetle too much on the brace for healthy play; and
+when that son of a gun of a miner from South Pass
+City shot it up, I quit.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Naturally,&#8221; conceded the Colonel. &#8220;Mr. Brady,&#8221;
+he explained, &#8220;has been one of our most distinguished
+bankers, but he has retired from that industry and is
+considering other investments.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;The bath-room? Where is it, gentlemen?&#8221; I
+ventured.</p>
+<p>&#8220;If you will step outside the door, suh, you can
+hear the splashing down the hall. It is the custom,
+however, foh gentlemen at tub to keep the bath-room
+door closed, in case of ladies promenading. You will
+have time foh your preliminary toilet and foh a little
+refreshment and a pasear in town. I judge, with five
+ahead of you and one in, the clerk was mighty near
+right when he said about two hours. That allows
+twenty minutes to each gentleman, which is the limit.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_65' name='page_65'></a>65</span>
+A gentleman who requires more than twenty minutes
+to insure his respectability, suh, is too dirty foh such
+accommodations. He should resort to the river.
+Ain&#8217;t that so, Bill?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Perfectly correct, Colonel. I kin take an all-over,
+myself, in fifteen, whenever it&#8217;s healthy.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;But a dollar and a half for a twenty minutes&#8217; bath
+in a public tub is rather steep, seems to me,&#8221; said I,
+as I removed my coat and opened my bag.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Not so, suh, if I may question your judgment,&#8221;
+the Colonel reproved. &#8220;The tub, suh, is private to
+the person in it. He is never intruded upon unless he
+hawgs his time or the water disagrees with him. The
+water, suh, is hauled from the river by a toilsome
+journey of three miles. You understand, suh, that
+this great and growing city is founded upon the sheer
+face of the Red Desert, where the railroad stopped&mdash;the
+river being occupied by a Government reservation
+named Fort Steele. The Government&mdash;the United
+States Government, suh&mdash;having corralled the river
+where the railroad crosses, until we procure a nearer
+supply by artesian wells or by laying a pipe line we
+are public spirited enough to haul our water bodily,
+for ablution purposes, at ten dollars the barrel, or ten
+cents, one dime, the bucket. A bath, suh, uses up
+consider&#8217;ble water, even if at a slight reduction you
+are privileged to double up with another gentleman.&#8221;</p>
+<p>I shuddered at the thought of thus &#8220;doubling up.&#8221;
+God, how my stomach sank and my gorge rose as I
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_66' name='page_66'></a>66</span>
+rummaged through that bag, and with my toilet articles
+in hand faced the washstand!</p>
+<p>They two intently watched my operations; the
+Colonel craned to peer into my valise&mdash;and presently
+I might interpret his curiosity.</p>
+<p>&#8220;The prime old bourbon served at the fust-class
+New York bars still maintains its reputation, I dare
+hope, suh?&#8221; he interrogated.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I cannot say, I&#8217;m sure,&#8221; I replied.</p>
+<p>&#8220;No, suh,&#8221; he agreed. &#8220;Doubtless you are partial
+to your own stock. That bottle which I see doesn&#8217;t
+happen to be a sample of your favorite preservative?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;That?&#8221; I retorted. &#8220;It is toilet water. I am
+sorry to say I have no liquor with me.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;The deficiency will soon be forgotten, suh,&#8221; the
+Colonel bravely consoled. &#8220;Bill, we shall have to
+personally conduct him and provide him with the
+proper entertainment.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;What is your special line o&#8217; business, if you don&#8217;t
+mind my axin&#8217;?&#8221; Bill invited.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I am out here for my health, at present,&#8221; said I,
+vainly hunting a clean spot on the towel. &#8220;I have
+been advised by my physician to seek a place in the
+Far West that is high and dry. Benton&#8221;&mdash;and I
+laughed miserably, &#8220;certainly is dry.&#8221; For now I
+began to appreciate the frankly affirmative responses
+to my previous confessions. &#8220;And high, judging by
+the rates.&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_67' name='page_67'></a>67</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;Healthily dry, suh, in the matter of water,&#8221; the
+Colonel approved. &#8220;We are not cursed by the humidity
+of New York State, grand old State that she
+is. Foh those who require water, there is the Platte
+only three miles distant. The nearer proximity of
+water we consider a detriment to the robustness of a
+community. Our rainy weather is toler&#8217;bly infrequent.
+The last spell we had&mdash;lemme see. There
+was a brief shower, scurcely enough to sanction a
+parasol by a lady, last May, warn&#8217;t it, Bill? When
+we was camped at Rawlins&#8217; Springs, shooting antelope.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Some&#8217;ers about that time. But didn&#8217;t last long&mdash;not
+more&#8217;n two minutes,&#8221; Bill responded.</p>
+<p>&#8220;As foh fluids demanded by the human system, we
+are abundantly blessed, suh. There is scurcely any
+popular brand that you can&#8217;t get in Benton, and I hold
+that we have the most skillful mixtologists in history.
+There are some who are artists; artists, suh. But
+mainly we prefer our likker straight.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;We&#8217;re high, too,&#8221; Bill put in. &#8220;Well over seven
+thousand feet, &#8217;cordin&#8217; to them railroad engineers.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, suh, you are a mile and more nearer Heaven
+here in Benton than you were when beside the noble
+Hudson,&#8221; supplemented the Colonel. &#8220;And the prices
+of living are reasonable; foh money, suh, is cheap and
+ready to hand. No drink is less than two bits, and a
+man won&#8217;t tote a match across a street foh less than a
+drink. Money grows, suh, foh the picking. Our
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_68' name='page_68'></a>68</span>
+merchants are clearing thirty thousand dollars a
+month, and the professional gentleman who tries to
+limit his game is considered a low-down tin-horn.
+Yes, suh. This is the greatest terminal of the greatest
+railroad in the known world. It has Omaha, No&#8217;th
+Platte, Cheyenne beat to a frazzle. You cannot fail
+to prosper.&#8221; They had been critically watching me
+wash and rearrange my clothing. &#8220;You are not
+heeled, suh, I see?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Heeled?&#8221; I repeated.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Equipped with a shooting-iron, suh. Or do you
+intend to remedy that deficiency also?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I have not been in the habit of carrying arms.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;&#8217;Most everybody packs a gun or a bowie,&#8221; Bill
+remarked. &#8220;Gents and ladies both. But there&#8217;s no
+law ag&#8217;in not.&#8221;</p>
+<p>I had finished my meager toilet, and was glad, for
+the espionage had been annoying.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Now I am at your service during a short period,
+gentlemen,&#8221; I announced. &#8220;Later I have an engagement,
+and shall ask to be excused.&#8221;</p>
+<p>The Colonel arose with alacrity. Bill stood, and
+seized his hat hanging at the head of the bed.</p>
+<p>&#8220;A little liquid refreshment is in order fust, I
+reckon,&#8221; quoth the Colonel. &#8220;I claim the privilege,
+of course. And after that&mdash;you have sporting blood,
+suh? You will desire to take a turn or two foh the
+honor of the Empire State?&#8221;</p>
+<p>The inference was not quite clear. To develop it I
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_69' name='page_69'></a>69</span>
+replied guardedly, albeit unwilling to pose as a milksop.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I assuredly am not averse to any legitimate
+amusement.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s it,&#8221; Bill commended. &#8220;Nobody is, who
+has red in him; and a fellow kin see you&#8217;ve cut yore
+eye-teeth. What might you prefer, in line of a pass-the-time,
+on spec&#8217;?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;What is there, if you please?&#8221; I encouraged.</p>
+<p>He and the Colonel gravely contemplated each
+other. Bill scratched his head, and slowly closed one
+eye.</p>
+<p>&#8220;There&#8217;s a good open game of stud at the North
+Star,&#8221; he proffered. &#8220;I kin get the gentleman a seat.
+No limit.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Maybe our friend&#8217;s luck don&#8217;t run to stud,&#8221; hazarded
+the Colonel. &#8220;Stud exacts the powers of concentration,
+like faro.&#8221; And he also closed one eye.
+&#8220;It&#8217;s rather early in the evening foh close quarters.
+Are you particularly partial to the tiger or the
+cases, suh?&#8221; he queried of me. &#8220;Or would you be
+able to secure transient happiness in short games, foh
+a starter, while we move along, like a bee from flower
+to flower, gathering his honey?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;If you are referring to card gambling, sir,&#8221; I answered,
+&#8220;you have chosen a poor companion. But I
+do not intend to be a spoil sport, and I shall be glad
+to have you show me whatever you think worth while
+in the city, so far as I have the leisure.&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_70' name='page_70'></a>70</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s it, that&#8217;s it, suh.&#8221; The Colonel appeared
+delighted. &#8220;Let us libate to the gods of chance, gentlemen;
+and then take a stroll.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;My bag will be safe here?&#8221; I prompted, as we
+were about to file out.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Absolutely, suh. Personal property is respected
+in Benton. We&#8217;d hang the man who moved that bag
+of yours the fraction of one inch.&#8221;</p>
+<p>This at least was comforting. As much could not
+be said of New York City. The Colonel led down
+the echoing hall and the shaking stairs, into the lobby,
+peopled as before by men in all modes of attire and
+clustered mainly at the bar. He led directly to the
+bar itself.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Three, Ed. Name your likker, gentlemen. A
+little Double X foh me, Ed.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Old rye,&#8221; Bill briefly ordered.</p>
+<p>The bartender set out bottle and whiskey glasses,
+and looked upon me. I felt that the bystanders were
+waiting. My garb proclaimed the &#8220;pilgrim,&#8221; but I
+was resolved to be my own master, and for liquor I
+had no taste.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Lemonade, if you have it,&#8221; I faltered.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, sir.&#8221; The bartender cracked not a smile,
+but a universal sigh, broken by a few sniggers, voiced
+the appraisal of the audience. Some of the loafers
+eyed me amusedly, some turned away.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Surely, suh, you will temper that with a dash of
+fortifiah,&#8221; the Colonel protested. &#8220;A pony of brandy,
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_71' name='page_71'></a>71</span>
+Ed&mdash;or just a dash to cut the water in it. To me,
+suh, the water in this country is vile&mdash;inimical to the
+human stomick.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Thank you,&#8221; said I, &#8220;but I prefer plain lemonade.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;The gent wants his pizen straight, same as the
+rest of you,&#8221; calmly remarked the bartender.</p>
+<p>My lemonade being prepared, the Colonel and Bill
+tossed off full glasses of whiskey, acknowledged with
+throaty &#8220;A-ah!&#8221; and smack of lips; and I hastily
+quaffed my lemonade. From the dollar which the
+Colonel grandly flung upon the bar he received no
+change&mdash;by which I might figure that whereas whiskey
+was twenty-five cents the glass, lemonade was
+fifty cents.</p>
+<p>We issued into the street and were at once engulfed
+by a ferment of sights and sounds extraordinary.</p>
+<hr class='major' />
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='V_ON_GRAND_TOUR' id='V_ON_GRAND_TOUR'></a>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_72' name='page_72'></a>72</span>
+<h2>CHAPTER V</h2>
+<h3>ON GRAND TOUR</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>The sun had set and all the golden twilight was
+hazy with the dust suspended in swirl and strata over
+the ugly roofs. In the canvas-faced main street the
+throng and noise had increased rather than diminished
+at the approach of dusk. Although clatter of
+dishes mingled with the cadence, the people acted as if
+they had no thought of eating; and while aware of
+certain pangs myself, I felt a diffidence in proposing
+supper as yet.</p>
+<p>My two companions hesitated a moment, spying up
+and down, which gave me opportunity to view the
+scene anew. Surely such an hotch-potch never before
+populated an American town: Men flannel
+shirted, high booted, shaggy haired and bearded,
+stumping along weighted with excess of belts and formidable
+revolvers balanced, not infrequently, by
+sheathed butcher-knives&mdash;men whom I took to be
+teamsters, miners, railroad graders, and the like;
+other men white skinned, clean shaven except perhaps
+for moustaches and goatees, in white silk shirts or
+ruffled bosoms, broadcloth trousers and trim footgear,
+unarmed, to all appearance, but evidently respected;
+men of Eastern garb like myself&mdash;tourists, maybe,
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_73' name='page_73'></a>73</span>
+or merchants; a squad of surveyors in picturesque
+neckerchiefs, and revolver girted; trainmen, grimy
+engineers and firemen; clerks, as I opined, dapper and
+bustling, clad in the latest fashion, with diamonds in
+flashy ties and heavy gold watch chains across their
+fancy waistcoats; soldiers; men whom I took to be
+Mexicans, by their velvet jackets, slashed pantaloons
+and filagreed hats; darkly weathered, leathery faced,
+long-haired personages, no doubt scouts and trappers,
+in fringed buckskins and beaded moccasins; blanket
+wrapped Indians; and women.</p>
+<p>Of the women a number were unmistakable as to
+vocation, being lavishly painted, strident, and bold,
+and significantly dressed. I saw several in amazing
+costumes of tightly fitting black like ballet girls, low
+necked, short skirted, around the smooth waists snake-skin
+belts supporting handsome little pistols and dainty
+poignards. Contrasted there were women of other
+class and, I did not doubt, of better repute; some in
+gowns and bonnets that would do them credit anywhere
+in New York, and some, of course, more commonly
+attired in calico and gingham as proper to the
+humbler station of laundresses, cooks, and so forth.</p>
+<p>The uproar was a jargon of shouts, hails, music,
+hammering, barking, scuff of feet, trample of horses
+and oxen, rumble of creaking wagons and Concord
+stages.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well, suh,&#8221; spoke the Colonel, pulling his hat
+over his eyes, &#8220;shall we stroll a piece?&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_74' name='page_74'></a>74</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;Might better,&#8221; assented Bill. &#8220;The gentleman
+may find something of interest right in the open.
+How are you on the goose, sir?&#8221; he demanded of me.</p>
+<p>&#8220;The goose?&#8221; I uttered.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes. Keno.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I am a stranger to the goose,&#8221; said I.</p>
+<p>He grunted.</p>
+<p>&#8220;It gives a quick turn for a small stake. So do the
+three-card and rondo.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Of passageway there was not much choice between
+the middle of the street and the borders.
+Seemed to me as we weaved along through groups of
+idlers and among busily stepping people that every
+other shop was a saloon, with door widely open and
+bar and gambling tables well attended. The odor of
+liquor saturated the acrid dust. Yet the genuine
+shops, even of the rudest construction, were piled
+from the front to the rear with commodities of all
+kinds, and goods were yet heaped upon the ground in
+front and behind as if the merchants had no time for
+unpacking. The incessant hammering, I ascertained,
+came from amateur carpenters, including mere boys,
+here and there engaged as if life depended upon their
+efforts, in erecting more buildings from knocked-down
+sections like cardboard puzzles and from lumber
+already cut and numbered.</p>
+<p>My guides nodded right and left with &#8220;Hello,
+Frank,&#8221; &#8220;How are you, Dan?&#8221; &#8220;Evening, Charley,&#8221;
+and so on. Occasionally the Colonel swept off
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_75' name='page_75'></a>75</span>
+his hat, with elaborate deference, to a woman, but I
+looked in vain for My Lady in Black. I did not see
+her&mdash;nor did I see her peer, despite the fact that now
+and then I observed a face and figure of apparent attractiveness.</p>
+<p>Above the staccato of conversation and exclamation
+there arose the appeals of the barkers for the
+gambling resorts.</p>
+<p>&#8220;This way. Shall we see what he&#8217;s got?&#8221; the
+Colonel invited. Forthwith veering aside he crossed
+the street in obedience to a summons of whoops and
+shouts that set the very dust to vibrating.</p>
+<p>A crowd had gathered before a youth&mdash;a perspiring,
+red-faced youth with a billy-cock hat shoved back
+upon his bullet head&mdash;a youth in galluses and soiled
+shirt and belled pantaloons, who, standing upon a
+box for elevation, was exhorting at the top of his
+lungs.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Whoo-oop! This way, this way! Everybody
+this way! Come on, you rondo-coolo sports! Give
+us a bet! A bet! Rondo coolo-oh! Rondo coolo-oh!
+Here&#8217;s your easy money! Down with your
+soap! Let her roll! Rondo coolo-oh!&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s a great game, suh,&#8221; the Colonel flung back
+over his shoulder.</p>
+<p>We pushed forward, to the front. The center for
+the crowd was a table not unlike a small billiard table
+or, saving the absence of pins, a tivoli table such as
+enjoyed by children. But across one end there were
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_76' name='page_76'></a>76</span>
+several holes, into which balls, ten or a dozen, resembling
+miniature billiard balls, might roll.</p>
+<p>The balls had been banked, in customary pyramid
+shape for a break as in pool, at the opposite end; and
+just as we arrived they had been propelled all forward,
+scattering, by a short cue rapidly swept across
+their base.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Rondo coolo, suh,&#8221; the Colonel was explaining,
+&#8220;as you see, is an improvement on the old rondo, foh
+red-blooded people. You may place your bets in various
+ways, on the general run, or the odd or the even;
+and as the bank relies, suh, only on percentage, the
+popular game is strictly square. There is no chance
+foh a brace in rondo coolo. Shall we take a turn, foh
+luck?&#8221;</p>
+<p>The crowd was craning and eyeing the gyrating
+balls expectantly. A part of the balls entered the
+pockets; the remainder came to rest.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Rondo,&#8221; announced the man with the short cue,
+amidst excited ejaculations from winners and losers.
+And according to a system which I failed to grasp,
+except that it comprised the number of balls pocketed,
+he deftly distributed from one collection of checks
+and coins to another, quickly absorbed by greedy
+hands.</p>
+<p>&#8220;She rolls again. Make your bets, ladies and
+gents,&#8221; he intoned. &#8220;It&#8217;s rondo coolo&mdash;simple rondo
+coolo.&#8221; And he reassembled the balls.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I prefer not to play, sir,&#8221; I responded to the heavily
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_77' name='page_77'></a>77</span>
+breathing Colonel. &#8220;I am new here and I cannot
+afford to lose until I am better established.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Never yet seen a man who couldn&#8217;t afford to win,
+though,&#8221; Bill growled. &#8220;Easy pickin&#8217;, too. But
+come on, then. We&#8217;ll give you a straight steer
+some&#8217;rs else.&#8221;</p>
+<p>So we left the crowd&mdash;containing indeed women as
+well as men&mdash;to their insensate fervor over a childish
+game under the stimulation of the raucous, sweating
+barker. Of gambling devices, in the open of the
+street, there was no end. My conductors appeared to
+have the passion, for our course led from one method
+of hazard to another&mdash;roulette, chuck-a-luck where
+the patrons cast dice for prizes of money and valuables
+arrayed upon numbered squares of an oilcloth
+covered board, keno where numbered balls were decanted
+one at a time from a bottle-shaped leather receptacle
+called, I learned, the &#8220;goose,&#8221; and the players
+kept tab by filling in little cards as in domestic lotto;
+and finally we stopped at the simplest apparatus of
+all.</p>
+<p>&#8220;The spiel game for me, gentlemen,&#8221; said the
+Colonel. &#8220;Here it is. Yes, suh, there&#8217;s nothing like
+monte, where any man is privileged to match his eyes
+against fingers. Nobody but a blind man can lose at
+monte, by George!&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;And this spieler&#8217;s on the level,&#8221; Bill pronounced,
+sotto voce. &#8220;I vote we hook him for a gudgeon, and
+get the price of a meal. Our friend will join us in
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_78' name='page_78'></a>78</span>
+the turn. He can see for himself that he can&#8217;t lose.
+He&#8217;s got sharp eyes.&#8221;</p>
+<p>The bystanders here were stationed before a man
+sitting at a low tripod table; and all that he had was
+the small table&mdash;a plain cheap table with folding legs&mdash;and
+three playing cards. Business was a trifle
+slack. I thought that his voice crisped aggressively
+as we elbowed through, while he sat idly skimming the
+three cards over the table, with a flick of his hand.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Two jacks, and the ace, gentlemen. There they
+are. I have faced them up. Now I gather them
+slowly&mdash;you can&#8217;t miss them. Observe closely. The
+jack on top, between thumb and forefinger. The ace
+next&mdash;ace in the middle. The other jack bottommost.&#8221;
+He turned his hand, with the three cards in
+a tier, so that all might see. &#8220;The ace is the winning
+card. You are to locate the ace. Observe closely
+again. It&#8217;s my hand against your eyes. I am going
+to throw. Who will spot the ace? Watch, everybody.
+Ready! Go!&#8221; The backs of the cards were
+up. With a swift movement he released the three,
+spreading them in a neat row, face down, upon the
+table. He carelessly shifted them hither and thither&mdash;and
+his fingers were marvelously nimble, lightly
+touching. &#8220;Twenty dollars against your twenty that
+you can&#8217;t pick out the ace, first try. I&#8217;ll let the cards
+lie. I shan&#8217;t disturb them. There they are. If
+you&#8217;ve watched the ace fall, you win. If you haven&#8217;t,
+you lose unless you guess right.&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_79' name='page_79'></a>79</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;Just do that trick again, will you, for the benefit
+of my friend here?&#8221; bade the Colonel.</p>
+<p>The &#8220;spieler&#8221;&mdash;a thin-lipped, cadaverous individual,
+his soft hat cavalierly aslant, his black hair
+combed flatly in a curve down upon his damp forehead,
+a pair of sloe eyes, and a flannel shirt open upon
+his bony chest&mdash;glanced alert. He smiled.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Hello, sir. I&#8217;m agreeable. Yes, sir. But as
+they lie, will you make a guess? No? Or you, sir?&#8221;
+And he addressed Bill. &#8220;No? Then you, sir?&#8221;
+He appealed to me. &#8220;No? But I&#8217;m a mind-reader.
+I can tell by your eyes. They&#8217;re upon the right-end
+card. Aha! Correct.&#8221; He had turned up the card
+and shown the ace. &#8220;You should have bet. You
+would have beaten me, sir. You&#8217;ve got the eyes. I
+think you&#8217;ve seen this game before. No? Ah, but
+you have, or else you&#8217;re born lucky. Now I&#8217;ll try
+again. For the benefit of these three gentlemen I will
+try again. Kindly reserve your bets, friends all, and
+you shall have your chance. This game never stops.
+I am always after revenge. Watch the ace. I pick
+up the cards. Ace first&mdash;blessed ace; <i>and</i> the jacks.
+Watch close. There you are.&#8221; He briefly exposed
+the faces of the cards. &#8220;Keep your eyes upon the
+ace. Ready&mdash;go!&#8221;</p>
+<p>He spread the cards. As he had released he had
+tilted them slightly, and I clearly saw the ace land.
+The cards fell in the same order as arranged. To
+that I would have sworn.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_80' name='page_80'></a>80</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;Five dollars now that any one card is not the
+ace,&#8221; he challenged. &#8220;I shall not touch them. A
+small bet&mdash;just enough to make it interesting. Five
+dollars from you, sir?&#8221; He looked at me direct. I
+shook my head; I was sternly resolved not to be over
+tempted. &#8220;What? No? You will wait another
+turn? Very well. How about you, sir?&#8221; to the
+Colonel.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ll go halvers with you, Colonel,&#8221; Bill proposed.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m on,&#8221; agreed the Colonel. &#8220;There&#8217;s the soap.
+And foh the honor of the grand old Empire State we
+will let our friend pick the ace foh us. I have faith
+in those eyes of his, suhs.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;But that is scarcely fair, sir, when I am risking
+nothing,&#8221; I protested.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Go ahead, suh; go ahead,&#8221; he urged. &#8220;It is just
+a sporting proposition foh general entertainment.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;And I&#8217;ll bet you a dollar on the side that you don&#8217;t
+spot the ace,&#8221; the dealer baited. &#8220;Come now. Make
+it interesting for yourself.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ll not bet, but since you insist, there&#8217;s the ace.&#8221;
+And I turned up the right-end card.</p>
+<p>&#8220;By the Eternal, he&#8217;s done it! He has an eye like
+an eagle&#8217;s,&#8221; praised the dealer, with evident chagrin.
+&#8220;I lose. Once again, now. Everybody in, this time.&#8221;
+He gathered the cards. &#8220;I&#8217;ll play against you all,
+this gentleman included. And if I lose, why, that&#8217;s
+life, gentleman. Some of us win, some of us lose.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_81' name='page_81'></a>81</span>
+Watch the ace and have your money ready. You can
+follow this gentleman&#8217;s tip. I&#8217;m afraid he&#8217;s smarter
+than me, but I&#8217;m game.&#8221;</p>
+<p>He was too insistent. Somehow, I did not like him,
+anyway, and I was beginning to be suspicious of my
+company. Their minds trended entirely toward
+gambling; to remain with them meant nothing
+farther than the gaming tables, and I was hungry.</p>
+<p>&#8220;You&#8217;ll have to excuse me, gentleman,&#8221; I pleaded.
+&#8220;Another time, but not now. I wish to eat and to
+bathe, and I have an engagement following.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Gad, suh!&#8221; The Colonel fixed me with his fishy
+eyes. &#8220;Foh God&#8217;s sake don&#8217;t break your winning
+streak with eatin&#8217; and washin&#8217;. Fortune is a fickle
+jade, suh; she&#8217;s hostile when slapped in the face.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Bill glowered at me, but I was firm.</p>
+<p>&#8220;If you will give me the pleasure of taking supper
+with me at some good place&mdash;&mdash;&#8221; I suggested, as
+they pursued me into the street.</p>
+<p>&#8220;We can&#8217;t talk this over while we&#8217;re dry,&#8221; the
+Colonel objected. &#8220;That is a human impossibility.
+Let us libate, suhs, in order to tackle our provender
+in proper spirit.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;And no lemonade goes this time, either,&#8221; Bill declared.
+&#8220;That brand of a drink is insultin&#8217; to good
+victuals.&#8221;</p>
+<p>We were standing, for the moment, verging upon
+argument much to my distaste, when on a sudden who
+should come tripping along but My Lady of the Blue
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_82' name='page_82'></a>82</span>
+Eyes&mdash;yes, the very flesh and action of her, her face
+shielded from the dust by a little sunshade.</p>
+<p>She saw me, recognized me in startled fashion, and
+with a swift glance at my two companions bowed.
+My hat was off in a twinkling, with my best manner;
+the Colonel barely had time to imitate ere, leaving me
+a quick smile, she was gone on.</p>
+<p>He and Bill stared after; then at me.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Gad, suh! You know the lady?&#8221; the Colonel
+ejaculated.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I have the honor. We were passengers upon the
+same train.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Clean through, you mean?&#8221; queried Bill.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes. We happened to get on together, at
+Omaha.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I congratulate you, suh,&#8221; affirmed the Colonel.
+&#8220;We were not aware, suh, that you had an acquaintance
+of that nature in this city.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Again congratulation over my fortune! It
+mounted to my head, but I preserved decorum.</p>
+<p>&#8220;A casual acquaintance. We were merely travelers
+by the same route at the same time. And now if
+you will recommend a good eating place, and be my
+guests at supper, after that, as I have said, I must be
+excused. By the way, while I think of it,&#8221; I carelessly
+added, &#8220;can you direct me how to get to the
+Big Tent?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;The Big Tent? If I am not intruding, suh, does
+your engagement comprise the Big Tent?&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_83' name='page_83'></a>83</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes. But I failed to get the address.&#8221;</p>
+<p>The Colonel swelled; his fishy eyes hardened upon
+me as with righteous indignation.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Suh, you are too damned innocent. You come
+here, suh, imposing as a stranger, suh, and throwing
+yourself on our goodness, suh, to entertain you; and
+you conceal your irons in the fiah under your hat,
+suh. Do we look green, suh? What is your vocation,
+suh? I believe, by gad, suh, that you are a common
+capper foh some infernal skinning game, or that
+you are a professional. Suh, I call your hand.&#8221;</p>
+<p>I was about to retort hotly that I had not requested
+their chaperonage, and that my affair with My Lady
+and the Big Tent, howsoever they might take it, was
+my own; when Mr. Brady, who likewise had been
+glaring at me, growled morosely.</p>
+<p>&#8220;She&#8217;s waitin&#8217; for you. You can square with us
+later, and if there&#8217;s something doin&#8217; on the table we
+want a show.&#8221;</p>
+<p>The black-clad figure had lingered beyond; ostensibly
+gazing into a window but now and again darting
+a glance in our direction. I accepted the glances
+as a token of inclination on her part; without saying
+another word to my ruffled body-guards I approached
+her.</p>
+<p>She received me with a quick turn of head as if not
+expecting, but with a ready smile.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well, sir?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Madam,&#8221; I uttered foolishly, &#8220;good-evening.&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_84' name='page_84'></a>84</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;You have left your friends?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Very willingly. Whether they are really my
+friends I rather question. They have seen fit to escort
+me about, is all.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;And I have rescued you?&#8221; She smiled again.
+&#8220;Believe me, sir, you would be better off alone. I
+know the gentlemen. They have been paid for their
+trouble, have they not?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;They have won a little at gambling, but in that I
+had no hand,&#8221; I replied. &#8220;So far they have asked
+nothing more.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Certainly not. And you put up no stakes?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Not a penny, madam. Why should I?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;To make it interesting, as they doubtless said.
+The Colonel, as all the town knows, is a notorious
+capper and steerer, and the fellow Brady is no better,
+no worse. Had you stayed with them and suffered
+them to persuade you into betting, you would soon
+have been fleeced as clean as a shaved pig. The little
+gains they are permitted to make, to draw you on, is
+their pay. Their losses if any would have been restored
+to them, but not yours to you.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Strange to say, they have just accused me of being
+a &#8216;capper,&#8217;&#8221; I answered, nettled as I began to
+comprehend.</p>
+<p>&#8220;From what cause, sir?&#8221;</p>
+<div class='figcenter'>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_85' name='page_85'></a>85</span>
+<a name='linki_2' id='linki_2'></a>
+<img src='images/illus-084.jpg' alt='' title='' style='width: 367px; height: 499px;' /><br />
+<p class='caption' style='margin: 0 auto; text-align:center;width: 367px;'>
+<span style='font-variant: small-caps'>&#8220;Madam,&#8221; I Uttered Foolishly, &#8220;Good Evening.&#8221;</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>&#8220;They seemed to think that I am smarter than to
+my actual credit, for one thing.&#8221; I, of course, could
+not involve her in the subject, and indeed could not
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_86' name='page_86'></a>86</span>
+understand why she should have been held responsible,
+anyway. &#8220;And probably they were peeved because
+I insisted upon eating supper and then following
+my own bent.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;You were about to leave them?&#8221; Her face
+brightened. &#8220;That is good. They were disappointed
+in finding you no gudgeon to be hooked by such raw
+methods. And you&#8217;ve not had supper yet? Promise
+me that you will take up with no more strangers or,
+I assure you, you may wake in the morning with
+your pockets turned inside out and your memory at
+fault. This is Benton.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, this is Benton, is it?&#8221; I rejoined; and perhaps
+bitterly.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Benton, Wyoming Territory; of three thousand
+people in two weeks; in another month, who knows
+how many? And the majority of us live on one another.
+The country furnishes nothing else. Still,
+you will find it not much different from what I told
+you.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I have found it high and dry, certainly,&#8221; said I.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Where are you stopping?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;At the Queen&mdash;with a bath for every room. I am
+now awaiting the turn of my room, at the end of another
+hour.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh!&#8221; She laughed heartily. &#8220;You are fortunate,
+sir. The Queen may not be considered the best
+in all ways, but they say the towels for the baths are
+more than napkin size. Meanwhile, let me advise
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_87' name='page_87'></a>87</span>
+you. Outfit while you wait, and become of the country.
+You look too much the pilgrim&mdash;there is Eastern
+dust showing through our Benton dust, and that
+spells of other &#8217;dust&#8217; in your pockets. Get another
+hat, a flannel shirt, some coarser trousers, a pair of
+boots, don a gun and a swagger, say little, make few
+impromptu friends, win and lose without a smile or
+frown, if you play (but upon playing I will advise you
+later), pass as a surveyor, as a railroad clerk, as a
+Mormon&mdash;anything they choose to apply to you; and
+I shall hope to see you to-night.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;You shall,&#8221; I assured, abashed by her raillery.
+&#8220;And if you will kindly tell me&mdash;&mdash;&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;The meals at the Belle Marie Café are as good as
+any. You can see the sign from here. So adios, sir,
+and remember.&#8221; With no mention of the Big Tent
+she flashed a smile at me and mingled with the other
+pedestrians crossing the street on diagonal course.
+As I had not been invited to accompany her I stood,
+gratefully digesting her remarks. When I turned for
+a final word with my two guides, they had vanished.</p>
+<p>This I interpreted as a confession of jealous fear
+that I had been, in slang phrasing, &#8220;put wise.&#8221; And
+sooth to say, I saw them again no more.</p>
+<hr class='major' />
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='VI__HIGH_AND_DRY' id='VI__HIGH_AND_DRY'></a>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_88' name='page_88'></a>88</span>
+<h2>CHAPTER VI</h2>
+<h3>&#8220;HIGH AND DRY&#8221;</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>The counsel to don a garb smacking less of the recent
+East struck me as sound; for although I was not
+the only person here in Eastern guise, nevertheless
+about the majority of the populace there was an easy
+aggressiveness that my appearance evidently lacked.</p>
+<p>So I must hurry ere the shops closed.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I beg your pardon. What time do the stores
+close, can you tell me?&#8221; I asked of the nearest bystander.</p>
+<p>He surveyed me.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Close? Hell!&#8221; he said. &#8220;They don&#8217;t close for
+even a dog fight, pardner. Business runs twenty-five
+hours every day, seven days the week, in these
+diggin&#8217;s.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;And where will I find a haberdashery?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;A what? Talk English. What you want?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I want a&mdash;an outfit; a personal outfit.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Blanket to moccasins? Levi&#8217;s, stranger. Levi&#8217;ll
+outfit you complete and throw in a yellow purp under
+the wagon.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;And where is Levi&#8217;s?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;There.&#8221; And he jerked his head aside. &#8220;You
+could shut your eyes and spit in the doorway.&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_89' name='page_89'></a>89</span></p>
+<p>With that he rudely turned his back upon me. But
+sure enough, by token of the large sign &#8220;Levi&#8217;s
+Mammoth Emporium: Liquors, Groceries and General
+Merchandise,&#8221; I was standing almost in front of
+the store itself.</p>
+<p>I entered, into the seething aisle flanked by heaped-up
+counters and stacked goods that bulged the partially
+boarded canvas walls. At last I gained position
+near one of the perspiring clerks and caught his eye.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, sir. You, sir? What can I do for you,
+sir?&#8221; He rubbed his hands alertly, on edge with a
+long day.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I wish a hat, flannel shirt, a serviceable ready-made
+suit, boots, possibly other matters.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;We have exactly the things for you, sir. This
+way.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Going out on the advance line, sir?&#8221; he asked,
+while I made selections.</p>
+<p>&#8220;That is not unlikely.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;They&#8217;re doing great work. Three miles of track
+laid yesterday; twelve so far this week. Averaging
+two and one-half miles a day and promising better.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;So I understand,&#8221; I alleged.</p>
+<p>&#8220;General Jack Casement is a world beater. If he
+could get the iron as fast as he could use it he&#8217;d build
+through to California without a halt. But looks now
+as if somewhere between would have to satisfy him.
+You are a surveyor, I take it?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, I am surveying on the line along with the
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_90' name='page_90'></a>90</span>
+others,&#8221; I answered. And surveying the country I
+was.</p>
+<p>&#8220;You are the gentlemen who lay out the course,&#8221;
+he complimented. &#8220;Now, is there something else,
+sir?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I need a good revolver, a belt and ammunition.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;We carry the reliable&mdash;the Colt&#8217;s. That&#8217;s the
+favorite holster gun in use out here. Please step
+across, sir.&#8221;</p>
+<p>He led.</p>
+<p>&#8220;If you&#8217;re not particular as to shine,&#8221; he resumed,
+&#8220;we have a second-hand outfit that I can sell you
+cheap. Took it in as a deposit, and the gentleman
+never has called for it. Of course you&#8217;re broken in
+to the country, but as you know a new belt and holster
+are apt to be viewed with suspicion and a gentleman
+sometimes has to draw when he&#8217;d rather not,
+to prove himself. This gun has been used just enough
+to take the roughness off the trigger pull, and it employs
+the metallic cartridges&mdash;very convenient. The
+furniture for it is O. K. And all at half price.&#8221;</p>
+<p>I was glad to find something cheap. The boots had
+been fifteen dollars, the hat eight, shirt and suit in
+proportion, and the red silk handkerchief two dollars
+and a half. Yes, Benton was &#8220;high.&#8221;</p>
+<p>With my bulky parcel I sought the Belle Marie
+Café, ate my supper, thence hastened through the
+gloaming to the hotel for bath and change of costume.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_91' name='page_91'></a>91</span></p>
+<p>I had yet time to array myself, as an experiment
+and a lark; and that I sillily did, hurriedly tossing
+my old garments upon bed and floor, in order to invest
+with the new. The third bed was occupied when
+I came in; occupied on the outside by a plump, round-faced,
+dust-scalded man, with piggish features accentuated
+by his small bloodshot eyes; dressed in Eastern
+mode but stripped to the galluses, as was the custom.
+He lay upon his back, his puffy hands folded
+across his spherical abdomen where his pantaloons
+met a sweaty pink-striped shirt; and he panted
+wheezingly through his nose.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Hell of a country, ain&#8217;t it!&#8221; he observed in a moment.
+&#8220;You a stranger, too?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I have been here a short time, sir.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Thought so. Jest beginnin&#8217; to peel, like me. I
+been here two days. What&#8217;s your line?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I have a number of things in view,&#8221; I evaded.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well, you don&#8217;t have to tell &#8217;em,&#8221; he granted.
+&#8220;Thought you was a salesman. I&#8217;m from Saint
+Louie, myself. Sell groceries, and pasteboards on the
+side. Cards are the stuff. I got the best line of sure-thing
+stock&mdash;strippers, humps, rounds, squares, briefs
+and marked backs&mdash;that ever were dealt west of the
+Missouri. Judas Priest, but this is a roarer of a burg!
+What <i>it</i> ain&#8217;t got I never seen&mdash;and I ain&#8217;t no spring
+goslin&#8217;, neither. I&#8217;ve plenty sand in my craw. You
+ain&#8217;t been plucked yet?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;No, sir. I never gamble.&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_92' name='page_92'></a>92</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;Wish I didn&#8217;t, but my name&#8217;s Jakey and I&#8217;m a
+good feller. Say, I&#8217;m supposed to be wise, too, but
+they trimmed me two hundred dollars. Now I&#8217;m
+gettin&#8217; out.&#8221; He groaned. &#8220;Take the train in a few
+minutes. Dasn&#8217;t risk myself on the street again.
+Sent my baggage down for fear I&#8217;d lose that. Say,&#8221;
+he added, watching me, &#8220;looks like you was goin&#8217; out
+yourself. One of them surveyor fellers, workin&#8217; for
+the railroad?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;It might be so, sir,&#8221; I replied.</p>
+<p>He half sat up.</p>
+<p>&#8220;You&#8217;ll want to throw a leg, I bet. Lemme tell
+you. It&#8217;s a hell of a town but it&#8217;s got some fine
+wimmen; yes, and a few straight banks, too. You&#8217;re
+no crabber or piker; I can see that. You go to the
+North Star. Tell Frank that Jakey sent you. They&#8217;ll
+treat you white. You be sure and say Jakey sent you.
+But for Gawd&#8217;s sake keep out of the Big Tent.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;The Big Tent?&#8221; I uttered. &#8220;Why so?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;They&#8217;ll sweat you there,&#8221; he groaned lugubriously.
+&#8220;Say, friend, could you lend me twenty dollars?
+You&#8217;ve still got your roll. I ain&#8217;t a stivver. I&#8217;m
+busted flat.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m sorry that I can&#8217;t accommodate you, sir,&#8221;
+said I. &#8220;I have no more money than will see me
+through&mdash;and according to your story perhaps not
+enough.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve told you of the North Star. You mention
+Jakey sent you. You&#8217;ll make more than your twenty
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_93' name='page_93'></a>93</span>
+back, at the North Star,&#8221; he urged inconsistent. &#8220;If
+it hadn&#8217;t been for that damned Big Tent&mdash;&mdash;&#8221; and he
+flopped with a dismal grunt.</p>
+<p>By this time, all the while conscious of his devouring
+eyes, I had changed my clothing and now I stood
+equipped cap-a-pie, with my hat clapped at an angle,
+and my pantaloons in my boots, and my red silk handkerchief
+tastefully knotted at my throat, and my six-shooter
+slung; and I could scarcely deny that in my
+own eyes, and in his, I trusted, I was a pretty figure
+of a Westerner who would win the approval, as
+seemed to me, of My Lady in Black or of any other
+lady.</p>
+<p>His reflection upon the Big Tent, however, was the
+fly in my ointment. Therefore, preening and adjusting
+with assumed carelessness I queried, in real concern:</p>
+<p>&#8220;What about the Big Tent? Where is it? Isn&#8217;t
+it respectable?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Respectable? Of course it&#8217;s respectable. You
+don&#8217;t ketch your Jakey in no place that ain&#8217;t. I&#8217;ve a
+family to think of. You ain&#8217;t been there? Say!
+There&#8217;s where they all meet, in that Big Tent; all the
+best people, too, you bet you. But I tell you,
+friend&mdash;&mdash;&#8221;</p>
+<p>He did not finish. An uproar sounded above the
+other street clamor: a pistol shot, and another&mdash;a
+chorus of hoarse shouts and shrill frightened cries,
+the scurrying rush of feet, all in the street; and in the
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_94' name='page_94'></a>94</span>
+hall of the hotel, and the lobby below, the rush of still
+more feet, booted, and the din of excited voices.</p>
+<p>My man on the bed popped with the agility of a
+jack-in-the-box for the window.</p>
+<p>&#8220;A fight, a fight! Shootin&#8217; scrape!&#8221; In a single
+motion grabbing coat and hat he was out through the
+door and pelting down the hall. Overcome by the
+zest of the moment I pelted after, and with several
+others plunged as madly upon the porch. We had
+left the lobby deserted.</p>
+<p>The shots had ceased. Now a baying mob ramped
+through the street, with jangle &#8220;Hang him! Hang
+him! String him up!&#8221; Borne on by a hysterical
+company I saw, first a figure bloody-chested and inert
+flat in the dust, with stooping figures trying to raise
+him; then, beyond, a man bareheaded, whiskered, but
+as white as death, hustled to and fro from clutching
+hands and suddenly forced in firm grips up the street,
+while the mob trailed after, whooping, cursing,
+shrieking, flourishing guns and knives and ropes.
+There were women as well as men in it.</p>
+<p>All this turned me sick. From the outskirts of the
+throng I tramped back to my room and the bath.
+The hotel was quiet as if emptied; my room was vacant&mdash;and
+more than vacant, for of my clothing not
+a vestige remained! My bag also was gone. Worse
+yet, prompted by an inner voice that stabbed me like
+an icicle I was awakened to the knowledge that every
+cent I had possessed was in those vanished garments.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_95' name='page_95'></a>95</span></p>
+<p>For an instant I stood paralyzed, fronting the
+calamity. I could not believe. It was as if the floor
+had swallowed my belongings. I had been absent not
+more than five minutes. Surely this was the room.
+Yes, Number Six; and the beds were familiar, their
+tumbled covers unaltered.</p>
+<p>Now I held the bath-room responsible. The scoundrel
+in the bath had heard, had taken advantage, made
+a foray and hidden. Out I ran, exploring. Every
+room door was wide open, every apartment blank;
+but there was a splashing, from the bath&mdash;I listened
+at the threshold, gently tried the knob&mdash;and received
+such a cry of angry protest that it sent me to the
+right-about, on tiptoe. The thief was not in the
+bath.</p>
+<p>My heart sank as I bolted down for the office. The
+clerk had reinstated himself behind the counter. He
+composedly greeted me, with calm voice and with eyes
+that noted my costume.</p>
+<p>&#8220;You can have your bath as soon as the porter
+gets back from the hanging, sir,&#8221; he said. &#8220;That is,
+unless you&#8217;d prefer to hurry up by toting your own
+water. The party now in will be out directly.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Never mind the bath,&#8221; I uttered, breathless, in a
+voice that I scarcely recognized, so piping and aghast
+it was. &#8220;I&#8217;ve been robbed&mdash;of money, clothes, baggage,
+everything!&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well, what at?&#8221; he queried, with a glimmer of a
+smile.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_96' name='page_96'></a>96</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;What at? In my room, I tell you. I had just
+changed to try on these things; the street fight
+sounded; I was gone not five minutes and nevertheless
+the room was sacked. Absolutely sacked.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;That,&#8221; he commented evenly, &#8220;is hard luck.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Hard luck!&#8221; I hotly rejoined. &#8220;It&#8217;s an outrage.
+But you seem remarkably cool about it, sir. What
+do you propose to do?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I?&#8221; He lifted his brows. &#8220;Nothing. They&#8217;re
+not my valuables.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;But this is a respectable hotel, isn&#8217;t it?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Perfectly; and no orphan asylum. We attend
+strictly to our business and expect our guests to attend
+to theirs.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I was told that it was safe for me to leave my
+things in my room.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Not by me, sir. Read that.&#8221; And he called my
+attention to a placard that said, among other matters:
+&#8220;We are not responsible for property of any nature
+left by guests in their rooms.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Where&#8217;s the chief of police?&#8221; I demanded.
+&#8220;You have officers here, I hope.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, sir. The marshal is the chief of police, and
+he&#8217;s the whole show. The provost guard from the
+post helps out when necessary. But you&#8217;ll find the
+marshal at the mayor&#8217;s office or else at the North
+Star gambling hall, three blocks up the street. I don&#8217;t
+think he&#8217;ll do you any good, though. He&#8217;s not likely
+to bother with small matters, especially when he&#8217;s
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_97' name='page_97'></a>97</span>
+dealing faro bank. He has an interest in the North
+Star. You&#8217;ll never see your property again. Take
+my word for it.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I won&#8217;t? Why not?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;You&#8217;ve played the gudgeon for somebody; that&#8217;s
+all. Easiest thing in the world for a smart gentleman
+to slip into your room while you were absent, go
+through it, and make his getaway by the end of the
+hall, out over the kitchen roof. It&#8217;s been done many
+a time.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;A traveling salesman saw me dressing. He went
+out before me but he might have doubled,&#8221; I gasped.
+&#8220;He had one of the beds&mdash;who is he?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t know him, sir.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;A round-bellied, fat-faced man&mdash;sold groceries
+and playing cards.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;There is no such guest in your room, sir. You
+have bed Number One, bed Number Two is assigned
+to Mr. Bill Brady, who doubtless will be in soon.
+Number Three is temporarily vacant.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;The man said he was about to catch the train
+east,&#8221; I pursued desperately. &#8220;A round-bellied, fat-faced
+man in pink striped shirt&mdash;&mdash;&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;If he was to catch any train, that train has just
+pulled out.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;And who was in the bath, ten or fifteen minutes
+ago?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;My wife, sir; and still there. She has to take her
+chances like everybody else. No, sir; you&#8217;ve been
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_98' name='page_98'></a>98</span>
+done. You may find your clothes, but I doubt it.
+You are next upon the bath list.&#8221; And he became
+all business. &#8220;The porter will carry up the water
+and notify you. You are allowed twenty minutes.
+That is satisfactory?&#8221;</p>
+<p>A bath, now!</p>
+<p>&#8220;No, certainly not,&#8221; I blurted. &#8220;I have no time
+nor inclination for a bath, at present. And,&#8221; I faltered,
+ashamed, &#8220;I&#8217;ll have to ask you to refund me
+the dollar and a half. I haven&#8217;t a cent.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Under the circumstances I can do that, although
+it is against our rules,&#8221; he replied. &#8220;Here it is, sir.
+We wish to accommodate.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;And will you advance me twenty dollars, say,
+until I shall have procured funds from the East?&#8221; I
+ventured.</p>
+<p>A mask fell over his face. He slightly smiled.</p>
+<p>&#8220;No, sir; I cannot. We never advance money.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;But I&#8217;ve got to have money, to tide me over,
+man,&#8221; I pleaded. &#8220;This dollar and a half will barely
+pay for a meal. I can give you references&mdash;&mdash;&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;From Colonel Sunderson, may I ask?&#8221; His
+voice was poised tentatively.</p>
+<p>&#8220;No. I never saw the Colonel before. My references
+are Eastern. My father&mdash;&mdash;&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;As a gentleman the Colonel is O. K.,&#8221; he smoothly
+interrupted. &#8220;I do not question his integrity, nor
+your father&#8217;s. But we never advance money. It is
+against the policy of the house.&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_99' name='page_99'></a>99</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;Has my trunk come up yet?&#8221; I queried.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, sir. If you&#8217;d rather have it in your
+room&mdash;&mdash;&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;In my room!&#8221; said I. &#8220;No! Else it might walk
+out the hall window, too. You have it safe?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Perfectly, except in case of burglary or fire. It
+is out of the weather. We&#8217;re not responsible for
+theft or fire, you understand. Not in Benton.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Good Lord!&#8221; I ejaculated, weak. &#8220;You have
+my trunk, you say? Very good. Will you advance
+me twenty dollars and keep the trunk as security?
+That, I think, is a sporting proposition.&#8221;</p>
+<p>He eyed me up and down.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Are you a surveyor? Connected with the
+road?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;No.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;What is your business, then?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m a damned fool,&#8221; I confessed. &#8220;I&#8217;m a gudgeon&mdash;I&#8217;m
+a come-on. In fact, as I&#8217;ve said before,
+I&#8217;m out here looking for health, where it&#8217;s high and
+dry.&#8221; He smiled. &#8220;And high and dry I&#8217;m landed in
+short order. But the trunk&#8217;s not empty. Will you
+keep it and lend me twenty dollars? I presume that
+trunk and contents are worth two hundred.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ll speak with the porter,&#8221; he answered.</p>
+<p>By the lapse of time between his departure and his
+return he and the gnome evidently had hefted the
+trunk and viewed it at all angles. Now he came back
+with quick step.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_100' name='page_100'></a>100</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, sir; we&#8217;ll advance you twenty dollars on
+your trunk. Here is the money, sir.&#8221; He wrote, and
+passed me a slip of paper also. &#8220;And your receipt.
+When you pay the twenty dollars, if within thirty
+days, you can have your trunk.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;And if not?&#8221; I asked uncomfortably.</p>
+<p>&#8220;We shall be privileged to dispose of it. We are
+not in the pawn business, but we have trunks piled to
+the ceiling in our storeroom, left by gentlemen in
+embarrassed circumstances like yours.&#8221;</p>
+<p>I never saw that trunk again, either. However, of
+this, more anon. At that juncture I was only too glad
+to get the twenty dollars, pending the time when I
+should be recouped from home; for I could see that
+to be stranded &#8220;high and dry&#8221; in Benton City of
+Wyoming Territory would be a dire situation. And
+I could not hope for much from home. It was a bitter
+dose to have to ask for further help. Three years
+returned from the war my father had scarcely yet
+been enabled to gather the loose ends of his former
+affairs.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Now if you will direct me to the telegraph office&mdash;&mdash;?&#8221;
+I suggested.</p>
+<p>&#8220;The telegraph into Benton is the Union Pacific
+Railroad line,&#8221; he informed; &#8220;and that is open to only
+Government and official business. If you wish to
+send a private dispatch you should forward it by post
+to Cheyenne, one hundred and seventy-five miles,
+where it will be put on the Overland branch line for
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_101' name='page_101'></a>101</span>
+the East by way of Denver. The rate to New York
+is eight dollars, prepaid.&#8221;</p>
+<p>I knew that my face fell. Eight dollars would
+make a large hole in my slender funds&mdash;I had been
+foolish not to have borrowed fifty dollars on the
+trunk. So I decided to write instead of telegraph;
+and with him watching me I endeavored to speak
+lightly.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Thank you. Now where will I find the place
+known as the Big Tent?&#8221;</p>
+<p>He laughed with peculiar emphasis.</p>
+<p>&#8220;If you had mentioned the Big Tent sooner you&#8217;d
+have got no twenty dollars from me, sir. Not that
+I&#8217;ve anything against it, understand. It&#8217;s all right,
+everybody goes there; perfectly legitimate. I go
+there myself. And you may redeem your trunk to-morrow
+and be buying champagne.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I am to meet a friend at the Big Tent,&#8221; I stiffly
+explained. &#8220;Further than that I have no business
+there. I know nothing whatever about it.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I beg your pardon, sir. No offense intended.
+The Big Tent is highly regarded&mdash;a great place to
+spend a pleasant evening. All Benton indulges. I
+wish you the best of luck, sir. You are heeled, I see.
+No one will take you for a pilgrim.&#8221; Despite the assertion
+there was a twinkle in his eye. &#8220;You will
+find the Big Tent one block and a half down this
+street. You cannot miss it.&#8221;</p>
+<hr class='major' />
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='VII_I_GO_TO_RENDEZVOUS' id='VII_I_GO_TO_RENDEZVOUS'></a>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_102' name='page_102'></a>102</span>
+<h2>CHAPTER VII</h2>
+<h3>I GO TO RENDEZVOUS</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>The hotel lamps were being lighted by the gnome
+porter. When I stepped outside twilight had deepened
+into dusk, the air was almost frosty, and this
+main street had been made garish by its nightly illumination.</p>
+<p>It was a strange sight, as I paused for a moment
+upon the plank veranda. The near vicinity resembled
+a fair. As if inspired by the freshness and coolness
+of the new air the people were trooping to and fro
+more restlessly than ever, and in greater numbers.
+All up and down the street coal-oil torches or flambeaus,
+ruddily embossing the heads of the players and
+onlookers, flared like votive braziers above the open-air
+gambling games; there were even smoked-chimney
+lamps, and candles, set on pedestals, signalizing
+other centers. The walls of the tent store-buildings
+glowed spectral from the lights to be glimpsed
+through doorways and windows, and grotesque, gigantic
+figures flitted in silhouette. While through the
+interstices between the buildings I might see other
+structures, ranging from those of tolerable size to
+simple wall tents and makeshift shacks, eerily shadowed.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_103' name='page_103'></a>103</span></p>
+<p>The noise had, if anything, redoubled. To the exclamations,
+the riotous shouts and whoops, the general
+gay vociferations and the footsteps of a busy people,
+the harangues of the barkers, the more distant
+puffing and shrieking of the locomotives at the railroad
+yards, the hammering where men and boys
+worked by torchlight, and now and then a revolver
+shot, there had been added the inciting music of
+stringed instruments, cymbals, and such&mdash;some in
+dance measures, some solo, while immediately at hand
+sounded the shuffling stamp of waltz, hoe-down and
+cotillion.</p>
+<p>Night at Benton plainly had begun with a gusto.
+It stirred one&#8217;s blood. It called&mdash;it summoned with
+such a promise of variety, of adventure, of flotsam
+and jetsam and shuttlecock of chances, that I, a youth
+with twenty-one dollars and a half at disposal, all his
+clothes on his back, a man&#8217;s weapon at his belt, and
+an appointment with a lady as his future, forgetful
+of past and courageous in present, strode confidently,
+even recklessly down, as eager as one to the manners
+of the country born.</p>
+<p>The mysterious allusions to the Big Tent now
+piqued me. It was a rendezvous, popular, I deemed,
+and respectable, as assured. An amusement place,
+judging by the talk; superior, undoubtedly, to other
+resorts that I may have noted. I was well equipped
+to test it out, for I had little to lose, even time was of
+no moment, and I possessed a friend at court, there,
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_104' name='page_104'></a>104</span>
+whom I had interested and who very agreeably interested
+me. This single factor would have glorified
+with a halo any tent, big or little, in Benton.</p>
+<p>There was no need for me to inquire my way to the
+Big Tent. Upon pushing along down the street, beset
+upon my course by many sights and proffered allurements,
+and keenly alive to the romance of that
+hurly-burly of pleasure and business combined here
+two thousand miles west of New York, always expectant
+of my goal I was attracted by music again,
+just ahead, from an orchestra. I saw a large canvas
+sign&mdash;The Big Tent&mdash;suspended in the full shine of
+a locomotive reflector. Beneath it the people were
+streaming into the wide entrance to a great canvas
+hall.</p>
+<p>Quickening my pace in accord with the increased
+pace of the throng, presently I likewise entered, unchallenged
+for any admission fee. Once across the
+threshold, I halted, taken all aback by the hubbub and
+the kaleidoscopic spectacle that beat upon my ears and
+eyes.</p>
+<p>The interior, high ceilinged to the ridged roof, was
+unbroken by supports. It was lighted by two score
+of lamps and reflectors in brackets along the walls and
+hanging as chandeliers from the rafters. The floor,
+of planed boards, already teemed with men and
+women and children&mdash;along one side there was an ornate
+bar glittering with cut glass and silver and
+backed by a large plate mirror that repeated the lights,
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_105' name='page_105'></a>105</span>
+the people, the glasses, decanters and pitchers, and
+the figures of the white-coated, busy bartenders.</p>
+<p>At the farther end of the room a stringed orchestra
+was stationed upon a platform, while to the bidding
+of the music women, and men with hats upon their
+heads and cigars in mouths, and men together,
+whirled in couples, so that the floor trembled to the
+boot heels. Scattered thickly over the intervening
+space there were games of chance, every description,
+surrounded by groups looking on or playing.
+Through the atmosphere blue with the smoke
+women, many of them lavishly costumed as if for a
+ball, strolled risking or responding to gallantries.
+The garb of the men themselves ran the scale: from
+the comme il faut of slender shoes, fashionably cut
+coats and pantaloons, and modish cravats, through the
+campaign uniforms of army officers and enlisted men,
+to the frontier corduroy and buckskin of surveyors
+and adventurers, the flannel shirts, red, blue and gray,
+the jeans and cowhide boots of trainmen, teamsters,
+graders, miners, and all.</p>
+<p>From nearly every waist dangled a revolver. I remarked
+that not a few of the women displayed little
+weapons as in bravado.</p>
+<p>What with the music, the stamp of the dancers, the
+clink of glasses and the ice in pitchers, the rattle of
+dice, the slap of cards and currency, the announcements
+of the dealers, the clap-trap of barkers and
+monte spielers, the general chatter of voices, one
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_106' name='page_106'></a>106</span>
+such as I, a newcomer, scarcely knew which way to
+turn.</p>
+<p>Altogether this was an amusement palace which,
+though rough of exterior, eclipsed the best of the
+Bowery and might be found elsewhere, I imagined,
+not short of San Francisco.</p>
+<p>From the jostle of the doorway to pick out upon
+the floor any single figure and follow it was well-nigh
+impossible. Not seeing my Lady in Black, at
+first sight&mdash;not being certain of her, that is, for there
+were a number of black dresses&mdash;I moved on in. It
+might be that she was among the dancers, where, as
+I could determine by the vista, beauty appeared to be
+whirling around in the embrace of the whiskered
+beast.</p>
+<p>Then, as I advanced resolutely among the gaming
+tables, I felt a cuff upon the shoulder and heard a
+bluff voice in my ear.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Hello, old hoss. How are tricks by this
+time?&#8221;</p>
+<p>Facing about quickly with apprehension of having
+been spotted by another capper, if not Bill Brady himself
+(for the voice was not Colonel Sunderson&#8217;s unctuous
+tones) I saw Jim of the Sidney station platform
+and the railway coach fracas.</p>
+<p>He was grinning affably, apparently none the worse
+for wear save a slightly swollen lower lip; he seemed
+in good humor.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Shake,&#8221; he proffered, extending his hand. &#8220;No
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_107' name='page_107'></a>107</span>
+hard feelin&#8217;s here. I&#8217;m no Injun. You knocked the
+red-eye out o&#8217; me.&#8221;</p>
+<p>I shook hands with him, and again he slapped me
+upon the shoulder. &#8220;Hardly knowed you in that
+new rig. Now you&#8217;re talkin&#8217;. That&#8217;s sense. Well;
+how you comin&#8217; on?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;First rate,&#8221; I assured, not a little nonplussed by
+this greeting from a man whom I had knocked down,
+tipsy drunk, only a few hours before. But evidently
+he was a seasoned customer.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Bucked the tiger a leetle, I reckon?&#8221; And he
+leered cunningly.</p>
+<p>&#8220;No; I rarely gamble.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Aw, tell that to the marines.&#8221; Once more he
+jovially clapped me. &#8220;A young gent like you has to
+take a fling now and then. Hell, this is Benton,
+where everything goes and nobody the worse for it.
+You bet yuh! Trail along with me. Let&#8217;s likker.
+Then I&#8217;ll show you the ropes. I like your style. Yes,
+sir; I know a man when I see him.&#8221; And he swore
+freely.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Another time, sir,&#8221; I begged off. &#8220;I have an engagement
+this evening&mdash;&mdash;&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;O&#8217; course you have. Don&#8217;t I know that, too, by
+Gawd? The when, where and who? Didn&#8217;t she tell
+me to keep my eyes skinned for you, and to cotton to
+you when you come in? We&#8217;ll find her, after we
+likker up.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;She did?&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_108' name='page_108'></a>108</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;Why not? Ain&#8217;t I a friend o&#8217; hern? You bet!
+Finest little woman in Benton. Trail to the trough
+along with me, pardner, and name your favor-ite.
+I&#8217;ve got a thirst like a Sioux buck with a robe to
+trade.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;d rather not drink, thank you,&#8221; I essayed; but
+he would have none of it. He seized me by the arm
+and hustled me on.</p>
+<p>&#8220;O&#8217; course you&#8217;ll drink. Any gent I ax to drink
+has gotto drink. Name your pizen&mdash;make it champagne,
+if that&#8217;s your brand. But the drinks are on
+me.&#8221;</p>
+<p>So willy-nilly I was brought to the bar, where the
+line of men already loafing there made space.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Straight goods and the best you&#8217;ve got,&#8221; my self-appointed
+pilot blared. &#8220;None o&#8217; your agency whiskey,
+either. What&#8217;s yourn?&#8221; he asked of me.</p>
+<p>&#8220;The same as yours, sir,&#8221; I bravely replied.</p>
+<p>With never a word the bartender shoved bottle and
+glasses to us. Jim rather unsteadily filled; I emulated,
+but to scanter measure.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Here&#8217;s how,&#8221; he volunteered. &#8220;May you never
+see the back of your neck.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Your health,&#8221; I responded.</p>
+<p>We drank. The stuff may have been pure; at least
+it was stout and cut fiery way down my unwonted
+throat; the one draught infused me with a swagger
+and a sudden rosy view of life through a temporary
+mist of watering eyes.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_109' name='page_109'></a>109</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;A-ah! That puts guts into a man,&#8221; quoth Jim.
+&#8220;Shall we have another? One more?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Not now. The next shall be on me. Let&#8217;s look
+around,&#8221; I gasped.</p>
+<p>&#8220;We&#8217;ll find her,&#8221; he promised. &#8220;Take a stroll.
+I&#8217;ll steer you right. Have a seegar, anyway.&#8221;</p>
+<p>As smoking vied with drinking, here in the Big
+Tent where even the dancers cavorted with lighted
+cigars in their mouths, I saw fit to humor him.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Cigars it shall be, then. But I&#8217;ll pay.&#8221; And to
+my nod the bartender set out a box, from which we
+selected at twenty-five cents each. With my own
+&#8220;seegar&#8221; cocked up between my lips, and my revolver
+adequately heavy at my belt, I suffered the
+guidance of the importunate Jim.</p>
+<p>We wended leisurely among games of infinite variety:
+keno, rondo coolo, poker, faro, roulette, monte,
+chuck-a-luck, wheels of fortune&mdash;advertised, some, by
+their barkers, but the better class (if there is such a
+distinction) presided over by remarkably quiet, white-faced,
+nimble-fingered, steady-eyed gentry in irreproachable
+garb running much to white shirts, black
+pantaloons, velvet waistcoats, and polished boots, and
+diamonds and gold chains worn unaffectedly; low-voiced
+gentry, these, protected, it would appear,
+mainly by their lookouts perched at their sides with
+eyes alert to read faces and to watch the play.</p>
+<p>We had by no means completed the tour, interrupted
+by many jests and nods exchanged between
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_110' name='page_110'></a>110</span>
+Jim and sundry of the patrons, when we indeed met
+My Lady. She detached herself, as if cognizant of
+our approach, from a little group of four or five
+standing upon the floor; and turned for me with hand
+outstretched, a gratifying flush upon her spirited
+face.</p>
+<p>&#8220;You are here, then?&#8221; she greeted.</p>
+<p>I made a leg, with my best bow, not omitting to
+remove hat and cigar, while agreeably conscious of
+her approving gaze.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I am here, madam, in the Big Tent.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Her small warm hand acted as if unreservedly
+mine, for the moment. About her there was a tingling
+element of the friendly, even of the intimate.
+She was a haven in a strange coast.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Told you I&#8217;d find him, didn&#8217;t I?&#8221; Jim asserted&mdash;the
+bystanders listening curiously. &#8220;There he was,
+lookin&#8217; as lonesome as a two-bit piece on a poker table
+in a sky-limit game. So we had a drink and a seegar,
+and been makin&#8217; the grand tower.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;You got your outfit, I see,&#8221; she smiled.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes. Am I correct?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;You have saved yourself annoyance. You&#8217;ll do,&#8221;
+she nodded. &#8220;Have you played yet? Win, or
+lose?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I did not come to play, madam,&#8221; said I. &#8220;Not
+at table, that is.&#8221; Whereupon I must have returned
+her gaze so glowingly as to embarrass her. Yet she
+was not displeased; and in that costume and with
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_111' name='page_111'></a>111</span>
+that liquor still coursing through my veins I felt equal
+to any retort.</p>
+<p>&#8220;But you should play. You are heeled?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;The best I could procure.&#8221; I let my hand rest
+casually upon my revolver butt.</p>
+<p>She laughed merrily. There were smiles aside.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, no; I didn&#8217;t mean that. You are heeled for
+all to see. I meant, you have funds? You didn&#8217;t
+come here too light, did you?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I am prepared for all emergencies, madam, certainly,&#8221;
+I averred with proper dignity. Not for the
+world would I have confessed otherwise. Sooth to
+say, I had the sensation of boundless wealth. The
+affair at the hotel did not bother me, now. Here in
+the Big Tent prosperity reigned. Money, money,
+money was passing back and forth, carelessly shoved
+out and carelessly pocketed or piled up, while the
+band played and the people laughed and drank and
+danced and bragged and staked, and laughed again.</p>
+<p>&#8220;That is good. Shall we walk a little? And when
+you play&mdash;come here.&#8221; We stepped apart from the
+listeners. &#8220;When you play, follow the lead of Jim.
+He&#8217;ll not lose, and I intend that you shan&#8217;t, either.
+But you must play, for the sport of it. Everybody
+games, in Benton.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;So I judge, madam,&#8221; I assented. &#8220;Under your
+chaperonage I am ready to take any risks, the gaming
+table being among the least.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Prettily said, sir,&#8221; she complimented. &#8220;And you
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_112' name='page_112'></a>112</span>
+won&#8217;t lose. No,&#8221; she repeated suggestively, &#8220;you
+won&#8217;t lose, with me looking out for you. Jim bears
+you no ill will. He recognizes a man when he meets
+him, even when the proof is uncomfortable.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;For that little episode on the train I ask no reward,
+madam,&#8221; said I.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Of course not.&#8221; Her tone waxed impatient.
+&#8220;However, you&#8217;re a stranger in Benton and strangers
+do not always fare well.&#8221; In this she spoke the truth.
+&#8220;As a resident I claim the honors. Let us be old acquaintances.
+Shall we walk? Or would you rather
+dance?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;d cut a sorry figure dancing in boots,&#8221; said I.
+&#8220;Therefore I&#8217;d really prefer to walk, if all the same
+to you.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Thank you for having mercy on my poor feet.
+Walk we will.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;May I get you some refreshment?&#8221; I hazarded.
+&#8220;A lemonade&mdash;or something stronger?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Not for you, sir; not again,&#8221; she laughed. &#8220;You
+are, as Jim would say, &#8217;fortified.&#8217; And I shall need
+all my wits to keep you from being tolled away by
+greater attractions.&#8221;</p>
+<p>With that, she accepted my arm. We promenaded,
+Jim sauntering near. And as she emphatically was
+the superior of all other women upon the floor I did
+not fail to dilate with the distinction accorded me:
+felt it in the glances, the deference and the ready
+make-way which attended upon our progress.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_113' name='page_113'></a>113</span>
+Frankly to say, possibly I strutted&mdash;as a young man
+will when &#8220;fortified&#8221; within and without and elevated
+from the station of nondescript stranger to that
+of favored beau.</p>
+<p>Whereas an hour before I had been crushed and
+beggarly, now I turned out my toes and stepped
+bravely&mdash;my twenty-one dollars in pocket, my six-shooter
+at belt, a red &#8217;kerchief at throat, the queen of
+the hall on my arm, and my trunk all unnecessary to
+my well-being.</p>
+<p>Thus in easy fashion we moved amidst eyes and
+salutations from the various degrees of the company.
+She made no mention of any husband, which might
+have been odd in the East but did not impress me as
+especially odd here in the democratic Far West. The
+women appeared to have an independence of action.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Shall we risk a play or two?&#8221; she proposed.
+&#8220;Are you acquainted with three-card monte?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Indifferently, madam,&#8221; said I. &#8220;But I am green
+at all gambling devices.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;You shall learn,&#8221; she encouraged lightly. &#8220;In
+Benton as in Rome, you know. There is no disgrace
+attached to laying down a dollar here and there&mdash;we
+all do it. That is part of our amusement, in Benton.&#8221;
+She halted. &#8220;You are game, sir? What is life but a
+series of chances? Are you disposed to win a little
+and flout the danger of losing?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I am in Benton to win,&#8221; I valiantly asserted.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_114' name='page_114'></a>114</span>
+&#8220;And if under your direction, so much the quicker.
+What first, then? The three-card monte?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;It is the simplest. Faro would be beyond you yet.
+Rondo coolo is boisterous and confusing&mdash;and as for
+poker, that is a long session of nerves, while chuck-a-luck,
+though all in the open, is for children and fools.
+You might throw the dice a thousand times and never
+cast a lucky combination. Roulette is as bad. The
+percentage in favor of the bank in a square game is
+forty per cent. better than stealing. I&#8217;ll initiate you
+on monte. Are your eyes quick?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;For some things,&#8221; I replied meaningly.</p>
+<p>She conducted me to the nearest monte game,
+where the &#8220;spieler&#8221;&mdash;a smooth-faced lad of not
+more than nineteen&mdash;sat behind his three-legged little
+table, green covered, and idly shifting the cards
+about maintained a rather bored flow of conversational
+incitement to bets.</p>
+<p>As happened, he was illy patronized at the moment.
+There were not more than three or four onlookers,
+none risking but all waiting apparently upon
+one another.</p>
+<p>At our arrival the youth glanced up with the most
+innocent pair of long-lashed brown eyes that I ever
+had seen. A handsome boy he was.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Hello, Bob.&#8221;</p>
+<p>He smiled, with white teeth.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Hello yourself.&#8221;</p>
+<p>My Lady and he seemed to know each other.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_115' name='page_115'></a>115</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;How goes it to-night, Bob?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Slow. There&#8217;s no nerve or money in this camp
+any more. She&#8217;s a dead one.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ll not have Benton slandered,&#8221; My Lady gaily
+retorted. &#8220;We&#8217;ll buck your game, Bob. But you
+must be easy on us. We&#8217;re green yet.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Bob shot a quick glance at me&mdash;in one look had
+read me from hat to boots. He had shrewder eyes
+than their first languor intimated.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Pleased to accommodate you, I&#8217;m sure,&#8221; he answered.
+&#8220;The greenies stand as good a show at this
+board as the profesh.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Will you play for a dollar?&#8221; she challenged.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ll play for two bits, to-night. Anything to start
+action.&#8221; He twisted his mouth with ready chagrin.
+&#8220;I&#8217;m about ripe to bet against myself.&#8221;</p>
+<p>She fumbled at her reticule, but I was beforehand.</p>
+<p>&#8220;No, no.&#8221; And I fished into my pocket. &#8220;Allow
+me. I will furnish the funds if you will do the playing.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I choose the card?&#8221; said she. &#8220;That is up to
+you, sir. You are to learn.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;By watching, at first,&#8221; I protested. &#8220;We should
+be partners.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well,&#8221; she consented, &#8220;if you say so. Partners
+it is. A lady brings luck, but I shall not always do
+your playing for you, sir. That kind of partnership
+comes to grief.&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_116' name='page_116'></a>116</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;I am hopeful of playing on my own score, in due
+time,&#8221; I responded. &#8220;As you will see.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;What&#8217;s the card, Bob? We&#8217;ve a dollar on it, as
+a starter.&#8221;</p>
+<p>He eyed her, while facing the cards up.</p>
+<p>&#8220;The ace. You see it&mdash;the ace, backed by ten and
+deuce. Here it is. All ready?&#8221; He turned them
+down, in order; methodically, even listlessly moved
+them to and fro, yet with light, sure, well-nigh bewildering
+touch. Suddenly lifted his hands. &#8220;All
+set. A dollar you don&#8217;t face up the ace at first try.&#8221;</p>
+<p>She laughed, bantering.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, Bob! You&#8217;re too easy. I wonder you aren&#8217;t
+broke. You&#8217;re no monte spieler. Is this your best?&#8221;</p>
+<p>And I believed that I myself knew which card was
+the ace.</p>
+<p>&#8220;You hear me, and there&#8217;s my dollar.&#8221; He coolly
+waited.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Not yours; ours. Will you make it five?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;One is my limit on this throw. You named it.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oho!&#8221; With a dart of hand she had turned up
+the middle card, exposing the ace spot, as I had anticipated.
+She swept the two dollars to her.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Adios,&#8221; she bade.</p>
+<p>He smiled, indulgent.</p>
+<p>&#8220;So soon? Don&#8217;t I get my revenge? You, sir.&#8221;
+And he appealed to me. &#8220;You see how easy it is.
+I&#8217;ll throw you a turn for a dollar, two dollars, five
+dollars&mdash;anything to combine business and pleasure.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_117' name='page_117'></a>117</span>
+Whether I win or lose I don&#8217;t care. You&#8217;ll follow
+the lead of the lady? What?&#8221;</p>
+<p>I was on fire to accept, but she stayed me.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Not now. I&#8217;m showing him around, Bob. You&#8217;ll
+get your revenge later. Good-bye. I&#8217;ve drummed up
+trade for you.&#8221;</p>
+<p>As if inspired by the winning several of the bystanders,
+some newly arrived, had money in their
+hands, to stake. So we strolled on; and I was conscious
+that the youth&#8217;s brown eyes briefly flicked after
+us with a peculiar glint.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yours,&#8221; she said, extending the coins to me.</p>
+<p>I declined.</p>
+<p>&#8220;No, indeed. It is part of my tuition. If you will
+play I will stake.&#8221;</p>
+<p>She also declined.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I can&#8217;t have that. You will at least take your
+own money back.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Only for another try, madam,&#8221; I assented.</p>
+<p>&#8220;In that case we&#8217;ll find a livelier game yonder,&#8221;
+said she. &#8220;Bob&#8217;s just a lazy boy. His game is a
+piker game. He&#8217;s too slow to learn from. Let us
+watch a real game.&#8221;</p>
+<hr class='major' />
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='VIII_I_STAKE_ON_THE_QUEEN' id='VIII_I_STAKE_ON_THE_QUEEN'></a>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_118' name='page_118'></a>118</span>
+<h2>CHAPTER VIII</h2>
+<h3>I STAKE ON THE QUEEN</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>Jim had disappeared; until when we had made way
+to another monte table there he was, his hands in his
+pockets, his cigar half smoked.</p>
+<p>More of a crowd was here; the voice of the spieler
+more insistent, yet low-pitched and businesslike. He
+was a study&mdash;a square-shouldered, well set-up, wiry
+man of olive complexion, finely chiseled features save
+for nose somewhat cruelly beaked, of short black
+moustache, dead black long wavy hair, and, placed
+boldly wide, contrastive hard gray eyes that lent atmosphere
+of coldness to his face. His hat was pulled
+down over his forehead, he held an unlighted cigar
+between his teeth while he mechanically spoke and
+shifted the three cards (a diamond flashing from a
+finger) upon the baize-covered little table.</p>
+<p>Money had been wagered. He had just raked in a
+few notes, adding them to his pile. His monotone
+droned on.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Next, ladies and gentlemen. Sometimes I win,
+sometimes I lose. That is my business. The play is
+yours. You may think I have two chances to your
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_119' name='page_119'></a>119</span>
+one; that is not so. You make the choice. Always
+the queen, always the queen. You have only to watch
+the queen, one card. I have to watch three cards.
+You have your two eyes, I have my two hands. You
+spot the card only when you think you can. I meet
+all comers. It is an even gamble.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Jim remarked us as we joined.</p>
+<p>&#8220;How you comin&#8217; now?&#8221; he greeted of me.</p>
+<p>&#8220;We won a dollar,&#8221; My Lady responded.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Not I. She did the choosing,&#8221; I corrected.</p>
+<p>&#8220;But you would have chosen the same card, you
+said,&#8221; she prompted. &#8220;You saw how easy it was.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Easy if you know how,&#8221; Jim asserted. &#8220;Think
+to stake a leetle here? I&#8217;ve been keepin&#8217; cases and
+luck&#8217;s breaking ag&#8217;in the bank to-night, by gosh.
+Made several turns, myself, already.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;We&#8217;ll wait a minute till we get his system,&#8221; she
+answered.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Are you watching, ladies and gentlemen?&#8221; bade
+the dealer, in that even tone. &#8220;You see the eight of
+clubs, the eight of spades, the queen of hearts. The
+queen is your card. My hand against your eyes, then.
+You are set? There you are. Pick the queen, some
+one of you. Put your money on the queen of hearts.
+You can turn the card yourself. What? Nobody?
+Don&#8217;t be pikers. Let us have a little sport. Stake a
+dollar. Why, you&#8217;d toss a dollar down your throat&mdash;you&#8217;d
+lay a dollar on a cockroach race&mdash;you&#8217;d bet that
+much on a yellow dog if you owned him, just to show
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_120' name='page_120'></a>120</span>
+your spirit. And here I&#8217;m offering you a straight
+proposition.&#8221;</p>
+<p>With a muttered &#8220;I&#8217;ll go you another turn, Mister,&#8221;
+Jim stepped closer and planked down a dollar.
+The dealer cast a look up at him as with pleased surprise.</p>
+<p>&#8220;You, sir? Very good. You have spirit. Money
+talks. Here is my dollar. Now, to prove to these
+other people what a good guesser you are, which is
+the queen?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Here,&#8221; Jim said confidently; and sure enough he
+faced up the queen of hearts.</p>
+<p>&#8220;The money&#8217;s yours. You never earned a dollar
+quicker, I&#8217;ll wager, friend,&#8221; the dealer acknowledged,
+imperturbable&mdash;for he evidently was one who never
+evinced the least emotion, whether he won or lost.
+&#8220;Very good. Now&mdash;&mdash;&#8221;</p>
+<p>From behind him a man&mdash;a newcomer to the spot,
+who looked like any respectable Eastern merchant,
+being well dressed and grave of face&mdash;touched him
+upon the shoulder. He turned ear; while he inclined
+farther they whispered together, and I witnessed an
+arm steal swiftly forward at my side, and a thumb
+and finger slightly bend up the extreme corner of the
+queen. The hand and arm vanished; when the dealer
+fronted us again the queen was apparently just as before.
+Only we who had seen would have marked the
+bent corner.</p>
+<p>The act had been so clever and so audacious that I
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_121' name='page_121'></a>121</span>
+fairly held my breath. But the gambler resumed his
+flow of talk, while he fingered the cards as if totally
+unaware that they had been tampered with.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Now, again, ladies and gentlemen. You see how
+it is done. You back your eyes, and you win. I find
+that I shall have to close early to-night. Make your
+hay while the sun shines. Who&#8217;ll be in on this turn?
+Watch the queen of hearts. I place her here. I coax
+the three cards a little&mdash;&mdash;&#8221; he gave a swift flourish.
+&#8220;There they are.&#8221;</p>
+<p>His audience hesitated, as if fearful of a trick, for
+the bent corner of the queen, raising this end a
+little, was plain to us who knew. It was absurdly
+plain.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ll go you another, Mister,&#8221; Jim responded.
+&#8220;I&#8217;ll pick out the queen ag&#8217;in for a dollar.&#8221;</p>
+<p>The gambler smiled grimly and shrugged his shoulders.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, pshaw, sir. These are small stakes. You&#8217;ll
+never get rich at that rate and neither shall I.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I reckon I can set my own limit,&#8221; Jim grumbled.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, sir. But let&#8217;s have action. Who&#8217;ll join this
+gentleman in his guess? Who&#8217;ll back his luck? He&#8217;s
+a winner, I admit that.&#8221;</p>
+<p>The gray eyes dwelt upon face and face of our
+half circle; and still I, too, hesitated, although my dollar
+was burning a hole in my pocket.</p>
+<p>My Lady whispered to me.</p>
+<p>&#8220;All&#8217;s fair in love and war. Here&mdash;put this on,
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_122' name='page_122'></a>122</span>
+with yours, for me.&#8221; She slipped a dollar of her own
+into my hand.</p>
+<p>Another man stepped forward. He was, I judged,
+a teamster. His clothes, of flannel shirt, belted
+trousers and six-shooter and dusty boots, so indicated.
+And his beard was shaggy and unkempt, almost
+covering his face underneath his drooping
+slouch hat.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ll stake you a dollar,&#8221; he said.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Two from me,&#8221; I heard myself saying, and I saw
+my hand depositing them.</p>
+<p>&#8220;You&#8217;re all on this gentleman&#8217;s card, remember?&#8221;</p>
+<p>We nodded. The bearded man tipped me a wink.</p>
+<p>&#8220;You, sir, then, turn the queen if you can,&#8221; the
+gambler challenged of Jim.</p>
+<p>With quick movement Jim flopped the bent-corner
+card, and the queen herself seemed to wink jovially
+at us.</p>
+<p>The gambler exclaimed.</p>
+<p>&#8220;By God, gentlemen, but you&#8217;ve skinned me again.
+I&#8217;m clumsy to-night. I&#8217;d better quit.&#8221; And he
+scarcely varied his level tone despite the chuckles of
+the crowd. &#8220;You must let me try once more. But I
+warn you, I want action. I&#8217;m willing to meet any
+sum you stack up against me, if it&#8217;s large enough to
+spell action. Shall we go another round or two before
+I close up?&#8221; He gathered the three cards.
+&#8220;You see the queen&mdash;my unlucky queen of hearts.
+Here she is.&#8221; He stowed the card between thumb and
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_123' name='page_123'></a>123</span>
+finger. &#8220;Here are the other two.&#8221; He held them up
+in his left hand&mdash;the eight of clubs, the eight of
+spades. He transferred them&mdash;with his rapid motion
+he strewed the three. &#8220;Choose the queen. I put the
+game to you fair and square. There are the cards.
+Maybe you can read their backs. That&#8217;s your privilege.&#8221;
+He fixed his eyes upon the teamster. &#8220;You,
+sir; where&#8217;s your money, half of which was mine?&#8221;
+He glanced at Jim. &#8220;And you, sir? You&#8217;ll follow
+your luck?&#8221; Lastly he surveyed me with a flash of
+steely bravado. &#8220;And you, young gentleman. You
+came in before. I dare you.&#8221;</p>
+<p>The bent corner was more pronounced than ever,
+as if aggravated by the manipulations. It could not
+possibly be mistaken by the knowing. And a sudden
+shame possessed me&mdash;a glut of this crafty advantage
+to which I was stooping; an advantage gained not
+through my own wit, either, but through the dishonorable
+trick of another.</p>
+<p>&#8220;There&#8217;s your half from me, if you want it,&#8221; said
+Jim, slapping down two dollars. &#8220;This is my night
+to howl.&#8221;</p>
+<p>The teamster backed him.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m on the same card,&#8221; said he.</p>
+<p>And not to be outdone&mdash;urged, I thought, by a
+pluck at my sleeve&mdash;I boldly followed with my own
+two dollars, reasoning that I was warranted in partially
+recouping, for Benton owed me much.</p>
+<p>The gambler laughed shortly. His gaze, cool and
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_124' name='page_124'></a>124</span>
+impertinent, enveloped our front. He leaned back,
+defiant.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Give me a chance, gentlemen. I shall not proceed
+with the play for that picayune sum before me.
+This is my last deal and I&#8217;ve been loser. It&#8217;s make or
+break. Who else will back that gentleman&#8217;s luck?
+I&#8217;ve placed the cards the best I know how. But six
+or eight dollars is no money to me. It doesn&#8217;t pay for
+floor space. Is nobody else in? What? Come,
+come; let&#8217;s have some sport. I dare you. This time
+is my revenge or your good fortune. Play up, gentlemen.
+Don&#8217;t be crabbers.&#8221; He smiled sarcastically;
+his words stung. &#8220;This isn&#8217;t pussy-in-a-corner. It&#8217;s
+a game of wits. You wouldn&#8217;t bet unless you felt
+cock-sure of winning. I&#8217;ll give you one minute,
+gentlemen, before calling all bets off unless you make
+the pot worth while.&#8221;</p>
+<p>The threat had effect. Nobody wished to let the
+marked card get away. That was not human nature.
+Bets rained in upon the table&mdash;bank notes, silver half
+dollars, the rarer dollar coins, and the common greenbacks.
+He met each wager, while he sat negligent and
+half smiled and chewed his unlighted cigar.</p>
+<p>&#8220;This is the last round, gentlemen,&#8221; he reminded.
+&#8220;Are you all in? Don&#8217;t leave with regrets. You,&#8221;
+he said, direct to me. &#8220;Are you in such short circumstances
+that you have no spunk? Why did you
+come here, sir, if not to win? Why, the stakes you
+play would not buy refreshment for the lady!&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_125' name='page_125'></a>125</span></p>
+<p>That was too much. I threw scruples aside. He
+had badgered me&mdash;he was there to win if he could; I
+now was hot with the same design. I extracted my
+twenty-dollar note, and deaf to a quickly breathed
+&#8220;Wait the turn&#8221; from My Lady I planked it down
+before him. She should know me for a man of decision.</p>
+<p>&#8220;There, sir,&#8221; said I. &#8220;I am betting twenty-two
+dollars in all, which is my limit to-night, on the same
+right-end card as I stand.&#8221;</p>
+<p>I thought that I had him. Forthwith he straightened
+alertly, spoke tartly.</p>
+<p>&#8220;The game is closed, gentlemen. Remember, you
+are wagering on the first turn. There are no splits in
+monte. Not at this table. Our friend says the right-end
+card. You, sir,&#8221; and he addressed Jim. &#8220;They
+are backing you. Which do you say is the queen?
+Lay your finger on her.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Jim so did, with a finger stubby, and dirty under
+the nail.</p>
+<p>&#8220;That is the card, is it? You are agreed?&#8221; he
+queried us, sweeping his cold gray eyes from face to
+face. &#8220;We&#8217;ll have no crabbing.&#8221;</p>
+<p>We nodded, intently eying the card, fearful yet,
+some of us, that it might be denied us.</p>
+<p>&#8220;You, sir, then.&#8221; And he addressed me. &#8220;You
+are the heaviest better. Suppose you turn the card
+for yourself and those other gentlemen.&#8221;</p>
+<p>I obediently reached for it. My hand trembled.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_126' name='page_126'></a>126</span>
+There were sixty or seventy dollars upon the table,
+and my own contribution was my last cent. As I
+fumbled I felt the strain of bodies pressing against
+mine, and heard the hiss of feverish breaths, and a
+foolish laugh or two. Nevertheless the silence
+seemed overpowering.</p>
+<p>I turned the card&mdash;the card with the bent corner,
+of which I was as certain as of my own name; I faced
+it up, confidently, my capital already doubled; and
+amidst a burst of astonished cries I stared dumbfounded.</p>
+<p>It was the eight of clubs! My fingers left it as
+though it were a snake. It was the eight of clubs!
+Where I had seen, in fancy, the queen of hearts, there
+lay like a changeling the eight of clubs, with corner
+bent as only token of the transformation.</p>
+<p>The crowd elbowed about me. With rapid movement
+the gambler raked in the bets&mdash;a slender hand
+flashed by me&mdash;turned the next card. The queen that
+was, after all.</p>
+<p>The gambler darkened, gathering the pasteboards.</p>
+<p>&#8220;We can&#8217;t both win, gentlemen,&#8221; he said, tone passionless.
+&#8220;But I am willing to give you one more
+chance, from a new deck.&#8221;</p>
+<p>What the response was I did not know, nor care.
+My ears drummed confusedly, and seeing nothing I
+pushed through into the open, painfully conscious
+that I was flat penniless and that instead of having
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_127' name='page_127'></a>127</span>
+played the knave I had played the fool, for the queen
+of hearts.</p>
+<p>The loss of some twenty dollars might have been a
+trivial matter to me once&mdash;I had at times cast that
+sum away as vainly as Washington had cast a dollar
+across the Potomac; but here I had lost my all,
+whether large or small; and not only had I been bilked
+out of it&mdash;I had bilked myself out of it by sinking,
+in pretended smartness, below the level of a more artful
+dodger.</p>
+<p>I heard My Lady speaking beside me.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m so sorry.&#8221; She laid hand upon my sleeve.
+&#8220;You should have been content with small sums, or
+followed my lead. Next time&mdash;&mdash;&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;There&#8217;ll be no next time,&#8221; I blurted. &#8220;I am
+cleaned out.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;You don&#8217;t mean&mdash;&mdash;?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I was first robbed at the hotel. Now here.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;No, no!&#8221; she opposed. Jim sidled to us. &#8220;That
+was a bungle, Jim.&#8221;</p>
+<p>He ruefully scratched his head.</p>
+<p>&#8220;A wrong steer for once, I reckon. I warn&#8217;t slick
+enough. Too much money on the table. But it
+looked like the card; I never took my eyes off&#8217;n it.
+We&#8217;ll try ag&#8217;in, and switch to another layout. By
+thunder, I want revenge on this joint and I mean to
+get it. So do you, don&#8217;t you, pardner?&#8221; he appealed
+to me.</p>
+<p>As with mute, sickly denial I turned away it seemed
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_128' name='page_128'></a>128</span>
+to me that I sensed a shifting of forms at the monte
+table&mdash;caught the words &#8220;You watch here a moment&#8221;;
+and close following, a slim white hand fell
+heavily upon My Lady&#8217;s shoulder. It whirled her
+about, to face the gambler. His smooth olive countenance
+was dark with a venom of rage incarnate that
+poisoned the air; his syllables crackled.</p>
+<p>&#8220;You devil! I heard you, at the table. You meddle
+with my come-ons, will you?&#8221; And he slapped
+her with open palm, so that the impact smacked.
+&#8220;Now get out o&#8217; here or I&#8217;ll kill you.&#8221;</p>
+<p>She flamed red, all in a single rush of blood.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh!&#8221; she breathed. Her hand darted for the
+pocket in her skirt, but I sprang between the two.
+Forgetful of my revolver, remembering only what I
+had witnessed&mdash;a woman struck by a man&mdash;with a
+blow I sent him reeling backward.</p>
+<p>He recovered; every vestige of color had left his
+face, except for the spot where I had landed; his hat
+had sprung aside from the shock&mdash;his gray eyes,
+contrasted with his black hair, fastened upon my eyes
+almost deliberately and his upper lip lifted over set
+white teeth. With lightning movement he thrust the
+fingers of his right hand into his waistcoat pocket.</p>
+<p>I heard a rush of feet, a clamor of voices; and all
+the while, which seemed interminable, I was tugging,
+awkward with deadly peril, at my revolver. His fingers
+had whipped free of the pocket, I glimpsed as
+with second sight (for my eyes were held strongly by
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_129' name='page_129'></a>129</span>
+his) the twin little black muzzles of a derringer concealed
+in his palm; a spasm of fear pinched me; they
+spurted, with ringing report, but just at the instant a
+flanneled arm knocked his arm up, the ball had sped
+ceiling-ward and the teamster of the gaming table
+stood against him, revolver barrel boring into his very
+stomach.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Stand pat, Mister. I call you.&#8221;</p>
+<p>In a trice all entry of any unpleasant emotion vanished
+from my antagonist&#8217;s handsome face, leaving it
+olive tinted, cameo, inert. He steadied a little, and
+smiled, surveying the teamster&#8217;s visage, close to his.</p>
+<p>&#8220;You have me covered, sir. My hand is in the
+discard.&#8221; He composedly tucked the derringer into
+his waistcoat pocket again. &#8220;That gentleman struck
+me; he was about to draw on me, and by rights I
+might have killed him. My apologies for this little
+disturbance.&#8221;</p>
+<p>He bestowed a challenging look upon me, a hard
+unforgiving look upon the lady; with a bow he turned
+for his hat, and stepping swiftly went back to his
+table.</p>
+<p>Now in the reaction I fought desperately against a
+trembling of the knees; there were congratulations, a
+hubbub of voices assailing me&mdash;and the arm of the
+teamster through mine and his bluff invitation:</p>
+<p>&#8220;Come and have a drink.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;But you&#8217;ll return. You must. I want to speak
+with you.&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_130' name='page_130'></a>130</span></p>
+<p>It was My Lady, pleading earnestly. I still could
+scarcely utter a word; my brain was in a smother.
+My new friend moved me away from her. He answered
+for me.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Not until we&#8217;ve had a little confab, lady. We&#8217;ve
+got matters of importance jest at present.&#8221;</p>
+<p>I saw her bite her lips, as she helplessly flushed; her
+blue eyes implored me, but I had no will of my own
+and I certainly owed a measure of courtesy to this
+man who had saved my life.</p>
+<hr class='major' />
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='IX_I_ACCEPT_AN_OFFER' id='IX_I_ACCEPT_AN_OFFER'></a>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_131' name='page_131'></a>131</span>
+<h2>CHAPTER IX</h2>
+<h3>I ACCEPT AN OFFER</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>We found a small table, one of the several devoted
+to refreshments for the dancers, in a corner and unoccupied.
+The affair upon the floor was apparently
+past history&mdash;if it merited even that distinction. The
+place had resumed its program of dancing, playing
+and drinking as though after all a pistol shot was of
+no great moment in the Big Tent.</p>
+<p>&#8220;You had a narrow shave,&#8221; my friend remarked as
+we seated ourselves&mdash;I with a sigh of gratitude for
+the opportunity. &#8220;If you can&#8217;t draw quicker you&#8217;d
+better keep your hands in your pockets. Let&#8217;s have a
+dose of t&#8217;rant&#8217;lar juice to set you up.&#8221; Whereupon
+he ordered whiskey from a waiter.</p>
+<p>&#8220;But I couldn&#8217;t stand by and see him strike a
+woman,&#8221; I defended.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Wall, fists mean guns, in these diggin&#8217;s. Where
+you from?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Albany, New York State.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I sized you up as a pilgrim. You haven&#8217;t been
+long in camp, either, have you?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;No. But plenty long enough,&#8221; I miserably replied.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_132' name='page_132'></a>132</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;Long enough to be plucked, eh?&#8221;</p>
+<p>We had drunk the whiskey. Under its warming
+influence my tongue loosened. Moreover there was
+something strong and kindly in the hearty voice and
+the rough face of this rudely clad plainsman, black
+bearded to the piercing black eyes.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes; of my last cent.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;All at gamblin&#8217;, mebbe?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;No. Only a little, but that strapped me. The
+hotel had robbed me of practically everything else.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Had, had it? Wall, what&#8217;s the story?&#8221;</p>
+<p>I told him of the hotel part; and he nodded.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Shore. You can&#8217;t hold the hotel responsible.
+You can leave stuff loose in regular camp; nobody
+enters flaps without permission. But a room is a different
+proposition. I&#8217;d rather take chances among
+Injuns than among white men. Why, you could
+throw in with a Sioux village for a year and not be
+robbed permanent if the chief thought you straight;
+but in a white man&#8217;s town&mdash;hell! Now, how&#8217;d you
+get tangled up with this other outfit?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Which?&#8221; I queried.</p>
+<p>&#8220;That brace outfit I found you with.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;The fellow is a stranger to me, sir,&#8221; said I. &#8220;I
+simply was foolish enough to stake what little I had
+on a sure thing&mdash;I was bamboozled into following the
+lead of the rest of you,&#8221; I reminded. &#8220;Now I see
+that there was a trick, although I don&#8217;t yet understand.
+After that the fellow assaulted the lady, my
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_133' name='page_133'></a>133</span>
+companion, and you stepped in&mdash;for which, sir, I owe
+you more thanks than I can utter.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;A trick, you think?&#8221; He opened his hairy mouth
+for a gust of short laughter. &#8220;My Gawd, boy! We
+were nicely took in, and we desarved it. When you
+buck the tiger, look out for his claws. But I reckoned
+he&#8217;d postpone the turn till next time. He would
+have, if you fellers hadn&#8217;t come down so handsome
+with the dust. I stood pat, at that. So, you notice,
+did the capper, your other friend.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;The capper? Which was he, sir?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Why, Lord bless you, son. You&#8217;re the greenest
+thing this side of Omyha. A capper touched him on
+the shoulder, a capper bent that there card, a capper
+tolled you all on with a dollar or two, and another
+capper fed the come-ons to his table. Aye, she&#8217;s a
+purty piece. Where&#8217;d you meet up with her?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;With her?&#8221; I gasped.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, yes. The woman; the main steerer. That
+purty piece who damn nigh lost you your life as well
+as losin&#8217; you your money.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;You mean the lady with the blue eyes, in black?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, the golden hair. Lady! Oh, pshaw!
+Where&#8217;d she hook you? At the door?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;You shall not speak of her in that fashion, sir,&#8221; I
+answered. &#8220;We were together on the train from
+Omaha. She has been kindness itself. The only part
+she has played to-night, as far as I can see, was to
+chaperon me here in the Big Tent; and whatever
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_134' name='page_134'></a>134</span>
+small winnings I had made, for amusement, was
+due to her and the skill of an acquaintance named
+Jim.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Jim Daily, yep. O&#8217; course. And she befriended
+you. Why, d&#8217;you suppose?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Perhaps because I was of some assistance to her
+on the way out West. I had a little setto with Mr.
+Daily, when he annoyed her while he was drunk.
+But sobered up, he seemed to wish to make
+amends.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, Lord!&#8221; My friend&#8217;s mouth gaped. &#8220;Amends?
+Yep. That&#8217;s his nature. Might call it mendin&#8217; his
+pocket and his lip. And you don&#8217;t yet savvy that your
+&#8217;lady&#8217; &#8217;s Montoyo&#8217;s wife&mdash;his woman, anyhow?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Montoyo? Who&#8217;s Montoyo?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;The monte thrower. That same spieler who
+trimmed us,&#8221; he rapped impatiently.</p>
+<p>The light that broke upon me dazed. My heart
+pounded. I must have looked what I felt: a fool.</p>
+<p>&#8220;No,&#8221; I stammered in my thin small voice of the
+hotel. &#8220;I imagined&mdash;I had reason to suspect that
+she might be married. But I didn&#8217;t know to whom.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Married? Wall, mebbe. Anyhow, she&#8217;s bound
+to Montoyo. He&#8217;s a breed, some Spanish, some
+white, like as not some Injun. A devil, and as slick
+as they make &#8217;em. She&#8217;s a power too white for him,
+herself, but he uses her and some day he&#8217;ll kill her.
+You&#8217;re not the fust gudgeon she&#8217;s hooked, to feed to
+him. Why, she&#8217;s known all back down the line.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_135' name='page_135'></a>135</span>
+They two have been followin&#8217; end o&#8217; track from
+North Platte, along with Hell on Wheels. Had a
+layout in Omyha, and in Denver. They&#8217;re not the
+only double-harness outfit hyar, either. You can
+meet a friendly woman any time, but this one got
+hold you fust.&#8221;</p>
+<p>I writhed to the words.</p>
+<p>&#8220;And that fellow Jim?&#8221; I asked.</p>
+<p>&#8220;He&#8217;s jest a common roper. He alluz wins, to encourage
+suckers like you. &#8217;Tisn&#8217;t his money he plays
+with; he&#8217;s on commish. Beginnin&#8217; to understand,
+ain&#8217;t you?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;But the bent card?&#8221; I insisted. &#8220;That is the
+mystery. It was the queen. What became of the
+queen?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Ho ho!&#8221; And again he laughed. &#8220;A cute trick,
+shore. That&#8217;s what we got for bein&#8217; so plumb crooked
+ourselves. Why, o&#8217; course it was the queen, once.
+You see &#8217;twas this way. That she-male and the capper
+in cahoots with her tolled you on straight for
+Montoyo&#8217;s table; teased you a leetle along the trail,
+no doubt, to keep you interested.&#8221; I nodded. &#8220;They
+promised you winnin&#8217;s, easy winnin&#8217;s. Then at Montoyo&#8217;s
+table the game was a leetle slack; so one capper
+touched him on the shoulder and another marked the
+card. O&#8217; course a gambler like him wouldn&#8217;t be up to
+readin&#8217; his own cards. Oh, no! You sports were the
+smart ones.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;How about yourself?&#8221; I retorted, nettled.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_136' name='page_136'></a>136</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;Me? I know them tricks, but I reckoned I was
+smart, too. Then that capper Jim led out and we all
+made a small winnin&#8217;, to prove the system. And
+Montoyo, he gets tired o&#8217; losin&#8217;&mdash;but still he&#8217;s blind
+to a card that everybody else can see, and he calls for
+real play so he can go broke or even up. I didn&#8217;t look
+for much of a deal on that throw myself. Usu&#8217;ly it
+comes less promisc&#8217;yus, with the gudgeon stakin&#8217; the
+big roll, and then I pull out. But you-all slapped
+down the stuff in a stampede, sartin you had him
+buffaloed. On his last shuffle he&#8217;d straightened the
+queen and turned down the eight, usin&#8217; an extra finger
+or two. Them card sharps have six fingers on each
+hand and several in their sleeve, and he was slicker&#8217;n
+I thought. He might have refused all bets and got
+your mad up for the next pass; but you&#8217;d come down
+as handsome as you would, he figgered. So he let go.
+&#8217;Twas fair and squar&#8217;, robber eat robber, and we none
+of us have any call to howl. But you mind my word:
+Don&#8217;t aim to put something over on a professional
+gamblin&#8217; sharp. It can&#8217;t be done. As for me, I
+broke even and I alluz expect to lose. When I look
+to be skinned I leave most my dust behind me where I
+can&#8217;t get at it.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Now I saw all, or enough. I had received no more
+than I deserved. Such a wave of nausea surged into
+my mouth&mdash;but he was continuing.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Jest why he struck his woman I don&#8217;t know. Do
+you?&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_137' name='page_137'></a>137</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes. She had cautioned me and he must have
+heard her. And she showed which was the right card.
+I don&#8217;t understand that.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;To save her face, and egg you on. Shore! Your
+twenty dollars was nothin&#8217;. She didn&#8217;t know you
+were busted. Next time she&#8217;d have steered you to
+the tune of a hundred or two and cleaned you proper.
+You hadn&#8217;t been worked along, yet, to the right pitch
+o&#8217; smartness. Montoyo must ha&#8217; mistook her. She
+encouraged you, didn&#8217;t she?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, she did.&#8221; I arose unsteadily, clutching the
+table. &#8220;If you&#8217;ll excuse me, sir, I think I&#8217;d better go.
+I&mdash;I&mdash;I thank you. I only wish I&#8217;d met you before.
+You are at liberty to regard me as a saphead. Good-night,
+sir.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;No! Hold on. Sit down, sit down, man. Have
+another drink.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I have had enough. In fact, since arriving in
+Benton I&#8217;ve had more than enough of everything.&#8221;
+But I sat down.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Where were you goin&#8217;?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;To the hotel. I am privileged to stay there until
+to-morrow. Thank Heaven I was obliged to pay in
+advance.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Alluz safer,&#8221; said he. &#8220;And then what?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;To-morrow?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes. To-morrow.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t know. I must find employment, and earn
+enough to get home with.&#8221; To write for funds was
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_138' name='page_138'></a>138</span>
+now impossible through very shame. &#8220;Home&#8217;s the
+only place for a person of my greenness.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Why did you come out clear to end o&#8217; track?&#8221;
+he inquired.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I was ordered by my physician to find a locality
+in the Far West, high and dry.&#8221; I gulped at his smile.
+&#8220;I&#8217;ve found it and shall go home to report.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;With your tail between your legs?&#8221; He clapped
+me upon the shoulder. &#8220;Stiffen your back. We all
+have to pay for eddication. You&#8217;re not wolf meat
+yet, by a long shot. You&#8217;ve still got your hair, and
+that&#8217;s more than some men I know of. You look
+purty healthy, too. Don&#8217;t turn for home; stick it
+out.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I shall have to stick it out until I raise the transportation,&#8221;
+I reminded. &#8220;My revolver should tide
+me over, for a beginning.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Sell it?&#8221; said he. &#8220;Sell your breeches fust.
+Either way you&#8217;d be only half dressed. No!&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;It would take me a little way. I&#8217;ll not stay in
+Benton&mdash;not to be pointed at as a dupe.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, pshaw!&#8221; he laughed. &#8220;Nobody&#8217;ll remember
+you, specially if you&#8217;re known to be broke.
+Busted, you&#8217;re of no use to the camp. Let me make
+you a proposition. I believe you&#8217;re straight goods.
+Can&#8217;t believe anything else, after seein&#8217; your play and
+sizin&#8217; you up. Let me make you a proposition. I&#8217;m
+on my way to Salt Lake with a bull outfit and I&#8217;m in
+need of another man. I&#8217;ll give you a dollar and a
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_139' name='page_139'></a>139</span>
+half a day and found, and it will be good honest work,
+too.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;You are teaming west, you mean?&#8221; I asked.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, sir. Freightin&#8217; across. Mule-whackin&#8217;.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;But I never drove spans in my life; and I&#8217;m not
+in shape to stand hardships,&#8221; I faltered. &#8220;I&#8217;m here
+for my health. I have&mdash;&mdash;&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Stow all that, son,&#8221; he interrupted more tolerantly
+than was my due. &#8220;Forget your lungs, lights
+and liver and stand up a full-size man. In my opinion
+you&#8217;ve had too much doctorin&#8217;. A month with a
+bull train, and a diet of beans and sowbelly will put a
+linin&#8217; in your in&#8217;ards and a heart in your chest. When
+you&#8217;ve slept under a wagon to Salt Lake and l&#8217;arned
+to sling a bull whip and relish your beans burned, you
+can look anybody in the eye and tell him to go to hell,
+if you like. This roarin&#8217; town life&mdash;it&#8217;s no life for
+you. It&#8217;s a bobtail, wide open in the middle. I&#8217;ll be
+only too glad to get away on the long trail myself.
+So you come with me,&#8221; and he smiled winningly. &#8220;I
+hate to see you ruined by women and likker. Mule-skinnin&#8217;
+ain&#8217;t all beer and skittles, as they say; but this
+job&#8217;ll tide you over, anyhow, and you&#8217;ll come out at
+the end with money in your pocket, if you choose, and
+no doctor&#8217;s bill to pay.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Sir,&#8221; I said gratefully, &#8220;may I think it over to-night,
+and let you know in the morning? Where will
+I find you?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;The train&#8217;s camped near the wagon trail, back at
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_140' name='page_140'></a>140</span>
+the river. You can&#8217;t miss it. It&#8217;s mainly a Mormon
+train, that some of us Gentiles have thrown in with.
+Ask for Cap&#8217;n Hyrum Adams&#8217; train. My name&#8217;s
+Jenks&mdash;George Jenks. You&#8217;ll find me there. I&#8217;ll
+hold open for you till ten o&#8217;clock&mdash;yes, till noon. I
+mean that you shall come. It&#8217;ll be the makin&#8217; of
+you.&#8221;</p>
+<p>I arose and gave him my hand; shook with him.</p>
+<p>&#8220;And I hope to come,&#8221; I asserted with glow of
+energy. &#8220;You&#8217;ve set me upon my feet, Mr. Jenks,
+for I was desperate. You&#8217;re the first honest man I&#8217;ve
+met in Benton.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Tut, tut,&#8221; he reproved. &#8220;There are others.
+Benton&#8217;s not so bad as you think it. But you were
+dead ripe; the buzzards scented you. Now you go
+straight to your hotel, unless you&#8217;ll spend the night
+with me. No? Then I&#8217;ll see you in the mornin&#8217;. I&#8217;ll
+risk your gettin&#8217; through the street alone.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;You may, sir,&#8221; I affirmed. &#8220;At present I&#8217;m not
+worth further robbing.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Except for your gun and clothes,&#8221; he rejoined.
+&#8220;But if you&#8217;ll use the one you&#8217;ll keep the other.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Gazing neither right nor left I strode resolutely for
+the exit. Now I had an anchor to windward. Sometimes
+just one word will face a man about when for
+lack of that mere word he was drifting. Of the
+games and the people I wished only to be rid forever;
+but at the exit I was halted by a hand laid upon my
+arm, and a quick utterance.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_141' name='page_141'></a>141</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;Not going? You will at least say good-night.&#8221;</p>
+<p>I barely paused, replying to her.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Good-night.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Still she would have detained me.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, no, no! Not this way. It was a mistake.
+I swear to you I am not to be blamed. Please let me
+help you. I don&#8217;t know what you&#8217;ve heard&mdash;I don&#8217;t
+know what has been said about me&mdash;you are angry&mdash;&mdash;&#8221;</p>
+<p>I twitched free, for she should not work upon me
+again. With such as she, a vampire and yet a woman,
+a man&#8217;s safety lay not in words but in unequivocal
+action.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Good-night,&#8221; I bade thickly, half choked by that
+same nausea, now hot. Bearing with me a satisfying
+but somehow annoyingly persistent imprint of moist
+blue eyes under shimmering hair, and startled white
+face plashed on one cheek with vivid crimson, and
+small hand left extended empty, I roughly stalked on
+and out, free of her, free of the Big Tent, her lair.</p>
+<p>All the way to the hotel, through the garish street,
+I nursed my wrath while it gnawed at me like the fox
+in the Spartan boy&#8217;s bosom; and once in my room,
+which fortuitously had no other tenants at this hour,
+I had to lean out of the narrow window for sheer relief
+in the coolness. Surely pride had had a fall this
+night.</p>
+<p>There &#8220;roared&#8221; Benton&mdash;the Benton to which, as
+to prosperity, I had hopefully purchased my ticket
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_142' name='page_142'></a>142</span>
+ages ago. And here cowered I, holed up&mdash;pillaged,
+dishonored, worthless in even this community: a
+young fellow in jaunty frontier costume, new and
+brave, but really reduced to sackcloth and ashes; a
+young fellow only a husk, as false in appearance as
+the Big Tent itself and many another of those canvas
+shells.</p>
+<p>The street noises&mdash;shouts, shots, music, songs,
+laughter, rattle of dice, whirr of wheel and clink of
+glasses&mdash;assailed me discordant. The scores of tents
+and shacks stretching on irregularly had become
+pocked with dark spots, where lights had been extinguished,
+but the street remained ablaze and the desert
+without winked at the stars. There were moving
+gleams at the railroad yards where switch engines
+puffed back and forth; up the grade and the new
+track, pointing westward, there were sparks of camp-fires;
+and still in other directions beyond the town
+other tokens redly flickered, where overland freighters
+were biding till the morning.</p>
+<p>Two or three miles in the east (Mr. Jenks had
+said) was his wagon train, camped at the North
+Platte River; and peering between the high canopy of
+stars and the low stratum of spectrally glowing,
+earthy&mdash;yes, very earthy&mdash;Benton, I tried to focus
+upon the haven, for comfort.</p>
+<p>I had made up my mind to accept the berth. Anything
+to get away. Benton I certainly hated with the
+rage of the defeated. So in a fling I drew back, wrestled
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_143' name='page_143'></a>143</span>
+out of coat and boots and belt and pantaloons,
+tucked them in hiding against the wall at the head of
+my bed and my revolver underneath my stained pillow;
+and tried to forget Benton, all of it, with the
+blanket to my ears and my face to the wall, for sleep.</p>
+<p>When once or twice I wakened from restless
+dreaming the glow and the noise of the street seemed
+scarcely abated, as if down there sleep was despised.
+But when I finally aroused, and turned, gathering wits
+again, full daylight had paled everything else.</p>
+<p>Snores sounded from the other beds; I saw tumbled
+coverings, disheveled forms and shaggy heads. In
+my own corner nothing had been molested. The
+world outside was strangely quiet. The trail was
+open. So with no attention to my roommates I hastily
+washed and dressed, buckled on my armament,
+and stumped freely forth, down the somnolent hall,
+down the creaking stairs, and into the silent lobby.</p>
+<p>Even the bar was vacant. Behind the office counter
+a clerk sat sunk into a doze. At my approach he
+unclosed blank, heavy eyes.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m going out,&#8221; I said shortly. &#8220;Number Three
+bed in Room Six.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;For long, sir?&#8221; he stammered. &#8220;You&#8217;ll be back,
+or are you leaving?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m leaving. You&#8217;ll find I&#8217;m paid up.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, sir. Of course, sir.&#8221; He rallied to the
+problem. &#8220;Just a moment. Number Three, Room
+Six, you say. Pulling your freight, are you?&#8221; He
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_144' name='page_144'></a>144</span>
+scanned the register. &#8220;You&#8217;re the gentleman from
+New York who came in yesterday and met with misfortune?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I am,&#8221; said I.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well, better luck next time. We&#8217;ll see you
+again?&#8221; He quickened. &#8220;Here! One moment.
+Think I have a message for you.&#8221; And reaching
+behind him into a pigeonhole he extracted an envelope,
+which he passed to me. &#8220;Yours, sir?&#8221;
+I stared at the fine slanting script of the address:</p>
+<table summary='poetry' style='margin:0 auto;  font-style:italic;'><tr><td>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>Please deliver to</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>Frank R. Beeson, Esqr.,</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>At the Queen Hotel.</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>Arrived from Albany, N. Y.</p>
+</td></tr></table>
+
+<hr class='major' />
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='X_I_CUT_LOOSE' id='X_I_CUT_LOOSE'></a>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_145' name='page_145'></a>145</span>
+<h2>CHAPTER X</h2>
+<h3>I CUT LOOSE</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>I nodded; rebuffing his attentive eyes I stuffed the
+envelope into my pantaloons pocket.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Good-bye, sir.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Good luck. When you come back remember the
+Queen.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ll remember the Queen,&#8221; said I; and with the
+envelope smirching my flesh I stepped out, holding
+my head as high as though my pockets contained
+something of more value.</p>
+<p>The events of yesterday had hardened, thank
+Heaven; and so had I, into an obstinacy that defied
+this mocking Western country. I was down to the
+ground and was going to scratch. To make for home
+like a whipped dog, there to hang about, probably become
+an invalid and die resistless, was unthinkable.
+Already the Far West air and vigor had worked a
+change in me. In the fresh morning I felt like a
+fighting cock, or a runner recruited by a diet of unbolted
+flour and strong red meat.</p>
+<p>The falsity of the life here I looked upon as only
+an incident. The gay tawdry had faded; I realized
+how much more enduring were the rough, uncouth
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_146' name='page_146'></a>146</span>
+but genuine products like my friend Mr. Jenks and
+those of that ilk, who spoke me well instead of merely
+fair. Health of mind and body should be for me.
+Hurrah!</p>
+<p>But the note! It could have been sent by only one
+person&mdash;the superscription, dainty and feminine, betrayed
+it. That woman was still pursuing me. How
+she had found out my name I did not know; perhaps
+from the label on my bag, perhaps through the hotel
+register. I did not recall having exchanged names
+with her&mdash;she never had proffered her own name. At
+all events she appeared determined to keep a hold
+upon me, and that was disgusting.</p>
+<p>Couldn&#8217;t she understand that I was no longer a fool&mdash;that
+I had wrenched absolutely loose from her and
+that she could do nothing with me? So in wrath renewed
+by her poor estimate of my common sense I
+was minded to tear the note to fragments, unread, and
+contemptuously scatter them. Had she been present
+I should have done so, to show her.</p>
+<p>Being denied the satisfaction I saw no profit in
+wasting that modicum of spleen, when I might double
+it by deliberately reading her effusion and knowingly
+casting it into the dust. One always can make excuses
+to oneself, for curiosity. Consequently I halted,
+around a corner in this exhausted Benton; tore the
+envelope open with gingerly touch. The folded paper
+within contained a five-dollar bank note.</p>
+<p>That was enough to pump the blood to my face
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_147' name='page_147'></a>147</span>
+with a rush. It was an insult&mdash;a shame, first hand.
+A shoddy plaster, applied to me&mdash;to me, Frank Beeson,
+a gentleman, whether to be viewed as a plucked
+greenhorn or not. With cheeks twitching I managed
+to read the lines accompanying the dole:</p>
+<div class='blockquot'>
+<p><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>Sir</span>:</p>
+<p>You would not permit me to explain to you
+to-night, therefore I must write. The recent affair
+was a mistake. I had no intention that you should
+lose, and I supposed you were in more funds. I insist
+upon speaking with you. You shall not go away
+in this fashion. You will find me at the Elite Café,
+at a table, at ten o&#8217;clock in the morning. And in case
+you are a little short I beg of you to make use of the
+enclosed, with my best wishes and apologies. You
+may take it as a loan; I do not care as to that. I am
+utterly miserable.</p>
+<div class='ra'>
+<p>E.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<i>To Frank Beeson, Esquire.</i></p>
+</div>
+<p>Faugh! Had there been a sewer near I believe
+that I should have thrown the whole enclosure in, and
+spat. But half unconsciously wadding both money
+and paper in my hand as if to squeeze the last drop of
+rancor from them I swung on, seeing blindly, ready to
+trample under foot any last obstacle to my passage
+out.</p>
+<p>Then, in the deserted way, from a lane among the
+straggling shacks, a figure issued. I disregarded it,
+only to hear it pattering behind me and its voice:</p>
+<p>&#8220;Mr. Beeson! Wait! Please wait.&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_148' name='page_148'></a>148</span></p>
+<p>I had to turn about to avoid the further degradation
+of acting the churl to her, an inferior. And as I
+had suspected, she it was, arriving breathless and
+cloak inwrapped, only her white face showing.</p>
+<p>&#8220;You have my note?&#8221; she panted.</p>
+<p>There were dark half circles under her eyes, pinch
+lines about her mouth, all her face was wildly strained.
+She simulated distress very well indeed.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Here it is, and your money. Take them.&#8221; And
+I thrust my unclosed fist at her.</p>
+<p>&#8220;No! And you were going? You didn&#8217;t intend
+to reply?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Certainly not. I am done with you, and with
+Benton, madam. Good-morning. I have business.&#8221;</p>
+<p>She caught at my sleeve.</p>
+<p>&#8220;You are angry. I don&#8217;t blame you, but you have
+time to talk with me and you shall talk.&#8221; She spoke
+almost fiercely. &#8220;I demand it, sir. If not at the
+café, then here and now. Will you stand aside,
+please, where the whole town shan&#8217;t see us; or do you
+wish me to follow you on? I&#8217;m risking already, but
+I&#8217;ll risk more.&#8221;</p>
+<p>I sullenly stepped aside, around the corner of a
+sheet-iron groggery (plentifully punctured, I noted,
+with bullet holes) not yet open for business and faced
+by the blank wall of a warehouse.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve been waiting since daylight,&#8221; she panted,
+&#8220;and watching the hotel. I knew you were still
+there; I found out. I was afraid you wouldn&#8217;t answer
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_149' name='page_149'></a>149</span>
+my note, so I slipped around and cut in on you.
+Where are you going, sir?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;That, madam, is my private affair,&#8221; I replied.
+&#8220;And all your efforts to influence me in the slightest
+won&#8217;t amount to a row of pins. And as I am in
+a hurry, I again bid you good-morning. I advise
+you to get back to your husband and your beauty
+sleep, in order to be fresh for your Big Tent to-night.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;My husband? You know? Oh, of course you
+know.&#8221; She gazed affrightedly upon me. &#8220;To Montoyo,
+you say? Him? No, no! I can&#8217;t! Oh, I can&#8217;t,
+I can&#8217;t.&#8221; She wrung her hands, she held me fast.
+&#8220;And I know where you&#8217;re going. To that wagon
+train. Mr. Jenks has engaged you. You will bull-whack
+to Salt Lake? You? Don&#8217;t! Please don&#8217;t.
+There&#8217;s no need of it.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I am done with Benton, and with Benton&#8217;s society,
+madam,&#8221; I insisted. &#8220;I have learned my lesson,
+believe me, and I&#8217;m no longer a &#8216;gudgeon.&#8217;&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;You never were,&#8221; said she. &#8220;Not that. And
+you don&#8217;t have to turn bull-whacker or mule-skinner
+either. It&#8217;s a hard life; you&#8217;re not fitted for it&mdash;never,
+never. Leave Benton if you will. I hate it
+myself. And let us go together.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Madam!&#8221; I rapped; and drew back, but she clung
+to me.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Listen, listen! Don&#8217;t mistake me again. Last
+night was enough. I want to go. I must go. We
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_150' name='page_150'></a>150</span>
+can travel separately, then; I will meet you anywhere&mdash;Denver,
+Omaha, Chicago, New York, anywhere you
+say&mdash;anywhere&mdash;&mdash;&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Your husband, madam,&#8221; I prompted. &#8220;He
+might have objections to parting with you.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Montoyo? That snake&mdash;you fear that snake?
+He is no husband to me. I could kill him&mdash;I will do
+it yet, to be free from him.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;My good name, then,&#8221; I taunted. &#8220;I might fear
+for my good name more than I&#8217;d fear a man.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I have a name of my own,&#8221; she flashed, &#8220;although
+you may not know it.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I have been made acquainted with it,&#8221; I answered
+roundly.</p>
+<p>&#8220;No, you haven&#8217;t. Not the true. You know only
+another.&#8221; Her tone became humbler. &#8220;But I&#8217;m not
+asking you to marry me,&#8221; she said. &#8220;I&#8217;m not asking
+you to love me as a paramour, sir. Please understand.
+Treat me as you will; as a sister, a friend, but
+anything human. Only let me have your decent regard
+until I can get &#8217;stablished in new quarters. I
+can help you,&#8221; she pursued eagerly. &#8220;Indeed I can
+help you if you stay in the West. Yes, anywhere, for
+I know life. Oh, I&#8217;m so tired of myself; I can&#8217;t run
+true, I&#8217;m under false colors. You saw how the trainmen
+curried favor all along the line, how familiar
+they were, how I submitted&mdash;I even dropped that coin
+a-purpose in the Omaha station, for <i>you</i>, just to test
+you. Those things are expected of me and I&#8217;ve felt
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_151' name='page_151'></a>151</span>
+obliged to play my part. Men look upon me as a tool
+to their hands, to make them or break them. All they
+want is my patronage and the secrets of the gaming
+table. And there is Montoyo&mdash;bullying me, cajoling
+me, watching me. But you were different, after I
+had met you. I foolishly wished to help you, and last
+night the play went wrong. Why did I take you to
+his table? Because I think myself entitled, sir,&#8221; she
+said on, bridling a little, defiant of my gaze, &#8220;to promote
+my friends when I have any. I did not mean
+that you should wager heavily for you. Montoyo is
+out for large stakes. There is safety in small and I
+know his system. You remember I warned you? I
+did warn you. I saw too late. You shall have all
+your money back again. And Montoyo struck me&mdash;<i>me</i>,
+in public! That is the end. Oh, why couldn&#8217;t I
+have killed him? But if you stayed here, so should I.
+Not with him, though. Never with him. Maybe
+I&#8217;m talking wildly. You&#8217;ll say I&#8217;m in love with you.
+Perhaps I am&mdash;quién sabe? No matter as to that. I
+shall be no hanger-on, sir. I only ask a kind of partnership&mdash;the
+encouragement of some decent man near
+me. I have money; plenty, till we both get a footing.
+But you wouldn&#8217;t live on me; no! I don&#8217;t fancy that
+of you for a moment. I would be glad merely to tide
+you over, if you&#8217;d let me. And I&mdash;I&#8217;d be willing to
+wash floors in a restaurant if I might be free of insult.
+You, I&#8217;m sure, would at least protect me. Wouldn&#8217;t
+you? You would, wouldn&#8217;t you? Say something,
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_152' name='page_152'></a>152</span>
+sir.&#8221; She paused, out of breath and aquiver. &#8220;Shall
+we go? Will you help me?&#8221;</p>
+<p>For an instant her appeal, of swimming blue eyes,
+upturned face, tensed grasp, breaking voice, swayed
+me. But what if she were an actress, an adventuress?
+And then, my parents, my father&#8217;s name! I had already
+been cozened once, I had resolved not to be
+snared again. The spell cleared and I drew exultant
+breath.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Impossible, madam,&#8221; I uttered. &#8220;This is final.
+Good-morning.&#8221;</p>
+<p>She staggered and with magnificent but futile last
+flourish clapped both hands to her face. Gazing back,
+as I hastened, I saw her still there, leaning against
+the sheet-iron of the groggery and ostensibly weeping.</p>
+<p>Having shaken her off and resisted contrary temptation
+I looked not again but paced rapidly for the
+clean atmosphere of the rough-and-honest bull train.
+As a companion, better for me Mr. Jenks. When my
+wrath cooled I felt that I might have acted the cad but
+I had not acted the simpleton.</p>
+<p>The advance of the day&#8217;s life was stirring all along
+the road, where under clouds of dust the four and six
+horse-and-mule wagons hauled water for the town,
+pack outfits of donkeys and plodding miners wended
+one way or the other, soldiers trotted in from the military
+post, and Overlanders slowly toiled for the last
+supply depot before creaking onward into the desert.</p>
+<p>Along the railway grade likewise there was activity,
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_153' name='page_153'></a>153</span>
+of construction trains laden high with rails, ties,
+boxes and bales, puffing out, their locomotives belching
+pitchy black smoke that extended clear to the ridiculous
+little cabooses; of wagon trains ploughing on,
+bearing supplies for the grading camps; and a great
+herd of loose animals, raising a prodigious spume as
+they were driven at a trot&mdash;they also heading westward,
+ever westward, under escort of a protecting detachment
+of cavalry, riding two by two, accoutrements
+flashing.</p>
+<p>The sights were inspiring. Man&#8217;s work at empire
+building beckoned me, for surely the wagoning of
+munitions to remote outposts of civilization was very
+necessary. Consequently I trudged best foot forward,
+although on empty stomach and with empty
+pockets; but glad to be at large, and exchanging good-natured
+greetings with the travelers encountered.</p>
+<p>Nevertheless my new boots were burning, my thigh
+was chafed raw from the swaying Colt&#8217;s, and my face
+and throat were parched with the dust, when in about
+an hour, the flag of the military post having been my
+landmark, I had arrived almost at the willow-bordered
+river and now scanned about for the encampment
+of my train.</p>
+<p>Some dozen white-topped wagons were standing
+grouped in a circle upon the trampled dry sod to the
+south of the road. Figures were busily moving
+among them, and the thin blue smoke of their fires
+was a welcoming signal. I marked women, and children.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_154' name='page_154'></a>154</span>
+The whole prospect&mdash;they, the breakfast
+smoke, the grazing animals, the stout vehicles, a line
+of washed clothing&mdash;was homy. So I veered aside
+and made for the spot, to inquire my way if nothing
+more.</p>
+<p>First I addressed a little girl, tow-headed and barelegged,
+in a single cotton garment.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I am looking for the Captain Adams wagon train.
+Do you know where it is?&#8221;</p>
+<p>She only pointed, finger of other hand in her
+mouth; but as she indicated this same camp I pressed
+on. Mr. Jenks himself came out to meet me.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Hooray! Here you are. I knew you&#8217;d do it.
+That&#8217;s the ticket. Broke loose, have you?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, sir. I accept your offer if it&#8217;s still open,&#8221; I
+said.</p>
+<p>We shook hands.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Wide open. Could have filled it a dozen times.
+Come in, come on in and sit. You fetched all your
+outfit?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;What you see,&#8221; I confessed. &#8220;I told you my
+condition. They stripped me clean.&#8221;</p>
+<p>He rubbed his beard.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Wall, all you need is a blanket. Reckon I can
+rustle you that. You can pay for it out of your
+wages or turn it in at the end of the trip. Fust I&#8217;d
+better make you acquainted to the wagon boss. There
+he is, yonder.&#8221;</p>
+<p>He conducted me on, along the groups and fires and
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_155' name='page_155'></a>155</span>
+bedding outside the wagon circle, and halted where a
+heavy man, of face smooth-shaven except chin, sat
+upon a wagon-tongue whittling a stick.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Mornin&#8217;, Cap&#8217;n. Wall, I&#8217;m filled out. I&#8217;ve hired
+this lad and can move whenever you say the word.
+You&mdash;&mdash;&#8221; he looked at me. &#8220;What&#8217;s your name,
+you say?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Frank Beeson,&#8221; I replied.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Didn&#8217;t ketch it last night,&#8221; he apologized.
+&#8220;Shake hands with Cap&#8217;n Hyrum Adams, Frank.
+He&#8217;s the boss of the train.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Captain Adams lazily arose&mdash;a large figure in his
+dusty boots, coarse trousers and flannel shirt, and
+weather-beaten black slouch hat. The inevitable revolver
+hung at his thigh. His pursed lips spurted a
+jet of tobacco juice as he keenly surveyed me with
+small, shrewd, china-blue eyes squinting from a broad
+flaccid countenance. But the countenance was unemotional
+while he offered a thick hand which proved
+singularly soft and flatulent under the callouses.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Glad to meet you, stranger,&#8221; he acknowledged in
+slow bass. &#8220;Set down, set down.&#8221;</p>
+<p>He waved me to the wagon-tongue, and I thankfully
+seated myself. All of a sudden I seemed utterly
+gone; possibly through lack of food. My sigh must
+have been remarked.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Breakfasted, stranger?&#8221; he queried passively.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Not yet, sir. I was anxious to reach the train.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Pshaw! I was about to ask you that,&#8221; Mr. Jenks
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_156' name='page_156'></a>156</span>
+put in. &#8220;Come along and I&#8217;ll throw together a mess
+for you.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Nobody goes hungry from the Adams wagon,
+stranger,&#8221; Captain Adams observed. He slightly
+raised his voice, peremptory. &#8220;Rachael! Fetch our
+guest some breakfast.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;But as Mr. Jenks has invited me, Captain, and I
+am in his employ&mdash;&mdash;&#8221; I protested. He cut me
+short.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I have said that nobody, man, woman or child, or
+dog, goes hungry from the Adams wagon. The flesh
+must be fed as well as the soul.&#8221;</p>
+<p>There were two women in view, busied with domestic
+cares. I had sensed their eyes cast now and then
+in my direction. One was elderly, as far as might be
+judged by her somewhat slatternly figure draped in a
+draggled snuff-colored, straight-flowing gown, and by
+the merest glimpse of her features within her faded
+sunbonnet. The other promptly moved aside from
+where she was bending over a wash-board, ladled food
+from a kettle to a platter, poured a tin cupful of coffee
+from the pot simmering by the fire, and bore them to
+me; her eyes down, shyly handed them.</p>
+<p>I thanked her but was not presented. To the Captain&#8217;s
+&#8220;That will do, Rachael,&#8221; she turned dutifully
+away; not so soon, however, but that I had seen a
+fresh young face within the bonnet confines&mdash;a round
+rosy face according well with the buxom curves of her
+as she again bent over her wash-board.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_157' name='page_157'></a>157</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;Our fare is that of the tents of Abraham, stranger,&#8221;
+spoke the Captain, who had resumed his whittling.
+&#8220;Such as it is, you are welcome to. We are a
+plain people who walk in the way of the Lord, for that
+is commanded.&#8221;</p>
+<p>His sonorous tones were delivered rather through
+the nose, but did not fail of hospitality.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I ask nothing better, sir,&#8221; I answered. &#8220;And if I
+did, my appetite would make up for all deficiencies.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;A healthy appetite is a good token,&#8221; he affirmed.
+&#8220;Show me a well man who picks at his victuals and I
+will show you a candidate for the devil. His thoughts
+will like to be as idle as his knife.&#8221;</p>
+<p>The mess of pork and beans and the black unsweetened
+coffee evidently were what I needed, for I began
+to mend wonderfully ere I was half through the
+course. He had not invited me to further conversation&mdash;only,
+when I had drained the cup he called
+again: &#8220;Rachael! More coffee,&#8221; whereupon the
+same young woman advanced, without glancing at
+me, received my cup, and returned it steaming.</p>
+<p>&#8220;You are from the East, stranger?&#8221; he now inquired.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, sir. I arrived in Benton only yesterday.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;A Sodom,&#8221; he growled harshly. &#8220;A tented sepulcher.
+And it will perish. I tell you, you do well
+to leave it, you do well to yoke yourself with the appointed
+of this earth, rather than stay in that sink-pit
+of the eternally damned.&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_158' name='page_158'></a>158</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;I agree with you, sir,&#8221; said I. &#8220;I did not find
+Benton to be a pleasant place. But I had not known,
+when I started from Omaha.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Possibly not,&#8221; he moodily assented. &#8220;The devil
+is attentive; he is present in the stations, and on the
+trains; he will ride in those gilded palaces even to the
+Jordan, but he shall not cross. In the name of the
+Lord we shall face him. What good there shall come,
+shall abide; but the evil shall wither. Not,&#8221; he added,
+&#8220;that we stand against the railroad. It is needed,
+and we have petitioned without being heard. We are
+strong but isolated, we have goods to sell, and the
+word of Brigham Young has gone forth that a railroad
+we must have. Against the harpies, the gamblers,
+the loose women and the lustful men and all the
+Gentile vanities we will stand upon our own feet by
+the help of Almighty God.&#8221;</p>
+<p>At this juncture, when I had finished my platter of
+pork and beans and my second cup of coffee, a tall,
+double-jointed youth of about my age, carrying an
+ox goad in his hand, strolled to us as if attracted by
+the harangue. He was clad in the prevalent cowhide
+boots, linsey-woolsey pantaloons tucked in, red flannel
+shirt, and battered hat from which untrimmed flaxen
+hair fell down unevenly to his shoulder line. He
+wore at his belt butcher-knife and gun.</p>
+<p>By his hulk, his light blue eyes, albeit a trifle
+crossed, and the general lineaments of his stolid,
+square, high-cheeked countenance I conceived him
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_159' name='page_159'></a>159</span>
+to be a second but not improved edition of the Captain.</p>
+<p>A true raw-bone he was; and to me, as I casually
+met his gaze, looked to be obstinate, secretive and
+small minded. But who can explain those sudden antagonisms
+that spring up on first sight?</p>
+<p>&#8220;My son Daniel,&#8221; the Captain introduced. &#8220;This
+stranger travels to Zion with us, Daniel, in the employ
+of Mr. Jenks.&#8221;</p>
+<p>The youth had the grip of a vise, and seemed to enjoy
+emphasizing it while cunningly watching my face.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Haowdy?&#8221; he drawled. With that he twanged a
+sentence or two to his father. &#8220;I faound the caow,
+Dad. Do yu reckon to pull aout to-day?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I have not decided. Go tend to your duties,
+Daniel.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Daniel bestowed upon me a parting stare, and
+lurched away, snapping the lash of his goad.</p>
+<p>&#8220;And with your permission I will tend to mine,
+sir,&#8221; I said. &#8220;Mr. Jenks doubtless has work for me.
+I thank you for your hospitality.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;We are commanded by the prophet to feed the
+stranger, whether friend or enemy,&#8221; he reproved.
+&#8220;We are also commanded by the Lord to earn our
+bread by the sweat of our brow. As long as you are
+no trifler you will be welcome at my wagon. Good-day
+to you.&#8221;</p>
+<p>As I passed, the young woman, Rachael&mdash;whom I
+judged to be his daughter, although she was evidently
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_160' name='page_160'></a>160</span>
+far removed from parent stock&mdash;glanced quickly up.
+I caught her gaze full, so that she lowered her eyes
+with a blush. She was indeed wholesome if not absolutely
+pretty. When later I saw her with her sunbonnet
+doffed and her brown hair smoothly brushed
+back I thought her more wholesome still.</p>
+<p>Mr. Jenks received me jovially.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Got your belly full, have you?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m a new man,&#8221; I assured.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Wall, those Mormons are good providers.
+They&#8217;ll share with you whatever they have, for no
+pay, but if you rub &#8217;em the wrong way or go to dickerin&#8217;
+with &#8217;em they&#8217;re closer&#8217;n the hide on a cold mule.
+You didn&#8217;t make sheep&#8217;s eyes at ary of the women?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;No, sir. I am done with women.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;And right you are.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;However, I could not help but see that the Captain&#8217;s
+daughter is pleasing to look upon. I should be
+glad to know her, were there no objections.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;How? His daughter?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Miss Rachael, I believe. That is the name he
+used.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;The young one, you mean?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, sir. The one who served me with breakfast.
+Rosy-cheeked and plump.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Whoa, man! She&#8217;s his wife, and not for Gentiles.
+They&#8217;re both his wives; whether he has more
+in Utah I don&#8217;t know. But you&#8217;d best let her alone.
+She&#8217;s been j&#8217;ined to him.&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_161' name='page_161'></a>161</span></p>
+<p>This took me all aback, for I had no other idea than
+that she was his daughter, or niece&mdash;stood in that
+kind of relation to him. He was twice her age, apparently.
+Now I could only stammer:</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve no wish to intrude, you may be sure. And
+Daniel, his son&mdash;is he married?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;That whelp? Met him, did you? No, he ain&#8217;t
+married, yet. But he will be, soon as he takes his pick
+&#8217;cordin&#8217; to law and gospel among them people. You
+bet you: he&#8217;ll be married plenty.&#8221;</p>
+<hr class='major' />
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='XI_WE_GET_A__SUPER' id='XI_WE_GET_A__SUPER'></a>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_162' name='page_162'></a>162</span>
+<h2>CHAPTER XI</h2>
+<h3>WE GET A &#8220;SUPER&#8221;</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>What with assorting and stowing the bales of
+cloth and the other goods in the Jenks two wagons,
+watering the animals and staking them out anew, tinkering
+with the equipment and making various essays
+with the bull whip, I found occupation enough; nevertheless
+there were moments of interim, or while passing
+to and fro, when I was vividly aware of the scenes
+and events transpiring in this Western world around
+about.</p>
+<p>The bugles sounded calls for the routine at Fort
+Steele&mdash;a mere cantonment, yet, of tents and rough
+board buildings squatting upon the bare brown soil
+near the river bank, north of us, and less than a month
+old. The wagon road was a line of white dust from
+the river clear to Benton, and through the murk plodded
+the water haulers and emigrants and freighters,
+animals and men alike befloured and choked. The
+dust cloud rested over Benton. It fumed in another
+line westward, kept in suspense by on-traveling stage
+and wagon&mdash;by wheel, hoof and boot, bound for Utah
+and Idaho. From the town there extended northward
+a third dust line, marking the stage and freighting
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_163' name='page_163'></a>163</span>
+road through the Indian country to the mining
+settlements of the famous South Pass of the old Oregon
+Trail; yes, and with branches for the gold regions
+of Montana.</p>
+<p>The railroad trains kept thundering by us&mdash;long
+freights, dusty and indomitable, bringing their loads
+from the Missouri River almost seven hundred miles
+in the east. And rolling out of Benton the never-ceasing
+construction trains sped into the desert as if
+upon urgent errands in response to some sudden demand
+of More, More, More.</p>
+<p>Upon all sides beyond this business and energy the
+country stretched lone and uninhabited; a great waste
+of naked, hot, resplendent land blotched with white
+and red, showing not a green spot except the course
+of the Platte; with scorched, rusty hills rising above
+its fantastic surface, and, in the distance, bluish mountain
+ranges that appeared to float and waver in the
+sun-drenched air.</p>
+<p>The sounds from Benton&mdash;the hammering, the
+shouting, the babbling, the puffing of the locomotives&mdash;drifted
+faintly to us, merged into the cracking of
+whips and the oaths and songs by the wagon drivers
+along the road. Of our own little camp I took gradual
+stock.</p>
+<p>It, like the desert reaches, evinced little of feverishness,
+for while booted men busied themselves at
+tasks similar to mine, others lolled, spinning yarns and
+whittling; the several women, at wash-boards and at
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_164' name='page_164'></a>164</span>
+pots and pans and needles, worked contentedly in sun
+and shade; children played at makeshift games, dogs
+drowsed underneath the wagons, and outside our circle
+the mules and oxen grazed as best they might, their
+only vexation the blood-sucking flies. The flies were
+kin of Benton.</p>
+<p>Captain Adams loped away, as if to town. Others
+went in. While I was idle at last and rather enjoying
+the hot sun as I sat resting upon a convenient wagon-tongue
+Daniel hulked to me, still snapping his ox
+goad.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Haowdy?&#8221; he addressed again; and surveyed, eying
+every detail of my clothing.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Howdy?&#8221; said I.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yu know me?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Your name is Daniel, isn&#8217;t it?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;No, &#8217;tain&#8217;t. It&#8217;s Bonnie Bravo on the trail.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;All right, sir,&#8221; said I. &#8220;Whichever you prefer.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I &#8217;laow we pull out this arternoon,&#8221; he volunteered
+farther.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m agreeable,&#8221; I responded. &#8220;The sooner the
+better, where I&#8217;m concerned.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I &#8217;laow yu (and he pronounced it, nasally, yee-ou)
+been seein&#8217; the elephant in Benton an&#8217; it skinned yu.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I saw all of Benton I wish to see,&#8221; I granted.
+&#8220;You&#8217;ve been there?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I won four bits, an&#8217; then yu bet I quit,&#8221; he greedily
+proclaimed. &#8220;I was too smart for &#8217;em. I &#8217;laow
+yu&#8217;re a greenie, ain&#8217;t yu?&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_165' name='page_165'></a>165</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;In some ways I am, in some ways I&#8217;m not.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I &#8217;laow yu aim to go through with this train to
+Salt Lake, do yu?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s the engagement I&#8217;ve made with Mr.
+Jenks.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Don&#8217;t feel too smart, yoreself, in them new
+clothes?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;No. They&#8217;re all I have. They won&#8217;t be new
+long.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yu bet they won&#8217;t. Ain&#8217;t afeared of peterin&#8217;
+aout on the way, be yu? I &#8217;laow yu&#8217;re sickly.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ll take my chances,&#8221; I smiled, although he was
+irritating in the extreme.</p>
+<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s four hunderd mile, an&#8217; twenty mile at a
+stretch withaout water. Most the water&#8217;s pizen, too,
+from hyar to the mountings.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ll have to drink what the rest drink, I suppose.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I &#8217;laow the Injuns are like to get us. They&#8217;re
+powerful bad in that thar desert. Ain&#8217;t afeared o&#8217;
+Injuns, be yu?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ll have to take my chances on that, too, won&#8217;t
+I?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;They sculped a whole passel o&#8217; surveyors, month
+ago,&#8221; he persisted. &#8220;Yu&#8217;ll sing a different tyune
+arter yu&#8217;ve been corralled with nothin&#8217; to drink.&#8221; He
+viciously snapped his whip, the while inspecting me as
+if seeking for other joints in my armor. &#8220;Yu aim to
+stay long in Zion?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I haven&#8217;t planned anything about that.&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_166' name='page_166'></a>166</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;Reckon yu&#8217;re wise, Mister. We don&#8217;t think
+much o&#8217; Gentiles, yonder. We don&#8217;t want &#8217;em, nohaow.
+They&#8217;d all better git aout. The Saints settled
+that country an&#8217; it&#8217;s ourn.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;If you&#8217;re a sample, you&#8217;re welcome to live there,&#8221;
+I retorted. &#8220;I think I&#8217;d prefer some place else.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Haow?&#8221; he bleated. &#8220;Thar ain&#8217;t no place as
+good. All the rest the world has sold itself to the
+devil.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;How much of the world have you seen?&#8221; I asked.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve seen a heap. I&#8217;ve been as fur east as Cheyenne&mdash;I&#8217;ve
+teamed acrost twice, so I know. An&#8217; I
+know what the elders say; they come from the East
+an&#8217; some of &#8217;em have been as fur as England. Yu
+can&#8217;t fool me none with yore Gentile lies.&#8221;</p>
+<p>As I did not attempt, we remained in silence for a
+moment while he waited, provocative.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Say, Mister,&#8221; he blurted suddenly. &#8220;Kin yu
+shoot?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I presume I could if I had to. Why?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Becuz I&#8217;m the dangest best shot with a Colt&#8217;s in
+this hyar train, an&#8217; I&#8217;ll shoot ye for&mdash;I&#8217;ll shoot ye for
+(he lowered his voice and glanced about furtively)&mdash;I&#8217;ll
+shoot ye for two bits when my paw ain&#8217;t &#8217;raound.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve no cartridges to waste at present,&#8221; I informed.
+&#8220;And I don&#8217;t claim to be a crack shot.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Damn ye, I bet yu think yu are,&#8221; he accused.
+&#8220;Yu set thar like it. All right, Mister; any time yu
+want to try a little poppin&#8217; yu let me know.&#8221; And
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_167' name='page_167'></a>167</span>
+with this, which struck me as a veiled threat, he
+lurched on, snapping that infernal whip.</p>
+<p>He left me with the uneasy impression that he and
+I were due to measure strength in one way or another.</p>
+<p>Wagon Boss Adams returned at noon. The word
+was given out that the train should start during the
+afternoon, for a short march in order to break in the
+new animals before tackling the real westward trail.</p>
+<p>After a deal of bustle, of lashing loads and tautening
+covers and geeing, hawing and whoaing, about
+three o&#8217;clock we formed line in obedience to the commands
+&#8220;Stretch out, stretch out!&#8221;; and with every
+cask and barrel dripping, whips cracking, voices urging,
+children racing, the Captain Adams wagon in the
+lead (two pink sunbonnets upon the seat), the valorous
+Daniel&#8217;s next, and Mormons and Gentiles ranging
+on down, we toiled creaking and swaying up the Benton
+road, amidst the eddies of hot, scalding dust.</p>
+<p>It was a mixed train, of Gentile mules and the more
+numerous Mormon oxen; therefore not strictly a
+&#8220;bull&#8221; train, but by pace designated as such. And
+in the vernacular I was a &#8220;mule-whacker&#8221; or even
+&#8220;mule-skinner&#8221; rather than a &#8220;bull-whacker,&#8221; if
+there is any appreciable difference in rôle. There is
+none, I think, to the animals.</p>
+<p>Trudging manfully at the left fore wheel behind
+Mr. Jenks&#8217; four span of mules, trailing my eighteen-foot
+tapering lash and occasionally well-nigh cutting
+off my own ear when I tried to throw it, I played the
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_168' name='page_168'></a>168</span>
+teamster&mdash;although sooth to say there was little of
+play in the job, on that road, at that time of the day.</p>
+<p>The sun was more vexatious, being an hour lower,
+when we bravely entered Benton&#8217;s boiling main street.
+We made brief halt for the finishing up of business;
+and cleaving a lane through the pedestrians and vehicles
+and animals there congregated, the challenges
+of the street gamblers having assailed us in vain, we
+proceeded&mdash;our Mormons gazing straight ahead,
+scornful of the devil&#8217;s enticements, our few Gentiles
+responding in kind to the quips and waves and salutations.</p>
+<p>Thus we eventually left Benton; in about an hour&#8217;s
+march or some three miles out we formed corral for
+camp on the farther side of the road from the railroad
+tracks which we had been skirting.</p>
+<p>Travel, except upon the tracks (for they were
+rarely vacant) ceased at sundown; and we all, having
+eaten our suppers, were sitting by our fires, smoking
+and talking, with the sky crimson in the west and the
+desert getting mysterious with purple shadows, when
+as another construction train of box cars and platform
+cars clanked by I chanced to note a figure spring
+out asprawl, alight with a whiffle of sand, and staggering
+up hasten for us.</p>
+<p>First it accosted the hulk Daniel, who was temporarily
+out on herd, keeping the animals from the
+tracks. I saw him lean from his saddle; then he rode
+spurring in, bawling like a calf:
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_169' name='page_169'></a>169</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;Paw! Paw! Hey, yu-all! Thar&#8217;s a woman
+yonder in britches an&#8217; she &#8217;laows to come on. She&#8217;s
+lookin&#8217; for Mister Jenks.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Save for his excited stuttering silence reigned, a
+minute. Then in a storm of rude raillery&mdash;&#8220;That&#8217;s
+a hoss on you, George!&#8221; &#8220;Didn&#8217;t know you owned
+one o&#8217; them critters, George,&#8221; &#8220;Does she wear the
+britches, George?&#8221; and so forth&mdash;my friend Jenks
+arose, peering, his whiskered mouth so agape that he
+almost dropped his pipe. And we all peered, with the
+women of the caravan smitten mute but intensely
+curious, while the solitary figure, braving our stares,
+came on to the fires.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Gawd almighty!&#8221; Mr. Jenks delivered.</p>
+<p>Likewise straightening I mentally repeated the
+ejaculation, for now I knew her as well as he. Yes,
+by the muttered babble others in our party knew her.
+It was My Lady&mdash;formerly My Lady&mdash;clad in embroidered
+short Spanish jacket, tightish velvet pantaloons,
+booted to the knees, pulled down upon her yellow
+hair a black soft hat, and hanging from the just-revealed
+belt around her slender waist, a revolver
+trifle.</p>
+<p>She paused, small and alone, viewing us, her eyes
+very blue, her face very white.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Is Mr. Jenks there?&#8221; she hailed clearly.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Damn&#8217; if I ain&#8217;t,&#8221; he mumbled. He glowered at
+me. &#8220;Yes, ma&#8217;am, right hyar. You want to speak
+with me?&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_170' name='page_170'></a>170</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;By gosh, it&#8217;s Montoyo&#8217;s woman, ain&#8217;t it?&#8221; were
+the comments.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I do, sir.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;You can come on closer then, ma&#8217;am,&#8221; he
+growled. &#8220;There ain&#8217;t no secrets between us.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Come on she did, with only an instant&#8217;s hesitation
+and a little compression of the lips. She swept our
+group fearlessly&mdash;her gaze crossed mine, but she betrayed
+no sign.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I wish to engage passage to Salt Lake.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;With this hyar train?&#8221; gasped Jenks.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes. You are bound for Salt Lake, aren&#8217;t
+you?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;For your health, ma&#8217;am?&#8221; he stammered.</p>
+<p>She faintly smiled, but her eyes were steady and
+wide.</p>
+<p>&#8220;For my health. I&#8217;d like to throw in with your
+outfit. I will cook, keep camp, and pay you well besides.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;We haven&#8217;t no place for a woman, ma&#8217;am. You&#8217;d
+best take the stage.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;No. There&#8217;ll be no stage out till morning. I
+want to make arrangements at once&mdash;with you.
+There are other women in this train.&#8221; She flashed a
+glance around. &#8220;And I can take care of myself.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;If you aim to go to Salt Lake your main holt is
+Benton and the stage. The stage makes through in
+four days and we&#8217;ll use thirty,&#8221; somebody counseled.</p>
+<p>&#8220;An&#8217; this bull train ain&#8217;t no place for yore kind,
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_171' name='page_171'></a>171</span>
+anyhow,&#8221; grumbled another. &#8220;We&#8217;ve quit roarin&#8217;&mdash;we&#8217;ve
+cut loose from that hell-hole yonder.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;So have I.&#8221; But she did not turn on him. &#8220;I&#8217;m
+never going back. I&mdash;I can&#8217;t, now; not even for the
+stage. Will you permit me to travel with you, sir?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;No, ma&#8217;am, I won&#8217;t,&#8221; rasped Mr. Jenks. &#8220;I can&#8217;t
+do it. It&#8217;s not in my line, ma&#8217;am.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ll be no trouble. You have only Mr. Beeson.
+I don&#8217;t ask to ride. I&#8217;ll walk. I merely ask protection.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;So do we,&#8221; somebody sniggered; and I hated him,
+for I saw her sway upon her feet as if the words had
+been a blow.</p>
+<p>&#8220;No, ma&#8217;am, I&#8217;m full up. I wouldn&#8217;t take on even
+a yaller dog, &#8217;specially a she one,&#8221; Jenks announced.
+&#8220;What your game is now I can&#8217;t tell, and I don&#8217;t propose
+to be eddicated to it. But you can&#8217;t travel along
+with me, and that&#8217;s straight talk. If you can put anything
+over on these other fellers, try your luck.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh!&#8221; she cried, wincing. Her hands clenched
+nervously, a red spot dyed either cheek as she appealed
+to us all. &#8220;Gentlemen! Won&#8217;t one of you
+help me? What are you afraid of? I can pay my
+way&mdash;I ask no favors&mdash;I swear to you that I&#8217;ll give
+no trouble. I only wish protection across.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Where&#8217;s Pedro? Where&#8217;s Montoyo?&#8221;</p>
+<p>She turned quickly, facing the jeer; her two eyes
+blazed, the red spots deepened angrily.</p>
+<p>&#8220;He? That snake? I shot him.&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_172' name='page_172'></a>172</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;What! You? Killed him?&#8221; Exclamations
+broke from all quarters.</p>
+<p>She stamped her foot.</p>
+<p>&#8220;No. I didn&#8217;t have to. But when he tried to
+abuse me I defended myself. Wasn&#8217;t that right, gentlemen?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Right or wrong, he&#8217;ll be after you, won&#8217;t he?&#8221;</p>
+<p>The question held a note of alarm. Her lip curled.</p>
+<p>&#8220;You needn&#8217;t fear. I&#8217;ll meet him, myself.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;By gosh, I don&#8217;t mix up in no quarrel &#8217;twixt a
+man and his woman.&#8221; And&mdash;&#8220;&#8217;Tain&#8217;t our affair.
+When he comes he&#8217;ll come a-poppin&#8217;.&#8221; Such were
+the hasty comments. I felt a peculiar heat, a revulsion
+of shame and indignation, which made the present
+seem much more important than the past. And
+there was the recollection of her, crying, and still the
+accents of her last appeals in the early morning.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I thought that I might find men among you,&#8221; she
+disdainfully said&mdash;a break in her voice. &#8220;So I came.
+But you&#8217;re afraid of <i>him</i>&mdash;of that breed, that vest-pocket
+killer. And you&#8217;re afraid of me, a woman
+whose cards are all on the table. There isn&#8217;t a one of
+you&mdash;even you, Mr. Beeson, sir, whom I tried to befriend
+although you may not know it.&#8221; And she
+turned upon me. &#8220;You have not a word to say. I
+am never going back, I tell you all. You won&#8217;t take
+me, any of you? Very well.&#8221; She smiled wanly.
+&#8220;I&#8217;ll drift along, gentlemen. I&#8217;ll play the lone hand.
+Montoyo shall never seize me. I&#8217;d rather trust to the
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_173' name='page_173'></a>173</span>
+wolves and the Indians. There&#8217;ll be another wagon
+train.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I am only an employee, madam,&#8221; I faltered. &#8220;If
+I had an outfit of my own I certainly would help
+you.&#8221;</p>
+<p>She flushed painfully; she did not glance at me direct
+again, but her unspoken thanks enfolded me.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Here&#8217;s the wagon boss,&#8221; Jenks grunted, and spat.
+&#8220;Mebbe you can throw in with him. When it comes
+to supers, that&#8217;s his say-so. I&#8217;ve all I can tend to, myself,
+and I don&#8217;t look for trouble. I&#8217;ve got no love
+for Montoyo, neither,&#8221; he added. &#8220;Damned if I
+ain&#8217;t glad you give him a dose.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Murmurs of approval echoed him, as if the tide
+were turning a little. All this time&mdash;not long, however&mdash;Daniel
+had been sitting his mule, transfixed and
+gaping, his oddly wry eyes upon her. Now the large
+form of Captain Adams came striding in contentious,
+through the gathering dusk.</p>
+<p>&#8220;What&#8217;s this?&#8221; he demanded harshly. &#8220;An ungodly
+woman? I&#8217;ll have no trafficking in my train.
+Get you gone, Delilah. Would you pursue us even
+here?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I am going, sir,&#8221; she replied. &#8220;I ask nothing
+from you or these&mdash;gentlemen.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Them&#8217;s the two she&#8217;s after, paw: Jenks an&#8217; that
+greenie,&#8221; Daniel bawled. &#8220;They know her. She&#8217;s
+follered &#8217;em. She aims to travel with &#8217;em. Oh, gosh!
+She&#8217;s shot her man in Benton. Gosh!&#8221; His voice
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_174' name='page_174'></a>174</span>
+trailed off. &#8220;Ain&#8217;t she purty, though! She&#8217;s dressed
+in britches.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Get you gone,&#8221; Captain Adams thundered.
+&#8220;And these your paramours with you. For thus
+saith the Lord: There shall be no lusting of adultery
+among his chosen. And thus say I, that no brazen
+hussy in men&#8217;s garments shall travel with this train
+to Zion&mdash;no, not a mile of the way.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Jenks stiffened, bristling.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Mind your words, Adams. I&#8217;m under no Mormon
+thumb, and I&#8217;ll thank you not to connect me and
+this&mdash;lady in ary such fashion. As for your brat on
+horseback, he&#8217;d better hold his yawp. She came of
+her own hook, and damned if I ain&#8217;t beginnin&#8217; to
+think&mdash;&mdash;&#8221;</p>
+<p>I sprang forward. Defend her I must. She
+should not stand there, slight, lovely, brave but drooping,
+aflame with the helplessness of a woman alone
+and insulted.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Wait!&#8221; I implored. &#8220;Give her a chance. You
+haven&#8217;t heard her story. All she wants is protection
+on the road. Yes, I know her, and I know the cur
+she&#8217;s getting away from. I saw him strike her; so
+did Mr. Jenks. What were you intending to do?
+Turn her out into the night? Shame on you, sir.
+She says she can&#8217;t go back to Benton, and if you&#8217;ll
+be humane enough to understand why, you&#8217;ll at least
+let her stay in your camp till morning. You&#8217;ve got
+women there who&#8217;ll care for her, I hope.&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_175' name='page_175'></a>175</span></p>
+<p>I felt her instant look. She spoke palpitant.</p>
+<p>&#8220;You have one man among you all. But I am going.
+Good-night, gentlemen.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;No! Wait!&#8221; I begged. &#8220;You shall not go by
+yourself. I&#8217;ll see you into safety.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Daniel cackled.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Haw haw! What&#8217;d I tell yu, paw? Hear
+him?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;By gum, the boy&#8217;s right,&#8221; Jenks declared. &#8220;Will
+you go back to Benton if we take you?&#8221; he queried
+of her. &#8220;Are you &#8217;feared of Montoyo? Can he
+shoot still, or is he laid out?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ll not go back to Benton, and I&#8217;m not afraid of
+that bully,&#8221; said she. &#8220;Yes, he can shoot, still; but
+next time I should kill him. I hope never to see him
+again, or Benton either.&#8221;</p>
+<p>The men murmured.</p>
+<p>&#8220;You&#8217;ve got spunk, anyhow,&#8221; said they. And by
+further impulse: &#8220;Let her stay the night, Cap&#8217;n. It&#8217;ll
+be plumb dark soon. She won&#8217;t harm ye. Some o&#8217;
+the woman folks can take care of her.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Captain Adams had been frowning sternly, his
+heavy face unsoftened.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Who are you, woman?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I am the wife of a gambler named Montoyo.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Why come you here, then?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;He has been abusing me, and I shot him.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;There is blood on your hands? Are you a murderess
+as well as a harlot?&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_176' name='page_176'></a>176</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;Shame!&#8221; cried voices, mine among them.
+&#8220;That&#8217;s tall language.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Strangely, and yet not strangely, sentiment had
+veered. We were Americans&mdash;and had we been English
+that would have made no difference. It was the
+Anglo-Saxon which gave utterance.</p>
+<p>She crimsoned, defiant; laughed scornfully.</p>
+<p>&#8220;You would not dare bait a man that way, sir.
+Blood on my hands? Not blood; oh, no! He
+couldn&#8217;t pan out blood.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;You killed him, woman?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Not yet. He&#8217;s likely fleecing the public in the
+Big Tent at this very moment.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;And what did you expect here, in my train?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;A little manhood and a little chivalry, sir. I
+am going to Salt Lake and I knew of no safer
+way.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;She jumped off a railway train, paw,&#8221; bawled
+Daniel. &#8220;I seen her. An&#8217; she axed for Mister Jenks,
+fust thing.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ll give you something to stop that yawp. Come
+mornin&#8217;, we&#8217;ll settle, young feller,&#8221; my friend Jenks
+growled.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I did,&#8221; she admitted. &#8220;I have seen Mr. Jenks; I
+have also seen Mr. Beeson; I have seen others of you
+in Benton. I was glad to know of somebody here. I
+rode on the construction train because it was the
+quickest and easiest way.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;And those garments!&#8221; Captain Adams accused.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_177' name='page_177'></a>177</span>
+&#8220;You wish to show your shape, woman, to tempt
+men&#8217;s eyes with the flesh?&#8221;</p>
+<p>She smiled.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Would you have me jump from a train in skirts,
+sir? Or travel far afoot in crinoline? But to soothe
+your mind I will say that I wore these clothes under
+my proper attire and cloak until the last moment.
+And if you turn me away I shall cut my hair and continue
+as a boy.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;If you are for Salt Lake&mdash;where we are of the
+Lord&#8217;s choosing and wish none of you&mdash;there is the
+stage,&#8221; he prompted shrewdly. &#8220;Go to the stage.
+You cannot make this wagon train your instrument.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;The stage?&#8221; She slowly shook her head.
+&#8220;Why, I am too well known, sir, take that as you
+will. And the stage does not leave until morning.
+Much might happen between now and morning. I
+have nobody in Benton that I can depend upon&mdash;nobody
+that I dare depend upon. And by railway, for
+the East? No. That is too open a trail. I am running
+free of Benton and Pedro Montoyo, and stage
+and train won&#8217;t do the trick. I&#8217;ve thought that out.&#8221;
+She tossed back her head, deliberately turned.
+&#8220;Good-night, ladies and gentlemen.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Involuntarily I started forward to intercept. The
+notion of her heading into the vastness and the gloom
+was appalling; the inertness of that increasing group,
+formed now of both men and women collected from
+all the camp, maddened. So I would have besought
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_178' name='page_178'></a>178</span>
+her, pleaded with her, faced Montoyo for her&mdash;but a
+new voice mediated.</p>
+<p>&#8220;She shall stay, Hyrum? For the night, at least?
+I will look after her.&#8221;</p>
+<p>The Captain&#8217;s younger wife, Rachael, had stepped
+to him; laid one hand upon his arm&mdash;her smooth hair
+touched ashine by the firelight as she gazed up into
+his face. Pending reply I hastened directly to My
+Lady herself and detained her by her jacket sleeve.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Wait,&#8221; I bade.</p>
+<p>Whereupon we both turned. Side by side we
+fronted the group as if we might have been partners&mdash;which,
+in a measure, we were, but not wholy according
+to the lout Daniel&#8217;s cackle and the suddenly
+interrogating countenances here and there.</p>
+<p>&#8220;You would take her in, Rachael?&#8221; the Captain
+rumbled. &#8220;Have you not heard what I said?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;We are commanded to feed the hungry and shelter
+the homeless, Hyrum.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Verily that is so. Take her. I trust you with
+her till the morning. The Lord will direct us further.
+But in God&#8217;s name clothe her for the daylight in decency.
+She shall not advertise her flesh to men&#8217;s
+eyes.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Quick!&#8221; I whispered, with a push. Rachael,
+however, had crossed for us, and with eyes brimming
+extended her hand.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Will you come with me, please?&#8221; she invited.</p>
+<p>&#8220;You are not afraid of me?&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_179' name='page_179'></a>179</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;I? No. You are a woman, are you not?&#8221; The
+intonation was gentle, and sweet to hear&mdash;as sweet as
+her rosy face to see.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes,&#8221; sighed My Lady, wearily. &#8220;Good-night,
+sir.&#8221; She fleetingly smiled upon me. &#8220;I thank you;
+and Mr. Jenks.&#8221;</p>
+<p>They went, Rachael&#8217;s arm about her; other women
+closed in; we heard exclamations, and next they were
+supporting her in their midst, for she had crumpled
+in a faint.</p>
+<p>Captain Adams walked out a piece as if musing.
+Daniel pressed beside him, talking eagerly. His voice
+reached me.</p>
+<p>&#8220;She&#8217;s powerful purty, ain&#8217;t she, paw! Gosh, I
+never seen a woman in britches before. Did yu?
+Paw! She kin ride in my wagon, paw. Be yu goin&#8217;
+to take her on, paw? If yu be, I got room.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Go. Tend to your stock and think of other
+things,&#8221; boomed his father. &#8220;Remember that the
+Scriptures say, beware of the scarlet woman.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Daniel galloped away, whooping like an idiot.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Wall, there she is,&#8221; my friend Jenks remarked
+non-committally. &#8220;What next&#8217;ll happen, we&#8217;ll see in
+the mornin&#8217;. Either she goes on or she goes back. I
+don&#8217;t claim to read Mormon sign, myself. But she
+had me jumpin&#8217; sideways, for a spell. So did that
+young whelp.&#8221;</p>
+<p>There was some talk, idle yet not offensive. The
+men appeared rather in a judicial frame of mind:
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_180' name='page_180'></a>180</span>
+laid a few bets upon whether her husband would turn
+up, in sober fashion nodded their heads over the hope
+that he had been &#8220;properly pinked,&#8221; all in all sided
+with her, while admiring her pluck roundly denied
+responsibility for women in general, and genially but
+cautiously twitted Mr. Jenks and me upon our alleged
+implication in the affair.</p>
+<p>Darkness, still and chill, had settled over the desert&mdash;the
+only discernible horizon the glow of Benton,
+down the railroad track. The ashes of final pipes
+were rapped out upon our boot soles. Our group dispersed,
+each man to his blanket under the wagons or
+in the open.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Wall,&#8221; friend Jenks again broadly uttered, in
+last words as he turned over with a grunt, for easier
+posture, near me, &#8220;hooray! If it simmers down to
+you and Dan&#8217;l, I&#8217;ll be there.&#8221;</p>
+<p>With that enigmatical comment he was silent save
+for stertorous breathing. Vaguely cogitating over
+his promise I lay, toes and face up, staring at the
+bright stars; perplexed more and more over the immediate
+events of the future, warmly conscious of
+her astonishing proximity in this very train, prickled
+by the hope that she would continue with us, irritated
+by the various assumptions of Daniel, and somehow
+not at all adverse to the memory of her in &#8220;britches.&#8221;</p>
+<p>That phase of the matter seemed to have affected
+Daniel and me similarly. Under his hide he was human.</p>
+<hr class='major' />
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='XII_DANIEL_TAKES_POSSESSION' id='XII_DANIEL_TAKES_POSSESSION'></a>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_181' name='page_181'></a>181</span>
+<h2>CHAPTER XII</h2>
+<h3>DANIEL TAKES POSSESSION</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>I was more than ever convinced of her wisdom in
+choice of garb when in early morning I glimpsed her
+with the two other women at the Adams fire; for,
+bright-haired and small, she had been sorrily dulled
+by the plain ill-fitting waist and long shapeless skirt
+in one garment, as adopted by the feminine contingent
+of the train. In her particular case these were
+worse fitting and longer than common&mdash;an artifice
+that certainly snuffed a portion of her charms for
+Gentile and Mormon eyes alike.</p>
+<p>What further disposition of her was to be made
+we might not yet know. We all kept to our own tasks
+and our own fires, with the exception that Daniel
+gawked and strutted in the manner of a silly gander,
+and made frequent errands to his father&#8217;s household.</p>
+<p>It was after the red sun-up and the initial signaling
+by dust cloud to dust cloud announcing the commencement
+of another day&#8217;s desert traffic, and in response
+to the orders &#8220;Ketch up!&#8221; we were putting
+animals to wagons (My Lady still in evidence forward),
+when a horseman bored in at a gallop, over
+the road from the east.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_182' name='page_182'></a>182</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;Montoyo, by Gawd!&#8221; Jenks pronounced, in a
+grumble of disgust rather than with any note of
+alarm. &#8220;Look alive.&#8221; And&mdash;&#8220;He don&#8217;t hang up
+my pelt; no, nor yourn if I can help it.&#8221;</p>
+<p>I saw him give a twitch to his holster and slightly
+loosen the Colt&#8217;s. But I was unburthened by guilt in
+past events, and I conceived no reason for fearing
+the future&mdash;other than that now I was likely to
+lose her. Heaven pity her! Probably she would
+have to go, even if she managed later to kill him.
+The delay in our start had been unfortunate.</p>
+<p>It was dollars to doughnuts that every man in the
+company had had his eye out for Montoyo, since daylight;
+and the odds were that every man had sighted
+him as quickly as we. Notwithstanding, save by an
+occasional quick glance none appeared to pay attention
+to his rapid approach. We ourselves went right
+along hooking up, like the others.</p>
+<p>As chanced, our outfit was the first upon his way
+in. I heard him rein sharply beside us and his
+horse fidget, panting. Not until he spoke did we lift
+eyes.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Howdy, gentlemen?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Howdy yourself, sir,&#8221; answered Mr. Jenks,
+straightening up and meeting his gaze. I paused, to
+gaze also. Montoyo was pale as death, his lips hard
+set, his peculiar gray eyes and his black moustache the
+only vivifying features in his coldly menacing countenance.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_183' name='page_183'></a>183</span></p>
+<p>He was in white linen shirt, his left arm slung; fine
+riding boots encasing his legs above the knees and
+Spanish spurs at their heels&mdash;his horse&#8217;s flanks reddened
+by their jabs. The pearl butt of a six-shooter
+jutted from his belt holster. He sat jaunty, excepting
+for his lips and eyes.</p>
+<p>He looked upon me, with a trace of recognition less
+to be seen than felt. His glance leaped to the wagon&mdash;traveled
+swiftly and surely and returned to Mr.
+Jenks.</p>
+<p>&#8220;You&#8217;re pulling out, I believe.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, you bet yuh.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;This is the Adams train?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;It is.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m looking for my wife, gentlemen. May I ask
+whether you&#8217;ve seen her?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;You can.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;You have seen her?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, sir. We&#8217;ll not beat around any bush over
+that.&#8221;</p>
+<p>He meditated, frowning a bit, eying us narrowly.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I had the notion,&#8221; he said. &#8220;If you have staked
+her to shelter I thank you; but now I aim to play the
+hand myself. This is a strictly private game. Where
+is she?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I call yuh, Pedro,&#8221; my friend answered. &#8220;We
+ain&#8217;t keepin&#8217; cases on her, or on you. You don&#8217;t find
+her in my outfit, that&#8217;s flat. She spent the night with
+the Adams women. You&#8217;ll find her waitin&#8217; for you,
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_184' name='page_184'></a>184</span>
+on ahead.&#8221; He grinned. &#8220;She&#8217;ll be powerful glad
+to see you.&#8221; He sobered. &#8220;And I&#8217;ll say this: I&#8217;m
+kinder sorry I ain&#8217;t got her, for she&#8217;d be interestin&#8217;
+company on the road.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;The road to hell, yes,&#8221; Montoyo coolly remarked.
+&#8220;I&#8217;d guarantee you quick passage. Good-day.&#8221;</p>
+<p>With sudden steely glare that embraced us both he
+jumped his mount into a gallop and tore past the
+team, for the front. He must have inquired, once or
+twice, as to the whereabouts of the Captain&#8217;s party;
+I saw fingers pointing.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Here! You&#8217;ve swapped collars on your lead
+span, boy,&#8221; Mr. Jenks reproved&mdash;but he likewise
+fumbling while he gazed.</p>
+<p>I could hold back no longer.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Just a minute, if you please,&#8221; I pleaded; and
+hastened on up, half running in my anxiety to face
+the worst; to help, if I might, for the best.</p>
+<p>A little knot of people had formed, constantly increasing
+by oncomers like myself and friend Jenks
+who had lumbered behind me. Montoyo&#8217;s horse
+stood heaving, on the outskirts; and ruthlessly pushing
+through I found him inside, with My Lady at
+bay before him&mdash;her eyes brilliant, her cheeks hot,
+her two hands clenched tightly, her slim figure dangerously
+tense within her absurd garment, and the
+arm of the brightly flushed but calm Rachael resting
+restraintfully around her. The circling faces peered.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_185' name='page_185'></a>185</span></p>
+<p>Captain Adams, at one side apart, was replying
+to the gambler. His small china-blue eyes had begun
+to glint; otherwise he maintained an air of stolidity
+as if immune to the outcome.</p>
+<p>&#8220;You see her,&#8221; he said. &#8220;She has had the care
+of my own household, for I turn nobody away. She
+came against my will, and she shall go of her will.
+I am not her keeper.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;You Mormons have the advantage of us white
+men, sir,&#8221; Montoyo sneered. &#8220;No one of the sex
+seems to be denied bed and board in your establishments.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;By the help of the Lord we of the elect can manage
+our establishments much better than you do
+yours,&#8221; big Hyrum responded; and his face sombered.
+&#8220;Who are you? A panderer to the devil, a
+thief with painted card-boards, a despoiler of the ignorant,
+and a feeder to hell&mdash;yea, a striker of women
+and a trafficker in flesh! Who are you, to think the
+name of the Lord&#8217;s anointed? There she is, your
+chattel. Take her, or leave her. This train starts on
+in ten minutes.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ll take her or kill her,&#8221; Montoyo snarled.
+&#8220;You call me a feeder, but she shall not be fed to
+your mill, Adams. You&#8217;ll get on that horse pronto,
+madam,&#8221; he added, stepping forward (no one could
+question his nerve), &#8220;and we&#8217;ll discuss our affairs in
+private.&#8221;</p>
+<p>She cast about with swift beseeching look, as if for
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_186' name='page_186'></a>186</span>
+a friendly face or sign of rescue. And that agonized
+quest was enough. Whether she saw me or not, here
+I was. With a spring I had burst in.</p>
+<p>But somebody already had drawn fresh attention.
+Daniel Adams was standing between her and her husband.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Say, Mister, will yu fight?&#8221; he drawled, breathing
+hard, his broad nostrils quivering.</p>
+<p>A silence fell. Singularly, the circle parted right
+and left in a jostle and a scramble.</p>
+<p>Montoyo surveyed him.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Why?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;For her, o&#8217; course.&#8221;</p>
+<p>The gambler smiled&mdash;a slow, contemptuous smile
+while his gray eyes focused watchfully.</p>
+<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s a case where I have nothing to gain,&#8221; said he.
+&#8220;And you&#8217;ve nothing to lose. I never bet in the teeth
+of a pat hand. Sabe? Besides, my young Mormon
+cub, when did you enter this game? Where&#8217;s your
+ante? For the sport of it, now, what do you think of
+putting up, to make it interesting? One of your
+mammies? Tut, tut!&#8221;</p>
+<p>Daniel&#8217;s freckled bovine face flushed muddy red;
+in the midst of it his faulty eyes were more pronounced
+than ever&mdash;beady, twinkling, and so at cross
+purposes that they apparently did not center upon the
+gambler at all. But his right hand had stiffened at
+his side&mdash;extended there flat and tremulous like the
+vibrant tail of a rattlesnake. He blurted harshly:
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_187' name='page_187'></a>187</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;I &#8217;laow to kill yu for that. Draw, yu&mdash;&mdash;!&#8221;</p>
+<p>We caught breath. Montoyo&#8217;s hand had darted
+down, and up, with motion too smooth and elusive for
+the eye, particularly when our eyes had to be upon
+both. His revolver poised half-way out of the scabbard,
+held there rigidly, frozen in mid course; for
+Daniel had laughed loudly over leveled barrel.</p>
+<p>How he had achieved so quickly no man of us
+knew. Yet there it was&mdash;his Colt&#8217;s, out, cocked,
+wicked and yearning and ready.</p>
+<p>He whirled it with tempting carelessness, butt first,
+muzzle first, his discolored teeth set in a yellow grin.
+The breath of the spectators vented in a sigh.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Haow&#8217;ll yu take it, Mister?&#8221; he gibed. &#8220;I
+could l&#8217;arn an old caow to beat yu on the draw. Aw,
+shucks! I &#8217;laow yu&#8217;d better go back to yore pasteboards.
+Naow git!&#8221;</p>
+<p>Montoyo, his eyes steady, scarcely changed expression.
+He let his revolver slip down into its scabbard.
+Then he smiled.</p>
+<p>&#8220;You have a pretty trick,&#8221; he commented, relaxing.
+&#8220;Some day I&#8217;d like to test it out again. Just
+now I pass. Madam, are you coming?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;You know I&#8217;m not,&#8221; she uttered clearly.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Your choice of company is hardly to your credit,&#8221;
+he sneered. &#8220;Or, I should say, to your education.
+Saintliness does not set well upon you, madam.
+Your clothes are ill-fitting already. Of your two
+champions&mdash;&mdash;&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_188' name='page_188'></a>188</span></p>
+<p>And here I realized that I was standing out, one
+foot advanced, my fists foolishly doubled, my presence
+a useless factor.</p>
+<p>&#8220;&mdash;I recommend the gentleman from New York as
+more to your tastes. But you are going of your own
+free will. You will always be my wife. You can&#8217;t
+get away from that, you devil. I shall expect you in
+Benton, for I have the hunch that your little flight
+will fetch you back pretty well tamed, to the place
+where damaged goods are not so heavily discounted.&#8221;
+He ignored Daniel and turned upon me. &#8220;As for
+you,&#8221; he said, &#8220;I warn you you are playing against
+a marked deck. You will find fists a poor hand.
+Ladies and gentlemen, good-morning.&#8221; With that he
+strode straight for his horse, climbed aboard (a trifle
+awkwardly by reason of his one arm disabled) and
+galloped, granting us not another glance.</p>
+<p>Card shark and desperado that he was, his consummate
+aplomb nobody could deny, except Daniel,
+now capering and swaggering and twirling his revolver.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I showed him. I made him take water. I &#8217;laow
+I&#8217;m &#8217;bout the best man with a six-shooter in these
+hyar parts.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Ketch up and stretch out,&#8221; Captain Adams ordered,
+disregarding. &#8220;We&#8217;ve no more time for foolery.&#8221;</p>
+<p>My eyes met My Lady&#8217;s. She smiled a little ruefully,
+and I responded, shamed by the poor rôle I had
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_189' name='page_189'></a>189</span>
+borne. With that still jubilating lout to the fore, certainly
+I cut small figure.</p>
+<p>This night we made camp at Rawlins&#8217; Springs,
+some twelve miles on. The day&#8217;s march had been, so
+to speak, rather pensive; for while there were the
+rough jokes and the talking back and forth, it seemed
+as though the scene of early morning lingered in our
+vista. The words of Montoyo had scored deeply, and
+the presence of our supernumerary laid a kind of incubus,
+like an omen of ill luck, upon us. Indeed the
+prophecies darkly uttered showed the current of
+thought.</p>
+<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s a she Jonah we got. Sure a woman the likes
+o&#8217; her hain&#8217;t no place in a freightin&#8217; outfit. We&#8217;re off
+on the wrong fut,&#8221; an Irishman declared to wagging
+of heads. &#8220;Faith, she&#8217;s enough to set the saints
+above an&#8217; the saints below both by the ears.&#8221; He
+paused to light his dudeen. &#8220;There&#8217;ll be a Donnybrook
+Fair in Utah, if belike we don&#8217;t have it along
+the way.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;No Mormon&#8217;ll need another wife if he takes her,&#8221;
+laughed somebody else.</p>
+<p>&#8220;She&#8217;ll be promised to Dan&#8217;l &#8217;fore ever we cross
+the Wasatch.&#8221; And they all in the group looked slyly
+at me. &#8220;Acts as if she&#8217;d been sealed to him already,
+he does.&#8221;</p>
+<p>This had occurred at our nooning hour, amidst the
+dust and the heat, while the animals drooped and
+dozed and panted and in the scant shade of the hooded
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_190' name='page_190'></a>190</span>
+wagons we drank our coffee and crunched our hardtack.
+Throughout the morning My Lady had ridden
+upon the seat of Daniel&#8217;s wagon, with him sometimes
+trudging beside, in pride of new ownership, cracking
+his whip, and again planted sidewise upon one
+of the wheel animals, facing backward to leer at
+her.</p>
+<p>Why I should now have especially detested him I
+would not admit to myself. At any rate the dislike
+dated before her arrival. That was one sop to
+conscience when I remembered that she was a
+wife.</p>
+<p>Friend Jenks must have read my thoughts, inasmuch
+as during the course of the afternoon he had
+uttered abruptly:</p>
+<p>&#8220;These Mormons don&#8217;t exactly recognize Gentile
+marriages. Did you know that?&#8221; He flung me a
+look from beneath shaggy brows.</p>
+<p>&#8220;What?&#8221; I exclaimed. &#8220;How so?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Meanin&#8217; to say that layin&#8217; on of hands by the
+Lord&#8217;s an&#8217;inted is necessary to reel j&#8217;inin&#8217; in marriage.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;But that&#8217;s monstrous!&#8221; I stammered.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Dare say,&#8221; said he. &#8220;It&#8217;s the way white gospelers
+look at Injuns, ain&#8217;t it? Anyhow, to convert her
+out of sin, as they&#8217;d call it, and put her over into the
+company of the saints wouldn&#8217;t be no bad deal, by
+their kind o&#8217; thinkin&#8217;. It&#8217;s been done before, I reckon.
+Jest thought I&#8217;d warn you. She&#8217;s made her own bed
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_191' name='page_191'></a>191</span>
+and if it&#8217;s a Mormon bed she&#8217;s well quit of Montoyo,
+that&#8217;s sartin. Did you ever see the beat of that young
+feller on the draw?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;No,&#8221; I admitted. &#8220;I never did.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;And you never will.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;He says his name&#8217;s Bonnie Bravo. Where did he
+find that?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Haw haw.&#8221; Friend Jenks spat. &#8220;Must ha&#8217;
+heard it in a play-house or got it read to him out a
+book. Sounds to him like he was some punkins.
+Anyhow, if you&#8217;ve any feelin&#8217;s in the matter keep
+&#8217;em under your hat. I don&#8217;t know what there&#8217;s been
+between you and her, but the Mormon church is between
+you now and it&#8217;s got the dead-wood on you.
+It&#8217;s either that for her, or Montoyo. He knows; he&#8217;s
+no fool and he&#8217;ll take his time. So you&#8217;d better stick
+to mule-whacking and sowbelly.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Still it was only decent that I should inquire after
+her. No Daniel and no &#8220;Bonnie Bravo&#8221; was going
+to shut me from my duty. Therefore this evening
+after we had formed corral, watered our animals at
+the one good-water spring, staked them out in the
+bottoms of the ravine here, and eaten our supper, I
+went with clean hands and face and, I resolved, a
+clean heart, to pay my respects at the Hyrum Adams
+fire.</p>
+<p>A cheery sight it was, too, for one bred as I had
+been to the company of women. Whereas during the
+day and somewhat in the evenings we Gentiles and
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_192' name='page_192'></a>192</span>
+the Mormon men fraternized without conflict of sect
+save by long-winded arguments, at nightfall the main
+Mormon gathering centered about the Adams quarters,
+where the men and women sang hymns in praise
+of their pretensions, and listened to homilies by Hyrum
+himself.</p>
+<p>They were singing now, as I approached&mdash;every
+woman busy also with her hands. The words were
+destined to be familiar to me, being from their favorite
+lines:</p>
+<table summary='poetry' style='margin:0 auto; '><tr><td>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>Cheer, saints, cheer! We&#8217;re bound for peaceful Zion!</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>Cheer, saints, cheer! For that free and happy land!</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>Cheer, saints, cheer! We&#8217;ll Israel&#8217;s God rely on;</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>We will be led by the power of His hand.</p>
+<br />
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>Away, far away to the everlasting mountains,</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>Away, far away to the valley in the West;</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>Away, far away to yonder gushing fountains,</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>Where all the faithful in the latter days are blest.</p>
+</td></tr></table>
+
+<p>Into this domestic circle I civilly entered just as
+they had finished their hymn. She was seated beside
+the sleek-haired Rachael, with Daniel upon her other
+hand. I sensed her quickly ready smile; and with the
+same a surly stare from him, disclosing that by one
+person at least I was not welcomed.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Anything special wanted, stranger?&#8221; Hyrum demanded.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_193' name='page_193'></a>193</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;No, sir. I was attracted by your singing,&#8221; I replied.
+&#8220;Do I intrude?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Not at all, not at all.&#8221; He was more hospitable.
+&#8220;Set if you like, in the circle of the Saints. You&#8217;ll
+get no harm by it, that&#8217;s certain.&#8221;</p>
+<p>So I seated myself just behind Rachael. A moment
+of constraint seemed to fall upon the group. I
+broke it by my inquiry, addressed to a clean profile.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I came also to inquire after Mrs. Montoyo,&#8221; I
+carefully said. &#8220;You have stood the journey well,
+this far, madam?&#8221;</p>
+<p>Daniel turned instantly.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Thar&#8217;s no &#8217;Mrs. Montoyo&#8217; in this camp, Mister.
+And I&#8217;ll thank yu it&#8217;s a name yu&#8217;d best leave alone.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;How so, sir?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Cause that&#8217;s the right of it. I &#8217;laow I&#8217;ve told
+yu.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m called Edna now, by my friends,&#8221; she vouchsafed,
+coloring. &#8220;Yes, thank you, I&#8217;ve enjoyed the
+day.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Rachael spoke softly, in her gentle English accents.
+I learned later that she was an English girl, convert
+to Mormonism.</p>
+<p>&#8220;We Latter Day Saints know that the marriage
+rites of Gentiles are not countenanced by the Lord.
+If you would see the light you would understand.
+Sister Edna is being well cared for. Whatever we
+have is hers.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;You will take her on with you to Salt Lake?&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_194' name='page_194'></a>194</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;That is as Hyrum says. He has spoken of putting
+her on the stage at the next crossing. He will
+decide.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I think I&#8217;d rather stay with the train,&#8221; My Lady
+murmured.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yu will, too, by gum,&#8221; Daniel pronounced. &#8220;I&#8217;ll
+talk with paw. Yu&#8217;re goin&#8217; to travel on to Zion &#8217;long
+with me. I &#8217;laow I&#8217;m man enough to look out for ye
+an&#8217; I got plenty room. The hull wagon&#8217;s yourn.
+Guess thar won&#8217;t nobody have anything to say ag&#8217;in
+that.&#8221; His tone was pointed, unmistakable, and I sat
+fuming with it.</p>
+<p>My Lady drily acknowledged.</p>
+<p>&#8220;You are very kind, Daniel.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Wall, yu see I&#8217;m the best man on the draw in this
+hyar train. I&#8217;m a bad one, I am. My name&#8217;s Bonnie
+Bravo. That gambler&mdash;he &#8217;laowed to pop me but I
+could ha&#8217; killed him &#8217;fore his gun was loose. I kin
+ride, wrastle, drive a bull team ag&#8217;in ary man from
+the States, an&#8217; I got the gift o&#8217; tongues. Ain&#8217;t afeared
+o&#8217; Injuns, neither. I&#8217;m elected. I foller the Lord an&#8217;
+some day I&#8217;ll be a bishop. I hain&#8217;t been more&#8217;n middlin&#8217;
+interested in wimmen, but I&#8217;m gittin&#8217; old enough,
+an&#8217; yu an&#8217; me&#8217;ll be purty well acquainted by the time
+we reach Zion. Thar&#8217;s a long spell ahead of us, but
+I aim to look out for yu, yu bet.&#8221;</p>
+<p>His blatancy was arrested by the intonation of another
+hymn. They all chimed in, except My Lady
+and me.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_195' name='page_195'></a>195</span></p>
+<table summary='poetry' style='margin:0 auto; '><tr><td>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>There is a people in the West, the world calls Mormonites</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>in jest,</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>The only people who can say, we have the truth, and</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>own its sway.</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>Away in Utah&#8217;s valleys, away in Utah&#8217;s valleys,</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>Away in Utah&#8217;s valleys, the chambers of the Lord.</p>
+<br />
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>And all ye saints, where&#8217;er you be, from bondage try to</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>be set free,</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>Escape unto fair Zion&#8217;s land, and thus fulfil the Lord&#8217;s</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>command,</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>And help to build up Zion, and help to build up Zion,</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>And help to build up Zion, before the Lord appear.</p>
+</td></tr></table>
+
+<p>They concluded; sat with heads bowed while Hyrum,
+standing, delivered himself of a long-winded
+blessing, through his nose. It was the signal for
+breaking up. They stood. My Lady arose lithely;
+encumbered by her trailing skirt she pitched forward
+and I caught her. Daniel sprang in a moment, with
+a growl.</p>
+<p>&#8220;None o&#8217; that, Mister. I&#8217;m takin&#8217; keer of her.
+Hands off.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Don&#8217;t bully me, sir,&#8221; I retorted, furious. &#8220;I&#8217;m
+only acting the gentleman, and you&#8217;re acting the
+boor.&#8221;</p>
+<p>I would willingly have fought him then and there,
+probably to my disaster, but Hyrum&#8217;s heavy voice
+cut in.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Who quarrels at my fire? Mark you, I&#8217;ll have
+no more of it. Stranger, get you where you belong.
+Daniel, get you to bed. And you, woman, take yourself
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_196' name='page_196'></a>196</span>
+off properly and thank God that you are among
+his chosen and not adrift in sin.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Good-night, sir,&#8221; I answered. And I walked
+easily away, a triumphant warmth buoying me, for
+ere releasing her strong young body I had felt a note
+tucked into my hand.</p>
+<hr class='major' />
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='XIII_SOMEONE_FEARS' id='XIII_SOMEONE_FEARS'></a>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_197' name='page_197'></a>197</span>
+<h2>CHAPTER XIII</h2>
+<h3>SOMEONE FEARS</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>A note from a pretty woman always is a potential
+thing, no matter in what humor it may have been
+received. The mere possession titillates; and although
+the contents may be most exemplary to the
+eye, the mind is apt to go hay-making between the
+lines and no offense intended.</p>
+<p>All the fatuousness that had led me astray to the
+lure of her blue eyes, upon the train and in hollow
+Benton, surged anew now&mdash;perhaps seasoned to present
+taste by my peppery defiance of Daniel. A man
+could do no less than bristle a little, under the circumstances;
+could do no less than challenge the torpedoes,
+like Farragut in Mobile Bay. Whether the
+game was worth the candle, I was not to be bullied
+out of my privileges by a clown swash-buckler who
+aped the characteristics of a pouter pigeon.</p>
+<p>Mr. Jenks was just going to bed under the wagon.
+With pretext of warming up the coffee I kicked the
+fire together; while squatting and sipping I managed
+to unfold the note and read it by the flicker, my back
+to the camp.</p>
+<p>All that it said, was:
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_198' name='page_198'></a>198</span></p>
+<div class='blockquot'>
+<p>If you are not disgusted with me I will walk
+a stretch with you on the trail, during the morning.</p>
+</div>
+<p>The engagement sent me to my blanket cogitating.
+When a woman proposes, one never knows precisely
+the reason. Anyway, I was young enough so to
+fancy. For a long time I lay outside the wagons,
+apart in the desert camp, gazing up at the twinkling
+stars, while the wolves whimpered around, and somewhere
+she slept beside the gentle Rachael, and somewhere
+Daniel snored, and here I conned her face and
+her words, elatedly finding them very pleasing.</p>
+<p>Salt Lake was far, the Big Tent farther by perspective
+if not by miles. I recognized the legal rights
+of her husband, but no ruffling Daniel should quash
+the undeniable rights of Yours Truly. I indeed felt
+virtuous and passing valorous, with that commonplace
+note in my pocket.</p>
+<p>We all broke camp at sunrise. She rode for a distance
+upon the seat of Daniel&#8217;s wagon&mdash;he lustily
+trudging alongside. Then I marked her walking,
+herself; she had shortened her skirt; and presently
+lingering by the trail she dropped behind, leaving the
+wagon to lumber on, with Daniel helplessly turning
+head over shoulder, bereft.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Bet you the lady up yonder is aimin&#8217; to pay you a
+visit,&#8221; quoth friend Jenks the astute. &#8220;And Dan&#8217;l,
+he don&#8217;t cotton to it. You ain&#8217;t great shakes with a
+gun, I reckon?&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_199' name='page_199'></a>199</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve never had use for one,&#8221; said I. &#8220;But her
+whereabouts in the train is not a matter of shooting,
+is it?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;A feller quick on the draw, like him, is alluz
+wantin&#8217; to practice, to keep his hand in. Anyhow I&#8217;d
+advise you to stay clear of her, else watch him mighty
+sharp. He&#8217;s thinkin&#8217; of takin&#8217; a squaw.&#8221;</p>
+<p>We rolled on, in the dust, while the animals
+coughed and the teamsters chewed and swore. And
+next, here she was, idling until our outfit drew
+abreast.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Mornin&#8217;,&#8221; Jenks grunted, with a shortness that
+bespoke his disapproval; whereupon he fell back and
+left us.</p>
+<p>She smiled at me.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Will you offer me a ride, sir?&#8221;</p>
+<p>My response was instant: a long &#8220;Whoa-oa!&#8221; in
+best mule-whacker. The eight-team hauled negligent,
+their mulish senses steeped in the drudgery of
+the trail; only the wheel pair flopped inquiring ears.
+When I hailed again, Jenks came puffing.</p>
+<p>&#8220;What&#8217;s the matter hyar?&#8221; He ran rapid eye
+over wagon and animals and saw nothing amiss.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Mrs. Montoyo wishes to ride.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;The hell, man!&#8221; He snatched whip and
+launched it, up the faltering team. The cracker
+popped an inch above the off lead mule&#8217;s cringing
+haunch twenty feet before. &#8220;You can&#8217;t stop hyar!
+Can&#8217;t hold the rest of the train. Joe! Baldy! Hep
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_200' name='page_200'></a>200</span>
+with you!&#8221; The team straightened out; he restored
+me the whip. His wrath subsided, for in less dudgeon
+he addressed her.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Want to ride, do ye?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I did, sir.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Wall, in Gawd&#8217;s name ride, then. But we don&#8217;t
+stop for passengers.&#8221;</p>
+<p>With that, in another white heat he had picked her
+up bodily, swung her upon the nearest mule; so that
+before she knew (she scarce had time to utter an
+astonished little ejaculation as she yielded to his
+arms) there she was, perched, breathless, upon the
+sweaty hide. I awaited results.</p>
+<p>Jenks chuckled.</p>
+<p>&#8220;What you need is an old feller, lady. These
+young bucks ain&#8217;t broke to the feed canvas. Now
+when you want to get off you call me. You don&#8217;t
+weigh more&#8217;n a peck of beans.&#8221;</p>
+<p>With a bantering wink at me he again fell back.
+Once more I had been forestalled. There should be
+no third time.</p>
+<p>My Lady sat clinging, at first angry-eyed, but in a
+moment softened by my discomfiture.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Your partner is rather sudden,&#8221; she averred.
+&#8220;He asked permission of neither me nor the
+mule.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;He meant well. He isn&#8217;t used to women,&#8221; I
+apologized.</p>
+<p>&#8220;More used to mules, I judge.&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_201' name='page_201'></a>201</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes. If he had asked the mule it would have
+objected, whereas it&#8217;s delighted.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Perhaps he knows there&#8217;s not much difference between
+a woman and a mule, in that respect,&#8221; she
+proffered. &#8220;You need not apologize for him.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I apologize for myself,&#8221; I blurted. &#8220;I see I&#8217;m a
+little slow for this country.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;You?&#8221; She soberly surveyed me as I ploughed
+through the dust, at her knees. &#8220;I think you&#8217;ll catch
+up. If you don&#8217;t object to my company, yourself,
+occasionally, maybe I can help you.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I certainly cannot object to your company whenever
+it is available, madam,&#8221; I assured.</p>
+<p>&#8220;You do not hold your experience in Benton
+against me?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I got no more than I deserved, in the Big Tent,&#8221;
+said I. &#8220;I went in as a fool and I came out as a fool,
+but considerably wiser.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;You reproached me for it,&#8221; she accused. &#8220;You
+hated me. Do you hate me still, I wonder? I tell
+you I was not to blame for the loss of your money.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;The money has mattered little, madam,&#8221; I informed.
+&#8220;It was only a few dollars, and it turned
+me to a job more to my liking and good health than
+fiddling my time away, back there. I have you to
+thank for that.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;No, no! You are cruel, sir. You thank me for
+the good and you saddle me with the bad. I accept
+neither. Both, as happened, were misplays. You
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_202' name='page_202'></a>202</span>
+should not have lost money, you should not have
+changed vocation. You should have won a little
+money and you should have pursued health in Benton.&#8221;
+She sighed. &#8220;And we all would have been
+reasonably content. Now here you and I are&mdash;and
+what are we going to do about it?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;We?&#8221; I echoed, annoyingly haphazard. &#8220;Why
+so? You&#8217;re being well cared for, I take it; and I&#8217;m
+under engagement for Salt Lake myself.&#8221;</p>
+<p>The answer did sound rude. I was still a cad. She
+eyed me, with a certain whiteness, a certain puzzled
+intentness, a certain fugitive wistfulness&mdash;a mute estimation
+that made me too conscious of her clear
+appraising gaze and rack my brain for some disarming
+remark.</p>
+<p>&#8220;You&#8217;re not responsible for me, you would say?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m at your service,&#8221; I corrected. The platitude
+was the best that I could muster to my tongue.</p>
+<p>&#8220;That is something,&#8221; she mused. &#8220;Once you were
+not that&mdash;when I proposed a partnership. You are
+afraid of me?&#8221; she asked.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Why should I be?&#8221; I parried. But I was beginning;
+or continuing. I had that curious inward
+quiver, not unpleasant, anticipatory of possible
+events.</p>
+<p>&#8220;You are a cautious Yankee. You answer one
+question with another.&#8221; She laughed lightly. &#8220;Yes,
+why should you be? I cannot run away with you;
+not when Daniel and your Mr. Jenks are watching us
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_203' name='page_203'></a>203</span>
+so closely. And you have no desire to be run away
+with. And Pedro must be considered. Altogether,
+you are well protected, even if your conscience slips.
+But tell me: Do you blame me for running away
+from Montoyo?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Not in the least,&#8221; I heartily assured.</p>
+<p>&#8220;You would have helped me, at the last?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I think I should have felt fully warranted.&#8221;
+Again I floundered.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Even to stowing me with a bull train?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Anywhere, madam, for your betterment, to free
+you from that brute.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh!&#8221; She clapped her hands. &#8220;But you didn&#8217;t
+have to. I only embarrassed you by appearing on
+my own account. You have some spirit, though.
+You came to the Adams circle, last night. You did
+your duty. I expected you. But you must not do it
+again.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Why not?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;There are objections, there.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;From you?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;No.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;From Hyrum?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Not yet.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;From that Daniel, then. Well, I will come to
+Captain Adams&#8217; camp as often as I like, if with the
+Captain&#8217;s permission. And I shall come to see you,
+whether with his permission or not.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t know,&#8221; she faltered. &#8220;I&mdash;you would
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_204' name='page_204'></a>204</span>
+have helped me once, you say? And once you refused
+me. Would you help me next time?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;As far as I could,&#8221; said I&mdash;another of those
+damned hedging responses that for the life of me I
+could not manipulate properly.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh!&#8221; she cried. &#8220;Of course! The queen deceived
+you; now you are wise. You are afraid. But
+so am I. Horribly afraid. I have misplayed again.&#8221;
+She laughed bitterly. &#8220;I am with Daniel&mdash;it is to be
+Daniel and I in the Lion&#8217;s den. You know they call
+Brigham Young the Lion of the Lord. I doubt if
+even Rachael is angel enough.&#8221; She paused.
+&#8220;They&#8217;re going to make nooning, aren&#8217;t they? I
+mustn&#8217;t stay. Good-bye.&#8221;</p>
+<p>I sprang to lift her, but with gay shake of head she
+slipped off of herself and landed securely.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I can stand alone. I have to. Men are always
+ready to do what I don&#8217;t ask them to do, as long as I
+can serve as a tool or a toy. You will be very, very
+careful. Good-day, sir.&#8221;</p>
+<p>She flashed just the trace of a smile; gathering her
+skirt she ran on, undeterred by the teamsters applauding
+her spryness.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Swing out!&#8221; shouted Jenks, from rear. &#8220;We&#8217;re
+noonin&#8217;.&#8221; The lead wagons had halted beside the
+trail and all the wagons following began to imitate.</p>
+<hr class='major' />
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='XIV_I_TAKE_A_LESSON' id='XIV_I_TAKE_A_LESSON'></a>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_205' name='page_205'></a>205</span>
+<h2>CHAPTER XIV</h2>
+<h3>I TAKE A LESSON</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>From this hour&#8217;s brief camp, early made, we
+should have turned southward, to leave the railroad
+line and cross country for the Overland Stage trail
+that skirted the southern edge of the worse desert
+before us. But Captain Hyrum was of different
+mind. With faith in the Lord and bull confidence in
+himself he had resolved to keep straight on by the
+teamster road which through league after league ever
+extended fed supplies to the advance of the builders.</p>
+<p>Under its adventitious guidance we should strike
+the stage road at Bitter Creek, eighty or one hundred
+miles; thence trundle, veering southwestward, for the
+famed City of the Saints, near two hundred miles
+farther.</p>
+<p>Therefore after nooning at a pool of stagnant,
+scummy water we hooked up and plunged ahead,
+creaking and groaning and dust enveloped, constantly
+outstripped by the hurrying construction
+trains thundering over the newly laid rails, we ourselves
+the tortoise in the race.</p>
+<p>My Lady did not join me again to-day, nor on the
+morrow. She abandoned me to a sense of dissatisfaction
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_206' name='page_206'></a>206</span>
+with myself, of foreboding, and of a void in
+the landscape.</p>
+<p>Our sorely laden train went swaying and pitching
+across the gaunt face of a high, broad plateau, bleak,
+hot, and monotonous in contour; underfoot the reddish
+granite pulverized by grinding tire and hoof,
+over us the pale bluish fiery sky without a cloud, distant
+in the south the shining tips of a mountain
+range, and distant below in the west the slowly
+spreading vista of a great, bared ocean-bed, simmering
+bizarre with reds, yellows and deceptive whites,
+and ringed about by battlements jagged and rock
+hewn.</p>
+<p>Into this enchanted realm we were bound; by token
+of the smoke blotches the railroad line led thither.
+The teamsters viewed the unfolding expanse phlegmatically.
+They called it the Red Basin. But to me,
+fresh for the sight, it beckoned with fantastic issues.
+Even the name breathed magic. Wizard spells hovered
+there; the railroad had not broken them&mdash;the
+cars and locomotives, entering, did not disturb the
+brooding vastness. A man might still ride errant into
+those slumberous spaces and discover for himself;
+might boldly awaken the realm and rule with a princess
+by his side.</p>
+<p>But romance seemed to have no other sponsor in
+this plodding, whip-cracking, complaining caravan.
+So I lacked, woefully lacked, kindred companionship.</p>
+<p>Free to say, I did miss My Lady, perched upon the
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_207' name='page_207'></a>207</span>
+stoic mule while like an Arab chief I convoyed her.
+The steady miles, I admitted, were going to be as
+disappointing as tepid water, when not aërated by her
+counsel and piquant allusions, by her sprightly readiness
+and the essential elements of her blue eyes, her
+facile lips, and that bright hair which no dust could
+dim.</p>
+<p>After all she was distinctly feminine&mdash;bravely
+feminine; and if she wished to flirt as a relief from
+the cock-sure Daniel and the calm methods of her
+Mormon guardians, why, let us beguile the way. I
+should second with eyes open. That was accepted.</p>
+<p>Moreover, something about her weighed upon me.
+A consciousness of failing her, a woman, in emergency,
+stung my self-respect. She had twitted me with
+being &#8220;afraid&#8221;; afraid of her, she probably meant.
+That I could pass warily. But she had said that she,
+too, was afraid: &#8220;horribly afraid,&#8221; and an honest
+shudder had attended upon the words as if a real
+danger hedged. She had an intuition. The settled
+convictions of my Gentile friends coincided. &#8220;With
+Daniel in the Lion&#8217;s den&#8221;&mdash;that phrase repeated itself
+persistent. She had uttered it in a fear accentuated
+by a mirthless laugh. Could such a left-handed
+wooer prove too much for her? Well, if she was
+afraid of Daniel I was not and she should not think
+so.</p>
+<p>I could see her now and then, on before. She
+rode upon the wagon seat of her self-appointed executor.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_208' name='page_208'></a>208</span>
+And I might see him and his paraded impertinences.</p>
+<p>Except for the blowing of the animals and the
+mechanical noises of the equipment the train subsided
+into a dogged patience, while parched by the dust and
+the thin dry air and mocked by the speeding construction
+crews upon the iron rails it lurched westward at
+two and a half miles an hour, for long hours outfaced
+by the blinding sun.</p>
+<p>Near the western edge of the plateau we made an
+evening corral. After supper the sound of revolver
+shots burst flatly from a mess beyond us, and startled.
+Everything was possible, here in this lone horizon-land
+where rough men, chafed by a hard day, were
+gathered suddenly relaxed and idle. But the shots
+were accompanied by laughter.</p>
+<p>&#8220;They&#8217;re only tryin&#8217; to spile a can,&#8221; Jenks reassured.
+&#8220;By golly, we&#8217;ll go over and l&#8217;arn &#8217;em a lesson.&#8221;
+He glanced at me. &#8220;Time you loosened up
+that weepon o&#8217; yourn, anyhow. Purty soon it&#8217;ll stick
+fast.&#8221;</p>
+<p>I arose with him, glad of any diversion. The circle
+had not yet formed at Hyrum&#8217;s fire.</p>
+<p>&#8220;It strikes me as a useless piece of baggage,&#8221; said
+I. &#8220;I bought it in Benton but I haven&#8217;t needed it.
+I can kill a rattlesnake easier with my whip.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Wall,&#8221; he drawled, &#8220;down in yonder you&#8217;re liable
+to meet up with a rattler too smart for your whip,
+account of his freckles. &#8217;Twon&#8217;t do you no harm to
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_209' name='page_209'></a>209</span>
+spend a few ca&#8217;tridges, so you&#8217;ll be ready for business.&#8221;</p>
+<p>The men were banging, by turn, at a sardine can
+set up on the sand about twenty paces out. Their
+shadows stretched slantwise before them, grotesquely
+lengthened by the last efforts of the disappearing sun.
+Some aimed carefully from under pulled-down hat
+brims; others, their brims flared back, fired quickly,
+the instant the gun came to the level. The heavy
+balls sent the loose soil flying in thick jets made golden
+by the evening glow. But amidst the furrows the can
+sat untouched by the plunging missiles.</p>
+<p>We were greeted with hearty banter.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Hyar&#8217;s the champeens!&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Now they&#8217;ll show us.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Ain&#8217;t never see that pilgrim unlimber his gun yit,
+but I reckon he&#8217;s a bad &#8217;un.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Jenks, old hoss, cain&#8217;t you l&#8217;an that durned can
+manners?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ll try to oblige you, boys,&#8221; friend Jenks smiled.
+&#8220;What you thinkin&#8217; to do: hit that can or plant a
+lead mine?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Give him room. He&#8217;s made his brag,&#8221; they cried.
+&#8220;And if he don&#8217;t plug it that pilgrim sure will.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Mr. Jenks drew and took his stand; banged with
+small preparation and missed by six inches&mdash;a fact
+that brought him up wide awake, so to speak, badgered
+by derision renewed. A person needs must have
+a bull hide, to travel with a bull train, I saw.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_210' name='page_210'></a>210</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;Gimme another, boys, and I&#8217;ll hit it in the nose,&#8221;
+he growled sheepishly; but they shoved him aside.</p>
+<p>&#8220;No, no. Pilgrim&#8217;s turn. Fetch on yore shootin&#8217;-iron,
+young feller. Thar&#8217;s yore turkey. Show us
+why you&#8217;re packin&#8217; all that hardware.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Willy-nilly I had to demonstrate my greenness; so
+in all good nature I drew, and stood, and cocked, and
+aimed. The Colt&#8217;s exploded with prodigious blast
+and wrench&mdash;jerking, in fact, almost above head;
+and where the bullet went I did not see, nor, I
+judged, did anybody else.</p>
+<p>&#8220;He missed the &#8217;arth!&#8221; they clamored.</p>
+<p>&#8220;No; I reckon he hit Montany &#8217;bout the middle.
+That&#8217;s whar he scored center!&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Shoot! Shoot!&#8221; they begged. &#8220;Go ahead.
+Mebbe you&#8217;ll kill an Injun unbeknownst. They&#8217;s a
+pack o&#8217; Sioux jest out o&#8217; sight behind them hills.&#8221;</p>
+<p>And I did shoot, vexed; and I struck the ground,
+this time, some fifty yards beyond the can. Jenks
+stepped from amidst the riotous laughter.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Hold down on it, hold down, lad,&#8221; he urged.
+&#8220;To hit him in the heart aim at his feet. Here!
+Like this&mdash;&mdash;&#8221; and taking my revolver he threw it
+forward, fired, the can plinked and somersaulted,
+lashed into action too late.</p>
+<p>&#8220;By Gawd,&#8221; he proclaimed, &#8220;when I move like it
+had a gun in its fist I can snap it. But when I think
+on it as a can I lack guts.&#8221;</p>
+<p>The remark was pat. I had seen several of the men
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_211' name='page_211'></a>211</span>
+snip the head from a rattlesnake with a single offhand
+shot&mdash;yes, they all carried their weapons easily
+and wontedly. But the target of an immobile can
+lacked in stimulation to concord of nerve and eye.</p>
+<p>Now I shot again, holding lower and more firmly,
+out of mere guesswork, and landed appreciably
+closer although still within the zone of ridicule. And
+somebody else shot, and somebody else, and another,
+until we all were whooping and laughing and jesting,
+and the jets flew as if from the balls of a mitrailleuse,
+and the can rocked and gyrated, spurring us to haste
+as it constantly changed the range. Presently it was
+merely a twist of ragged tin. Then in the little silence,
+as we paused, a voice spoke irritatingly.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I &#8217;laow yu fellers ain&#8217;t no great shucks at
+throwin&#8217; lead.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Daniel stood by, with arms akimbo, his booted legs
+braggartly straddled and his freckled face primed
+with an intolerant grin at our recent efforts. My
+Lady had come over with him. Raw-boned, angular,
+cloddish but as strong as a mule, he towered over her
+in a maddening atmosphere of proprietorship.</p>
+<p>She smiled at me&mdash;at all of us: at me, swiftly; at
+them, frankly. And I knew that she was still afraid.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Reckon we don&#8217;t ask no advice, friend,&#8221; they answered.
+Again a constraint enfolded, fastened upon
+us by an unbidden guest. &#8220;Like as not you can do
+better.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Daniel laughed boisterously, his mouth widely open.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_212' name='page_212'></a>212</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;I couldn&#8217;t do wuss. I seen yu poppin&#8217; at that can.
+Hadn&#8217;t but one hole in it till yu all turned loose an&#8217;
+didn&#8217;t give it no chance. Haw haw! I &#8217;laow for a
+short bit I&#8217;d stand out in front o&#8217; that greenie from
+the States an&#8217; let him empty two guns at me.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;S&#8217;pose you do it,&#8221; friend Jenks promptly challenged.
+&#8220;By thunder, I&#8217;ll hire ye with the ten cents,
+and give him four bits if he hits you.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;He wouldn&#8217;t draw on me, nohaow,&#8221; scoffed Daniel.
+&#8220;I daren&#8217;t shoot for money, but I&#8217;ll shoot for
+fun. Anybody want to shoot ag&#8217;in me?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Wasted powder enough,&#8221; they grumbled.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Ever see me shoot?&#8221; He was eager. &#8220;I&#8217;ll show
+ye somethin&#8217;. I don&#8217;t take back seat for ary man.
+Yu set me up a can. That thar one wouldn&#8217;t jump to
+a bullet.&#8221;</p>
+<p>In sullen obedience a can was produced.</p>
+<p>&#8220;How fur?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Fur as yu like.&#8221;</p>
+<p>It was tossed contemptuously out; and watching it,
+to catch its last roll, I heard Daniel gleefully yelp
+&#8220;Out o&#8217; my way, yu-all!&#8221;&mdash;half saw his hand dart
+down and up again, felt the jar of a shot, witnessed
+the can jump like a live thing; and away it went, with
+spasm after spasm, to explosion after explosion, tortured
+by him into fruitless capers until with the final
+ball peace came to it, and it lay dead, afar across the
+twilight sand.</p>
+<p>Verily, by his cries and the utter savagery and
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_213' name='page_213'></a>213</span>
+malevolence of his bombardment, one would have
+thought that he took actual lust in fancied cruelty.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I &#8217;laow thar&#8217;s not another man hyar kin do that,&#8221;
+he vaunted.</p>
+<p>There was not, judging by the silence again ensuing.
+Only&mdash;</p>
+<p>&#8220;A can&#8217;s a different proposition from a man, as I
+said afore,&#8221; Jenks coolly remarked. &#8220;A can don&#8217;t
+shoot back.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t &#8217;laow any man&#8217;s goin&#8217; to, neither.&#8221; Daniel
+reloaded his smoking revolver, bolstered it with a
+flip; faced me in turning away. &#8220;That&#8217;s somethin&#8217;
+for yu to l&#8217;arn on, ag&#8217;in next time, young feller,&#8221; he
+vouchsafed.</p>
+<p>If he would have eyed me down he did not succeed.
+His gaze shifted and he passed on, swaggering.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Come along, Edna,&#8221; he bade. &#8220;We&#8217;ll be goin&#8217;
+back.&#8221;</p>
+<p>A devil&mdash;or was it he himself?&mdash;twitted me, incited
+me, and in a moment, with a gush of assertion, there I
+was, saying to her, my hat doffed:</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ll walk over with you.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Do,&#8221; she responded readily. &#8220;We&#8217;re to have
+more singing.&#8221;</p>
+<p>The men stared, they nudged one another, grinned.
+Daniel whirled.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I &#8217;laow yu ain&#8217;t been invited, Mister.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;If Mrs. Montoyo consents, that&#8217;s enough,&#8221; I informed,
+striving to keep steady. &#8220;I&#8217;m not walking
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_214' name='page_214'></a>214</span>
+with you, sir; I am walking with her. The only
+ground you control is just in front of your own
+wagon.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yu&#8217;ve been told once thar ain&#8217;t no &#8216;Mrs. Montoyo,&#8217;&#8221;
+he snarled. &#8220;And whilst yu&#8217;re l&#8217;arnin&#8217; to
+shoot yu&#8217;d better be l&#8217;arnin&#8217; manners. Yu comin&#8217;
+with me, Edna?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;As fast as I can, and with Mr. Beeson also, if he
+chooses,&#8221; said she. &#8220;I have my manners in mind,
+too.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;By gosh, I don&#8217;t walk with ye,&#8221; he jawed. And
+in a huff, like the big boy that he was, he flounced
+about, vengefully striding on as though punishing her
+for a misdemeanor.</p>
+<p>She dropped the grinning group a little curtsy. A
+demure sparkle was in her eyes.</p>
+<p>&#8220;The entertainment is concluded, gentlemen. I
+wish you good-night.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Yet underneath her raillery and self-possession
+there lay an appeal, the stronger because subtle and
+unvoiced. It seemed to me every man must appreciate
+that as a woman she invoked protection by him
+against an impending something, of which she had
+given him a glimpse.</p>
+<p>So we left them somewhat subdued, gazing after
+us, their rugged faces sobered reflectively.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Shall we stroll?&#8221; she asked.</p>
+<p>&#8220;With pleasure,&#8221; I agreed.</p>
+<p>Daniel was angrily shouldering for the Mormon
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_215' name='page_215'></a>215</span>
+wagons, his indignant figure black against the western
+glow. She laughed lightly.</p>
+<p>&#8220;You&#8217;re not afraid, after all, I see.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Not of him, madam.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;And of me?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I think I&#8217;m more afraid for you,&#8221; I confessed.
+&#8220;That clown is getting insufferable. He sets out to
+bully you. Damn him,&#8221; I flashed, with pardonable
+flame, &#8220;and he ruffles at me on every occasion. In
+fact, he seems to seek occasion. Witness this evening.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Witness this evening,&#8221; she murmured. &#8220;I&#8217;m
+afraid, too. Yes,&#8221; she breathed, confronted by a portent,
+&#8220;I&#8217;m afraid. I never have been afraid before.
+I didn&#8217;t fear Montoyo. I&#8217;ve always been able to take
+care of myself. But now, here&mdash;&mdash;&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;You have your revolver?&#8221; I suggested.</p>
+<p>&#8220;No, I haven&#8217;t. It&#8217;s gone. Mormon women don&#8217;t
+carry revolvers.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;They took it from you?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s disappeared.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;But you&#8217;re not a Mormon woman.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Not yet.&#8221; She caught quick breath. &#8220;God forbid.
+And sometimes I fear God willing. For I do
+fear. You can&#8217;t understand. Those other men do,
+though, I think. Do you know,&#8221; she queried, with
+sudden glance, &#8220;that Daniel means to marry me?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;He?&#8221; I gasped. &#8220;How so? With your&mdash;consent,
+of course. But you&#8217;re not free; you have a husband.&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_216' name='page_216'></a>216</span>
+My gorge rose, regardless of fact. &#8220;You
+scarcely expect me to congratulate you, madam. Still
+he may have points.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Daniel?&#8221; She shrugged her shoulders. &#8220;I cannot
+say. Pedro did. Most men have. Oh!&#8221; she
+cried, impulsively stopping short. &#8220;Why don&#8217;t you
+learn to shoot? Won&#8217;t you?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve about decided to,&#8221; I admitted. &#8220;That appears
+to be the saving accomplishment of everybody
+out here.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Of everybody who stays. You must learn to
+draw and to shoot, both. The drawing you will have
+to practice by yourself, but I can teach you to
+shoot. So can those men. Let me have your pistol,
+please.&#8221;</p>
+<p>I passed it to her. She was all in a flutter.</p>
+<p>&#8220;You must grasp the handle firmly; cover it with
+your whole palm, but don&#8217;t squeeze it to death; just
+grip it evenly&mdash;tuck it away. And keep your elbow
+down; and crook your wrist, in a drop, until your
+trigger knuckle is pointing very low&mdash;at a man&#8217;s feet
+if you&#8217;re aiming for his heart.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;At his feet, for his heart?&#8221; I stammered. The
+words had an ugly sound.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Certainly. We are speaking of shooting now,
+and not at a tin can. You have to allow for the jump
+of the muzzle. Unless you hold it down with your
+wrist, you over shoot; and it&#8217;s the first shot that
+counts. Of course, there&#8217;s a feel, a knack. But
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_217' name='page_217'></a>217</span>
+don&#8217;t aim with your eyes. You won&#8217;t have time.
+Men file off the front sight&mdash;it sometimes catches, in
+the draw. And it&#8217;s useless, anyway. They fire as
+they point with the finger, by the feel. You see, they
+<i>know</i>.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Evidently you do, too, madam,&#8221; I faltered,
+amazed.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Not all,&#8221; she panted. &#8220;But I&#8217;ve heard the talk;
+I&#8217;ve watched&mdash;I&#8217;ve seen many things, sir, from
+Omaha to Benton. Oh, I wish I could tell you more;
+I wish I could help you right away. I meant, a dead-shot
+with the revolver knows beforehand, in the draw,
+where his bullet shall go. Some men are born to
+shoot straight; some have to practice a long, long
+while. I wonder which you are.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;If there is pressing need in my case,&#8221; said I, &#8220;I
+shall have to rely upon my friends to keep me from
+being done for.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;You?&#8221; she uttered, with a touch of asperity.
+&#8220;Oh, yes. Pish, sir! Friends, I am learning, have
+their own hides to consider. And those gentlemen of
+yours are Gentiles with goods for Salt Lake Mormons.
+Are they going to throw all business to the
+winds?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;You yourself may appeal to his father, and to the
+women, for protection if that lout annoys you,&#8221; I ventured.</p>
+<p>&#8220;To them?&#8221; she scoffed. &#8220;To Hyrum Adams&#8217;
+outfit? Why, they&#8217;re Mormons and good Mormons,
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_218' name='page_218'></a>218</span>
+and why should I not be made over? I&#8217;m under their
+teachings; I am Edna, already; it&#8217;s time Daniel had a
+wife&mdash;or two, for replenishing Utah. Rachael calls
+me &#8217;sister,&#8217; and I can&#8217;t resent it. Good at heart as she
+is, even she is convinced. Why,&#8221; and she laughed
+mirthlessly, &#8220;I may be sealed to Hyrum himself, if
+nothing worse is in store. Then I&#8217;ll be assured of a
+seat with the saints.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;You can depend upon me, then. I&#8217;ll protect you,
+I&#8217;ll fight for you, and I&#8217;ll kill for you,&#8221; I was on the
+point of roundly declaring; but didn&#8217;t. Her kind, I
+remembered, had spelled ruin upon the pages of men
+more experienced than I. Therefore out of that super-caution
+born of Benton, I stupidly said nothing.</p>
+<p>She had paused, expectant. She resumed.</p>
+<p>&#8220;But no matter. Here I am, and here you are.
+We were speaking of shooting. This is a lesson in
+shooting, not in marrying, isn&#8217;t it? As to the pressing
+need, you must decide. You&#8217;ve seen and heard
+enough for that. I like you, sir; I respect your spirit
+and I&#8217;m sorry I led you into misadventure. Now if
+I may lend you a little something to keep you from
+being shot like a dog, I&#8217;ll feel as though I had wiped
+out your score against me. Take your gun.&#8221; I took
+it, the butt warm from her clasp. &#8220;There he is.
+Cover him!&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Where?&#8221; I asked. &#8220;Who?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;There, before you. Oh, anybody! Think of his
+heart and cover him. I want to see you hold.&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_219' name='page_219'></a>219</span></p>
+<p>I aimed, squinting.</p>
+<p>&#8220;No, no! You&#8217;ll not have time to close an eye;
+both eyes are none too many. And you are awkward;
+you are stiff.&#8221; She readjusted my arm and
+fingers. &#8220;That&#8217;s better. You see that little rock?
+Hit it. Cock your weapon, first. Hold firmly, not
+too long. There; I think you&#8217;re going to hit it, but
+hold low, low, with the wrist. Now!&#8221;</p>
+<p>I fired. The sand obscured the rock. She clapped
+her hands, delighted.</p>
+<p>&#8220;You would have killed him. No&mdash;he would have
+killed you. Quick! Give it to me!&#8221;</p>
+<p>And snatching the revolver she cocked, leveled and
+fired instantly. The rock split into fragments.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I would have killed him,&#8221; she murmured, gazing
+tense, seeing I knew not what. Wrenching from the
+vision she handed back the revolver to me. &#8220;I think
+you&#8217;re going to do, sir. Only, you must learn to
+draw. I can tell you but I can&#8217;t show you. The men
+will. You must draw swiftly, decisively, without a
+halt, and finger on trigger and thumb on hammer and
+be ready to shoot when the muzzle clears the scabbard.
+It&#8217;s a trick.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Like this?&#8221; I queried, trying.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Partly. But it&#8217;s not a sword you&#8217;re drawing; it&#8217;s
+a gun. You may draw laughing, if you wish to dissemble
+for a sudden drop; they do, when they have
+iron in their heart and the bullet already on its way, in
+their mind. I mustn&#8217;t stay longer. Shall we go to
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_220' name='page_220'></a>220</span>
+the fire now? I am cold.&#8221; She shivered. &#8220;Daniel
+is waiting. And when you&#8217;ve delivered me safe you&#8217;d
+better leave me, please.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Why so?&#8221;</p>
+<p>She smiled, looking me straight in the eyes.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Quién sabe? To avoid a scene, perhaps; perhaps,
+to postpone. I have an idea that it is better so.
+You&#8217;ve baited Daniel far enough for to-night.&#8221;</p>
+<p>We walked almost without speaking, to the Hyrum
+Adams fire. Daniel lifted upper lip at me as we entered;
+his eyes never wandered from my face. I
+marked his right hand quivering stiffly; and I disregarded
+him. For if I had challenged him by so much
+as an overt glance he would have burst bonds.</p>
+<p>Rachael&#8217;s eyes, the older woman&#8217;s eyes, the eyes of
+all, men and women, curious, admonitory, hostile and
+apprehensive, hot and cold together&mdash;these I felt also
+amidst the dusk. I was distinctly unwelcome. Accordingly
+I said a civil &#8220;Good-evening&#8221; to Hyrum
+(whose response out of compressed lips was scarce
+more than a grunt) and raising my hat to My Lady
+turned my back upon them, for my own bailiwick.</p>
+<p>The other men were waiting en route.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Didn&#8217;t kill ye, did he?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;No.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Wall,&#8221; said one, &#8220;if you can swing a rattler by
+the tail, all right. But watch his haid.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Friend Jenks paced on with me to our fire.</p>
+<p>&#8220;We were keepin&#8217; cases on you, and so was he.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_221' name='page_221'></a>221</span>
+He saw that practice&mdash;damn, how he did crane! She
+was givin&#8217; you pointers, eh?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes; she wanted amusement.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;It&#8217;ll set Bonnie Bravo to thinkin&#8217;&mdash;it&#8217;ll shorely set
+him to thinkin&#8217;,&#8221; Jenks chuckled, mouthing his pipe.
+&#8220;She&#8217;s a smart one.&#8221; He comfortably rocked to and
+fro as we sat by the fire. &#8220;Hell! Wall, if you got
+to kill him you got to kill him and do it proper. For
+if you don&#8217;t kill him he&#8217;ll kill you; snuff you out like
+a&mdash;wall, you saw that can travel.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t want to kill him,&#8221; I pleaded. &#8220;Why
+should I?&#8221;</p>
+<p>Jenks sat silent; and sitting silent I foresaw that
+kill Daniel I must. I was being sucked into it,
+irrevocably willed by him, by her, by them all. If I
+did not kill him in defense of myself I should kill him
+in defense of her. Yet why I had to, I wondered;
+but when I had bought my ticket for Benton I had
+started the sequence, to this result. Here I was. As
+she had said, here I was, and here she was. I might
+not kill for love&mdash;no, not that; I was going to kill for
+hate. And while I never had killed a man, and in
+my heart of hearts did not wish to kill a man, since I
+had to kill one, named Daniel, even though he was a
+bully, a braggart and an infernal over-stepper it was
+pleasanter to think that I should kill him in hot blood
+rather than in cold.</p>
+<p>Jenks spat, and yawned.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I can l&#8217;arn you a few things; all the boys&#8217;ll help
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_222' name='page_222'></a>222</span>
+you out,&#8221; he proffered, &#8220;When you git him you&#8217;ll
+have to git him quick; for if you don&#8217;t&mdash;adios. But
+we&#8217;ll groom ye.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Could this really be I? Frank Beeson, not a fortnight
+ago still living at jog-trot in dear Albany, New
+York State? It was puzzling how detached and how
+strong I felt.</p>
+<hr class='major' />
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='XV_THE_TRAIL_NARROWS' id='XV_THE_TRAIL_NARROWS'></a>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_223' name='page_223'></a>223</span>
+<h2>CHAPTER XV</h2>
+<h3>THE TRAIL NARROWS</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>Again we broke camp. We rolled down from the
+plateau into that wizard basin lying all beautiful and
+slumberous and spell-locked like some land of heart&#8217;s
+desire. We replenished our water casks from the
+tank cars, we swapped for a little feed, we occasionally
+exchanged greetings with contractor outfits,
+and with grading crews. In due time we passed end
+o&#8217; track, where a bevy of sweated men were moiling
+like mad, clanging down the rails upon the hasty ties
+and ever calling for more, more. I witnessed little
+General &#8220;Jack&#8221; Casement of Ohio&mdash;a small man
+with full russet beard and imperative bold blue eyes&mdash;teetering
+and tugging at his whiskers and rampantly
+swearing while he drove the work forward. And
+we left end o&#8217; track, vainly reaching out after us,
+until the ring of the rails and the staccato of the
+rapid sledges faded upon our ears.</p>
+<p>Now we were following the long line of bare grade,
+upturned reddish by the plows and scrapers and picks
+and shovels; sometimes elevated, for contour, sometimes
+merged with the desert itself. There the navvies
+digged and delved, scarcely taking time to glance
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_224' name='page_224'></a>224</span>
+at us. And day by day we plodded in the interminable
+clouds of desert dust raised by the supply
+wagons.</p>
+<p>Captain Hyrum fought shy of their camps. The
+laborers were mainly Irish, trans-shipped from steerage,
+dock, and Bowery, and imported from Western
+mining centers; turbulent in their relaxations and
+plentifully supplied with whiskey: companies, they,
+not at all to the Mormon mind. Consequently we
+halted apart from them&mdash;and well so, for those were
+womanless camps and the daily stint bred strong appetites.</p>
+<p>There were places where we made half circuit out
+from the grade and abandoned it entirely. In this
+way we escaped the dust, the rough talk, and the
+temptations; now and again obtained a modicum of
+forage in the shape of coarse weedy grasses at the
+borders of sinks.</p>
+<p>But it was a cruel country on men and beasts. Our
+teamsters who had been through by the Overland
+Trail said that the Bitter Creek desert was yet worse:
+drier, barer, dustier and uglier. Nevertheless this was
+our daily program:</p>
+<p>To rise after a shivery night, into the crisp dawn
+which once or twice glinted upon a film of ice formed
+in the water buckets; to herd the stiffened animals and
+place them convenient; to swallow our hot coffee and
+our pork and beans, and flapjacks when the cooks
+were in the humor; to hook the teams to the wagons
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_225' name='page_225'></a>225</span>
+and break corral, and amidst cracking of lashes stretch
+out into column, then to lurch and groan onward, at
+snail&#8217;s pace, through the constantly increasing day until
+soon we also were wrung and parched by a relentless
+heat succeeding the frosty night.</p>
+<p>The sleeping beauties of the realm were ever
+farther removed. In the distances they awaited, luring
+with promise of magic-invested azure battlements,
+languid reds and yellows like tapestry, and patches of
+liquid blue and dazzling snowy white, canopied by a
+soft, luxurious sky. But when we arrived, near spent,
+the battlements were only isolated sandstone outcrops
+inhabited by rattlesnakes, the reds and yellows were
+sun-baked soil as hard, the liquid blue was poisonous,
+stagnant sinks, the snow patches were soda and bitter
+alkali, the luxurious sky was the same old white-hot
+dome, reflecting the blazing sun upon the fuming
+earth.</p>
+<p>Then at sunset we made corral; against theft, when
+near the grade; against Indians and pillage when out
+from the grade, with the animals under herd guard.
+There were fires, there was singing at the Mormon
+camp, there was the heavy sleep beneath blanket and
+buffalo robe, through the biting chill of a breezeless
+night, the ground a welcomed bed, the stars vigilant
+from horizon to horizon, the wolves stalking and bickering
+like avid ghouls.</p>
+<p>So we dulled to the falsity of the desert and the
+drudgery of the trail; and as the grading camps
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_226' name='page_226'></a>226</span>
+became less frequent the men grew riper for any diversion.
+That My Lady and Daniel and I were to furnish
+it seemed to be generally accepted. Here were
+the time-old elements: two men, one woman&mdash;elements
+so constituted that in other situation they might
+have brought comedy but upon such a trail must and
+should pronounce for tragedy, at least for true melodrama.</p>
+<p>Besides, I was expected to uphold the honor of our
+Gentile mess along with my own honor. That was
+demanded; ever offered in cajolery to encourage my
+pistol practice. I was, in short, &#8220;elected,&#8221; by an obsession
+equal to a conviction; and what with her insistently
+obtruded as a bonus I never was permitted
+to lose sight of the ghastly prize of skill added to
+merit.</p>
+<p>At first the matter had disturbed and horrified me
+mightily, to the extent that I anticipated evading the
+issue while preparing against it. Surely this was the
+current of a prankish dream. And dreams I had&mdash;frightfully
+tumultuous dreams, of red anger and redder
+blood, sometimes my own blood, sometimes another&#8217;s;
+dreams from which I awakened drenched in
+cold nightmare sweat.</p>
+<p>To be infused, even by bunkum and banter, with
+the idea of killing, is a sad overthrow of sane balance.
+I would not have conceived the thing possible to me a
+month back. But the monotonous desert trail, the
+close companying with virile, open minds, and the
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_227' name='page_227'></a>227</span>
+strict insistence upon individual rights&mdash;yes, and the
+irritation of the same faces, the same figures, the same
+fare, the same labor, the same scant recreations, all
+worked as poison, to depress and fret and stimulate
+like alternant chills and fever.</p>
+<p>Practice I did, if only in friendly emulation of the
+others, as a pass-the-time. I improved a little in
+drawing easily and firing snap-shot. The art was
+good to know, bad to depend upon. In the beginnings
+it worried me as a sleight-of-hand, until I saw
+that it was the established code and that Daniel himself
+looked to no other.</p>
+<p>In fact, he pricked me on, not so much by word as
+by manner, which was worse. Since that evening
+when, in the approving parlance of my friends, I had
+&#8220;cut him out&#8221; by walking with her to the Adams fire,
+we had exchanged scarcely a word; he ruffled about at
+his end of the train and mainly in his own precincts,
+and I held myself in leash at mine, with self-consciousness
+most annoying to me.</p>
+<p>But his manner, his manner&mdash;by swagger and covert
+sneer and ostentatious triumph of alleged possession
+emanating an unwearied challenge to my manhood.
+My revolver practice, I might mark, moved
+him to shrugs and flings; when he hulked by me he did
+so with a stare and a boastful grin, but without other
+response to my attempted &#8220;Howdy?&#8221;; now and again
+he assiduously cleaned his gun, sitting out where I
+should see even if I did not straightway look; in this
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_228' name='page_228'></a>228</span>
+he was most faithful, with sundry flourishes babying
+me by thinking to intimidate.</p>
+<p>Withal he gave me never excuse of ending him or
+placating him, but shifted upon me the burden of
+choosing time and spot.</p>
+<p>Once, indeed, we near had it. That was on an
+early morning. He was driving in a yoke of oxen
+that had strayed, and he stopped short in passing
+where I was busied with gathering our mules.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Say, Mister, I want a word with yu,&#8221; he demanded.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well, out with it,&#8221; I bade; and my heart began to
+thump. Possibly I paled, I know that I blinked, the
+sun being in my eyes.</p>
+<p>He laughed, and spat over his shoulder, from the
+saddle.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Needn&#8217;t be skeered. I ain&#8217;t goin&#8217; to hurt ye. I
+&#8217;laow yu expected to make up to that woman, didn&#8217;t
+yu, &#8217;fore this?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;What woman?&#8221; I encouraged; but I was wondering
+if my revolver was loose.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Edna. &#8217;Cause if yu did, &#8217;tain&#8217;t no use, Mister.
+Why,&#8221; indulgently, &#8220;yu couldn&#8217;t marry her&mdash;yu
+couldn&#8217;t marry her no more&#8217;n yu could kill me. Yu&#8217;re
+a Gentile, an&#8217; yu&#8217;d be bustin&#8217; yore own laws. But
+thar ain&#8217;t no Gentile laws for the Lord&#8217;s an&#8217;inted; so
+I thought I&#8217;d tell yu I&#8217;m liable to marry her myself.
+Yu&#8217;ve kep&#8217; away from her consider&#8217;ble; this is to tell
+yu yu mought as well keep keepin&#8217; away.&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_229' name='page_229'></a>229</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;I sha&#8217;n&#8217;t discuss Mrs. Montoyo with you, sir,&#8221; I
+broke, cold, instead of hot, watching him very narrowly
+(as I had been taught to do), my hand nerved
+for the inevitable dart. &#8220;But I am her friend&mdash;her
+friend, mind you; and if she is in danger of being imposed
+upon by you, I stand ready to protect her. For
+I want you to know that I&#8217;m not afraid of you, day or
+night. Why, you low dog&mdash;&mdash;!&#8221; and I choked, itching
+for the crisis.</p>
+<p>He gawked, reddening; his right hand quivered;
+and to my chagrin he slowly laughed, scanning
+me.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I seen yu practicin&#8217;. Go ahead. I wouldn&#8217;t kill
+yu <i>naow</i>. Or if yu want practice in &#8217;arnest, start to
+draw.&#8221; He waited a moment, in easy insolence. I
+did not draw. &#8220;Let yore dander cool. Thar&#8217;s no use
+yu tryin&#8217; to buck the Mormons. I&#8217;ve warned ye.&#8221;
+And he passed on, cracking his lash.</p>
+<p>Suddenly I was aware that, as seemed, every eye in
+the camp had been fastened upon us two. My fingers
+shook while with show of nonchalance I resumed adjusting
+the halters.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Gosh! Looked for a minute like you and him
+was to have it out proper,&#8221; Jenks commented, matter
+of fact, when I came in. &#8220;Hazin&#8217; you a bit, was he?
+What&#8217;d he say?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;He warned me to keep away from Mrs. Montoyo.
+Went so far as to lay claim to her himself, the whelp.
+Boasted of it.&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_230' name='page_230'></a>230</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;Throwed it in your face, did he? Wall, you
+goin&#8217; to let him cache her away?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Look here,&#8221; I said desperately, still a-tremble:
+&#8220;Why do you men put that up to me? Why do you
+egg me on to interfere? She&#8217;s no more to me than
+she is to you. Damn it, I&#8217;ll take care of myself but
+I don&#8217;t see why I should shoulder her, except that
+she&#8217;s a woman and I won&#8217;t see any woman mistreated.&#8221;</p>
+<p>He pulled his whiskers, and grinned.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Dunno jest how fur you&#8217;re elected. Looks like
+there was something between you and her&mdash;though I
+don&#8217;t say for shore. But she&#8217;s your kind; she may be
+a leetle devil, but she&#8217;s your kind&mdash;been eddicated and
+acts the lady. She ain&#8217;t our kind. Thunderation!
+What&#8217;d we do with her? She&#8217;d be better off marryin&#8217;
+Dan&#8217;l. He&#8217;d give her a home. If you hadn&#8217;t been
+with this train I don&#8217;t believe she&#8217;d have follered in.
+That&#8217;s the proposition. You got to fight him anyway;
+he&#8217;s set out to back you down. It&#8217;s your fracas,
+isn&#8217;t it?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I know it,&#8221; I admitted. &#8220;He&#8217;s been ugly toward
+me from the first, without reason.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Reckoned to amuse himself. He&#8217;s one o&#8217; them
+fellers that think to show off by ridin&#8217; somebody they
+think they can ride. The boys hate to see you lay
+down to that; for you&#8217;d better call him and eat lead
+or else quit the country. So you might as well give
+him a full dose and take the pot.&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_231' name='page_231'></a>231</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;What pot?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;The woman, o&#8217; course.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I tell you, Mrs. Montoyo has nothing to do with
+it, any more than any woman. It&#8217;s a matter between
+him and me&mdash;he began it by jeering at me before she
+appeared. I want her left out of it.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, pshaw!&#8221; Jenks scoffed. &#8220;That can&#8217;t be did.
+He&#8217;s fetched her into it. What do you aim to do,
+then? Dodge her? When you&#8217;re dodgin&#8217; her you&#8217;re
+dodgin&#8217; him, or so he&#8217;ll take it.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ll not dodge him, you can bet on that,&#8221; I vowed.
+&#8220;I don&#8217;t seek her, nor him; but I shall not go out of
+my way to avoid either of them.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;And when you give him his dose, what&#8217;ll you
+do?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;If that is forced upon me, nothing. It will be in
+defense of my rights, won&#8217;t it? But I don&#8217;t want any
+further trouble with him. I hope to God I won&#8217;t
+have.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Shore,&#8221; Jenks soothed. &#8220;You&#8217;re not a killer.
+All the same, you&#8217;re elected; he began it and you&#8217;ll
+have to finish it. Then you&#8217;ll needs look out for
+yourself and her too, for he&#8217;s made her the stakes.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Why will I?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Got to. The hull train thinks so, one way or
+t&#8217;other, and you&#8217;re white.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;She can stay with the Mormons, if she wants
+to.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, yes; if she wants to. But do you reckon she
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_232' name='page_232'></a>232</span>
+does? Not much! She&#8217;s lookin&#8217; to you&mdash;she&#8217;s
+lookin&#8217; to you. She&#8217;s a smart leetle piece&mdash;knows
+how to play her cards, and she&#8217;s got you and Dan&#8217;l
+goin&#8217;.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;But she&#8217;s married. You can&#8217;t expect&mdash;&mdash;&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, yes,&#8221; he wagged again, interrupting. &#8220;Shore.
+There&#8217;s Montoyo. I don&#8217;t envy you your job, but
+damn&#8217; if you mightn&#8217;t work harder and do wuss.
+She&#8217;s a clipper, and I never did hear anything
+&#8217;specially bad of her, beyond cappin&#8217;. Whoa,
+Jinny!&#8221;</p>
+<p>I wrathfully cogitated. Now I began to hate her.
+I was a tool to her hand, once more, was I? And
+how had it come about? She had not directly besought
+me to it&mdash;not by word. Daniel had decreed,
+and already our antagonism had been on. And I had
+defied him&mdash;naturally. He should not bilk me of
+free movement. But the issue might, on the face of
+it, appear to be she. As I tugged at the harness, under
+breath I cursed the scurvy turn of events; and in
+seeking to place the blame found amazing cleverness
+in her. Just the same, I was not going to kill him for
+her account; never, never! And I wished to the deuce
+that she&#8217;d kept clear of me.</p>
+<p>Jenks was speaking.</p>
+<p>&#8220;So the fust chance you get you might as well walk
+straight into him, call him all the names you can lay
+tongue to, and when he makes a move for his gun
+beat him to the draw and come up shootin&#8217;. Then
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_233' name='page_233'></a>233</span>
+it&#8217;ll be over with. The longer it hangs, the less peace
+you&#8217;ll have; for you&#8217;ve got to do it sooner or later.
+It&#8217;s you or him.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Not necessarily,&#8221; I faltered. &#8220;There may be another
+way.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;There ain&#8217;t, if you&#8217;re a he critter on two legs,&#8221;
+snapped Jenks. &#8220;Not in this country or any other
+white man&#8217;s country; no, nor in red man&#8217;s country
+neither. What you do back in the States, can&#8217;t say.
+Trust in pray&#8217;r, mebbe.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Nevertheless I determined to make a last effort
+even at the risk of losing caste. In the reaction from
+the pressure of that recent encounter when I might
+have killed, but didn&#8217;t, I again had a spell of fierce,
+sick protest against the rôle being foisted upon me&mdash;foisted,
+I could see, by her machinations as well as by
+his animosity. The position was too false to be
+borne. There was no joy in it, no zest, no adequate
+reward. Why, in God&#8217;s name, should I be sentenced
+to have blood upon my hands and soul? Surely I
+might be permitted to stay clean.</p>
+<p>Therefore this evening immediately after corral
+was formed I sought out Captain Adams, as master
+of the train; and disregarding the gazes that followed
+me and that received me I spoke frankly, here at his
+own wagon, without preliminary.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Daniel and I appear to be at outs, sir,&#8221; I said.
+&#8220;Why, I do not know, except that he seems to have
+had a dislike for me from the first day. If he&#8217;ll let
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_234' name='page_234'></a>234</span>
+me alone I&#8217;ll let him alone. I&#8217;m not one to look for
+trouble.&#8221;</p>
+<p>His heavy face, with those thick pursed lips and
+small china blue eyes, changed not a jot.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Daniel will take care of himself.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;That is his privilege,&#8221; I answered. &#8220;I am not
+here to question his rights, Captain, as long as he
+keeps within them; but I don&#8217;t require of him to take
+care of me also. If he will hold to his own trail I&#8217;ll
+hold to mine, and I assure you there&#8217;ll be no trouble.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Daniel will take care of himself, I say,&#8221; he reiterated.
+&#8220;Yes, and look after all that belongs to him,
+stranger. There&#8217;s no use threatening Daniel. What
+he does he does as servant of the Lord and he fears
+naught.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Neither do I, sir,&#8221; I retorted hotly. &#8220;One may
+wish to avoid trouble and still not fear it. I have not
+come to you with complaint. I merely wish to explain.
+You are captain of the train and responsible
+for its conduct. I give you notice that I shall defend
+myself against insult and annoyance.&#8221;</p>
+<p>I turned on my heel&mdash;sensed poised forms and inquiring
+faces; and his booming voice stayed me.</p>
+<p>&#8220;A moment, stranger. Your talk is big. What
+have you to do with this woman Edna?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;With Mrs. Montoyo? What I please, if it pleases
+her, sir. If she claims your protection, very good.
+Should she claim mine, she&#8217;ll have it.&#8221; And there,
+confound it, I had spoken. &#8220;But with this, Daniel
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_235' name='page_235'></a>235</span>
+has nothing to do. I believe that the lady you mention
+is simply your present guest and my former acquaintance.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;You err,&#8221; he thundered, darkening. &#8220;You cannot
+be expected to see the light. But I say to you,
+keep away, keep away. I will have no gallivanting,
+no cozening and smiling and prating and distracting.
+She must be nothing to you. Never can be, never
+shall be. Her way is appointed, the instrument
+chosen, and as a sister in Zion she shall know you not.
+Now get you gone&mdash;&mdash;&#8221; a favorite expression of his.
+&#8220;Get you gone, meddle not hereabouts, and I&#8217;ll see to
+it that you are spared from harm.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Surprising myself, and perhaps him, I gazed full at
+him and laughed without reserve or irritation.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Thank you, Captain,&#8221; I heard myself saying. &#8220;I
+am perfectly capable of self-protection. And I expect
+to remain a friend of Mrs. Montoyo as long as
+she permits me. For your bluster and Daniel&#8217;s I care
+not a sou. In fact, I consider you a pair of damned
+body-snatchers. Good-evening.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Then out I stormed, boiling within, reckless of opposition&mdash;even
+courting it; but met none, Daniel least
+of all (for he was elsewhere), until as I passed on
+along the lined-up wagons I heard my name uttered
+breathlessly.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Mr. Beeson.&#8221;</p>
+<p>It was not My Lady; her I had not glimpsed. The
+gentle English girl Rachael had intercepted me. She
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_236' name='page_236'></a>236</span>
+stood between two wagons, whither she had hastened.</p>
+<p>&#8220;You will be careful?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;How far, madam?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Of yourself, and for her. Oh, be careful. You
+can gain nothing.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Her face and tone entreated me. She was much in
+earnest, the roses of her round cheeks paled, her hands
+clasped.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I shall only look out for myself,&#8221; said I. &#8220;That
+seems necessary.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;You should keep away from our camp, and from
+Daniel. There is nothing you can do. You&mdash;if you
+could only understand.&#8221; Her hands tightened upon
+each other. &#8220;Won&#8217;t you be careful? More careful?
+For I know. You cannot interfere; there is no way.
+You but run great risk. Sister Edna will be happy.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Did she send you, madam?&#8221; I asked.</p>
+<p>&#8220;N-no; yes. Yes, she wishes it. Her place has
+been found. The Lord so wills. We all are happy
+in Zion, under the Lord. Surely you would not try
+to interfere, sir?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I have no desire to interfere with the future happiness
+of Mrs. Montoyo,&#8221; I stiffly answered. &#8220;She
+is not the root of the business between Daniel and me,
+although he would have it appear so. And you yourself,
+a woman, are satisfied to have her forced into
+Mormonism?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;She has been living in sin, sir. The truth is appointed
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_237' name='page_237'></a>237</span>
+only among the Latter Day Saints. We have
+the book and the word&mdash;the Gentile priests are not
+ordained of the Lord for laying on of hands. In
+Zion Edna shall be purged and set free; there she
+shall be brought to salvation. Our bishops, perhaps
+Brigham Young himself, will show her the way. But
+no woman in Zion is married without consent. The
+Lord directs through our prophets. Oh, sir, if you
+could only see!&#8221;</p>
+<p>An angel could not have pleaded more sweetly. To
+have argued with her would have been sacrilege, for
+I verily believed that she was pure of heart.</p>
+<p>&#8220;There is nothing for me to say, madam,&#8221; I responded.
+&#8220;As far as I can do so with self-respect I
+will avoid Daniel. I certainly shall not intrude upon
+your party, or bother Mrs. Montoyo. But if Daniel
+brings trouble to me I will hand it back to him.
+That&#8217;s flat. He shall not flout me out of face. It
+rests with him whether we travel on peacefully or not.
+And I thank you for your interest.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I will pray for you,&#8221; she said simply. &#8220;Good-bye,
+sir.&#8221;</p>
+<p>She withdrew, hastening again, sleek haired, round
+figured, modest in her shabby gown. I proceeded to
+the outfit with a new sense of disease. If she&mdash;if
+Mrs. Montoyo really had yielded, if she were out of
+the game&mdash;but she never had been in it; not to me.
+And still I conned the matter over and over, vainly
+convincing myself that the situation had cleared.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_238' name='page_238'></a>238</span>
+Notwithstanding all my effort, I somehow felt that an
+incentive had vanished, leaving a gap. The affair
+now had simmered down to plain temper and tit for
+tat. I championed nothing, except myself.</p>
+<p>Why, with her submissive, in a fracas I might be
+working hurt to her, beyond the harm to him. But
+she be hanged, as to that phase of it. I had been led
+on so far that there was no solution save as Daniel
+turned aside. Heaven knows that the matter would
+have been sordid enough had it focused upon a gambler&#8217;s
+wife; and here it looked only prosaic. Thus
+viewing it I fought an odd disappointment in myself,
+coupled with a keener disappointment in her.</p>
+<p>&#8220;You talked to Hyrum, I see,&#8221; Jenks commented.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I did.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;&#8217;Bout Dan&#8217;l, mebbe?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I wanted to make plain that the business is none
+of my seeking. Hyrum is wagon master.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Didn&#8217;t get any satisfaction, I&#8217;ll bet.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;No. On the contrary.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I could have told you you&#8217;d be wastin&#8217; powder.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;At any rate,&#8221; I informed, &#8220;Mrs. Montoyo is entirely
+out of the matter. She never was in it except
+as she was entitled to protection, but now she requires
+no further notice.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;How so?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;That is her wish. She sent me word by Rachael.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;She did? Wall?&#8221; He eyed me. &#8220;You swaller that?&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_239' name='page_239'></a>239</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;Willingly.&#8221; And I swallowed my bitterness also.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Means to marry him, does she?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Rachael did not say as to that. Rather, she gave
+me to understand that a way would be found to release
+Mrs. Montoyo from Benton connections, but
+that no woman in Utah is obliged to marry. Is that
+true?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Um-m.&#8221; Jenks rubbed his beard. &#8220;Wall, they
+do say Brigham Young is ag&#8217;in promisc&#8217;yus swappin&#8217;,
+and things got to be done straight, &#8217;cordin&#8217; to the
+faith. But an unjined female in the church is a powerful
+lonely critter. Sticks out like a sore thumb.
+They read the Bible at her plenty. Um-m,&#8221; mused
+he. &#8220;I don&#8217;t put much stock in that yarn you bring
+me. There&#8217;s a nigger in the wood-pile, but he ain&#8217;t
+black. What you goin&#8217; to do about it?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Nothing. It&#8217;s not my concern. Now if Daniel
+will mind his affairs I&#8217;ll continue to mind mine.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Wall, Zion&#8217;s a long way off yet,&#8221; quoth friend
+Jenks. &#8220;I don&#8217;t look to see you or she get there&mdash;nor
+Dan&#8217;l either.&#8221;</p>
+<p>He being stubborn, I let him have the last word;
+did not seek to develop his views. But his contentious
+harping shadowed like an omen.</p>
+<hr class='major' />
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='XVI_I_DO_THE_DEED' id='XVI_I_DO_THE_DEED'></a>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_240' name='page_240'></a>240</span>
+<h2>CHAPTER XVI</h2>
+<h3>I DO THE DEED</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>We had camped well beyond a last bunch of the
+red-shirted graders, so that the thread of a trail
+wended before, lonely, sand-obscured, leading apparently
+nowhere, through this desert devoid of human
+life. Line stakes of the surveyors denoted the grade;
+but the surveyors&#8217; work was done, here. Rush orders
+from headquarters had sent them all westward still,
+to set their final stakes across other deserts and across
+the mountains, clear to Ogden at the north end of the
+Salt Lake itself.</p>
+<p>Seemingly we had cut loose and were more than
+ever a world to ourselves. The country had grown
+sterile beneath ordinary, if possible; and our thoughts
+and talk would have been sterile also were it not for
+that one recurrent topic which kept them quick. In
+these journeyings men seize upon little things and
+magnify them; discuss and rediscuss a phase until
+launched maybe as an empty joke it returns freighted
+with tragedy.</p>
+<p>However, now that once My Lady had eliminated
+herself from my field I did not see but that Daniel and
+I might taper off into at least an armed neutrality.
+If he continued to nag me, it would be wholly of his
+own free will. He had no grievance.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_241' name='page_241'></a>241</span></p>
+<p>Then in case that I did kill him&mdash;if kill him I must
+(and that eventuality hung over me like the sword of
+Damocles) I should be not ashamed to tell even my
+mother. In this I took what small comfort I might.</p>
+<p>I had not spoken at length with Mrs. Montoyo for
+several days. We had exchanged merely civil greetings.
+To-day I did not see her during the march;
+did not attempt to see her&mdash;did not so much as curiously
+glance her way, being content to let well enough
+alone, although aware that my care might be misinterpreted
+as a token of fear. But as to proving the case
+against me, Daniel was at liberty to experiment with
+the status in quo.</p>
+<p>Toward evening we climbed a second wide, flat
+divide. We were leaving the Red Basin, they said,
+and about to cross into the Bitter Creek Plains, which,
+according to the talk, were &#8220;a damned sight wuss!&#8221;
+Somewhere in the Bitter Creek Plains our course met
+the course of the Overland Stage road, trending up
+from the south for the passage of the Green River at
+the farther edge of the Plains.</p>
+<p>I had only faint hope that Mrs. Montoyo would be
+delivered over to the stage there. It scarcely would
+be her wish. We were destined to travel on to Salt
+Lake City together&mdash;she, Daniel and I.</p>
+<p>If the Red Basin had been bad and if the Bitter
+Creek Plains were to be worse, assuredly this plateau
+was limbo: a gray, bleak, wind-swept elevation fairly
+level and extending, in elevation perceptible mainly by
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_242' name='page_242'></a>242</span>
+the vista, as far as eye might see, northward and
+southward, separating basin from basin&mdash;one Hell, as
+Jenks declared, from the other.</p>
+<p>Nevertheless there was a wild grandeur in the site,
+flooded all with crimson as the sun sank in the clear
+western sky beyond the Plains themselves, so that our
+plateau was still bathed in ruddy color when the Red
+Basin upon the one hand had deepened to purple and
+the white blotches of soda and alkali down in the
+Plains upon the other hand gleamed evilly in a tenuous
+gloaming.</p>
+<p>We had corralled adjacent to another tainted pond,
+of which the animals refused to drink but which furnished
+a little rank forage for them and an oasis for a
+half dozen ducks. A pretty picture these made, too,
+as they lightly sat the open water, burnished to brass
+by the sunset so that the surface shimmered iridescent,
+its ripples from the floating bodies flowing molten
+in all directions.</p>
+<p>After supper I took the notion to go over there, in
+the twilight, on idle exploration. Water of any kind
+had an appeal; a solitary pond always has; the ducks
+brought thoughts of home. Many a teal and widgeon
+and canvasback had fallen to my double-barreled
+Manton, back on the Atlantic coast&mdash;very long ago,
+before I had got entangled in this confounded web of
+misadventure and homicidal tendencies.</p>
+<p>To the pond I went, mood subdued. It set slightly
+in a cup; and when I had emerged from a little swale
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_243' name='page_243'></a>243</span>
+or depression that I had followed, attracted by the
+laughter of children playing at the marge, whom
+should I see, approaching on line diagonal, but Mrs.
+Montoyo&mdash;her very hair and form&mdash;coming in likewise,
+perhaps with errand similar to mine: simple inclination.</p>
+<p>And that (again perhaps) was a mutual surprise,
+indeed awkward to me, for we both were in plain
+sight from the camp. Certainly I could not turn off,
+nor turn back. Not now. It was make or break.
+Hesitate I did, with involuntary action of muscles; I
+thought that she momentarily hesitated; then I drove
+on, defiant, and so did she. The fates were resolved
+that there should be no dilly-dallying by the principals
+chosen for this drama that they had staged.</p>
+<p>Our obstinate paths met at the base of a small point
+white with alkali, running shortly into the sedges.
+Had we timed by agreement beforehand we could not
+have acted with more precision. So here we halted,
+in narrow quarters, either willing but unable to yield
+to the other.</p>
+<p>She smiled. I thought that she looked thinner.</p>
+<p>&#8220;An unexpected pleasure, Mr. Beeson. At least,
+for me. It has been some days.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I believe it has,&#8221; I granted. &#8220;Shall I pass
+on?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;You might have turned aside.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;And so,&#8221; I reminded, &#8220;might you.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;But I didn&#8217;t care to.&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_244' name='page_244'></a>244</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;Neither did I, madam. The pond is free to all.&#8221;</p>
+<p>I was conscious that a hush seemed to have gripped
+the whole camp, so that even the animals had ceased
+bawling. The children near us stared, eyes and
+mouths open.</p>
+<p>&#8220;You have kept away from me purposely?&#8221; she
+asked. &#8220;I do not blame your discretion.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I am not courting trouble. And as long as you
+are contented yonder&mdash;&mdash;&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I contented?&#8221; She drew up, paling. &#8220;Why do
+you say that, when you must know.&#8221; She laughed
+weakly. &#8220;I am still for the Lion&#8217;s den.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;You have become more reconciled&mdash;I&#8217;ve been requested
+not to interfere.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;You? Without doubt. By Daniel, by Captain
+Adams, likely by others. More than requested, I
+fancy. And you do perfectly right to avoid trouble
+if possible. In fact, you can leave me now and continue
+your walk, sir, with no reproaches. Believe me,
+I shall not drag you farther into my affairs.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Daniel and Captain Adams have no weight with
+me, madam,&#8221; I stammered. &#8220;But when you yourself
+requested&mdash;&mdash;&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;That was merely for the time being. I asked you
+to leave me at the fire because I felt sure that Daniel
+would kill you.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;But yesterday evening&mdash;I refer to yesterday,&#8221; I
+corrected. &#8220;You sent me word, following my talk
+with Hyrum.&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_245' name='page_245'></a>245</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;I did not.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Not by Rachael?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;No, sir.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I so understood. I thought that she intimated as
+much. She said that you were to be happy; were already
+content. And that I would only be making
+you trouble if I continued our acquaintance.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh! Rachael.&#8221; She smiled with sudden softness.
+&#8220;Rachael cannot understand, either. I&#8217;m sure
+she intended well, poor soul. Were they all like
+Rachael&mdash;&mdash; But I had no knowledge of her talk
+with you. Anyway, please leave me if you feel disposed.
+Whether I marry Daniel or not should be no
+concern of yours. I shall have to find my own trail
+out. Look! There go the ducks. I came down to
+watch them. Now neither of us has any excuse for
+staying. Good&mdash;&mdash;&#8221;</p>
+<p>The hush had tightened into a strange pent stillness
+like the poise of earth and sky and beast and bird just
+before the breaking of a great and lowering storm.
+The quick clatter of the ducks&#8217; wings somehow
+alarmed me&mdash;the staring of the children, their eyes
+directed past us, sharpened my senses for a new
+focus. And glancing, I witnessed Daniel nearing&mdash;striding
+rapidly, straight for the point, a figure portentous
+in the fading glow, bringing the storm with
+him.</p>
+<p>She saw, too. Her eyes widened, startled, surveying
+not him, but me.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_246' name='page_246'></a>246</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;Please go. At once! I&#8217;ll keep him.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;It is too late now,&#8221; I asserted, in voice not mine.
+&#8220;I am here first and I&#8217;ll go when I get ready.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;You mean to face him?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I mean to hear what he has to say, and learn what
+he intends to do. I don&#8217;t see any other way&mdash;unless
+you really wish me to go?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;No, no!&#8221; cried My Lady. &#8220;I don&#8217;t want you to
+be harmed; but oh, how I have suffered.&#8221; All her
+countenance was suffused&mdash;with anger, with shame,
+and even with hope. She trembled, gazing at me, and
+fluctuant.</p>
+<p>&#8220;So have I, madam,&#8221; said I, grimly.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I think,&#8221; she remarked in quiet tone, &#8220;that in a
+show-down you will best him. I&#8217;m sure of it; yes, I
+know it. You will play the man. You act cool.
+Good! Watch him very close. He&#8217;ll give you little
+grace, this time. But remember this: I&#8217;ll never,
+never, never marry him. Rather than be bound to
+him I&#8217;ll deal with him myself.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;It won&#8217;t be necessary, madam,&#8221; said I&mdash;a catch
+in my throat; for while I was all iciness and clamminess,
+my hands cold and my tongue dry, I felt that I
+was going to kill him at last. Something told me; the
+sheer horror of it struck through; the inevitable
+loomed grisly and near indeed.</p>
+<p>A panoramic lifetime crowds the brain of a
+drowning man; that same crowded my brain during
+the few moments which swung in to us Daniel, scowling,
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_247' name='page_247'></a>247</span>
+masterful, his raw bulk and his long shambling
+stride never before so insolent.</p>
+<p>From New York and home and peace I traveled
+clear here to desert, outlawry and blood&mdash;and thence
+on through a second life as a marked man; but while
+I knew very well where I should shoot him (right
+through the heart), I turned over and over the one
+doubtful pass: where would he shoot me? Shoot me
+he would&mdash;chest, shoulder, arm, head; I could not escape,
+did not hope to escape. Yet no matter where
+his ball ploughed (and I poignantly felt it enter and
+sear me) my final bullet would end the match. Also,
+I argued my rights in the business; argued them before
+my father and mother, before the camp, before
+the world.</p>
+<p>These thoughts which precede a certain duel to the
+death are not inspiring thoughts; since then I have
+learned that other men, even practiced gun-men, have
+had the same trepidation to the instant of pulling
+weapon.</p>
+<p>Daniel charged in for us. I did not touch revolver
+butt; he did not. My Lady lifted chin, to receive
+him. My eyes, fastened upon him, noted her, and
+noted, beyond us, the spying visages of the camp folk,
+all turned our way, transfixed and agog.</p>
+<p>He barked first at her.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Go whar yu belong, yu Jezebel! Then I&#8217;ll tend
+to this&mdash;&mdash;&#8221; The rabid epithet leveled at me I
+shall not repeat.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_248' name='page_248'></a>248</span></p>
+<p>She straightened whitely.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Be careful what you say, Daniel. No man on
+this earth can speak to me like that.&#8221;</p>
+<p>All his face flushed livid with a sneer, merging together
+yellow freckles and tanned skin.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Can&#8217;t, can&#8217;t he? I kin an&#8217; I do. Why yu&mdash;yu&mdash;yu
+reckon yu kin shame me &#8217;fore that hull train? Yu
+sneak out this-away, meetin&#8217; this spindle-shank, no-&#8217;count
+States greenie who hain&#8217;t sense enough to
+swing a bull whip an&#8217; ain&#8217;t man enough to draw a
+gun? I&#8217;ve told yu an&#8217; I&#8217;m done tellin&#8217; yu. Now yu
+git. I&#8217;ve stood yore fast an&#8217; loose plenty. I mean
+business. Git! Whar yu&#8217;ll be safe. I&#8217;ll not hold
+off much longer.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;You threaten <i>me</i>?&#8221;</p>
+<p>Her blue eyes were blazing above a spot of color in
+either cheek&mdash;with a growl he took a step, so that she
+shrank from his clutching hand, its scarred, burly fingers
+outcurved. And the time, perhaps the very moment
+had arrived. I must, I must.</p>
+<p>&#8220;No more of that, you brute,&#8221; I uttered, while my
+pounding heart flooded me with a cold, tingling
+stream. &#8220;If you have anything to say, say it to me.&#8221;</p>
+<p>He whirled.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yu! Why, yu leetle piece o&#8217; nothin&#8217;&mdash;yu shut
+up!&#8221; By sudden reach he gripped her arm; to her
+sharp, short scream he thrust her about.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Git! I&#8217;m boss hyar.&#8221; And at me: &#8220;What yu
+goin&#8217; to do? She&#8217;s promised to me. I&#8217;m takin&#8217; keer
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_249' name='page_249'></a>249</span>
+of her; she&#8217;s rode on my wagon; an&#8217; naow yu think to
+toll her off? Yu meet her ag&#8217;in right under my nose
+arter I&#8217;ve warned yu? Git, yoreself, or I&#8217;ll stomp on
+yu like on a louse.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Absolutely, hot tears of mortification, of bitter
+injury, showed in his glaring eyes. He was but a big
+boy, after all.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Our meeting here was entirely by accident,&#8221; I answered.
+&#8220;Mrs. Montoyo had no expectation of seeing
+me, nor I of seeing her. You&#8217;re making a fool of
+yourself.&#8221;</p>
+<p>He burst, red, quivering, insensate.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yu&#8217;re a liar! Yu&#8217;re a sneakin&#8217;, thievin&#8217; liar, like
+all Gentiles. Yu&#8217;re both o&#8217; yu liars. What&#8217;s she?&#8221;
+And he spoke it, raving with insult. &#8220;But I&#8217;ll tame
+her. She&#8217;ll be snatched from yu an&#8217; yore kind. We&#8217;ll
+settle naow. Yu&#8217;re a liar, I say. Yu gonna draw on
+me? Draw, yu Gentile dog; for if I lay hands on yu
+once&mdash;&mdash;&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Look out!&#8221; she gasped tensely. But she had
+spoken late. That cold blood which had kept me in a
+tremor and a wonderment, awaiting his pistol muzzle,
+exploded into a seethe of heat almost blinding me. I
+forgot instructions, I disregarded every movement
+preliminary to the onset, I remembered only the criminations
+and recriminations culminating here at last.
+Bullets were too slow and easy. I did not see his revolver,
+I saw but the hulk of him and the intolerable
+sneer of him, and that his flesh was ready to my fingers.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_250' name='page_250'></a>250</span>
+And quicker than his hand I was upon him,
+into him, climbing him, clinging to him, arms binding
+him, legs twining around his, each ounce of me greedy
+to crush him down and master him.</p>
+<p>The shock drove him backward. Again My Lady
+screamed shortly; the children screamed. He proved
+very strong. Swelling and tugging and cursing he
+broke one grip, but I was fast to him, now with guard
+against his holstered gun. We swayed and staggered,
+grappling hither and thither. I had his arms pinioned
+once more, to bend him. He spat into my face; and
+shifting, set his teeth into my shoulder so that they
+champed like the teeth of a horse, through shirt and
+hide to the flesh. I raised him; his boots hammered
+at my shins, his knee struck me in the stomach and for
+an instant I sickened. Now I tripped him; we toppled
+together, came to the ground with a thump.
+Here we churned, while he flung me and still I stuck.
+The acrid dust of the alkali enveloped us. Again he
+spat, fetid&mdash;I sprawled upon him, smothering his
+flailing arms; gave him all my weight and strength;
+smelled the sweat of him, snarled into his snarling
+face, close beneath mine.</p>
+<p>Once he partially freed himself and buffeted me in
+the mouth with his fist, but I caught him&mdash;while
+struggling, tossed and upheaved, dimly saw that as
+by a miracle we were surrounded by a ring of people,
+men and women, their countenances pale, alarmed,
+intent. Voices sounded in a dull roar.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_251' name='page_251'></a>251</span></p>
+<p>Presently I had him crucified: his one outstretched
+arm under my knees, his other arm tethered by my
+two hands, my body across his chest, while his legs
+threshed vainly. I looked down into his bulging
+crooked eyes, glaring back presumably into my eyes,
+and might draw breath.</p>
+<p>&#8220;&#8217;Nuf? Cry &#8216;&#8217;Nuf,&#8217;&#8221; I bade.</p>
+<p>&#8220;&#8217;Nuf! Say &#8216;&#8217;Nuf,&#8217;&#8221; echoed the crowd.</p>
+<p>He strained again, convulsive; and relaxed.</p>
+<p>&#8220;&#8217;Nuf!&#8221; he panted through bared teeth. &#8220;Lemme
+up, Mister.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;This settles it?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I said &#8216;&#8217;Nuf,&#8217;&#8221; he growled.</p>
+<p>With quick movement I sprang clear of him, to my
+feet. He lay for a moment, baleful, and slowly
+scrambled up. On a sudden, as he faced me, his hand
+shot downward&mdash;I heard the surge and shout of men
+and women, to the stunning report of his revolver
+ducked aside, felt my left arm jerk and sting&mdash;felt
+my own gun explode in my hand (and how it came
+there I did not know)&mdash;beheld him spin around and
+collapse; an astonishing sight.</p>
+<hr class='major' />
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='XVII_THE_TRAIL_FORKS' id='XVII_THE_TRAIL_FORKS'></a>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_252' name='page_252'></a>252</span>
+<h2>CHAPTER XVII</h2>
+<h3>THE TRAIL FORKS</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>So there I stood, amidst silence, gaping foolishly,
+breathing hard, my revolver smoking in my fingers
+and my enemy in a shockingly prone posture at my
+feet, gradually reddening the white of the torn soil.
+He was upon his face, his revolver hand outflung.
+He was harmless. The moment had arrived and
+passed. I was standing here alive, I had killed him.</p>
+<p>Then I heard myself babbling.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Have I killed him? I didn&#8217;t want to. I tell you,
+I didn&#8217;t want to.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Figures rushed in between. Hands grasped me,
+impelled me away, through a haze; voices spoke in my
+ear while I feebly resisted, a warm salty taste in my
+throat.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I killed him. I didn&#8217;t want to kill him. He
+made me do it. He shot first.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, yes,&#8221; they said, soothing gruffly. &#8220;Shore he
+did; shore you didn&#8217;t. It&#8217;s all right. Come along,
+come along.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Then&mdash;&mdash;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Pick him up. He&#8217;s bad hurt, himself. See that
+blood? No, &#8217;tain&#8217;t his arm, is it? He&#8217;s bleedin&#8217; internal.
+Whar&#8217;s the hole? Wait! He&#8217;s busted
+something.&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_253' name='page_253'></a>253</span></p>
+<p>They would have carried me.</p>
+<p>&#8220;No,&#8221; I cried, while their bearded faces swam.
+&#8220;He said &#8216;&#8217;Nuf&#8217;&mdash;he shot me afterward. Not bad,
+is it? I can walk.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Not bad. Creased you in the arm, if that&#8217;s all.
+What you spittin&#8217; blood for?&#8221;</p>
+<p>As they hustled me onward I wiped my swollen
+lips; the back of my hand seemed to be covered with
+thin blood.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Where he struck me, once,&#8221; I wheezed.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, mebbe so. But come along, come along.
+We&#8217;ll tend to you.&#8221;</p>
+<p>The world had grown curiously darkened, so that
+we moved as through an obscuring veil; and I dumbly
+wondered whether this was night (had it been morning
+or evening when I started for the pond?) or
+whether I was dying myself. I peered and again
+made out the sober, stern faces hedging me, but they
+gave me no answer to my mutely anxious query.
+Across a great distance we stumbled by the wagons
+(the same wagons of a time agone), and halted at a
+fire.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Set down. Fetch a blanket, somebody. Whar&#8217;s
+the water? Set down till we look you over.&#8221;</p>
+<p>I let them sit me down.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Wash your mouth out.&#8221;</p>
+<p>That was done, pinkish; and a second time, clearer.</p>
+<p>&#8220;You&#8217;re all right.&#8221; Jenks apparently was ministering
+to me. &#8220;Swaller this.&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_254' name='page_254'></a>254</span></p>
+<p>The odor of whiskey fumed into my nostrils. I
+obediently swallowed, and gasped and choked. Jenks
+wiped my face with a sopping cloth. Hands were
+rummaging at my left arm; a bandage being wound
+about.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Nothin&#8217; much,&#8221; was the report. &#8220;Creased him,
+is all. Lucky he dodged. It was comin&#8217; straight for
+his heart.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;He&#8217;s all right,&#8221; Jenks again asserted.</p>
+<p>Under the bidding of the liquor the faintness from
+the exertion and reaction was leaving me. The slight
+hemorrhage from the strain to my weak lungs had
+ceased. I would live, I would live. But he&mdash;Daniel?</p>
+<p>&#8220;Did I kill him?&#8221; I besought. &#8220;Not that! I
+didn&#8217;t aim&mdash;I don&#8217;t know how I shot&mdash;but I had to.
+Didn&#8217;t I?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;You did. He&#8217;ll not bother you ag&#8217;in. She&#8217;s
+yourn.&#8221;</p>
+<p>That hurt.</p>
+<p>&#8220;But it wasn&#8217;t about her, it wasn&#8217;t over Mrs. Montoyo.
+He bullied me&mdash;dared me. We were man to
+man, boys. He made me fight him.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, shore,&#8221; they agreed&mdash;and they were not believing.
+They still linked me with a woman, whereas
+she had figured only as a transient occasion.</p>
+<p>Then she herself, My Lady, appeared, running in
+breathless and appealing.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Is Mr. Beeson hurt? Badly? Where is he? Let
+me help.&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_255' name='page_255'></a>255</span></p>
+<p>She knelt beside me, her hand grasped mine, she
+gazed wide-eyed and imploring.</p>
+<p>&#8220;No, he&#8217;s all right, ma&#8217;am.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m all right, I assure you,&#8221; I mumbled thickly,
+and helpless as a babe to the clinging of her cold fingers.</p>
+<p>&#8220;How&#8217;s the other man?&#8221; they abruptly asked.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t know. He was carried away. But I
+think he&#8217;s dead. I hope so&mdash;oh, I hope so. The
+coward, the beast!&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;There, there,&#8221; they quieted. &#8220;That&#8217;s all over
+with. What he got is his own business now. He
+hankered for it and was bound to have it. You&#8217;d
+best stay right hyar a spell. It&#8217;s the place for you at
+present.&#8221;</p>
+<p>They grouped apart, on the edge of the flickering
+fire circle. The dusk had heightened apace (for
+nightfall this really was), the glow and flicker barely
+touched their blackly outlined forms, the murmur of
+their voices sounded ominous. In the circle we two
+sat, her hand upon mine, thrilling me comfortably yet
+abashing me. She surveyed me unwinkingly and
+grave&mdash;a triumph shining from her eyes albeit there
+were seamy shadows etched into her white face. It
+was as though she were welcoming me through the
+outposts of hell.</p>
+<p>&#8220;You killed him. I knew you would&mdash;I knew
+you&#8217;d have to.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I knew it, too,&#8221; I miserably faltered. &#8220;But I
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_256' name='page_256'></a>256</span>
+didn&#8217;t want to&mdash;I shot without thinking. I might
+have waited.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Waited! How could you wait? &#8217;Twas either
+you or he.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Then I wish it had been I,&#8221; I attempted.</p>
+<p>&#8220;What nonsense,&#8221; she flashed. &#8220;We all know
+you did your best to avoid it. But tell me: Do you
+think I dragged you into it? Do you hate me for
+it?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;No. It happened when you were there. That&#8217;s
+all. I&#8217;m sorry; only sorry. What&#8217;s to be done
+next?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;That will be decided, of course,&#8221; she said. &#8220;You
+will be protected, if necessary. You acted in self-defense.
+They all will swear to that and back you
+up.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;But you?&#8221; I asked, arousing from this unmanly
+despair which played me for a weakling. &#8220;You must
+be protected also. You can&#8217;t go to that other camp,
+can you?&#8221;</p>
+<p>She laughed and withdrew her hand; laughed
+hardly, even scornfully.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I? Above all things, don&#8217;t concern yourself
+about me, please. I shall take care of myself. He
+is out of the way. You have freed me of that much,
+Mr. Beeson, whether intentionally or not. And you
+shall be free, yourself, to act as your friends advise.
+You must leave me out of your plans altogether.
+Yes, I know; you killed him. Why not? But he
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_257' name='page_257'></a>257</span>
+wasn&#8217;t a man; he was a wild animal. And you&#8217;ll find
+there are matters more serious than killing even a
+man, in this country.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;You! You!&#8221; I insisted. &#8220;You shall be looked
+out for. We are partners in this. He used your
+name; he made that an excuse. We shall have
+to make some new arrangements for you&mdash;put
+you on the stage as soon as we can. And meanwhile&mdash;&mdash;&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;There is no partnership, and I shall require no
+looking after, sir,&#8221; she interrupted. &#8220;If you are
+sorry that you killed him, I am not; but you are entirely
+free.&#8221;</p>
+<p>The group at the edge of the fire circle dissolved.
+Jenks came and seated himself upon his hams, beside
+us.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Wall, how you feelin&#8217; now?&#8221; he questioned of
+me.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m myself again,&#8221; said I.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Your arm won&#8217;t trouble you. Jest a flesh wound.
+There&#8217;s nothin&#8217; better than axle grease. And you,
+ma&#8217;am?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Perfectly well, thank you.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;You&#8217;re the coolest of the lot, and no mistake,&#8221; he
+praised admiringly. &#8220;Wall, there&#8217;ll be no more fracas
+to-night. Anyhow, the boys&#8217;ll be on guard ag&#8217;in
+it; they&#8217;re out now. You two can eat and rest a bit,
+whilst gettin&#8217; good and ready; and if you set out &#8217;fore
+moon-up you can easy get cl&#8217;ar, with what help we
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_258' name='page_258'></a>258</span>
+give you. We&#8217;ll furnish mounts, grub, anything you
+need. I&#8217;ll make shift without Frank.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Mounts!&#8221; I blurted, with a start that waked my
+arm to throbbing. &#8220;&#8216;Set out,&#8217; you say? Why?
+And where?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Anywhar. The stage road south&#8217;ard is your best
+bet. You didn&#8217;t think to stay, did you? Not after
+that&mdash;after you&#8217;d plugged a Mormon, the son of the
+old man, besides! We reckoned you two had it arranged,
+by this time.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;No! Never!&#8221; I protested. &#8220;You&#8217;re crazy, man.
+I&#8217;ve never dreamed of any such thing; nor Mrs. Montoyo,
+either. You mean that I&mdash;we&mdash;should run
+away? I&#8217;ll not leave the train and neither shall she,
+until the proper time. Or do I understand that you
+disown us; turn your backs upon us; deliver us
+over?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Hold on,&#8221; Jenks bade. &#8220;You&#8217;re barkin&#8217; up the
+wrong tree. &#8217;Tain&#8217;t a question of disownin&#8217; you.
+Hell, we&#8217;d fight for you and proud to do it, for you&#8217;re
+white. But I tell you, you&#8217;ve killed one o&#8217; that party
+ahead, you&#8217;ve killed the wagon boss&#8217;s son; and Hyrum,
+he&#8217;s consider&#8217;ble of a man himself. He stands
+well up, in the church. But lettin&#8217; that alone, he&#8217;s
+captain of this train, he&#8217;s got a dozen and more men
+back of him; and when he comes in the mornin&#8217; demandin&#8217;
+of you for trial by his Mormons, what can
+we do? Might fight him off; yes. Not forever,
+though. He&#8217;s nearest to the water, sech as it is, and
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_259' name='page_259'></a>259</span>
+our casks are half empty, critters dry. We sha&#8217;n&#8217;t
+surrender you; if we break with him we break ourselves
+and likely lose our scalps into the bargain.
+Why, we hadn&#8217;t any idee but that you and her were
+all primed to light out, with our help. For if you
+stay you won&#8217;t be safe anywhere betwixt here and
+Salt Lake; and over in Utah they&#8217;ll vigilant you,
+shore as kingdom. As for you, ma&#8217;am,&#8221; he bluntly
+addressed, &#8220;we&#8217;d protect you to the best of ability,
+o&#8217; course; but you can see for yourself that Hyrum
+won&#8217;t feel none too kindly toward you, and that if
+you&#8217;ll pull out along with Beeson as soon as convenient
+you&#8217;ll avoid a heap of unpleasantness. We&#8217;ll
+take the chance on sneakin&#8217; you both away, and facin&#8217;
+the old man.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Mr. Beeson should go,&#8221; she said. &#8220;But I
+shall return to the Adams camp. I am not afraid,
+sir.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Tut, tut!&#8221; he rapped. &#8220;I know you&#8217;re not
+afraid; nevertheless we won&#8217;t let you do it.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;They wouldn&#8217;t lay hands on me.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Um-m,&#8221; he mused. &#8220;Mebbe not. No, reckon
+they wouldn&#8217;t. I&#8217;ll say that much. But by thunder
+they&#8217;d make you wish they did. They&#8217;d claim you
+trapped Dan&#8217;l. You&#8217;d suffer for that, and in place
+of this boy, and a-plenty. Better foller your new
+man, lady, and let him stow you in safety. Better go
+back to Benton.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Never to Benton,&#8221; she declared. &#8220;And he&#8217;s not
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_260' name='page_260'></a>260</span>
+my &#8217;new man.&#8217; I apologize to him for that, from
+you, sir.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;If you stay, I stay, then,&#8221; said I. &#8220;But I think
+we&#8217;d best go. It&#8217;s the only way.&#8221; And it was. We
+were twain in menace to the outfit and to each other
+but inseparable. We were yoked. The fact appalled.
+It gripped me coldly. I seemed to have bargained
+for her with word and fist and bullet, and won her;
+now I should appear to carry her off as my booty: a
+wife and a gambler&#8217;s wife. Yet such must be.</p>
+<p>&#8220;You shall go without me.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I shall not.&#8221;</p>
+<p>With a little sob she buried her face in her hands.</p>
+<p>&#8220;If you don&#8217;t hate me now you soon will,&#8221; she
+uttered. &#8220;The cards don&#8217;t fall right&mdash;they don&#8217;t,
+they don&#8217;t. They&#8217;ve been against me from the first.
+I&#8217;m always forcing the play.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Whereupon I knew that go together we should, or
+I was no man.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Pshaw, pshaw,&#8221; Jenks soothed. &#8220;Matters ain&#8217;t
+so bad. We&#8217;ll fix ye out and cover your trail.
+Moon&#8217;ll be up in a couple o&#8217; hours. I&#8217;d advise you
+to take an hour&#8217;s start of it, so as to get away easier.
+If you travel straight south&#8217;ard you&#8217;ll strike the stage
+road sometime in the mornin&#8217;. When you reach a
+station you&#8217;ll have ch&#8217;ice either way.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I have money,&#8221; she said; and sat erect.</p>
+<hr class='major' />
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='XVIII_VOICES_IN_THE_VOID' id='XVIII_VOICES_IN_THE_VOID'></a>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_261' name='page_261'></a>261</span>
+<h2>CHAPTER XVIII</h2>
+<h3>VOICES IN THE VOID</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>The directions had been plain. With the North
+Star and the moon as our guides we scarcely could
+fail to strike the stage road where it bore off from
+the mountains northward into the desert.</p>
+<p>For the first half mile we rode without a word
+from either of us to violate the truce that swathed us
+like the night. What her thoughts were I might not
+know, but they sat heavy upon her, closing her throat
+with the torture of vain self-reproach. That much I
+sensed. But I could not reassure her; could not volunteer
+to her that I welcomed her company, that she
+was blameless, that I had only defended my honor,
+that affairs would have reduced to pistol work without
+impulse from her&mdash;that, in short, the responsibility
+had been wholly Daniel&#8217;s. My own thoughts
+were so grievous as to crush me with aching woe that
+forebade civil utterance.</p>
+<p>This, then, was I: somebody who had just killed
+a man, had broken from the open trail and was riding,
+he knew not where, through darkness worse than
+night, himself an outlaw with an outlawed woman&mdash;at
+the best a chance woman, an adventuring woman,
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_262' name='page_262'></a>262</span>
+and as everybody could know, a claimed woman,
+product of dance hall and gaming resort, wife of a
+half-breed gambler, and now spoil of fist and revolver.</p>
+<p>But that which burned me almost to madness, like
+hot lava underneath the deadening crust, was the
+thought that I had done a deed and a defensible deed,
+and was fleeing from it the same as a criminal. Such
+a contingency never had occurred to me or I might
+have taken a different course, still with decency; although
+what course I could not figure.</p>
+<p>We rode, our mules picking their way, occasionally
+stumbling on rocks and shrubs. At last she spoke in
+low, even tones.</p>
+<p>&#8220;What do you expect to do with me, please?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;We shall have to do whatever is best for yourself,&#8221;
+I managed to answer. &#8220;That will be determined
+when we reach the stage line, I suppose.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Thank you. Once at the stage line and I shall
+contrive. You must have no thought of me. I understand
+very well that we should not travel far in
+company&mdash;and you may not wish to go in my direction.
+You have plans of your own?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;None of any great moment. Everything has
+failed me, to date. There is only the one place left:
+New York State, where I came from. I probably can
+work my way back&mdash;at least, until I can recoup by
+telegraph message and the mails.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;You have one more place than I,&#8221; she replied.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_263' name='page_263'></a>263</span>
+She hesitated. &#8220;Will you let me lend you some
+money?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve been paid my wages due,&#8221; said I. &#8220;But,&#8221; I
+added, &#8220;you have a place, you have a home: Benton.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, Benton!&#8221; She laughed under breath.
+&#8220;Never Benton. I shall make shift without Benton.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;You will tell me, though?&#8221; I urged. &#8220;I must
+have your address, to know that you reach safety.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;You are strictly business. I believe that I accused
+you before of being a Yankee.&#8221; And I read
+sarcasm in her words.</p>
+<p>Her voice had a quality of definite estimation
+which nettled, humbled, and isolated me, as if I lacked
+in some essential to a standard set.</p>
+<p>&#8220;So you are going home, are you?&#8221; she resumed.
+&#8220;With the clothes on your back, or will you stop at
+Benton for your trunk?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;With the clothes on my back,&#8221; I asserted bitterly.
+&#8220;I&#8217;ve no desire to see Benton. The trunk can be
+shipped to me.&#8221;</p>
+<p>She said on, in her cool impersonal tone.</p>
+<p>&#8220;That is the easiest way. You will live warm and
+comfortably. You will need to wear no belt weapon.
+The police will protect you. If a man injures you,
+you can summon him at law and wash your hands of
+him. Instead of staking on your luck among new
+people, you can enter into business among your
+friends and win from them. You can marry the girl
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_264' name='page_264'></a>264</span>
+next door&mdash;or even take the chance of the one across
+the street, her parentage being comme il faut. You
+can tell stories of your trip into the Far West; your
+children will love to hear of the rough mule-whacker
+trail&mdash;yes, you will have great tales but you will not
+mention that you killed a man who tried to kill you
+and then rode for a night with a strange woman alone
+at your stirrup. Perhaps you will venture to revisit
+these parts by steam train, and from the windows of
+your coach point out the places where you suffered
+those hardships and adventures from which you escaped
+by leaving them altogether. Your course is the
+safe course. By all means take it, Mr. Beeson, and
+have your trunk follow you.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;That I shall do, madam,&#8221; I retorted. &#8220;The West
+and I have not agreed; and, I fear, never shall.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;By honest confession, it has bested you; and in
+short order.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;In short order, since you put it that way. Only
+a fool doesn&#8217;t know when to quit.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;The greatest fool is the one who fools himself,
+in the quitting as in other matters. But you will have
+no regrets&mdash;except about Daniel, possibly.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;None whatever, save the regret that I ever tried
+this country. I wish to God I had never seen it&mdash;I
+did not conceive that I should have to take a human
+life&mdash;should be forced to that&mdash;become like an outlaw
+in the night, riding for refuge&mdash;&mdash;&#8221; And I
+choked passionately.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_265' name='page_265'></a>265</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;You deserve much sympathy,&#8221; she remarked, in
+that even tone.</p>
+<p>I lapsed into a turbulence of voiceless rage at myself,
+at her, at Daniel&#8217;s treachery, at all the train, at
+Benton, and again at this damning predicament
+wherein I had landed. When I was bound to wrest
+free after having done my utmost, she appeared to
+be twitting me because I would not submit to farther
+use by her. I certainly had the right to extricate myself
+in the only way left.</p>
+<p>So I conned over and over, and my heart gnawed,
+and the acid of vexation boiled in my throat, and
+despite the axle grease my arm nagged; while we rode
+unspeaking, like some guilty pair through purgatory.</p>
+<p>My lip had subsided; the pistol wound was superficial.
+Under different circumstances the way would
+have been full of beauty. The high desert stretched
+vastly, far, far, far before, behind, on either side, the
+parched gauntness of its daytime aspect assuaged
+and evanescent. For the moon, now risen, although
+on the wane, shed a light sufficient, whitening the
+rocks and the scattered low shrubs, painting the land
+with sharp black shadows, and enclosing us about
+with the mystery of great softly illumined spaces
+into which silent forms vanished as if tempting us
+aside. Of these&mdash;rabbits, wolves, animals only to be
+guessed&mdash;there were many, like potential phantoms
+quickened by the touch of the moonbeams. Mule-back,
+we twain towered, the sole intruders visible between
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_266' name='page_266'></a>266</span>
+the two elysians of glorified earth and beatific
+sky.</p>
+<p>The course was southward. After a time it seemed
+to me that we were descending from the plateau;
+craunching gradually down a flank until, in a mile or
+so, we were again upon the level, cutting through another
+basin formed by the dried bed of an ancient
+lake whose waters had evaporated into deposits of salt
+and soda.</p>
+<p>At first the mules had plodded with ears pricked
+forward, and with sundry snorts and stares as if they
+were seeing portents in the moonshine. Eventually
+their imaginings dulled, so that they now moved careless
+of where or why, their heads drooped, their
+minds devoted to achieving what rest they might in
+the merely mechanical setting of hoof before hoof.</p>
+<p>I could not but be aware of my companion. Her
+hair glinted paly, for she rode bareheaded; her gown,
+tightened under her as she sat astride, revealed the
+lines of her boyish limbs. She was a woman, in any
+guise; and I being a man, protect her I should, as far
+as necessary. I found myself wishing that we could
+upturn something pleasant to talk about; it was ungracious,
+even wicked, to ride thus side by side
+through peace and beauty, with lips closed and war
+in the heart, and final parting as the main desire.</p>
+<p>But her firm pose and face steadily to the fore invited
+with no sign; and after covertly stealing a
+glance or two at her clear unresponsive profile I still
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_267' name='page_267'></a>267</span>
+could manage no theme that would loosen my tongue.
+Thereby let her think me a dolt. Thank Heaven,
+after another twenty-four hours at most it might not
+matter what she thought.</p>
+<p>The drooning round of my own thoughts revolved
+over and over, and the scuffing gait of the mules upon
+way interminable began to numb me. Lassitude
+seemed to be enfolding us both; I observed that she
+rode laxly, with hand upon the horn and a weary
+yielding to motion. Words might have stirred us,
+but no words came. Presently I caught myself dozing
+in the saddle, aroused only by the twitching of my
+wounded arm. Then again I dozed, and kept dozing,
+fairly dead for sleep, until speak she did, her voice
+drifting as from afar but fetching me awake and
+blinking.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Hadn&#8217;t we better stop?&#8221; she repeated.</p>
+<p>That was a curious sensation. When I stared
+about, uncomprehending, my view was shut off by a
+whiteness veiling the moon above and the earth below
+except immediately underneath my mule&#8217;s hoofs.
+She herself was a specter; the weeds that we brushed
+were spectral; every sound that we made was muffled,
+and in the intangible, opaquely lucent shroud which
+had enveloped us like the spirit of a sea there was no
+life nor movement.</p>
+<p>&#8220;What&#8217;s the matter?&#8221; I propounded.</p>
+<p>&#8220;The fog. I don&#8217;t know where we are.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh! I hadn&#8217;t noticed.&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_268' name='page_268'></a>268</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;No,&#8221; she said calmly. &#8220;You&#8217;ve been asleep.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Haven&#8217;t you?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Not lately. But I don&#8217;t think there&#8217;s any use in
+riding on. We&#8217;ve lost our bearings.&#8221;</p>
+<p>She was ahead; evidently had taken the lead while
+I slept. That realization straightened me, shamed, in
+my saddle. The fog, fleecy, not so wet as impenetrable&mdash;when
+had it engulfed us?</p>
+<p>&#8220;How long have we been in it?&#8221; I asked, thoroughly
+vexed.</p>
+<p>&#8220;An hour, maybe. We rode right into it. I
+thought we might leave it, but we don&#8217;t. It&#8217;s as thick
+as ever. We ought to stop.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I suppose we ought,&#8221; said I.</p>
+<p>And at the moment we entered into a sudden clearing
+amidst the fog enclosure: a tract of a quarter of
+an acre, like a hollow center, with the white walls
+held apart and the stars and moon faintly glimmering
+down through the mist roof overhead.</p>
+<p>She drew rein and half turned in the saddle. I
+could see her face. It was dank and wan and heavy-eyed;
+her hair, somewhat robbed of its sheen,
+crowned with a pallid golden aureole.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Will this do? If we go on we&#8217;ll only be riding
+into the fog again.&#8221;</p>
+<p>I was conscious of the thin, apparently distant piping
+of frogs.</p>
+<p>&#8220;There seems to be a marsh beyond,&#8221; she uttered.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_269' name='page_269'></a>269</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, we&#8217;d better stop where we are,&#8221; I agreed.
+&#8220;Then in the morning we can take stock.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;In the morning, surely. We may not be far
+astray.&#8221; She swung off before I had awkwardly dismounted
+to help her. Her limbs failed&mdash;my own
+were clamped by stiffness&mdash;and she staggered and
+collapsed with a little laugh.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m tired,&#8221; she confessed. &#8220;Wait just a moment.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;You stay where you are,&#8221; I ordered, staggering
+also as I hastily landed. &#8220;I&#8217;ll make camp.&#8221;</p>
+<p>But she would have none of that; pleaded my one-handedness
+and insisted upon coöperating at the
+mules. We seemed to be marooned upon a small
+rise of gravel and coarsely matted dried grasses. The
+animals were staked out, fell to nibbling. I sought a
+spot for our beds; laid down a buffalo robe for her
+and placed her saddle as her pillow. She sank with a
+sigh, tucking her skirt under her, and I folded the
+robe over.</p>
+<p>Her face gazed up at me; she extended her hand.</p>
+<p>&#8220;You are very kind, sir,&#8221; she said, in a smile that
+pathetically curved her lips. There, at my knees, she
+looked so worn, so slight, so childish, so in need of
+encouragement that all was well and that she had a
+friend to serve her, that with a rush of sudden sympathy
+I would&mdash;indeed I could have kissed her, upon
+the forehead if not upon the lips themselves. It was
+an impulse well-nigh overmastering; an impulse that
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_270' name='page_270'></a>270</span>
+must have dazed me so that she saw or felt, for a
+tinge of pink swept into her skin; she withdrew her
+hand and settled composedly.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Good-night. Please sleep. In the morning we&#8217;ll
+reach the stage road and your troubles will be near
+the end.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Under my own robe I lay for a long time reviewing
+past and present and discussing with myself the
+future. Strangely enough the present occupied me
+the most; it incorporated with that future beyond the
+fog, and when I put her out back she came as if she
+were part and parcel of my life. There was a sense
+of balance; we had been associates, fellow tenants&mdash;in
+fact, she was entwined with the warp and woof of
+all my memories dating far back to my entrance,
+fresh and hopeful, into the new West. It rather flabbergasted
+me to find myself thinking that the future
+was going to be very tame; perhaps, as she had suggested,
+regretful. I had not apprehended that the
+end should be so drastic.</p>
+<p>And whether the regrets would center upon my
+slinking home defeated, or in having definitely cast
+her away, puzzled me as sorely as it did to discover
+that I was well content to be here, with her, in our
+little clearing amidst the desert fog, listening to her
+soft breathing and debating over what she might have
+done had I actually kissed her to comfort her and assure
+her that I was not unmindful of her really brave
+spirit.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_271' name='page_271'></a>271</span></p>
+<p>Daniel had been disposed of, Montoyo did not deserve
+her; I had won her, she could inspire and guide
+me if I stayed; and I saw myself staying, and I saw
+myself going home, and I already regretted a host of
+things, as a man will when at the forking of the trails.</p>
+<p>The fog gently closed in during the night. When
+I awakened we were again enshrouded by the fleece
+of it, denser than when we had ridden through it, but
+now whiter with the dawn. As I gazed sleepily about
+I could just make out the forms of the two mules,
+standing motionless and huddled; I could see her
+more clearly, at shorter distance&mdash;her buffalo robe
+moist with the semblance of dew that had beaded also
+upon her massy hair.</p>
+<p>Evidently she had not stirred all night; might be
+still asleep. No; her eyes were open, and when I
+stiffly shifted posture she looked across at me.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Sh!&#8221; she warned, with quick shake of head. The
+same warning bade me listen. In a moment I heard
+voices.</p>
+<hr class='major' />
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='XIX_I_STAKE_AGAIN' id='XIX_I_STAKE_AGAIN'></a>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_272' name='page_272'></a>272</span>
+<h2>CHAPTER XIX</h2>
+<h3>I STAKE AGAIN</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>They were indistinguishable except as vocal
+sounds deadened by the impeding fog; but human
+voices they certainly were. Throwing off her robe
+she abruptly sat up, seeking, her features tensed with
+the strain. She beckoned to me. I scuttled over, as
+anxious as she. The voices might be far, they might
+be near; but it was an eerie situation, as if we were
+neighboring with warlocks.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve been hearing them some little while,&#8221; she
+whispered.</p>
+<p>&#8220;The Captain Adams men may be trailing us?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I hope not! Oh, I hope not,&#8221; she gasped, in sheer
+agony. &#8220;If we might only know in time.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Suddenly the fog was shot with gold, as the sun
+flashed in. In obedience to the command a slow and
+stately movement began, by all the troops of mist.
+The myriad elements drifted in unison, marching and
+countermarching and rearranging, until presently,
+while we crouched intent to fathom the secrets of
+their late camp, a wondrously beautiful phenomenon
+offered.</p>
+<p>The great army rose for flight, lifting like a
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_273' name='page_273'></a>273</span>
+blanket. Gradually the earth appeared in glimpses
+beneath their floating array, so that whereas our plot
+of higher ground was still invested, stooping low and
+scanning we could see beyond us by the extent of a
+narrow thinning belt capped with the heavier white.</p>
+<p>&#8220;There!&#8221; she whispered, pointing. &#8220;Look!
+There they are!&#8221;</p>
+<p>Feet, legs, moving of themselves, cut off at the
+knees by the fog layer, distant not more than short
+rifle range: that was what had been revealed. A peculiar,
+absurd spectacle of a score or two of amputated
+limbs now resurrected and blindly in quest of
+bodies.</p>
+<p>&#8220;The Mormons!&#8221; I faltered.</p>
+<p>&#8220;No! Leggins! Moccasins! They are Indians.
+We must leave right away before they see us.&#8221;</p>
+<p>With our stuff she ran, I ran, for the mules. We
+worked rapidly, bridling and saddling while the fog
+rose with measured steadiness.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Hurry!&#8221; she bade.</p>
+<p>The whole desert was a golden haze when having
+packed we climbed aboard&mdash;she more spry than I, so
+that she led again.</p>
+<p>As we urged outward the legs, behind, had taken to
+themselves thighs. But the mist briefly eddied down
+upon us; our mules&#8217; hoofs made no sound appreciable,
+on the scantily moistened soil; we lost the legs,
+and the voices, and pressing the pace I rode beside
+her.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_274' name='page_274'></a>274</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;Where?&#8221; I inquired.</p>
+<p>&#8220;As far as we can while the fog hangs. Then we
+must hide in the first good place. If they don&#8217;t strike
+our trail we&#8217;ll be all right.&#8221;</p>
+<p>The fog lingered in patches. From patch to patch
+we threaded, with many a glance over shoulder. But
+time was traveling faster. I marked her searching
+about nervously. Blue had already appeared above,
+the sun found us again and again, and the fog remnants
+went spinning and coiling, in last ghostly dance
+like that of frenzied wraiths.</p>
+<p>Now we came to a rough outcrop of red sandstone,
+looming ruddily on our right. She quickly swerved
+for it.</p>
+<p>&#8220;The best chance. I see nothing else,&#8221; she muttered.
+&#8220;We can tie the mules under cover, and wait.
+We&#8217;ll surely be spied if we keep on.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Couldn&#8217;t we risk it?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;No. We&#8217;ve not start enough.&#8221;</p>
+<p>In a moment we had gained the refuge. The
+sculptured rock masses, detached one from another,
+several jutting ten feet up, received us. We tied the
+mules short, in a nook at the rear; and we ourselves
+crawled on, farther in, until we lay snug amidst the
+shadowing buttresses, with the desert vista opening
+before us.</p>
+<p>The fog wraiths were very few; the sun blazed
+more vehemently and wiped them out, so that through
+the marvelously clear air the expanse of lone, weird
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_275' name='page_275'></a>275</span>
+country stood forth clean cut. No moving object
+could escape notice in this watchful void. And we
+had been just in time. The slight knoll had been left
+not a mile to the southwest. I heard My Lady catch
+breath, felt her hand find mine as we lay almost
+touching. Rounding the knoll there appeared a file of
+mounted figures; by their robes and blankets, their
+tufted lances and gaudy shields, yes, by the very way
+they sat their painted ponies, Indians unmistakably.</p>
+<p>&#8220;They must have been camped near us all night.&#8221;
+And she shuddered. &#8220;Now if they only don&#8217;t cross
+our trail. We mustn&#8217;t move.&#8221;</p>
+<p>They came on at a canter, riding bravely, glancing
+right and left&mdash;a score of them headed by a scarlet-blanketed
+man upon a spotted horse. So transparent
+was the air, washed by the fog and vivified by the
+sun, that I could decipher the color pattern of his
+shield emblazonry: a checkerboard of red and black.</p>
+<p>&#8220;A war party. Sioux, I think,&#8221; she said. &#8220;Don&#8217;t
+they carry scalps on that first lance? They&#8217;ve been
+raiding the stage line. Do you see any squaws?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;No,&#8221; I hazarded, with beating heart. &#8220;All warriors,
+I should guess.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;All warriors. But squaws would be worse.&#8221;</p>
+<p>On they cantered, until their paint stripes and
+daubs were hideously plain; we might note every detail
+of their savage muster. They were paralleling
+our outward course; indeed, seemed to be diverging
+from our ambush and making more to the west. And
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_276' name='page_276'></a>276</span>
+I had hopes that, after all, we were safe. Then her
+hand clutched mine firmly. A wolf had leaped from
+covert in the path of the file; loped eastward across
+the desert, and instantly, with a whoop that echoed
+upon us like the crack of doom, a young fellow darted
+from the line in gay pursuit.</p>
+<p>My Lady drew quick breath, with despairing exclamation.</p>
+<p>&#8220;That is cruel, cruel! They might have ridden
+past; but now&mdash;look!&#8221;</p>
+<p>The stripling warrior (he appeared to be scarcely
+more than a boy) hammered in chase, stringing his
+bow and plucking arrow. The wolf cast eye over plunging
+shoulder, and lengthened. Away they tore, while
+the file slackened, to watch. Our trail of flight bore
+right athwart the wolf&#8217;s projected route. There was
+just the remote chance that the lad would overrun it,
+in his eagerness; and for that intervening moment of
+grace we stared, fascinated, hand clasping hand.</p>
+<p>&#8220;He&#8217;s found it! He&#8217;s found it!&#8221; she announced,
+in a little wail.</p>
+<p>In mid-career the boy had checked his pony so
+shortly that the four hoofs ploughed the sand. He
+wheeled on a pivot and rode back for a few yards,
+scanning the ground, letting the wolf go. The stillness
+that had settled while we gazed and the file of
+warriors, reining, gazed, gripped and fairly hurt. I
+cursed the youth. Would to God he had stayed at
+home&mdash;God grant that mangy wolf died by trap or
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_277' name='page_277'></a>277</span>
+poison. Our one chance made the sport of an accidental
+view-halloo, when all the wide desert was
+open.</p>
+<p>The youth had halted again, leaning from his saddle
+pad. He raised, he flung up glad hand and commenced
+to ride in circles, around and around and
+around. The band galloped to him.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, he has found it,&#8221; she said. &#8220;Now they will
+come.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;What shall we do?&#8221; I asked her.</p>
+<p>And she answered, releasing my hand.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t know. But we must wait. We can stand
+them off for a while, I suppose&mdash;&mdash;&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ll do my best, with the revolver,&#8221; I promised.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes,&#8221; she murmured. &#8220;But after that&mdash;&mdash;?&#8221;</p>
+<p>I had no reply. This contingency&mdash;we two facing
+Indians&mdash;was outside my calculations.</p>
+<p>The Indians had grouped; several had dismounted,
+peering closely at our trail, reading it, timing it, accurately
+estimating it. They had no difficulty, for
+the hoof prints were hardly dried of the fog moisture.
+The others sat idly, searching the horizons
+with their eyes, but at confident ease. In the wide
+expanse this rock fortress of ours seemed to me to
+summon imperatively, challenging them. They surely
+must know. Yet there they delayed, torturing us,
+playing blind, emulating cat and mouse; but of course
+they were reasoning and making certain.</p>
+<p>Now the dismounted warriors vaulted ahorse; at a
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_278' name='page_278'></a>278</span>
+gesture from the chief two men rode aside, farther to
+the east, seeking other sign. They found none, and
+to his shrill hail they returned.</p>
+<p>There was another command. The company had
+strung bows, stripped their rifles of the buckskin
+sheaths, had dropped robe and blanket about their
+loins; they spread out to right and left in close skirmish
+order; they advanced three scouts, one on the
+trail, one on either flank; and in a broadened front
+they followed with a discipline, an earnestness, a precision
+of purpose and a deadly anticipation that
+drowned every fleeting hope.</p>
+<p>This was unbearable: to lie here awaiting an inevitable
+end.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Shall we make a break for it?&#8221; I proposed.
+&#8220;Ride and fight? We might reach the train, or a
+stage station. Quick!&#8221;</p>
+<p>In my wild desire for action I half arose. Her
+hand restrained me.</p>
+<p>&#8220;It would be madness, Mr. Beeson. We&#8217;d stand
+no show at all in the open; not on these poor mules.&#8221;
+She murmured to herself. &#8220;Yes, they&#8217;re Sioux.
+That&#8217;s not so bad. Were they Cheyennes&mdash;dog-soldiers&mdash;&mdash; Let
+me think. I must talk with
+them.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;But they&#8217;re coming,&#8221; I rasped. &#8220;They&#8217;re getting
+in range. We&#8217;ve the gun, and twenty cartridges.
+Maybe if I kill the chief&mdash;&mdash;&#8221;</p>
+<p>She spoke, positive, under breath.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_279' name='page_279'></a>279</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;Don&#8217;t shoot! Don&#8217;t! They know we&#8217;re here&mdash;know
+it perfectly well. I shall talk with them.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;You? How? Why? Can you persuade them?
+Would they let us go?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ll do what I can. I have a few words of Sioux;
+and there&#8217;s the sign language. See,&#8221; she said.
+&#8220;They&#8217;ve discovered our mules. They know we&#8217;re
+only two.&#8221;</p>
+<p>The scouts on either flanks had galloped outward
+and onward, in swift circle, peering at our defenses.
+Lying low they scoured at full speed; with mutual
+whoop they crisscrossed beyond and turned back for
+the main body halted two hundred yards out upon the
+flat plain.</p>
+<p>There was a consultation; on a sudden a great
+chorus of exultant cries rang, the force scattered,
+shaking fists and weapons, preparing for a tentative
+charge; and ere I could stop her My Lady had sprung
+upright, to mount upon a rock and all in view to hold
+open hand above her head. The sunshine glinted
+upon her hair; a fugitive little breeze bound her
+shabby gown closer about her slim figure.</p>
+<p>They had seen her instantly. Another chorus
+burst, this time in astonishment; a dozen guns were
+leveled, covering her and our nest while every visage
+stared. But no shot belched; thank God, no shot,
+with me powerless to prevent, just as I was powerless
+to intercept her. The chief rode forward, at a walk,
+his hand likewise lifted.</p>
+<div class='figcenter'>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_280' name='page_280'></a>280</span>
+<a name='linki_3' id='linki_3'></a>
+<img src='images/illus-278.jpg' alt='' title='' style='width: 366px; height: 501px;' /><br />
+<p class='caption' style='margin: 0 auto; text-align:center;width: 366px;'>
+<span style='font-variant: small-caps'>The Scouts Galloped Onward</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_281' name='page_281'></a>281</span></div>
+<p>&#8220;Keep down! Keep down, please,&#8221; she directed
+to me, while she stood motionless. &#8220;Let me try.&#8221;</p>
+<p>The chief neared until we might see his every lineament&mdash;every
+item of his trappings, even to the black-tipped
+eagle feather erect at the part in his braids.
+And he rode carelessly, fearlessly, to halt within easy
+speaking distance; sat a moment, rifle across his leggined
+thighs and the folds of his scarlet blanket&mdash;a
+splendid man, naked from the waist up, his coppery
+chest pigment-daubed, his slender arms braceleted with
+metal, his eyes devouring her so covetously that I felt
+the gloating thoughts behind them.</p>
+<p>He called inquiringly: a greeting and a demand in
+one, it sounded. She replied. And what they two
+said, in word and sign, I could not know, but all the
+time I held my revolver upon him, until to my relief
+he abruptly wheeled his horse and cantered back to
+his men, leaving me with wrist aching and heart
+pounding madly.</p>
+<p>She stepped lightly down; answered my querying
+look.</p>
+<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s all right. I&#8217;m going, and so are you,&#8221; she
+said, with a faint smile, oddly subtle&mdash;a tremulous
+smile in a white face.</p>
+<p>About her there was a mystery which alarmed
+me; made me sit up, chilled, to eye her and accuse.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Where? We are free, you mean? What&#8217;s the
+bargain?&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_282' name='page_282'></a>282</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;I go to them. You go where you choose&mdash;to the
+stage road, of course. I have his promise.&#8221;</p>
+<p>This brought me to my feet, rigid; more than scandalized,
+for no word can express the shock.</p>
+<p>&#8220;You go to them? And then where?&#8221;</p>
+<p>She answered calmly, flushing a little, smiling a little,
+her eyes sincere.</p>
+<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s the best way and the only way. We shall
+neither of us be harmed, now. The chief will provide
+for me and you yourself are free. No, no,&#8221; she
+said, checking my first indignant cry. &#8220;Really I
+don&#8217;t mind. The Indians are about the only persons
+left to me. I&#8217;ll be safe with them.&#8221; She laughed
+rather sadly, but brightened. &#8220;I don&#8217;t know but that
+I prefer them to the whites. I told you I had no
+place. And this saves you also, you see. I got you
+into it&mdash;I&#8217;ve felt that you blamed me, almost hated
+me. Things have been breaking badly for me ever
+since we met again in Benton. So it&#8217;s up to me to
+make good. You can go home, and I shall not be unhappy,
+I think. Please believe that. The wife of a
+great chief is quite a personage&mdash;he won&#8217;t inquire
+into my past. But if we try to stay here you will
+certainly be killed, and I shall suffer, and we shall
+gain nothing. You must take my money. Please do.
+Then good-bye. I told him I would come out, under
+his promise.&#8221;</p>
+<p>She and the rocks reeled together. That was my
+eyes, giddy with a rush of blood, surging and hot.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_283' name='page_283'></a>283</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;Never, never, never!&#8221; I was shouting, ignoring
+her hand. How she had misjudged me! What a
+shame she had put upon me! I could not credit.
+&#8220;You shall not&mdash;I tell you, you sha&#8217;n&#8217;t. I won&#8217;t
+have it&mdash;it&#8217;s monstrous, preposterous. You sha&#8217;n&#8217;t
+go, I sha&#8217;n&#8217;t go. But wherever we go we&#8217;ll go together.
+We&#8217;ll stand them off. Then if they can take
+us, let &#8217;em. You make a coward of me&mdash;a dastard.
+You&#8217;ve no right to. I&#8217;d rather die.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Listen,&#8221; she chided, her hand grasping my sleeve.
+&#8220;They would take me anyway&mdash;don&#8217;t you see?
+After they had killed you. It would be the worse for
+both of us. What can you do, with one arm, and a
+revolver, and an unlucky woman? No, Mr. Beeson
+(she was firm and strangely formal); the cards are
+faced up. I have closed a good bargain for both of
+us. When you are out, you need say nothing. Perhaps
+some day I may be ransomed, should I wish to
+be. But we can talk no further now. He is impatient.
+The money&mdash;you will need the money, and I
+shall not. Please turn your back and I&#8217;ll get at my
+belt. Why,&#8221; she laughed, &#8220;how well everything is
+coming. You are disposed of, I am disposed
+of&mdash;&mdash;&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Money!&#8221; I roared. &#8220;God in Heaven! You disposed
+of? I disposed of? And my honor, madam!
+What of that?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;And what of mine, Mr. Beeson?&#8221; She stamped
+her foot, coloring. &#8220;Will you turn your back,
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_284' name='page_284'></a>284</span>
+or&mdash;&mdash;? Oh, we&#8217;ve talked too long. But the belt
+you shall have. Here&mdash;&mdash;&#8221; She fumbled within her
+gown. &#8220;And now, adios and good luck. You shall
+not despise me.&#8221;</p>
+<p>The chief was advancing accompanied by a warrior.
+Behind him his men waited expectant, gathered
+as an ugly blotch upon the dun desert. Her honor?
+The word had double meaning. Should she sacrifice
+the one honor in this crude essay to maintain the
+other which she had not lost, to my now opened eyes?
+I could not deliver her tender body over to that
+painted swaggerer&mdash;any more than I could have delivered
+it over to Daniel himself. At last I knew, I
+knew. History had written me a fool, and a cad,
+but it should not write me a dastard. We were together,
+and together we should always be, come weal
+or woe, life or death.</p>
+<p>The money belt had been dropped at my feet. She
+had turned&mdash;I leaped before her, thrust her to rear,
+answered the hail of the pausing chief.</p>
+<p>&#8220;No!&#8221; I squalled. And I added for emphasis:
+&#8220;You go to hell.&#8221;</p>
+<p>He understood. The phrase might have been familiar
+English to him. I saw him stiffen in his saddle;
+he called loudly, and raised his rifle, threatening;
+with a gasp&mdash;a choked &#8220;Good-bye&#8221;&mdash;she darted by
+me, running on for the open and for him. She and
+he filled all my landscape. In a stark blinding rage
+of fear, chagrin, rancorous jealousy, I leveled revolver
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_285' name='page_285'></a>285</span>
+and pulled trigger, but not at her, though even
+that was not beyond me in the crisis.</p>
+<p>The bullet thwacked smartly; the chief uttered a
+terrible cry, his rifle was tossed high, he bowed,
+swayed downward, his comrade grabbed him, and
+they were racing back closely side by side and she was
+running back to me and the warriors were shrieking
+and brandishing their weapons and bullets spatted the
+rocks&mdash;all this while yet my hand shook to the recoil
+of the revolver and the smoke was still wafting from
+the poised muzzle.</p>
+<p>What had I done? But done it was.</p>
+<hr class='major' />
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='XX_THE_QUEEN_WINS' id='XX_THE_QUEEN_WINS'></a>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_286' name='page_286'></a>286</span>
+<h2>CHAPTER XX</h2>
+<h3>THE QUEEN WINS</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>She arrived breathless, distraught, instantly to
+drag me down beside her, from where I stood stupidly
+defiant.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Keep out of sight,&#8221; she panted. And&mdash;&#8220;Oh,
+why did you do it? Why did you? I think you
+killed him&mdash;they&#8217;ll never forgive. They&#8217;ll call it
+treachery. You&#8217;re lost, lost.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;But he sha&#8217;n&#8217;t have you,&#8221; I gabbled. &#8220;Let them
+kill me if they can. Till then you&#8217;re mine. Mine!
+Don&#8217;t you understand? I want you.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t understand,&#8221; she faltered. She turned
+frightened face upon me. &#8220;You should have let me
+go. Nothing can save you now; not even I. You&#8217;ve
+ruined the one chance you had. I wonder why. It
+was my own choice&mdash;you had no hand in it, and it
+was my own chance, too.&#8221; Her voice broke, her eyes
+welled piteously. &#8220;But you fired on him.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;That was the only answer left me,&#8221; I entreated.
+&#8220;You misjudged me, you shamed me. I tell
+you&mdash;&mdash;&#8221;</p>
+<p>Her lips slightly curled.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_287' name='page_287'></a>287</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;Misjudged you? Shamed you? Was that all?
+You&#8217;ve misjudged and shamed me for so long&mdash;&mdash;&#8221;
+A burst of savage hoots renewed interrupted.
+&#8220;They&#8217;re coming!&#8221; She knelt up, to peer; I peered.
+The Indians had deployed, leaving the chief lying
+upon the ground, their fierce countenances glaring at
+our asylum. How clear their figures were, in the
+sunshine, limned against the lazy yellowish sand,
+under the peaceful blue! &#8220;They&#8217;ll surround us. I
+might parley for myself, but I can do nothing for
+you.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Parley, then,&#8221; I bade. &#8220;Save yourself, any way
+you can.&#8221;</p>
+<p>She drew in, whitening as if I had struck her.</p>
+<p>&#8220;And you accuse me of having misjudged you!
+I save myself&mdash;merely myself? What do you intend
+to do? Fight?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;As long as you are with me; and after. They&#8217;ll
+never take me alive; and take you they shall not
+if I can prevent it. Damn them, if they get you
+I mean to make them pay for you. You&#8217;re all I
+have.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;You&#8217;d rather I&#8217;d stay? You need me? Could I
+help?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Need you!&#8221; I groaned. &#8220;I&#8217;m just finding out,
+too late.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;And help? How? Quick! Could I?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;By staying; by not surrendering yourself&mdash;your
+honor, my honor. By saying that you&#8217;d rather stay
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_288' name='page_288'></a>288</span>
+with me, for life, for death, here, anywhere&mdash;after
+I&#8217;ve said that I&#8217;m not deaf, blind, dumb, ungrateful.
+I love you; I&#8217;d rather die for you than live without
+you.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Such a glory glowed in her haggard face and shone
+from her brimming eyes.</p>
+<p>&#8220;We will fight, we will fight!&#8221; she chanted.
+&#8220;Now I shall not leave you. Oh, my man! Had
+you kissed me last night we would have known this
+longer. We have so little time.&#8221; She turned from
+my lips. &#8220;Not now. They&#8217;re coming. Fight first;
+and at the end, then kiss me, please, and we&#8217;ll go together.&#8221;</p>
+<p>The furious yells from that world outside vibrated
+among our rocks. The Sioux all were in motion, except
+the prostrate figure of the chief. Straight onward
+they charged, at headlong gallop, to ride over
+us like a grotesquely tinted wave, and the dull drumming
+of their ponies&#8217; hoofs beat a diapason to the
+shrill clamor of their voices. It was enough to cow,
+but she spoke steadily.</p>
+<p>&#8220;You must fire,&#8221; she said. &#8220;Hurry! Fire once,
+maybe twice, to split them. I don&#8217;t think they&#8217;ll rush
+us, yet.&#8221;</p>
+<p>So I rose farther on my knees and fired once&mdash;and
+again, pointblank at them with the heavy Colt&#8217;s.
+It worked a miracle. Every mother&#8217;s son of them
+fell flat upon his pony; they all swooped to right and
+to left as if the bullets had cleaved them apart in the
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_289' name='page_289'></a>289</span>
+center; and while I gaped, wondering, they swept
+past at long range, half on either flank, pelting in
+bullet and near-spent arrow.</p>
+<p>She forced me down.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Low, low,&#8221; she warned. &#8220;They&#8217;ll circle. They
+hold their scalps dearly. We can only wait. That
+was three. You have fifteen shots left, for them;
+then, one for me, one for you. You understand?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I understand,&#8221; I replied. &#8220;And if I&#8217;m disabled&mdash;&mdash;?&#8221;</p>
+<p>She answered quietly.</p>
+<p>&#8220;It will be the same. One for you, one for me.&#8221;</p>
+<p>The circle had been formed: a double circle, to
+move in two directions, scudding ring reversed within
+scudding ring, the bowmen outermost. Around and
+&#8217;round and &#8217;round they galloped, yelling, gibing, taunting,
+shooting so malignantly that the air was in a constant
+hum and swish. The lead whined and smacked,
+the shafts streaked and clattered&mdash;&mdash;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Are you sorry I shot the chief?&#8221; I asked. Amid
+the confusion my blood was coursing evenly, and I
+was not afraid. Of what avail was fear?</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m glad, glad,&#8221; she proclaimed. But with sudden
+movement she was gone, bending low, then crawling,
+then whisking from sight. Had she abandoned
+me, after all? Had she&mdash;no! God be thanked, here
+she came back, flushed and triumphant, a canteen in
+her hand.</p>
+<p>&#8220;The mules might break,&#8221; she explained, short of
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_290' name='page_290'></a>290</span>
+breath. &#8220;This canteen is full. We&#8217;ll need it. The
+other mule is frantic. I couldn&#8217;t touch her.&#8221;</p>
+<p>At the moment I thought how wise and brave and
+beautiful she was! Mine for the hour, here&mdash;and
+after? Montoyo should never have her; not in life
+nor in death.</p>
+<p>&#8220;You must stop some of those fiends from sneaking
+closer,&#8221; she counseled. &#8220;See? They&#8217;re trying us
+out.&#8221;</p>
+<p>More and more frequently some one of the scurrying
+enemy veered sharply, tore in toward us, hanging
+upon the farther side of his horse; boldly jerked erect
+and shot, and with demi-volt of his mount was away,
+whooping.</p>
+<p>I had been desperately saving the ammunition, to
+eke out this hour of mine with her. Every note from
+the revolver summoned the end a little nearer. But
+we had our game to play; and after all, the end was
+certain. So under her prompting (she being partner,
+commander, everything), when the next painted ruffian&mdash;a
+burly fellow in drapery of flannel-fringed cotton
+shirt, with flaunting crimson tassels on his pony&#8217;s
+mane&mdash;bore down, I guessed shrewdly, arose and let
+him have it.</p>
+<p>She cried out, clapping her hands.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Good! Good!&#8221;</p>
+<p>The pony was sprawling and kicking; the rider had
+hurtled free, and went jumping and dodging like a
+jack-rabbit.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_291' name='page_291'></a>291</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;To the right! Watch!&#8221;</p>
+<p>Again I needs must fire, driving the rascals aside
+with the report of the Colt&#8217;s. That was five. Not
+sparing my wounded arm I hastily reloaded, for by
+custom of the country the hammer had rested over
+an empty chamber. I filled the cylinder.</p>
+<p>&#8220;They&#8217;re killing the mules,&#8221; she said. &#8220;But we
+can&#8217;t help it.&#8221;</p>
+<p>The two mules were snorting and plunging; their
+hoofs rang against the rocks. Sioux to rear had dismounted
+and were shooting carefully. There was
+exultant shout&mdash;one mule had broken loose. She galloped
+out, reddened, stirrups swinging, canteen
+bouncing, right into the waiting line; and down she
+lunged, abristle with feathered points launched into
+her by sheer spiteful joy.</p>
+<p>The firing was resumed. We heard the other mule
+scream with note indescribable; we heard him flounder
+and kick; and again the savages yelled.</p>
+<p>Now they all charged recklessly from the four
+sides; and I had to stand and fire, right, left, before,
+behind, emptying the gun once more ere they scattered
+and fled. I sensed her fingers twitching at my
+belt, extracting fresh cartridges. We sank, breathing
+hard. Her eyes were wide, and bluer than any deepest
+summer sea; her face aflame; her hair of purest
+gold&mdash;and upon her shoulder a challenging oriflamme
+of scarlet, staining a rent in the faded calico.</p>
+<p>&#8220;You&#8217;re hurt!&#8221; I blurted, aghast.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_292' name='page_292'></a>292</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;Not much. A scratch. Don&#8217;t mind it. And
+you?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m not touched.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Load, sir. But I think we&#8217;ll have a little space.
+How many left? Nine.&#8221; She had been counting.
+&#8220;Seven for them.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Seven for them,&#8221; I acknowledged. I tucked
+home the loads; the six-shooter was ready.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Now let them come,&#8221; she murmured.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Let them come,&#8221; I echoed. We looked one upon
+the other, and we smiled. It was not so bad, this
+place, our minds having been made up to it. In fact,
+there was something sweet. Our present was assured;
+we faced a future together, at least; we were
+in accord.</p>
+<p>The Sioux had retired, mainly to sit dismounted in
+close circle, for a confab. Occasionally a young
+brave, a vidette, exuberantly galloped for us, dared
+us, shook hand and weapon at us, no doubt spat at us,
+and gained nothing by his brag.</p>
+<p>&#8220;What will they do next?&#8221; I asked.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t know,&#8221; said she. &#8220;We shall see,
+though.&#8221;</p>
+<p>So we lay, gazing, not speaking. The sun streamed
+down, flattening the desert with his fervent beams until
+the uplifts cringed low and in the horizons the
+mountain peaks floated languidly upon the waves of
+heat. And in all this dispassionate land, from horizon
+to horizon, there were only My Lady and I, and
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_293' name='page_293'></a>293</span>
+the beleaguering Sioux. It seemed unreal, a fantasy;
+but the rocks began to smell scorched, a sudden thirst
+nagged and my wounded arm pained with weariness
+as if to remind that I was here, in the body. Yes, and
+here she was, also, in the flesh, as much as I, for she
+stirred, glanced at me, and smiled. I heard her,
+saw her, felt her presence. I placed my hand over
+hers.</p>
+<p>&#8220;What is it?&#8221; she queried.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Nothing. I wanted to make sure.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Of yourself?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Of you, me&mdash;of everything.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;There can be no doubt,&#8221; she said. &#8220;I wish there
+might, for your sake.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;No,&#8221; I thickly answered. &#8220;If you were only out
+of it&mdash;if we could find some way.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;d rather be in here, with you,&#8221; said she.</p>
+<p>&#8220;And I, with you, then,&#8221; I replied honestly. The
+thought of water obsessed. She must have read, for
+she inquired:</p>
+<p>&#8220;Aren&#8217;t you thirsty?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Are you?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes. Why don&#8217;t we drink?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Should we?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Why not? We might as well be as comfortable
+as we can.&#8221; She reached for the canteen lying in a
+fast dwindling strip of rock shade. We drank sparingly.
+She let me dribble a few drops upon her
+shoulder. Thenceforth by silent agreement we moistened
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_294' name='page_294'></a>294</span>
+our tongues, scrupulously turn about, wringing
+the most from each brief sip as if testing the bouquet
+of exquisite wine. Came a time when we regretted
+this frugalness; but just now there persisted within
+us, I suppose, that germ of hope which seems to be
+nourished by the soul.</p>
+<p>The Sioux had counciled and decided. They faced
+us, in manner determined. We waited, tense and
+watchful. Without even a premonitory shout a pony
+bolted for us, from their huddle. He bore two riders,
+naked to the sun, save for breech clouts. They
+charged straight in, and at her mystified, alarmed
+murmur I was holding on them as best I could, finger
+crooked against trigger, coaxing it, praying for luck,
+when the rear rider dropped to the ground, bounded
+briefly and dived headlong, worming into a little hollow
+of the sand.</p>
+<p>He lay half concealed; the pony had wheeled to a
+shrill, jubilant chorus; his remaining rider lashed him
+in retreat, leaving the first digging lustily with hand
+and knife.</p>
+<p>That was the system, then: an approach by rushes.</p>
+<p>&#8220;We mustn&#8217;t permit it,&#8221; she breathed. &#8220;We must
+rout him out&mdash;we must keep them all out or they&#8217;ll
+get where they can pick you off. Can you reach
+him?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ll try,&#8221; said I.</p>
+<p>The tawny figure, prone upon the tawny sand, was
+just visible, lean and snakish, slightly oscillating as it
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_295' name='page_295'></a>295</span>
+worked. And I took careful aim, and fired, and saw
+the spurt from the bullet.</p>
+<p>&#8220;A little lower&mdash;oh, just a little lower,&#8221; she
+pleaded.</p>
+<p>The same courier was in leash, posted to bring another
+fellow; all the Sioux were gazing, statuesque,
+to analyze my marksmanship. And I fired again&mdash;&#8220;Too
+low,&#8221; she muttered&mdash;and quickly, with a curse,
+again.</p>
+<p>She cried out joyfully. The snake had flopped
+from its hollow, plunged at full length aside; had
+started to crawl, writhing, dragging its hinder parts.
+But with a swoop the pony arrived before we were
+noting; the recruit plumped into the hollow; and
+bending over in his swift circle the courier snatched
+the snake from the ground; sped back with him.</p>
+<p>The Sioux seized upon the moment of stress.
+They cavorted, scouring hither and thither, yelling,
+shooting, and once more our battered haven seethed
+with the hum and hiss and rebound of lead and shaft.
+That, and my eagerness, told. The fellow in the
+foreground burrowed cleverly; he submerged farther
+and farther, by rapid inches. I fired twice&mdash;we could
+not see that I had even inconvenienced him. My
+Lady clutched my revolver arm.</p>
+<p>&#8220;No! Wait!&#8221; The tone rang dismayed.</p>
+<p>Trembling, blinded with heat and powder smoke,
+and heart sick, I paused, to fumble and to reload the
+almost emptied cylinder.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_296' name='page_296'></a>296</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;I can&#8217;t reach him,&#8221; said I. &#8220;He&#8217;s too far in.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Her voice answered gently.</p>
+<p>&#8220;No matter, dear. You&#8217;re firing too hastily.
+Don&#8217;t forget. Please rest a minute, and drink. You
+can bathe your eyes. It&#8217;s hard, shooting across the
+hot sand. They&#8217;ll bring others. We&#8217;ve no need to
+save water, you know.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I know,&#8221; I admitted.</p>
+<p>We niggardly drank. I dabbled my burning eyes,
+cleared my sight. Of the fellow in the rifle pit there
+was no living token. The Sioux had ceased their
+gambols. They sat steadfast, again anticipative. A
+stillness, menaceful and brooding, weighted the landscape.</p>
+<p>She sighed.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well?&#8221;</p>
+<p>The pregnant truce oppressed. What was hatching
+out, now? I cautiously shifted posture, to stretch and
+scan; instinctively groped for the canteen, to wet my
+lips again; a puff of smoke burst from the hollow, the
+canteen clinked, flew from my hand and went clattering
+among the rocks.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh!&#8221; she cried, aghast. &#8220;But you&#8217;re not hurt?&#8221;
+Then&mdash;&#8220;I saw him. He&#8217;ll come up again, in a moment.
+Be ready.&#8221;</p>
+<p>The Sioux in the background were shrieking.
+They had accounted for our mules; by chance shot
+they had nipped our water. Yet neither event affected
+us as they seemed to think it should. Mules,
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_297' name='page_297'></a>297</span>
+water&mdash;these were inconsequentials in the long-run
+that was due to be short, at most. We husbanded
+other relief in our keeping.</p>
+<p>Suddenly, as I craned, the fellow fired again; he
+was a good shot, had discovered a niche in our rampart,
+for the ball fanned my cheek with the wings of
+a vicious wasp. On the instant I replied, snapping
+quick answer.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t think you hit him,&#8221; she said. &#8220;Let me
+try. It may change the luck. You&#8217;re tired. I&#8217;ll hold
+on the spot&mdash;he&#8217;ll come up in the same place, head
+and shoulders. You&#8217;ll have to tempt him. Are you
+afraid, sir?&#8221; She smiled upon me as she took the
+revolver.</p>
+<p>&#8220;But if he kills me&mdash;&mdash;?&#8221; I faltered.</p>
+<p>&#8220;What of that?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;You.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I?&#8221; Her face filled. &#8220;I should not be long.&#8221;</p>
+<p>She adjusted the revolver to a crevice a little removed
+from me&mdash;&#8220;They will be hunting you, not
+me,&#8221; she said&mdash;and crouched behind it, peering earnestly
+out, intent upon the hollow. And I edged
+farther, and farther, as if seeking for a mark, but
+with all my flesh a-prickle and my breath fast, like
+any man, I assert, who forces himself to invite the
+striking capabilities of a rattlesnake.</p>
+<p>Abruptly it came&mdash;the strike, so venomous that it
+stung my face and scalded my eyes with the spatter
+of sandstone and hot lead; at the moment her Colt&#8217;s
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_298' name='page_298'></a>298</span>
+bellowed into my ears, thunderous because even unexpected.
+I could not see; I only heard an utterance
+that was cheer and sob in one.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I got him! Are you hurt? Are you hurt?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;No. Hurrah!&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Hurrah, dear.&#8221;</p>
+<p>The air rocked with the shouts of the Sioux;
+shouts never before so welcome in their tidings, for
+they were shouts of rage and disappointment. They
+flooded my eyes with vigor, wiped away the daze of
+the bullet impact; the hollow leaped to the fore&mdash;upon
+its low parapet a dull shade where no shade
+should naturally be, and garnished with crimson.</p>
+<p>He had doubled forward, reflexing to the blow.
+He was dead, stone dead; his crafty spirit issued
+upon the red trail of ball through his brain.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Thank God,&#8221; I rejoiced.</p>
+<p>She had sunk back wearily.</p>
+<p>&#8220;That is the last.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Won&#8217;t they try again, you think?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;The last spare shot, I mean. We have only our
+two left. We must save those.&#8221; She gravely surveyed
+me.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, we must save those,&#8221; I assented. The realization
+broke unbelievable across a momentary hiatus;
+brought me down from the false heights, to face it
+with her.</p>
+<p>A dizzy space had opened before me. I knew that
+she moved aside. She exclaimed.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_299' name='page_299'></a>299</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;Look!&#8221;</p>
+<p>It was the canteen, drained dry by a jagged gash
+from the sharpshooter&#8217;s lead.</p>
+<p>&#8220;No matter, dear,&#8221; she said.</p>
+<p>&#8220;No matter,&#8221; said I.</p>
+<p>The subject was not worth pursuing.</p>
+<p>&#8220;We have discouraged their game, again. And in
+case they rush us&mdash;&mdash;&#8221;</p>
+<p>This from her.</p>
+<p>&#8220;In case they rush us&mdash;&mdash;&#8221; I repeated. &#8220;We can
+wait a little, and see.&#8221;</p>
+<hr class='major' />
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='XXI_WE_WAIT_THE_SUMMONS' id='XXI_WE_WAIT_THE_SUMMONS'></a>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_300' name='page_300'></a>300</span>
+<h2>CHAPTER XXI</h2>
+<h3>WE WAIT THE SUMMONS</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>The Sioux had quieted. They let the hollow alone,
+tenanted as it was with death; there was for us a satisfaction
+in that tribute to our defense. Quite methodically,
+and with cruel show of leisure they distributed
+themselves by knots, in a half-encircling
+string around our asylum; they posted a sentry,
+ahorse, as a lookout; and lolling upon the bare
+ground in the sun glare they chatted, laughed, rested,
+but never for an instant were we dismissed from their
+eyes and thoughts.</p>
+<p>&#8220;They will wait, too. They can afford it,&#8221; she
+murmured. &#8220;It is cheaper for them than losing
+lives.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;If they knew we had only the two cartridges&mdash;&mdash;?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;They don&#8217;t, yet.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;And they will find out too late,&#8221; I hazarded.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, too late. We shall have time.&#8221; Her voice
+did not waver; it heartened with its vengeful, determined
+mien.</p>
+<p>Occasionally a warrior invoked us by brandishing
+arm or weapon in surety of hate and in promise of
+fancied reprisal. What fools they were! Now and
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_301' name='page_301'></a>301</span>
+again a warrior galloped upon the back trail; returned
+gleefully, perhaps to flourish an army canteen at us.</p>
+<p>&#8220;There probably is water where we heard the
+frogs last night,&#8221; she remarked.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m glad we didn&#8217;t try to reach it, for camp,&#8221; said
+I.</p>
+<p>&#8220;So am I,&#8221; said she. &#8220;We might have run
+right into them. We are better here. At least, I
+am.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;And I,&#8221; I confirmed.</p>
+<p>Strangely enough we seemed to have little to say,
+now in this precious doldrums where we were becalmed,
+between the distant past and the unlogged future.
+We had not a particle of shade, not a trace of
+coolness: the sun was high, all our rocky recess was a
+furnace, fairly reverberant with the heat; the flies
+(and I vaguely pondered upon how they had existed,
+previously, and whence they had gathered) buzzed
+briskly, attracted by the dead mule, unseen, and captiously
+diverted to us also. We lay tolerably bolstered,
+without much movement; and as the Sioux
+were not firing upon us, we might wax careless of
+their espionage.</p>
+<p>Her eyes, untroubled, scarcely left my face; I
+feared to let mine leave hers. Of what she was thinking
+I might not know, and I did not seek to know&mdash;was
+oddly yielding and content, for our decisions had
+been made. And still it was unreal, impossible: we,
+in this guise; the Sioux, watching; the desert, waiting;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_302' name='page_302'></a>302</span>
+death hovering&mdash;a sudden death, a violent death,
+the end of that which had barely begun; an end suspended
+in sight like the Dionysian sword, with the
+single hair already frayed by the greedy shears of
+the Fate. A snap, at our own signal; then presto,
+change!</p>
+<p>It simply could not be true. Why, somewhere my
+father and mother busied, mindless; somewhere Benton
+roared, mindless; somewhere the wagon train
+toiled on, mindless; the stage road missed us not, nor
+wondered; the railroad graders shoveled and scraped
+and picked as blithely as if the same desert did not
+contain them, and us; cities throbbed, people worked
+and played, and we were of as little concern to them
+now as we would be a year hence.</p>
+<p>Then it all pridefully resolved to this, like the
+warming tune of a fine battle chant: That I was here,
+with my woman, my partner woman, the much desirable
+woman whom I had won; which was more than
+Daniel, or Montoyo, or the Indian chief, or the wide
+world of other men could boast.</p>
+<p>Soon she spoke, at times, musingly.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I did make up to you, at first,&#8221; she said. &#8220;In
+Omaha, and on the train.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Did you?&#8221; I smiled. She was so childishly
+frank.</p>
+<p>&#8220;But that was only passing. Then in Benton I
+knew you were different. I wondered what it was;
+but you were different from anybody that I had met
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_303' name='page_303'></a>303</span>
+before. There&#8217;s always such a moment in a woman&#8217;s
+life.&#8221;</p>
+<p>I soberly nodded. Nothing could be a platitude in
+such a place and such an hour.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I wished to help you. Do you believe that now?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I believe you, dear heart,&#8221; I assured.</p>
+<p>&#8220;But it was partly because I thought you could
+help me,&#8221; she said, like a confession. And she added:
+&#8220;I had nothing wrong in mind. You were to be a
+friend, not a lover. I had no need of lovers; no, no.&#8221;</p>
+<p>We were silent for an interval. Again she spoke.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Do you care anything about my family? I suppose
+not. That doesn&#8217;t matter, here. But you
+wouldn&#8217;t be ashamed of them. I ran away with Montoyo.
+I thought he was something else. How could
+I go home after that? I tried to be true to him, we
+had plenty of money, he was kind to me at first, but
+he dragged me down and my father and mother don&#8217;t
+know even yet. Yes, I tried to help him, too. I
+stayed. It&#8217;s a life that gets into one&#8217;s blood. I
+feared him terribly, in time. He was a breed, and a
+devil&mdash;a gentleman devil.&#8221; She referred in the past
+tense, as to some fact definitely bygone. &#8220;I had to
+play fair with him, or&mdash;&mdash; And when I had done
+that, hoping, why, what else could I do or where could
+I go? So many people knew me.&#8221; She smiled.
+&#8220;Suddenly I tied to you, sir. I seemed to feel&mdash;I
+took the chance.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Thank God you did,&#8221; I encouraged.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_304' name='page_304'></a>304</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;But I would not have wronged myself, or you,
+or him,&#8221; she eagerly pursued. &#8220;I never did wrong
+him.&#8221; She flushed. &#8220;No man can convict me. You
+hurt me when you refused me, dear; it told me that
+you didn&#8217;t understand. Then I was desperate. I had
+been shamed before you, and by you. You were going,
+and not understanding, and I couldn&#8217;t let you.
+So I did follow you to the wagon train. You were
+my star. I wonder why. I did feel that you&#8217;d get me
+out&mdash;you see, I was so madly selfish, like a drowning
+person. I clutched at you; might have put you under
+while climbing up, myself.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;We have climbed together,&#8221; said I. &#8220;You have
+made me into a man.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;But I forced myself on you. I played you against
+Daniel. I foresaw that you might have to kill him, to
+rid me of him. You were my weapon. And I used
+you. Do you blame me that I used you?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Daniel and I were destined to meet, just as you
+and I were destined to meet,&#8221; said I. &#8220;I had to
+prove myself on him. It would have happened anyway.
+Had I not stood up to him you would not have
+loved me.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;That was not the price,&#8221; she sighed. &#8220;Maybe
+you don&#8217;t understand yet. I&#8217;m so afraid you don&#8217;t
+understand,&#8221; she pleaded. &#8220;At the last I had resigned
+you, I would have left you free, I saw how
+you felt; but, oh, it happened just the same&mdash;we were
+fated, and you showed that you hated me.&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_305' name='page_305'></a>305</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;I never hated you. I was perplexed. That was
+a part of love,&#8221; said I.</p>
+<p>&#8220;You mean it? You are holding nothing back?&#8221;
+she asked, anxious.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I am holding nothing back,&#8221; I answered. &#8220;As
+you will know, I think, in time to come.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Again we reclined, silent, at peace: a strange peace
+of mind and body, to which the demonstrations by
+the waiting Sioux were alien things.</p>
+<p>She spoke.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Are we very guilty, do you think?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;In what, dearest?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;In this, here. I am already married, you
+know.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;That is another life,&#8221; I reasoned. &#8220;It is long
+ago and under different law.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;But if we went back into it&mdash;if we escaped?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Then we should&mdash;but don&#8217;t let&#8217;s talk of that.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Then you should forget and I should return to
+Benton,&#8221; she said. &#8220;I have decided. I should return
+to Benton, where Montoyo is, and maybe find
+another way. But I should not live with him; never,
+never! I should ask him to release me.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I, with you,&#8221; I informed. &#8220;We should go together,
+and do what was best.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;You would? You wouldn&#8217;t be ashamed, or
+afraid?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Ashamed or afraid of what?&#8221;</p>
+<p>She cried out happily, and shivered.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_306' name='page_306'></a>306</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;I hope we don&#8217;t have to. He might kill you.
+Yes, I hope we don&#8217;t have to. Do you mind?&#8221;</p>
+<p>I shook my head, smiling my response. There were
+tears in her eyes, repaying me.</p>
+<p>Our conversation became more fitful. Time sped,
+I don&#8217;t know how, except that we were in a kind of
+lethargy, taking no note of time and hanging fast to
+this our respite from the tempestuous past.</p>
+<p>Once she dreamily murmured, apropos of nothing,
+yet apropos of much:</p>
+<p>&#8220;We must be about the same age. I am not old,
+not really very old.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I am twenty-five,&#8221; I answered.</p>
+<p>&#8220;So I thought,&#8221; she mused.</p>
+<p>Then, later, in manner of having revolved this idea
+also, more distinctly apropos and voiced with a certain
+triumph:</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m glad we drank water when we might; aren&#8217;t
+you?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;You were so wise,&#8221; I praised; and I felt sorry for
+her cracked lips. It is astonishing with what swiftness,
+even upon the dry desert, amid the dry air, under
+the dry burning sun, thirst quickens into a consuming
+fire scorching from within outward to the
+skin.</p>
+<p>We lapsed into that remarkable patience, playing
+the game with the Sioux and steadily viewing each
+other; and she asked, casually:</p>
+<p>&#8220;Where will you shoot me, Frank?&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_307' name='page_307'></a>307</span></p>
+<p>This bared the secret heart of me.</p>
+<p>&#8220;No! No!&#8221; I begged. &#8220;Don&#8217;t speak of that. It
+will be bad enough at the best. How can I? I don&#8217;t
+know how I can do it!&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;You will, though,&#8221; she soothed. &#8220;I&#8217;d rather
+have it from you. You must be brave, for yourself
+and for me; and kind, and quick. I think it should
+be through the temple. That&#8217;s sure. But you won&#8217;t
+wait to look, will you? You&#8217;ll spare yourself
+that?&#8221;</p>
+<p>This made me groan, craven, and wipe my hand
+across my forehead to brush away the frenzy. The
+fingers came free, damp with cold sticky sweat&mdash;a
+prodigy of a parchment skin which puzzled me.</p>
+<p>We had not exchanged a caress, save by voice; had
+not again touched each other. Sometimes I glanced
+at the Sioux, but not for long; I dreaded to lose sight
+of her by so much as a moment. The Sioux remained
+virtually as from the beginning of their vigil.
+They sat secure, drank, probably ate, with time their
+ally: sat judicial and persistent, as though depending
+upon the progress of a slow fuse, or upon the workings
+of poison, which indeed was the case.</p>
+<p>Thirst and heat tortured unceasingly. The sun had
+passed the zenith&mdash;this sun of a culminating summer
+throughout which he had thrived regal and lustful.
+It seemed ignoble of him that he now should stoop
+to torment only us, and one of us a small woman.
+There was all his boundless domain for him.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_308' name='page_308'></a>308</span></p>
+<p>But stoop he did, burning nearer and nearer. She
+broke with sudden passion of hoarse appeal.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Why do we wait? Why not now?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;We ought to wait,&#8221; I stammered, miserable and
+pitying.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes,&#8221; she whispered, submissive, &#8220;I suppose we
+ought. One always does. But I am so tired. I
+think,&#8221; she said, &#8220;that I will let my hair down. I
+shall go with my hair down. I have a right to, at the
+last.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Whereupon she fell to loosening her hair and braiding
+it with hurried fingers.</p>
+<p>Then after a time I said:</p>
+<p>&#8220;We&#8217;ll not be much longer, dear.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I hope not,&#8221; said she, panting, her lips stiff, her
+eyes bright and feverish. &#8220;They&#8217;ll rush us at sundown;
+maybe before.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I believe,&#8221; said I, blurring the words, for my
+tongue was getting unmanageable, &#8220;they&#8217;re making
+ready now.&#8221;</p>
+<p>She exclaimed and struggled and sat up, and we
+both gazed. Out there the Sioux, in that world of
+their own, had aroused to energy. I fancied that they
+had palled of the inaction. At any rate they were
+upon their feet, several were upon their horses, others
+mounted hastily, squad joined squad as though by
+summons, and here came their outpost scout, galloping
+in, his blanket streaming from one hand like a
+banner of an Islam prophet.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_309' name='page_309'></a>309</span></p>
+<p>They delayed an instant, gesticulating.</p>
+<p>&#8220;It will be soon,&#8221; she whispered, touching my arm.
+&#8220;When they are half-way, don&#8217;t fail. I trust you.
+Will you kiss me? That is only the once.&#8221;</p>
+<p>I kissed her; dry cracked lips met dry cracked lips.
+She laid herself down and closed her eyes, and
+smiled.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m all right,&#8221; she said. &#8220;And tired. I&#8217;ve
+worked so hard, for only this. You mustn&#8217;t look.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;And you must wait for me, somewhere,&#8221; I entreated.
+&#8220;Just a moment.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Of course,&#8221; she sighed.</p>
+<p>The Sioux charged, shrieking, hammering, lashing,
+all of one purpose: that, us; she, I; my life, her body;
+and quickly kneeling beside her (I was cool and firm
+and collected) I felt her hand guide the revolver
+barrel. But I did not look. She had forbidden, and
+I kept my eyes upon them, until they were half-way,
+and in exultation I pulled the trigger, my hand already
+tensed to snatch and cock and deliver myself
+under their very grasp. That was a sweetness.</p>
+<p>The hammer clicked. There had been no jar, no
+report. The hammer had only clicked, I tell you,
+shocking me to the core. A missed cartridge? An
+empty chamber? Which? No matter. I should
+achieve for her, first; then, myself. I heard her gasp,
+they were very near, how they shouted, how the bullets
+and arrows spatted and hissed, and I had convulsively
+cocked the gun, she had clutched it&mdash;when
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_310' name='page_310'></a>310</span>
+looking through them, agonized and blinded as I was&mdash;looking
+through them as if they were phantasms I
+sensed another sound and with sight sharpened I saw.</p>
+<p>Then I wrested the revolver from her. I fired pointblank,
+I fired again (the Colt&#8217;s did not fail); they
+swept by, hooting, jostling; they thudded on; and rising
+I screeched and waved, as bizarre, no doubt, as
+any animated scarecrow.</p>
+<p>It had been a trumpet note, and a cavalry guidon
+and a rank of bobbing figures had come galloping,
+galloping over an imperceptible swell.</p>
+<p>She cried to me, from my feet.</p>
+<p>&#8220;You didn&#8217;t do it! You didn&#8217;t do it!&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;We&#8217;re saved,&#8221; I blatted. &#8220;Hurrah! We&#8217;re
+saved! The soldiers are here.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Again the trumpet pealed, lilting silvery. She tottered
+up, clinging to me. She stared. She released
+me, and to my gladly questing gaze her face was very
+white, her eyes struggling for comprehension, like
+those of one awakened from a dream.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I must go back to Benton,&#8221; she faltered. &#8220;I
+shall never get away from Benton.&#8221;</p>
+<p>We stood mute while the blue-coats raced on with
+hearty cheers and brave clank of saber and canteen.
+We were sitting composedly when the lieutenant
+scrambled to us, among our rocks; the troopers followed,
+curiously scanning.</p>
+<p>His stubbled red face, dust-smeared, queried us
+keenly; so did his curt voice.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_311' name='page_311'></a>311</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;Just in time?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;In time,&#8221; I croaked. &#8220;Water! For her&mdash;for
+me.&#8221;</p>
+<p>There was a canteen apiece. We sucked.</p>
+<p>&#8220;You are the two from the Mormon wagon
+train?&#8221; he asked.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, sir. You know?&#8221; I uttered.</p>
+<p>&#8220;We came on as fast as we could. The Sioux are
+raiding again. By God, you had a narrow squeak,
+sir,&#8221; he reproved. &#8220;You were crazy to try it&mdash;you
+and a woman, alone. We&#8217;ll take you along as soon
+as my Pawnees get in from chasing those beggars.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Distant whoops from a pursuit drifted in to us,
+out of the desert.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Captain Adams sent you?&#8221; I inquired.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, sir.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I will go back,&#8221; I agreed. &#8220;I will go back, but
+there&#8217;s no need of Mrs. Montoyo. If you could see
+her safely landed at a stage station, and for Benton&mdash;&mdash;?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;We&#8217;ll land you both. I have to report at Bridger.
+The train is all right. It has an escort to Bitter
+Creek.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I can overtake it, or join it,&#8221; said I. &#8220;But the
+lady goes to Benton.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, yes,&#8221; he snapped. &#8220;That&#8217;s nothing to me,
+of course. But you&#8217;ll do better to wait for the train
+at Bridger, Mr. &mdash;&mdash;? I don&#8217;t believe I have your
+name?&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_312' name='page_312'></a>312</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;Beeson,&#8221; I informed, astonished.</p>
+<p>&#8220;And the lady&#8217;s? Your sister? Wife?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Mrs. Montoyo,&#8221; I informed. And I repeated,
+that there should be no misunderstanding. &#8220;Mrs.
+Montoyo, from Benton. No relative, sir.&#8221;</p>
+<p>He passed it over, as a gentleman should.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well, Mr. Beeson, you have business with the
+train?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I have business with Captain Adams, and he with
+me,&#8221; I replied. &#8220;As probably you know. Since he
+sent you, I shall consider myself under arrest; but I
+will return of my own free will as soon as Mrs.
+Montoyo is safe.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Under arrest? For what?&#8221; He blankly eyed
+me.</p>
+<p>&#8220;For killing that man, sir. Captain Adams&#8217; son.
+But I was forced to it&mdash;I did it in self-defense. I
+should not have left, and I am ready to face the matter
+whenever possible.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh!&#8221; said he, with a shrug, tossing the idea
+aside. &#8220;If that&#8217;s all! I did hear something about
+that, from some of my men, but nothing from
+Adams. You didn&#8217;t kill him, I understand; merely
+laid him out. I saw him, myself, but I didn&#8217;t ask
+questions. So you can rest easy on that score. His
+old man seemed to have no grudge against you for
+it. Fact is, he scarcely allowed me time to warn him
+of the Sioux before he told me you and a woman were
+out and were liable to lose your scalps, if nothing
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_313' name='page_313'></a>313</span>
+worse. I think,&#8221; the lieutenant added, narrowing
+upon me, &#8220;that you&#8217;ll find those Mormons are as just
+as any other set, in a show down. The lad, I gathered
+from the talk, drew on you after he&#8217;d cried
+quits.&#8221; He turned hastily. &#8220;You spoke, madam?
+Anything wanted?&#8221;</p>
+<p>The trumpeter orderly plucked me by the sleeve.
+He was a squat, sun-scorched little man, and his red-rimmed
+blue eyes squinted at me with painful interest.
+He whispered harshly from covert of bronzed
+hand.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Beg your pardon, sorr. Mrs. Montoyo, be it&mdash;that
+lady?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;From Benton City, sorr, ye say?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;From Benton City.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Sure, I know the name. It&#8217;s the same of a gambler
+the vigilantes strung up last week; for I was
+there to see.&#8221;</p>
+<p>I heard a gusty sigh, an exclamation from the
+lieutenant. My Lady had fainted again.</p>
+<p>&#8220;The reaction, sir,&#8221; I apologized, to the lieutenant,
+as we worked.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Naturally,&#8221; answered he. &#8220;You&#8217;ll both go back
+to Benton?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Certainly,&#8221; said I.</p>
+<hr class='major' />
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='XXII_STAR_SHINE' id='XXII_STAR_SHINE'></a>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_314' name='page_314'></a>314</span>
+<h2>CHAPTER XXII</h2>
+<h3>STAR SHINE</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>It was six weeks later, with My Lady all recovered
+and I long since healed, and Fort Bridger pleasant in
+our memories, when we two rode into Benton once
+more, by horse from the nearest stage point. And
+here we sat our saddles, silent, wondering; for of
+Benton there was little significant of the past, very
+little tangible of the present, naught promising of its
+future.</p>
+<p>Roaring Benton City had vanished, you might say,
+utterly. The iron tendrils of the Pacific Railway
+glistened, stretching westward into the sunset, and
+Benton had followed the lure, to Rawlins (as had
+been told us), to Green River, to Bryan&mdash;likely now
+still onward, for the track was traveling fast, charging
+the mountain slopes of Utah. The restless dust
+had settled. The Queen Hotel, the Big Tent, the
+rows of canvas, plank, tin, sheet metal, what-not
+stores, saloons, gambling dens, dance halls, human
+habitations&mdash;the blatant street and the station itself
+had subsided into this: a skeleton company of hacked
+and weazened posts, a fantastic outcrop of coldly
+blackened clay chimneys, a sprinkling of battered
+cans. The fevered populace who had ridden high
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_315' name='page_315'></a>315</span>
+upon the tide of rapid life had remained only as
+ghosts haunting a potter&#8217;s field, and the turmoil of
+frenzied pleasure had dwindled to a coyote&#8217;s yelp
+mocking the twilight.</p>
+<p>&#8220;It all, all is wiped out, like he is,&#8221; she said. &#8220;But
+I wished to see.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;All, all is wiped out, dear heart,&#8221; said I. &#8220;All of
+that. But here are you and I.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Through star shine we cantered side by side eastward
+down the old, empty freighting road, for the
+railway station at Fort Steele.</p>
+<div class='ce'>
+<p style='margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:2em;'>THE END</p>
+</div>
+
+<!-- generated by ppgen.rb version: 2.58 -->
+<!-- timestamp: Sun Dec 07 10:13:58 -0700 2008 -->
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Desert Dust, by Edwin L. Sabin
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DESERT DUST ***
+
+***** This file should be named 27437-h.htm or 27437-h.zip *****
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+        http://www.gutenberg.org/2/7/4/3/27437/
+
+Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
+will be renamed.
+
+Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
+one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
+(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
+permission and without paying copyright royalties.  Special rules,
+set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
+copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
+protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark.  Project
+Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
+charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission.  If you
+do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
+rules is very easy.  You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
+such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
+research.  They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
+practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks.  Redistribution is
+subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
+redistribution.
+
+
+
+*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
+http://gutenberg.org/license).
+
+
+Section 1.  General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works
+
+1.A.  By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement.  If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
+all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
+If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
+terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
+entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
+
+1.B.  "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark.  It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement.  There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.  See
+paragraph 1.C below.  There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
+and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.  See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C.  The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
+or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works.  Nearly all the individual works in the
+collection are in the public domain in the United States.  If an
+individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
+located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
+copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
+works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
+are removed.  Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
+Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
+freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
+this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
+the work.  You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
+keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D.  The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work.  Copyright laws in most countries are in
+a constant state of change.  If you are outside the United States, check
+the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
+before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
+creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
+Gutenberg-tm work.  The Foundation makes no representations concerning
+the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
+States.
+
+1.E.  Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1.  The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
+access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
+whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
+phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
+copied or distributed:
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+1.E.2.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
+from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
+posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
+and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
+or charges.  If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
+with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
+work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
+through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
+Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
+1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
+terms imposed by the copyright holder.  Additional terms will be linked
+to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
+permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4.  Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5.  Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6.  You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
+word processing or hypertext form.  However, if you provide access to or
+distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
+"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
+posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
+you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
+copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
+request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
+form.  Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7.  Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8.  You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
+that
+
+- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+     the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+     you already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  The fee is
+     owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
+     has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
+     Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.  Royalty payments
+     must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
+     prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
+     returns.  Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
+     sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
+     address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
+     the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+     you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+     does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+     License.  You must require such a user to return or
+     destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
+     and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
+     Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
+     money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+     electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
+     of receipt of the work.
+
+- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+     distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9.  If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
+forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
+both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
+Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark.  Contact the
+Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1.  Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
+collection.  Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
+"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
+property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
+computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
+your equipment.
+
+1.F.2.  LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
+of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees.  YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3.  YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3.  LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from.  If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
+your written explanation.  The person or entity that provided you with
+the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
+refund.  If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
+providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
+receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund.  If the second copy
+is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
+opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4.  Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
+WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5.  Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
+If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
+law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
+interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
+the applicable state law.  The invalidity or unenforceability of any
+provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6.  INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
+with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
+promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
+harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
+that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
+or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
+work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
+Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
+
+
+Section  2.  Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
+including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.  It exists
+because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
+people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come.  In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
+To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
+and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org.
+
+
+Section 3.  Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
+Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service.  The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541.  Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at
+http://pglaf.org/fundraising.  Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
+permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
+Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
+throughout numerous locations.  Its business office is located at
+809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
+business@pglaf.org.  Email contact links and up to date contact
+information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
+page at http://pglaf.org
+
+For additional contact information:
+     Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+     Chief Executive and Director
+     gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+
+Section 4.  Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment.  Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States.  Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements.  We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance.  To
+SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
+particular state visit http://pglaf.org
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States.  U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses.  Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations.
+To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate
+
+
+Section 5.  General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
+with anyone.  For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
+Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
+
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we do not necessarily
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
+
+     http://www.gutenberg.org
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
+
+
+</pre>
+
+</body>
+</html>
diff --git a/27437-h/images/illus-084.jpg b/27437-h/images/illus-084.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2982272
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-h/images/illus-084.jpg
diff --git a/27437-h/images/illus-278.jpg b/27437-h/images/illus-278.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d084d95
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-h/images/illus-278.jpg
diff --git a/27437-h/images/illus-emb.jpg b/27437-h/images/illus-emb.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..91a08a3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-h/images/illus-emb.jpg
diff --git a/27437-h/images/illus-fpc.jpg b/27437-h/images/illus-fpc.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..661e261
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-h/images/illus-fpc.jpg
diff --git a/27437-page-images/f001.jpg b/27437-page-images/f001.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1a66b47
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/f001.jpg
diff --git a/27437-page-images/f002.png b/27437-page-images/f002.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1af2eb4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/f002.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/f003.png b/27437-page-images/f003.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8a70e53
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/f003.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/f004.png b/27437-page-images/f004.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..84c981b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/f004.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/f005.png b/27437-page-images/f005.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..509da76
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/f005.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/f006.png b/27437-page-images/f006.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..355cd56
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/f006.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/f007.png b/27437-page-images/f007.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..509da76
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/f007.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p009.png b/27437-page-images/p009.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d502985
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p009.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p010.png b/27437-page-images/p010.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8c2b720
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p010.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p011.png b/27437-page-images/p011.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3f46edd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p011.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p012.png b/27437-page-images/p012.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6e4401b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p012.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p013.png b/27437-page-images/p013.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..273a5f8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p013.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p014.png b/27437-page-images/p014.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ea9d65b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p014.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p015.png b/27437-page-images/p015.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4ab8a7c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p015.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p016.png b/27437-page-images/p016.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5d9d9cb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p016.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p017.png b/27437-page-images/p017.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6b8b6e2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p017.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p018.png b/27437-page-images/p018.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d22d5e9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p018.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p019.png b/27437-page-images/p019.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ad322d5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p019.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p020.png b/27437-page-images/p020.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bcacb9f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p020.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p021.png b/27437-page-images/p021.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..74d9325
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p021.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p022.png b/27437-page-images/p022.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d7e47f9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p022.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p023.png b/27437-page-images/p023.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bae9562
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p023.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p024.png b/27437-page-images/p024.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ab8ff64
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p024.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p025.png b/27437-page-images/p025.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4ded6a0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p025.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p026.png b/27437-page-images/p026.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5c1857a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p026.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p027.png b/27437-page-images/p027.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..44c9d01
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p027.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p028.png b/27437-page-images/p028.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f4d1b25
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p028.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p029.png b/27437-page-images/p029.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..389f555
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p029.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p030.png b/27437-page-images/p030.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f99a3f8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p030.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p031.png b/27437-page-images/p031.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..74f439a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p031.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p032.png b/27437-page-images/p032.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4d9fad9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p032.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p033.png b/27437-page-images/p033.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5f531fc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p033.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p034.png b/27437-page-images/p034.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fdffe25
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p034.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p035.png b/27437-page-images/p035.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1cb0043
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p035.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p036.png b/27437-page-images/p036.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..17a207e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p036.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p037.png b/27437-page-images/p037.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d122ae1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p037.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p038.png b/27437-page-images/p038.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..260e89d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p038.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p039.png b/27437-page-images/p039.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ca57cfe
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p039.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p040.png b/27437-page-images/p040.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..71c2b2b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p040.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p041.png b/27437-page-images/p041.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7707589
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p041.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p042.png b/27437-page-images/p042.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b2c6471
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p042.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p043.png b/27437-page-images/p043.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fde3479
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p043.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p044.png b/27437-page-images/p044.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..aa65f19
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p044.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p045.png b/27437-page-images/p045.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6fb126d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p045.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p046.png b/27437-page-images/p046.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..60fc23b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p046.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p047.png b/27437-page-images/p047.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f97336c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p047.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p048.png b/27437-page-images/p048.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a926d00
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p048.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p049.png b/27437-page-images/p049.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..887a2ab
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p049.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p050.png b/27437-page-images/p050.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2892539
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p050.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p051.png b/27437-page-images/p051.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..85dbb08
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p051.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p052.png b/27437-page-images/p052.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..10db8b8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p052.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p053.png b/27437-page-images/p053.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e6cefb3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p053.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p054.png b/27437-page-images/p054.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d03c57d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p054.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p055.png b/27437-page-images/p055.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..052b45b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p055.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p056.png b/27437-page-images/p056.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bb17c83
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p056.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p057.png b/27437-page-images/p057.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..82595c5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p057.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p058.png b/27437-page-images/p058.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..689095d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p058.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p059.png b/27437-page-images/p059.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..107aadf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p059.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p060.png b/27437-page-images/p060.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bc39ace
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p060.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p061.png b/27437-page-images/p061.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..621b66b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p061.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p062.png b/27437-page-images/p062.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e6aae1e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p062.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p063.png b/27437-page-images/p063.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e707256
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p063.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p064.png b/27437-page-images/p064.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3b4a670
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p064.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p065.png b/27437-page-images/p065.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b2b1cbd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p065.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p066.png b/27437-page-images/p066.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..177d3bf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p066.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p067.png b/27437-page-images/p067.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..53e00de
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p067.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p068.png b/27437-page-images/p068.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..67bb263
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p068.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p069.png b/27437-page-images/p069.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d4598c9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p069.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p070.png b/27437-page-images/p070.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..532c7cd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p070.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p071.png b/27437-page-images/p071.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b113fe5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p071.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p072.png b/27437-page-images/p072.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e4a0ede
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p072.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p073.png b/27437-page-images/p073.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..865b6b9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p073.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p074.png b/27437-page-images/p074.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e578979
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p074.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p075.png b/27437-page-images/p075.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..371a1a8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p075.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p076.png b/27437-page-images/p076.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..472652a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p076.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p077.png b/27437-page-images/p077.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..40a1d0d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p077.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p078.png b/27437-page-images/p078.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1753707
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p078.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p079.png b/27437-page-images/p079.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c95022c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p079.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p080.png b/27437-page-images/p080.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2a799f3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p080.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p081.png b/27437-page-images/p081.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9eb1751
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p081.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p082.png b/27437-page-images/p082.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f8b3677
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p082.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p083.png b/27437-page-images/p083.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..87c8674
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p083.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p084-insert.jpg b/27437-page-images/p084-insert.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b4f3281
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p084-insert.jpg
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p084.png b/27437-page-images/p084.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..57d7830
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p084.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p085.png b/27437-page-images/p085.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4354b51
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p085.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p086.png b/27437-page-images/p086.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e9b9624
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p086.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p087.png b/27437-page-images/p087.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9d44e97
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p087.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p088.png b/27437-page-images/p088.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..73a79b2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p088.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p089.png b/27437-page-images/p089.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..530ca45
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p089.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p090.png b/27437-page-images/p090.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bef23c8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p090.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p091.png b/27437-page-images/p091.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8fd7cfd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p091.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p092.png b/27437-page-images/p092.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..871a1b6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p092.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p093.png b/27437-page-images/p093.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3fe3727
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p093.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p094.png b/27437-page-images/p094.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..833e887
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p094.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p095.png b/27437-page-images/p095.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ff9b517
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p095.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p096.png b/27437-page-images/p096.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b47cc00
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p096.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p097.png b/27437-page-images/p097.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..70cb24d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p097.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p098.png b/27437-page-images/p098.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..16857b4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p098.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p099.png b/27437-page-images/p099.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8df8db4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p099.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p100.png b/27437-page-images/p100.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..096af11
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p100.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p101.png b/27437-page-images/p101.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a6e5f86
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p101.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p102.png b/27437-page-images/p102.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1158e70
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p102.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p103.png b/27437-page-images/p103.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..650cbba
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p103.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p104.png b/27437-page-images/p104.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b7fb9b0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p104.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p105.png b/27437-page-images/p105.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1501bae
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p105.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p106.png b/27437-page-images/p106.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..370cd6b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p106.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p107.png b/27437-page-images/p107.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bb98cdb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p107.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p108.png b/27437-page-images/p108.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6e27a2b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p108.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p109.png b/27437-page-images/p109.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7c82ed1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p109.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p110.png b/27437-page-images/p110.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..019eeae
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p110.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p111.png b/27437-page-images/p111.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..cd524d7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p111.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p112.png b/27437-page-images/p112.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a17b823
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p112.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p113.png b/27437-page-images/p113.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4d3b78a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p113.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p114.png b/27437-page-images/p114.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..03a3f98
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p114.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p115.png b/27437-page-images/p115.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f78ea8e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p115.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p116.png b/27437-page-images/p116.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4f7bef1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p116.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p117.png b/27437-page-images/p117.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f462815
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p117.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p118.png b/27437-page-images/p118.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b73aa1c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p118.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p119.png b/27437-page-images/p119.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4870b89
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p119.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p120.png b/27437-page-images/p120.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a1fa123
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p120.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p121.png b/27437-page-images/p121.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a77a167
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p121.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p122.png b/27437-page-images/p122.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3cb1fab
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p122.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p123.png b/27437-page-images/p123.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..efd7ca9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p123.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p124.png b/27437-page-images/p124.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9c1000d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p124.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p125.png b/27437-page-images/p125.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1395e9f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p125.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p126.png b/27437-page-images/p126.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..35bd6ba
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p126.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p127.png b/27437-page-images/p127.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7772fb9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p127.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p128.png b/27437-page-images/p128.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5cb1620
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p128.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p129.png b/27437-page-images/p129.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f43edb9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p129.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p130.png b/27437-page-images/p130.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e5eaabd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p130.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p131.png b/27437-page-images/p131.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..86a83b0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p131.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p132.png b/27437-page-images/p132.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..116546d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p132.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p133.png b/27437-page-images/p133.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..83d9d5c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p133.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p134.png b/27437-page-images/p134.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d257771
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p134.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p135.png b/27437-page-images/p135.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1ebad4e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p135.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p136.png b/27437-page-images/p136.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e9c5272
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p136.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p137.png b/27437-page-images/p137.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d1c045a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p137.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p138.png b/27437-page-images/p138.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..720841a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p138.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p139.png b/27437-page-images/p139.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f3d3aa6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p139.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p140.png b/27437-page-images/p140.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7c54165
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p140.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p141.png b/27437-page-images/p141.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..16df4ea
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p141.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p142.png b/27437-page-images/p142.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ad9c085
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p142.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p143.png b/27437-page-images/p143.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..375db6c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p143.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p144.png b/27437-page-images/p144.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9e302d4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p144.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p145.png b/27437-page-images/p145.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..046604b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p145.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p146.png b/27437-page-images/p146.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5d7cb08
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p146.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p147.png b/27437-page-images/p147.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3f55c3a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p147.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p148.png b/27437-page-images/p148.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0d9fc66
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p148.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p149.png b/27437-page-images/p149.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f535d73
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p149.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p150.png b/27437-page-images/p150.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a0af6b5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p150.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p151.png b/27437-page-images/p151.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1f32b6b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p151.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p152.png b/27437-page-images/p152.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a9de3e0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p152.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p153.png b/27437-page-images/p153.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c0873b7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p153.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p154.png b/27437-page-images/p154.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f45ab13
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p154.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p155.png b/27437-page-images/p155.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..66f4df4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p155.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p156.png b/27437-page-images/p156.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ac03487
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p156.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p157.png b/27437-page-images/p157.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a7bbe6e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p157.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p158.png b/27437-page-images/p158.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..06db313
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p158.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p159.png b/27437-page-images/p159.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c135c68
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p159.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p160.png b/27437-page-images/p160.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..11466ad
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p160.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p161.png b/27437-page-images/p161.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c6964d2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p161.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p162.png b/27437-page-images/p162.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3da7545
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p162.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p163.png b/27437-page-images/p163.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..86bc849
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p163.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p164.png b/27437-page-images/p164.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8f68004
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p164.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p165.png b/27437-page-images/p165.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3d878e3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p165.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p166.png b/27437-page-images/p166.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8186320
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p166.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p167.png b/27437-page-images/p167.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..48a1a74
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p167.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p168.png b/27437-page-images/p168.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2aaa504
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p168.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p169.png b/27437-page-images/p169.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..69516e4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p169.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p170.png b/27437-page-images/p170.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..eda64d4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p170.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p171.png b/27437-page-images/p171.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f915855
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p171.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p172.png b/27437-page-images/p172.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d02b730
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p172.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p173.png b/27437-page-images/p173.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..49a1ff2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p173.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p174.png b/27437-page-images/p174.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..05e0ff3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p174.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p175.png b/27437-page-images/p175.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a682106
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p175.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p176.png b/27437-page-images/p176.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..71fc980
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p176.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p177.png b/27437-page-images/p177.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e39edb6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p177.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p178.png b/27437-page-images/p178.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bf32f3b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p178.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p179.png b/27437-page-images/p179.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..411a13f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p179.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p180.png b/27437-page-images/p180.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9188f7d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p180.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p181.png b/27437-page-images/p181.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f307594
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p181.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p182.png b/27437-page-images/p182.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..dc6cf87
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p182.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p183.png b/27437-page-images/p183.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e65e3ac
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p183.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p184.png b/27437-page-images/p184.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..de07d50
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p184.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p185.png b/27437-page-images/p185.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..70ed63a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p185.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p186.png b/27437-page-images/p186.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3dbe1a9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p186.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p187.png b/27437-page-images/p187.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1bf4d9e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p187.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p188.png b/27437-page-images/p188.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7ddeea5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p188.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p189.png b/27437-page-images/p189.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e0891a2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p189.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p190.png b/27437-page-images/p190.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..56ace62
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p190.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p191.png b/27437-page-images/p191.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a055599
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p191.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p192.png b/27437-page-images/p192.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fa01643
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p192.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p193.png b/27437-page-images/p193.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5746849
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p193.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p194.png b/27437-page-images/p194.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ce7afc5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p194.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p195.png b/27437-page-images/p195.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..29b8c60
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p195.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p196.png b/27437-page-images/p196.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bc53a40
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p196.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p197.png b/27437-page-images/p197.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d7ed5ac
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p197.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p198.png b/27437-page-images/p198.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..52fd205
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p198.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p199.png b/27437-page-images/p199.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ca6e3a5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p199.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p200.png b/27437-page-images/p200.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..835791e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p200.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p201.png b/27437-page-images/p201.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a548e45
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p201.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p202.png b/27437-page-images/p202.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9f7f05b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p202.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p203.png b/27437-page-images/p203.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..717c905
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p203.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p204.png b/27437-page-images/p204.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1c0be10
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p204.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p205.png b/27437-page-images/p205.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8190f95
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p205.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p206.png b/27437-page-images/p206.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..95be1c7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p206.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p207.png b/27437-page-images/p207.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e841769
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p207.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p208.png b/27437-page-images/p208.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1cd527d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p208.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p209.png b/27437-page-images/p209.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..df59b3e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p209.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p210.png b/27437-page-images/p210.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ca78fd7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p210.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p211.png b/27437-page-images/p211.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..685863d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p211.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p212.png b/27437-page-images/p212.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..cd3d620
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p212.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p213.png b/27437-page-images/p213.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9736656
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p213.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p214.png b/27437-page-images/p214.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..efeeb30
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p214.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p215.png b/27437-page-images/p215.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..490aecc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p215.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p216.png b/27437-page-images/p216.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2c055e4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p216.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p217.png b/27437-page-images/p217.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c7d3fcf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p217.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p218.png b/27437-page-images/p218.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..09abf55
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p218.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p219.png b/27437-page-images/p219.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..829c52d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p219.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p220.png b/27437-page-images/p220.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6fdd8b3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p220.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p221.png b/27437-page-images/p221.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ca752b3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p221.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p222.png b/27437-page-images/p222.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0823cce
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p222.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p223.png b/27437-page-images/p223.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d2a7c3a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p223.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p224.png b/27437-page-images/p224.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ff5492d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p224.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p225.png b/27437-page-images/p225.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a193ab4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p225.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p226.png b/27437-page-images/p226.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..93fb3e4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p226.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p227.png b/27437-page-images/p227.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..add30d6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p227.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p228.png b/27437-page-images/p228.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f84a3ad
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p228.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p229.png b/27437-page-images/p229.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2cb051e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p229.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p230.png b/27437-page-images/p230.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d29d179
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p230.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p231.png b/27437-page-images/p231.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..906165a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p231.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p232.png b/27437-page-images/p232.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..50d00a0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p232.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p233.png b/27437-page-images/p233.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e7ca027
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p233.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p234.png b/27437-page-images/p234.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1e9d928
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p234.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p235.png b/27437-page-images/p235.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1957732
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p235.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p236.png b/27437-page-images/p236.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..92faf17
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p236.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p237.png b/27437-page-images/p237.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8d72751
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p237.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p238.png b/27437-page-images/p238.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e0f1edf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p238.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p239.png b/27437-page-images/p239.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8beefbe
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p239.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p240.png b/27437-page-images/p240.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3a39291
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p240.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p241.png b/27437-page-images/p241.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6df7241
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p241.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p242.png b/27437-page-images/p242.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..10cda7d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p242.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p243.png b/27437-page-images/p243.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ada9bb9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p243.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p244.png b/27437-page-images/p244.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d144211
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p244.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p245.png b/27437-page-images/p245.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..92f3b92
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p245.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p246.png b/27437-page-images/p246.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bbc7a30
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p246.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p247.png b/27437-page-images/p247.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f9fb643
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p247.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p248.png b/27437-page-images/p248.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..af895d0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p248.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p249.png b/27437-page-images/p249.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..74292d4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p249.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p250.png b/27437-page-images/p250.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5da5309
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p250.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p251.png b/27437-page-images/p251.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5f4e9e8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p251.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p252.png b/27437-page-images/p252.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7869665
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p252.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p253.png b/27437-page-images/p253.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5031889
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p253.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p254.png b/27437-page-images/p254.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..dfbb23b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p254.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p255.png b/27437-page-images/p255.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..066dccc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p255.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p256.png b/27437-page-images/p256.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3ea2514
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p256.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p257.png b/27437-page-images/p257.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7159372
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p257.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p258.png b/27437-page-images/p258.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d6fe62f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p258.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p259.png b/27437-page-images/p259.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f00ed7d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p259.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p260.png b/27437-page-images/p260.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ee9a6e9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p260.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p261.png b/27437-page-images/p261.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d9fd076
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p261.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p262.png b/27437-page-images/p262.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3b731e6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p262.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p263.png b/27437-page-images/p263.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a1e9817
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p263.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p264.png b/27437-page-images/p264.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..04ab39a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p264.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p265.png b/27437-page-images/p265.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..817e45a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p265.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p266.png b/27437-page-images/p266.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..dbbe7f2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p266.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p267.png b/27437-page-images/p267.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3458f37
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p267.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p268.png b/27437-page-images/p268.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fc005ea
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p268.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p269.png b/27437-page-images/p269.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..75a4cce
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p269.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p270.png b/27437-page-images/p270.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..796a5a0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p270.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p271.png b/27437-page-images/p271.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..66751f0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p271.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p272.png b/27437-page-images/p272.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2c57c3c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p272.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p273.png b/27437-page-images/p273.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..62ed44d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p273.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p274.png b/27437-page-images/p274.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3ff1ab1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p274.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p275.png b/27437-page-images/p275.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5640953
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p275.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p276.png b/27437-page-images/p276.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bd529c3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p276.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p277.png b/27437-page-images/p277.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..28906fb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p277.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p278-insert.jpg b/27437-page-images/p278-insert.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..86a5e7d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p278-insert.jpg
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p278.png b/27437-page-images/p278.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b5b1b87
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p278.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p279.png b/27437-page-images/p279.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..eaa9cbd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p279.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p280.png b/27437-page-images/p280.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fda6ec3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p280.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p281.png b/27437-page-images/p281.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c2e44ab
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p281.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p282.png b/27437-page-images/p282.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..855005f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p282.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p283.png b/27437-page-images/p283.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..54688aa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p283.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p284.png b/27437-page-images/p284.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..53c5cfe
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p284.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p285.png b/27437-page-images/p285.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a7f8143
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p285.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p286.png b/27437-page-images/p286.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..84006a7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p286.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p287.png b/27437-page-images/p287.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..04ee5bf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p287.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p288.png b/27437-page-images/p288.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2749dfd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p288.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p289.png b/27437-page-images/p289.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..613623e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p289.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p290.png b/27437-page-images/p290.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8f93d54
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p290.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p291.png b/27437-page-images/p291.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5d76d4d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p291.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p292.png b/27437-page-images/p292.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c428782
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p292.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p293.png b/27437-page-images/p293.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..db78b3b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p293.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p294.png b/27437-page-images/p294.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3b7c005
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p294.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p295.png b/27437-page-images/p295.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..cef4775
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p295.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p296.png b/27437-page-images/p296.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b0add3e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p296.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p297.png b/27437-page-images/p297.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..11d6ab2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p297.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p298.png b/27437-page-images/p298.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..395d7a4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p298.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p299.png b/27437-page-images/p299.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..984f308
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p299.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p300.png b/27437-page-images/p300.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fcf5090
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p300.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p301.png b/27437-page-images/p301.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d05b5c0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p301.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p302.png b/27437-page-images/p302.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..41f480a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p302.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p303.png b/27437-page-images/p303.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a071414
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p303.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p304.png b/27437-page-images/p304.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..84c2421
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p304.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p305.png b/27437-page-images/p305.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..64b8712
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p305.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p306.png b/27437-page-images/p306.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..63cb53d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p306.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p307.png b/27437-page-images/p307.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8e99e83
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p307.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p308.png b/27437-page-images/p308.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..715bb9f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p308.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p309.png b/27437-page-images/p309.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fb1048c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p309.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p310.png b/27437-page-images/p310.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..13e9385
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p310.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p311.png b/27437-page-images/p311.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9d04838
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p311.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p312.png b/27437-page-images/p312.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0fa9d5f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p312.png
diff --git a/27437-page-images/p313.png b/27437-page-images/p313.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f5e5c4b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437-page-images/p313.png
diff --git a/27437.txt b/27437.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8ac648f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,9028 @@
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Desert Dust, by Edwin L. Sabin
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Desert Dust
+
+Author: Edwin L. Sabin
+
+Illustrator: J. Clinton Shepherd
+
+Release Date: December 7, 2008 [EBook #27437]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DESERT DUST ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Like some land of Heart's Desire (see page 22).]
+
+
+
+
+DESERT DUST
+
+By
+
+EDWIN L. SABIN
+
+Author of "How Are You Feeling Now?" etc.
+
+ILLUSTRATED BY
+
+J. CLINTON SHEPHERD
+
+[Illustration: QUINON PROFICIT DEFICIT]
+
+PHILADELPHIA
+
+GEORGE W. JACOBS & COMPANY
+
+PUBLISHERS
+
+
+
+
+Copyright, 1921, by
+Frank A. Munsey Company
+
+Copyright, 1922, by
+George W. Jacobs & Company
+
+All rights reserved
+Printed in U. S. A.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+ CHAPTER                          PAGE
+     I.  A Pair of Blue Eyes         9
+    II.  To Better Acquaintance     22
+   III.  I Rise in Favor            36
+    IV.  I Meet Friends             54
+     V.  On Grand Tour              72
+    VI.  "High and Dry"             88
+   VII.  I Go to Rendezvous        102
+  VIII.  I Stake on the Queen      118
+    IX.  I Accept an Offer         131
+     X.  I Cut Loose               145
+    XI.  We Get a "Super"          162
+   XII.  Daniel Takes Possession   181
+  XIII.  Someone Fears             197
+   XIV.  I Take a Lesson           205
+    XV.  The Trail Narrows         223
+   XVI.  I Do the Deed             240
+  XVII.  The Trail Forks           252
+ XVIII.  Voices in the Void        261
+   XIX.  I Stake Again             272
+    XX.  The Queen Wins            286
+   XXI.  We Wait the Summons       300
+  XXII.  Star Shine                314
+
+
+
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+                                                         PAGE
+Like some land of Heart's Desire (see page 22).  Frontispiece
+"Madam," I Uttered Foolishly, "Good Evening."              85
+The Scouts Galloped Onward                                280
+
+
+
+
+DESERT DUST
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+A PAIR OF BLUE EYES
+
+
+In the estimate of the affable brakeman (a gentleman wearing sky-blue army
+pantaloons tucked into cowhide boots, half-buttoned vest, flannel shirt
+open at the throat, and upon his red hair a flaring-brimmed black slouch
+hat) we were making a fair average of twenty miles an hour across the
+greatest country on earth. It was a flat country of far horizons, and for
+vast stretches peopled mainly, as one might judge from the car windows, by
+antelope and the equally curious rodents styled prairie dogs.
+
+Yet despite the novelty of such a ride into that unknown new West now
+being spanned at giant's strides by the miraculous Pacific Railway, behold
+me, surfeited with already five days' steady travel, engrossed chiefly in
+observing a clear, dainty profile and waiting for the glimpses, time to
+time, of a pair of exquisite blue eyes.
+
+Merely to indulge myself in feminine beauty, however, I need not have
+undertaken the expense and fatigue of journeying from Albany on the Hudson
+out to Omaha on the plains side of the Missouri River; thence by the
+Union Pacific Railroad of the new transcontinental line into the Indian
+country. There were handsome women a-plenty in the East; and of access,
+also, to a youth of family and parts. I had pictures of the same in my
+social register. A man does not attain to twenty-five years without having
+accomplished a few pages of the heart book. Nevertheless all such pages
+were--or had seemed to be--wholly retrospective now, for here I was,
+advised by the physicians to "go West," meaning by this not simply the
+one-time West of Ohio, or Illinois, or even Iowa, but the remote and
+genuine West lying beyond the Missouri.
+
+Whereupon, out of desperation that flung the gauntlet down to hope I had
+taken the bull by the horns in earnest. West should be full dose, at the
+utmost procurable by modern conveyance.
+
+The Union Pacific announcements acclaimed that this summer of 1868 the
+rails should cross the Black Hills Mountains of Wyoming to another range
+of the Rocky Mountains, in Utah; and that by the end of the year one might
+ride comfortably clear to Salt Lake City. Certainly this was "going West"
+with a vengeance; but as appeared to me--and to my father and mother and
+the physicians--somewhere in the expanse of brand new Western country, the
+plains and mountains, I would find at least the breath of life.
+
+When I arrived in Omaha the ticket agent was enabled to sell me
+transportation away to the town of Benton, Wyoming Territory itself, six
+hundred and ninety miles (he said) west of the Missouri.
+
+Of Benton I had never heard. It was upon no public maps, as yet. But in
+round figures, seven hundred miles! Practically the distance from Albany
+to Cincinnati, and itself distant from Albany over two thousand miles! All
+by rail.
+
+Benton was, he explained, the present end of passenger service, this
+August. In another month--and he laughed.
+
+"Fact is, while you're standing here," he alleged, "I may get orders any
+moment to sell a longer ticket. The Casements are laying two to three
+miles of track a day, seven days in the week, and stepping right on the
+heels of the graders. Last April we were selling only to Cheyenne, rising
+of five hundred miles. Then in May we began to sell to Laramie, five
+hundred and seventy-six miles. Last of July we began selling to Benton, a
+hundred and twenty miles farther. Track's now probably fifty or more miles
+west of Benton and there's liable to be another passenger terminus
+to-morrow. So it might pay you to wait."
+
+"No," I said. "Thank you, but I'll try Benton. I can go on from there as I
+think best. Could you recommend local accommodations?"
+
+He stared, through the bars of the little window behind which lay a
+six-chambered revolver.
+
+"Could I do what, sir?"
+
+"Recommend a hotel, at Benton where I'm going. There is a hotel, I
+suppose?"
+
+"Good Lord!" he exclaimed testily. "In a city of three thousand people? A
+hotel? A dozen of 'em, but I don't know their names. What do you expect to
+find in Benton? You're from the East, I take it. Going out on spec', or
+pleasure, or health?"
+
+"I have been advised to try Western air for a change," I answered. "I am
+looking for some place that is high, and dry."
+
+"Consumption, eh?" he shrewdly remarked. "High and dry; that's it. Oh,
+yes; you'll find Benton high enough, and toler'bly dry. You bet! And
+nobody dies natural, at Benton, they say. Here's your ticket. Thank you.
+And the change. Next, please."
+
+It did not take me long to gather the change remaining from seventy
+dollars greenbacks swapped for six hundred and ninety miles of travel at
+ten cents a mile. I hastily stepped aside. A subtle fragrance and a rustle
+warned me that I was obstructing a representative of the fair sex. So did
+the smirk and smile of the ticket agent.
+
+"Your pardon, madam," I proffered, lifting my hat--agreeably dazzled while
+thus performing.
+
+She acknowledged the tribute with a faint blush. While pocketing my change
+and stowing away my ticket I had opportunity to survey her further.
+
+"Benton," she said briefly, to the agent.
+
+We were bound for the same point, then. Ye gods, but she was a little
+beauty: a perfect blonde, of the petite and fully formed type, with
+regular features inclined to the clean-cut Grecian, a piquant mouth
+deliciously bowed, two eyes of the deepest blue veiled by long lashes, and
+a mass of glinting golden hair upon which perched a ravishing little
+bonnet. The natural ensemble was enhanced by her costume, all of black,
+from the closely fitting bodice to the rustling crinoline beneath which
+there peeped out tiny shoes. I had opportunity also to note the jet
+pendant in the shelly ear toward me, and the flashing rings upon the
+fingers of her hands, ungloved in order to sort out the money from her
+reticule.
+
+Sooth to say, I might not stand there gawking. Once, by a demure sideways
+glance, she betrayed knowledge of my presence. Her own transaction was all
+matter-of-fact, as if engaging passage to Benton of Wyoming Territory
+contained no novelty for her. Could she by any chance live there--a woman
+dressed like she was, as much a la mode as if she walked Broadway in New
+York? Omaha itself had astonished me with the display upon its streets;
+and now if Benton, far out in the wilderness, should prove another
+surprise----! Indeed, the Western world was not so raw, after all. Strange
+to say, as soon as one crossed the Missouri River one began to sense
+romance, and to discover it.
+
+As seemed to me, the ticket agent would have detained her, in defiance of
+the waiting line; but she finished her business shortly, with shorter
+replies to his idle remarks; and I turned away under pretense of examining
+some placards upon the wall advertising "Platte Valley lands" for sale. I
+had curiosity to see which way she wended. Then as she tripped for the
+door, casting eyes never right nor left, and still fumbling at her
+reticule, a coin slipped from her fingers and rolled, by good fortune,
+across the floor.
+
+I was after it instantly; caught it, and with best bow presented it.
+
+"Permit me, madam."
+
+She took it.
+
+"Thank you, sir."
+
+For a moment she paused to restore it to its company; and I grasped the
+occasion.
+
+"I beg your pardon. You are going to Benton, of Wyoming Territory?"
+
+Her eyes met mine so completely as well-nigh to daze me with their glory.
+There was a quizzical uplift in her frank, arch smile.
+
+"I am, sir. To Benton City, of Wyoming Territory."
+
+"You are acquainted there?" I ventured.
+
+"Yes, sir. I am acquainted there. And you are from Benton?"
+
+"Oh, no," I assured. "I am from New York State." As if anybody might not
+have known. "But I have just purchased my ticket to Benton, and----" I
+stammered, "I have made bold to wonder if you would not have the goodness
+to tell me something of the place--as to accommodations, and all that. You
+don't by any chance happen to live there, do you?"
+
+"And why not, sir, may I ask?" she challenged.
+
+I floundered before her query direct, and her bewildering eyes and
+lips--all tantalizing.
+
+"I didn't know--I had no idea--Wyoming Territory has been mentioned in the
+newspapers as largely Indian country----"
+
+"At Benton we are only six days behind New York fashions," she smiled.
+"You have not been out over the railroad, then, I suspect. Not to North
+Platte? Nor to Cheyenne?"
+
+"I have never been west of Cincinnati before."
+
+"You have surely been reading of the railroad? The Pacific Railway between
+the East and California?"
+
+"Yes, indeed. In fact, a friend of mine, named Stephen Clark, nephew of
+the Honorable Thurlow Weed formerly of Albany, was killed a year ago by
+your Indians while surveying west of the Black Hills. And of course there
+have been accounts in the New York papers."
+
+"You are not on survey service? Or possibly, yes?"
+
+"No, madam."
+
+"A pleasure trip to end of track?"
+
+She evidently was curious, but I was getting accustomed to questions into
+private matters. That was the universal license, out here.
+
+"The pleasure of finding health," I laughed. "I have been advised to seek
+a location high and dry."
+
+"Oh!" She dimpled adorably. "I congratulate you on your choice. You will
+make no mistake, then, in trying Benton. I can promise you that it is high
+and reasonably dry. And as for accommodations--so far as I have ever heard
+anybody is accommodated there with whatever he may wish." She darted a
+glance at me; stepped aside as if to leave.
+
+"I am to understand that it is a city?" I pleaded.
+
+"Benton? Why, certainly. All the world is flowing to Benton. We gained
+three thousand people in two weeks--much to the sorrow of poor old
+Cheyenne and Laramie. No doubt there are five thousand people there now,
+and all busy. Yes, a young man will find his opportunities in Benton. I
+think your choice will please you. Money is plentiful, and so are the
+chances to spend it." She bestowed upon me another sparkling glance. "And
+since we are both going to Benton I will say 'Au revoir,' sir." She left
+me quivering.
+
+"You do live there?" I besought, after; and received a nod of the golden
+head as she entered the sacred Ladies' Waiting Room.
+
+Until the train should be made up I might only stroll, restless and
+strangely buoyed, with that vision of an entrancing fellow traveler
+filling my eyes. Summoned in due time by the clamor "Passengers for the
+Pacific Railway! All aboard, going west on the Union Pacific!" here amidst
+the platform hurly-burly of men, women, children and bundles I had the
+satisfaction to sight the black-clad figure of My Lady of the Blue Eyes;
+hastening, like the rest, but not unattended--for a brakeman bore her
+valise and the conductor her parasol. The scurrying crowd gallantly parted
+before her. It as promptly closed upon her wake; try as I might I was
+utterly unable to keep in her course.
+
+Obviously, the train was to be well occupied. Carried on willy-nilly I
+mounted the first steps at hand; elbowed on down the aisle until I managed
+to squirm aside into a vacant seat. The remaining half was at once
+effectually filled by a large, stout, red-faced woman who formed the base
+of a pyramid of boxes and parcels.
+
+My neighbor, who blocked all egress, was going to North Platte, three
+hundred miles westward, I speedily found out. And she almost as speedily
+learned that I was going to Benton.
+
+She stared, round-eyed.
+
+"I reckon you're a gambler, young man," she accused.
+
+"No, madam. Do I look like a gambler?"
+
+"You can't tell by looks, young man," she asserted, still suspicious,
+"Maybe you're on spec', then, in some other way."
+
+"I am seeking health in the West, is all, where the climate is high and
+dry."
+
+"My Gawd!" she blurted. "High and dry! You're goin' to the right place.
+For all I hear tell, Benton is high enough and dry enough. Are your
+eye-teeth peeled, young man?"
+
+"My eye-teeth?" I repeated. "I hope so, madam. Are eye-teeth necessary in
+Benton?"
+
+"Peeled, and with hair on 'em, young man," she assured. "I guess you're a
+pilgrim, ain't you? I see a leetle green in your eye. No, you ain't a
+tin-horn. You're some mother's boy, jest gettin' away from the trough. My
+sakes! Sick, too, eh? Weak lungs, ain't it? Now you tell me: Why you goin'
+to Benton?"
+
+There was an inviting kindness in her query. Plainly she had a good heart,
+large in proportion with her other bulk.
+
+"It's the farthest point west that I can reach by railroad, and everybody
+I have talked with has recommended it as high and dry."
+
+"So it is," she nodded; and chuckled fatly. "But laws sakes, you don't
+need to go that fur. You can as well stop off at North Platte, or Sidney
+or Cheyenne. They'll sculp you sure at Benton, unless you watch out mighty
+sharp."
+
+"How so, may I ask?"
+
+"You're certainly green," she apprised. "Benton's roarin'--and I know what
+that means. Didn't North Platte roar? I seen it at its beginnin's. My old
+man and me, we were there from the fust, when it started in as the
+railroad terminal. My sakes, but them were times! What with the gamblin'
+and the shootin' and the drinkin' and the high-cockalorums night and day,
+'twasn't no place for innocence. Easy come, easy go, that was the word. I
+don't say but what times were good, though. My old man contracted
+government freight, and I run an eatin' house for the railroaders, so we
+made money. Then when the railroad moved terminus, the wust of the crowd
+moved, too, and us others who stayed turned North Platte into a strictly
+moral town. But land sakes! North Platte in its roarin' days wasn't no
+place for a young man like you. Neither was Julesburg, or Sidney, or
+Cheyenne, when they was terminuses. And I hear tell Benton is wuss'n all
+rolled into one. Young man, now listen: You stop off at North Platte,
+Nebrasky. It's healthy and it's moral, and it's goin' to make Omyha look
+like a shinplaster. I'll watch after you. Maybe I can get you a job in my
+man's store. You've j'ined some church, I reckon? Now if you're a
+Baptist----?"
+
+But since I had crossed the Missouri something had entered into my blood
+which rendered me obstinate against such allurements. For her North
+Platte, "strictly moral," and the guardianship of her broad motherly wing
+I had no ardent feeling. I was set upon Benton; foolishly, fatuously set.
+And in after days--soon to arrive--I bitterly regretted that I had not
+yielded to her wholesome, honest counsel.
+
+Nevertheless this was true, at present:
+
+"But I have already purchased my ticket to Benton," I objected. "I
+understand that I shall find the proper climate there, and suitable
+accommodations. And if I don't like it I can move elsewhere. Possibly to
+Salt Lake City, or Denver."
+
+She snorted.
+
+"In among them Mormons? My Gawd, young man! Where they live in
+conkibinage--several women to one man, like a buffler herd or other beasts
+of the field? I guess your mother never heard you talk like that.
+Denver--well, Denver mightn't be bad, though I do hear tell that folks
+nigh starve to death there, what with the Injuns and the snow. Denver
+ain't on no railroad, either. If you want health, and to grow up with a
+strictly moral community, you throw in with North Platte of Nebrasky, the
+great and growin' city of the Plains. I reckon you've heard of North
+Platte, even where you come from. You take my word for it, and exchange
+your ticket."
+
+It struck me here that the good woman might not be unbiased in her
+fondness for North Platte. To extol the present and future of these
+Western towns seemed a fixed habit. During my brief stay in Omaha--yes, on
+the way across Illinois and Iowa from Chicago, I had encountered this
+peculiar trait. Iowa was rife with aspiring if embryonic metropolises. Now
+in Nebraska, Columbus was destined to be the new national capital and the
+center of population for the United States; Fremont was lauded as one of
+the great railroad junctions of the world; and North Platte, three hundred
+miles out into the plains, was proclaimed as the rival of Omaha, and
+"strictly moral."
+
+"I thank you," I replied. "But since I've started for Benton I think I'll
+go on. And if I don't like it or it doesn't agree with me you may see me
+in North Platte after all."
+
+She grunted.
+
+"You can find me at the Bon Ton restaurant. If you get in broke, I'll take
+care of you."
+
+With that she settled herself comfortably. In remarkably short order she
+was asleep and snoring.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+TO BETTER ACQUAINTANCE
+
+
+The train had started amidst clangor of bell and the shouts of good-bye
+and good-luck from the crowd upon the station platform. We had rolled out
+through train yards occupied to the fullest by car shops, round house,
+piled-up freight depot, stacks of ties and iron, and tracks covered with
+freight cars loaded high to rails, ties, baled hay, all manner and means
+of supplies designed, I imagined, for the building operations far in the
+West.
+
+Soon we had left this busy Train Town behind, and were entering the open
+country. The landscape was pleasing, but the real sights probably lay
+ahead; so I turned from my window to examine my traveling quarters.
+
+The coach--a new one, built in the company's shops and decidedly upon a
+par with the very best coaches of the Eastern roads--was jammed; every
+seat taken. I did not see My Lady of the Blue Eyes, nor her equal, but
+almost the whole gamut of society was represented: Farmers, merchants, a
+few soldiers, plainsmen in boots and flannel shirt-sleeves and long hair
+and large hats, with revolvers hanging from the racks above them or from
+the seat ends; one or two white-faced gentry in broadcloth and
+patent-leather shoes--who I fancied might be gamblers such as now and then
+plied their trade upon the Hudson River boats; two Indians in blankets;
+Eastern tourists, akin to myself; women and children of country type; and
+so forth. What chiefly caught my eye were the carbines racked against the
+ends of the coach, for protection in case of Indians or highwaymen, no
+doubt. I observed bottles being passed from hand to hand, and tilted en
+route. The amount and frequency of the whiskey for consumption in this
+country were astonishing.
+
+My friend snored peacefully. Near noon we halted for dinner at the town of
+Fremont, some fifty miles out. She awakened at the general stir, and when
+I squeezed by her she immediately fished for a packet of lunch. We had
+thirty minutes at Fremont--ample time in which to discuss a very excellent
+meal of antelope steaks, prairie fowl, fried potatoes and hot biscuits.
+There was promise of buffalo meat farther on, possibly at the next meal
+station, Grand Island.
+
+The time was sufficient, also, to give me another glimpse of My Lady of
+the Blue Eyes, who appeared to have been awarded the place of honor
+between the conductor and the brakeman, at table. She bestowed upon me a
+subtle glance of recognition--with a smile and a slight bow in one; but I
+failed to find her upon the station platform after the meal. That I should
+obtain other opportunities I did not doubt. Benton was yet thirty hours'
+travel.
+
+All that afternoon we rocked along up the Platte Valley, with the Platte
+River--a broad but shallow stream--constantly upon our left. My seat
+companion evidently had exhausted her repertoire, for she slumbered at
+ease, gradually sinking into a shapeless mass, her flowered bonnet askew.
+Several other passengers also were sleeping; due, in part, to the whiskey
+bottles. The car was thinning out, I noted, and I might bid in advance for
+the chance of obtaining a new location in a certain car ahead.
+
+The scenery through the car window had merged into a monotony accentuated
+by great spaces. As far as Fremont the country along the railroad had been
+well settled with farms and unfenced cultivated fields. Now we had issued
+into the untrammeled prairies, here and there humanized by an isolated
+shack or a lonely traveler by horse or wagon, but in the main a vast
+sun-baked dead sea of gentle, silent undulations extending, brownish,
+clear to the horizons. The only refreshing sights were the Platte River,
+flowing blue and yellow among sand-bars and islands, and the side streams
+that we passed. Close at hand the principal tokens of life were the little
+flag stations, and the tremendous freight trains side-tracked to give us
+the right of way. The widely separated hamlets where we impatiently
+stopped were the oases in the desert.
+
+In the sunset we halted at the supper station, named Grand Island. My
+seat neighbor finished her lunch box, and I returned well fortified by
+another excellent meal at the not exorbitant price, one dollar and a
+quarter. There had been buffalo meat--a poor apology, to my notion, for
+good beef. Antelope steak, on the contrary, was of far finer flavor than
+the best mutton.
+
+At Grand Island a number of wretched native Indians drew my attention, for
+the time being, from quest of My Lady of the Blue Eyes. However, she was
+still escorted by the conductor, who in his brass buttons and officious
+air began to irritate me. Such a persistent squire of dames rather
+overstepped the duties of his position. Confound the fellow! He surely
+would come to the end of his run and his rope before we went much
+farther.
+
+"Now, young man, if you get shet of your foolishness and decide to try
+North Platte instead of some fly-by-night town on west," my seat companion
+addressed, "you jest follow me when I leave. We get to North Platte after
+plumb dark, and you hang onto my skirts right up town, till I land you in
+a good place. For if you don't, you're liable to be skinned alive."
+
+"If I decide upon North Platte I certainly will take advantage of your
+kindness," I evaded. Forsooth, she had a mind to kidnap me!
+
+"Now you're talkin' sensible," she approved. "My sakes alive! Benton!" And
+she sniffed. "Why, in Benton they'll snatch you bald-headed 'fore you've
+been there an hour."
+
+She composed herself for another nap.
+
+"If that pesky brakeman don't remember to wake me, you give me a poke with
+your elbow. I wouldn't be carried beyond North Platte for love or money."
+
+She gurgled, she snored. The sunset was fading from pink to gold--a gold
+like somebody's hair; and from gold to lemon which tinted all the prairie
+and made it beautiful. Pursuing the sunset we steadily rumbled westward
+through the immensity of unbroken space.
+
+The brakeman came in, lighting the coal-oil lamps. Outside, the twilight
+had deepened into dusk. Numerous passengers were making ready for bed: the
+men by removing their boots and shoes and coats and galluses and
+stretching out; the women by loosening their stays, with significant
+clicks and sighs, and laying their heads upon adjacent shoulders or
+drooping against seat ends. Babies cried, and were hushed. Final
+night-caps were taken, from the prevalent bottles.
+
+The brakeman, returning, paused and inquired right and left on his way
+through. He leaned to me.
+
+"You for North Platte?"
+
+"No, sir. Benton, Wyoming Territory."
+
+"Then you'd better move up to the car ahead. This car stops at North
+Platte."
+
+"What time do we reach North Platte?"
+
+"Two-thirty in the morning. If you don't want to be waked up, you'd better
+change now. You'll find a seat."
+
+At that I gladly followed him out. He indicated a half-empty seat.
+
+"This gentleman gets off a bit farther on; then you'll have the seat to
+yourself."
+
+The arrangement was satisfactory, albeit the "gentleman" with whom I
+shared appeared, to nose and eyes, rather well soused, as they say; but
+fortune had favored me--across the aisle, only a couple of seats beyond, I
+glimpsed the top of a golden head, securely low and barricaded in by
+luggage.
+
+Without regrets I abandoned my former seat-mate to her disappointment when
+she waked at North Platte. This car was the place for me, set apart by the
+salient presence of one person among all the others. That, however, is apt
+to differentiate city from city, and even land from land.
+
+Eventually I, also, slept--at first by fits and starts concomitant with
+railway travel by night, then more soundly when the "gentleman," my
+comrade in adventure, had been hauled out and deposited elsewhere. I fully
+awakened only at daylight.
+
+The train was rumbling as before. The lamps had been extinguished--the
+coach atmosphere was heavy with oil smell and the exhalations of human
+beings in all stages of deshabille. But the golden head was there, about
+as when last sighted.
+
+Now it stirred, and erected a little. I felt the unseemliness of sitting
+and waiting for her to make her toilet, so I hastily staggered to achieve
+my own by aid of the water tank, tin basin, roller towel and small
+looking-glass at the rear--substituting my personal comb and brush for the
+pair hanging there by cords.
+
+The coach was the last in the train. I stepped out upon the platform, for
+fresh air.
+
+We were traversing the real plains of the Great American Desert, I judged.
+The prairie grasses had shortened to brown stubble interspersed with bare
+sandy soil rising here and there into low hills. It was a country without
+north, south, east, west, save as denoted by the sun, broadly launching
+his first beams of the day. Behind us the single track of double rails
+stretched straight away as if clear to the Missouri. The dull blare of the
+car wheels was the only token of life, excepting the long-eared rabbits
+scampering with erratic high jumps, and the prairie dogs sitting bolt
+upright in the sunshine among their hillocked burrows. Of any town there
+was no sign. We had cut loose from company.
+
+Then we thundered by a freight train, loaded with still more ties and
+iron, standing upon a siding guarded by the idling trainmen and by an
+operator's shack. Smoke was welling from the chimney of the shack--and
+that domestic touch gave me a sense of homesickness. Yet I would not have
+been home, even for breakfast. This wide realm of nowhere fascinated with
+the unknown.
+
+The train and shack flattened into the landscape. A bevy of antelope
+flashed white tails at us as they scudded away. Two motionless figures,
+horseback, whom I took to be wild Indians, surveyed us from a distant
+sand-hill. Across the river there appeared a fungus of low buildings,
+almost indistinguishable, with a glimmer of canvas-topped wagons fringing
+it. That was the old emigrant road.
+
+While I was thus orienting myself in lonesome but not entirely hopeless
+fashion the car door opened and closed. I turned my head. The Lady of the
+Blue Eyes had joined me. As fresh as the morning she was.
+
+"Oh! You? I beg your pardon, sir." She apologized, but I felt that the
+diffidence was more politic than sincere.
+
+"You are heartily welcome, madam," I assured. "There is air enough for us
+both."
+
+"The car is suffocating," she said. "However, the worst is over. We shall
+not have to spend another such a night. You are still for Benton?"
+
+"By all means." And I bowed to her. "We are fellow-travelers to the end, I
+believe."
+
+"Yes?" She scanned me. "But I do not like that word: the end. It is not a
+popular word, in the West. Certainly not at Benton. For instance----"
+
+We tore by another freight waiting upon a siding located amidst a wide
+debris of tin cans, scattered sheet-iron, stark mud-and-stone chimneys,
+and barren spots, resembling the ruins from fire and quake.
+
+"There is Julesburg."
+
+"A town?" I gasped.
+
+"The end." She smiled. "The only inhabitants now are in the station-house
+and the graveyard."
+
+"And the others? Where are they?"
+
+"Farther west. Many of them in Benton."
+
+"Indeed? Or in North Platte!" I bantered.
+
+"North Platte!" She laughed merrily. "Dear me, don't mention North
+Platte--not in the same breath with Benton, or even Cheyenne. A town of
+hayseeds and dollar-a-day clerks whose height of sport is to go fishing in
+the Platte! A young man like you would die of ennui in North Platte.
+Julesburg was a good town while it lasted. People _lived_, there; and
+moved on because they wished to keep alive. What is life, anyway, but a
+constant shuffle of the cards? Oh, I should have laughed to see you in
+North Platte." And laugh she did. "You might as well be dead underground
+as buried in one of those smug seven-Sabbaths-a-week places."
+
+Her free speech accorded ill with what I had been accustomed to in
+womankind; and yet became her sparkling eyes and general dash.
+
+"To be dead is past the joking, madam," I reminded.
+
+"Certainly. To be dead is the end. In Benton we live while we live, and
+don't mention the end. So I took exception to your gallantry." She glanced
+behind her, through the door window into the car. "Will you," she asked
+hastily, "join me in a little appetizer, as they say? You will find it a
+superior cognac--and we breakfast shortly, at Sidney."
+
+From a pocket of her skirt she had extracted a small silver flask,
+stoppered with a tiny screw cup. Her face swam before me, in my
+astonishment.
+
+"I rarely drink liquor, madam," I stammered.
+
+"Nor I. But when traveling--you know. And in high and--dry Benton liquor
+is quite a necessity. You will discover that, I am sure. You will not
+decline to taste with a lady? Let us drink to better acquaintance, in
+Benton."
+
+"With all my heart, madam," I blurted.
+
+She poured, while swaying to the motion of the train; passed the cup to me
+with a brightly challenging smile.
+
+"Ladies first. That is the custom, is it not?" I queried.
+
+"But I am hostess, sir. I do the honors. Pray do you your duty."
+
+"To our better acquaintance, then, madam," I accepted. "In Benton."
+
+The cognac swept down my throat like a stab of hot oil. She poured for
+herself.
+
+"A votre sante, monsieur--and continued beginnings, no ends." She daintily
+tossed it off.
+
+We had consummated our pledges just in time. The brakeman issued, stumping
+noisily and bringing discord into my heaven of blue and gold and
+comfortable warmth.
+
+"Howdy, lady and gent? Breakfast in twenty minutes." He grinned affably at
+her; yes, with a trace of familiarity. "Sleep well, madam?"
+
+"Passably, thank you." Her voice held a certain element of calm
+interrogation as if to ask how far he intended to push acquaintance.
+"We're nearing Sidney, you say? Then I bid you gentlemen good-morning."
+
+With a darting glance at him and a parting smile for me she passed inside.
+The brakeman leaned for an instant's look ahead, up the track, and
+lingered.
+
+"Friend of yours, is she?"
+
+"I met her at Omaha, is all," I stiffly informed.
+
+"Considerable of a dame, eh?" He eyed me. "You're booked for Benton,
+too?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Never been there, myself. She's another hell-roarer, they say."
+
+"Sir!" I remonstrated.
+
+"Oh, the town, the town," he enlightened. "I'm saying nothing against it,
+for that matter--nor against her, either. They're both O. K."
+
+"You are acquainted with the lady, yourself?"
+
+"Her? Sure. I know about everybody along the line between Platte and
+Cheyenne. Been running on this division ever since it opened."
+
+"She lives in Benton, though, I understand," I proffered.
+
+"Why, yes; sure she does. Moved there from Cheyenne." He looked at me
+queerly. "Naturally. Ain't that so?"
+
+"Probably it is," I admitted. "I see no reason to doubt your word."
+
+"Yep. Followed her man. A heap of people moved from Cheyenne to Benton, by
+way of Laramie."
+
+"She is married, then?"
+
+"Far as I know. Anyway, she's not single, by a long shot." And he laughed.
+"But, Lord, that cuts no great figger. People here don't stand on ceremony
+in those matters. Everything's aboveboard. Hands on the table until time
+to draw--then draw quick."
+
+His language was a little too bluff for me.
+
+"Her husband is in business, no doubt?"
+
+"Business?" He stared unblinking. "I see." He laid a finger alongside his
+nose, and winked wisely. "You bet yuh! And good business. Yes, siree. Are
+you on?"
+
+"Am I on?" I repeated. "On what? The train?"
+
+"Oh, on your way."
+
+"To Benton; certainly."
+
+"Do you see any green in my eye, friend?" he demanded.
+
+"I do not."
+
+"Or in the moon, maybe?"
+
+"No, nor in the moon," I retorted. "But what is all this about?"
+
+"I'll be damned!" he roundly vouchsafed. And--"You've been having a quiet
+little smile with her, eh?" He sniffed suspiciously. "A few swigs of
+that'll make a pioneer of you quicker'n alkali. She's favoring you--eh?
+Now if she tells you of a system, take my advice and quit while your
+hair's long."
+
+"My hair is my own fashion, sir," I rebuked. "And the lady is not for
+discussion between gentlemen, particularly as my acquaintance with her is
+only casual. I don't understand your remarks, but if they are insinuations
+I shall have to ask you to drop the subject."
+
+"Tut, tut!" he grinned. "No offense intended, Mister Pilgrim. Well, you're
+all right. We can't be young more than once, and if the lady takes you in
+tow in Benton you'll have the world by the tail as long as it holds. She
+moves with the top-notchers; she's a knowing little piece--no offense. Her
+and me are good enough friends. There's no brace game in that deal. I only
+aim to give you a steer. Savvy?" And he winked. "You're out to see the
+elephant, yourself."
+
+"I am seeking health, is all," I explained. "My physician had advised a
+place in the Far West, high and dry; and Benton is recommended."
+
+His response was identical with others preceding.
+
+"High and dry? By golly, then Benton's the ticket. It's sure high, and
+sure dry. You bet yuh! High and dry and roaring."
+
+"Why 'roaring'?" I demanded at last. The word had been puzzling me.
+
+"Up and coming. Pop goes the weasel, at Benton. Benton? Lord love you!
+They say it's got Cheyenne and Laramie backed up a tree, the best days
+they ever seen. When you step off at Benton step lively and keep an eye in
+the back of your head. There's money to be made at Benton, by the wise
+ones. Watch out for ropers and if you get onto a system, play it. There
+ain't any limit to money or suckers."
+
+"I may not qualify as to money," I informed. "But I trust that I am no
+sucker."
+
+"No green in the eye, eh?" he approved. "Anyhow, you have a good lead if
+your friend in black cottons to you." Again he winked. "You're not a
+bad-looking young feller." He leaned over the side steps, and gazed ahead.
+"Sidney in sight. Be there directly. We're hitting twenty miles and better
+through the greatest country on earth. The engineer smells breakfast."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+I RISE IN FAVOR
+
+
+With that he went forward. So did I; but the barricade at the end of My
+Lady's seat was intact, and I sat down in my own seat, to keep expectant
+eye upon her profile--a decided relief amidst that crude melange of people
+in various stages of hasty dressing after a night of cramped postures.
+
+The brakeman's words, although mysterious in part, had concluded
+reassuringly. My Lady, he said, would prove a valuable friend in Benton. A
+friend at hand means a great deal to any young man, stranger in a strange
+land.
+
+The conductor came back--a new conductor; stooped familiarly over the
+barricade and evidently exchanged pleasantries with her.
+
+"Sidney! Sidney! Twenty minutes for breakfast!" the brakeman bawled, from
+the door.
+
+There was the general stir. My Lady shot a glance at me, with inviting
+eyes, but arose in response to the proffered arm of the conductor, and I
+was late. The aisle filled between us as he ushered her on and the train
+slowed to grinding of brakes and the tremendous clanging of a gong.
+
+Of Sidney there was little to see: merely a station-house and the small
+Railroad Hotel, with a handful of other buildings forming a single
+street--all squatting here near a rock quarry that broke the expanse of
+uninhabited brown plains. The air, however, was wonderfully invigorating;
+the meal excellent, as usual; and when I emerged from the dining-room,
+following closely a black figure crowned with gold, I found her strolling
+alone upon the platform.
+
+Therefore I caught up with her. She faced me with ready smile.
+
+"You are rather slow in action, sir," she lightly accused. "We might have
+breakfasted together; but it was the conductor again, after all."
+
+"I plead guilty, madam," I admitted. "The trainmen have an advantage over
+me, in anticipating events. But the next meal shall be my privilege. We
+stop again before reaching Benton?"
+
+"For dinner, yes; at Cheyenne."
+
+"And after that you will be home."
+
+"Home?" she queried, with a little pucker between her brows.
+
+"Yes. At Benton."
+
+"Of course." She laughed shortly. "Benton is now home. We have moved so
+frequently that I have grown to call almost no place home."
+
+"I judge then that you are connected, as may happen, with a flexible
+business," I hazarded. "If you are in the army I can understand."
+
+"No, I'm not an army woman; but there is money in following the railroad,
+and that is our present life," she said frankly. "A town springs up, you
+know, at each terminus, booms as long as the freight and passengers pile
+up--and all of a sudden the go-ahead business and professional men pull
+stakes for the next terminus as soon as located. That has been the custom,
+all the way from North Platte to Benton."
+
+"Which accounts for your acquaintance along the line. The trainmen seem to
+know you."
+
+"Trainmen and others; oh, yes. It is to be expected. I have no objections
+to that. I am quite able to take care of myself, sir."
+
+We were interrupted. A near-drunken rowdy (upon whom I had kept an uneasy
+corner of an eye) had been careening over the platform, a whiskey bottle
+protruding from the hip pocket of his sagging jeans, a large revolver
+dangling at his thigh, his slouch hat cocked rakishly upon his tousled
+head. His language was extremely offensive--he had an ugly mood on, but
+nobody interfered. The crowd stood aside--the natives laughing, the
+tourists like myself viewing him askance, and several Indians watching
+only gravely.
+
+He sighted us, and staggered in.
+
+"Howdy?" he uttered, with an oath. "Shay--hello, stranger. Have a smile.
+Take two, one for lady. Hic!" And he thrust his bottle at me.
+
+My Lady drew back. I civilly declined the "smile."
+
+"Thank you. I do not drink."
+
+"What?" He stared blearily. His tone stiffened. "The hell you say. Too
+tony, eh? Too--'ic! Have a smile, I ask you, one gent to 'nother. Have a
+smile, you (unmentionable) pilgrim; fer if you don't----"
+
+"Train's starting, Jim," she interposed sharply. "If you want to get
+aboard you'd better hurry."
+
+The engine tooted, the bell was ringing, the passengers were hurrying,
+incited by the conductor's shout: "All 'board!"
+
+Without another word she tripped for the car steps. I gave the fellow one
+firm look as he stood stupidly scratching his thatch as if to harrow his
+ideas; and perforce left him. By the cheers he undoubtedly made in the
+same direction. I was barely in time myself. The train moved as I planted
+foot upon the steps of the nearest car--the foremost of the two. The train
+continued; halted again abruptly, while cheers rang riotous; and when I
+crossed the passageway between this car and ours the conductor and
+brakeman were hauling the tipsy Jim into safety.
+
+My Lady was ensconced.
+
+"Did they get him?" she inquired, when I paused.
+
+"By the scruff of the neck. The drunken fellow, you mean."
+
+"Yes; Jim."
+
+"You know him?"
+
+"He's from Benton. I suppose he's been down here on a little pasear, as
+they say."
+
+"If you think he'll annoy you----?" I made bold to suggest, for I greatly
+coveted the half of her seat.
+
+"Oh, I'm not afraid of Jim. But yes, do sit down. You can put these things
+back in your seat. Then we can talk."
+
+I had no more than settled triumphantly, when the brakeman ambled through,
+his face in a broad grin. He also paused, to perch upon the seat end, his
+arm extended friendlily along the back.
+
+"Well, we got him corralled," he proclaimed needlessly. "That t'rantular
+juice nigh broke his neck for him."
+
+"Did you take his bottle away, Jerry?" she asked.
+
+"Sure thing. He'll be peaceable directly. Soused to the guards. Reckon
+he's inclined to be a trifle ugly when he's on a tear, ain't he? They'd
+shipped him out of Benton on a down train. Now he's going back up."
+
+"He's safe, you think?"
+
+"Sewed tight. He'll sleep it off and be ready for night." The brakeman
+winked at her. "You needn't fear. He'll be on deck, right side up with
+care."
+
+"I've told this gentleman that I'm not afraid," she answered quickly.
+
+"Of course. And he knows what's best for him, himself." The brakeman
+slapped me on the shoulder and good-naturedly straightened. "So does this
+young gentleman, I rather suspicion. I can see his fortune's made. You
+bet, if he works it right. I told him if you cottoned to him----"
+
+"Now you're talking too much, Jerry," she reproved. "The gentleman and I
+are only traveling acquaintances."
+
+"Yes, ma'am. To Benton. Let 'er roar. Cheyenne's the closest I can get,
+myself, and Cheyenne's a dead one--blowed up, busted worse'n a galvanized
+Yank with a pocket full o' Confed wall-paper." He yawned. "Guess I'll take
+forty winks. Was up all night, and a man can stand jest so much, Injuns or
+no Injuns."
+
+"Did you expect to meet with Indians, sir, along the route?" I asked.
+
+"Hell, yes. Always expect to meet 'em between Kearney and Julesburg. It's
+about time they were wrecking another train. Well, so long. Be good to
+each other." With this parting piece of impertinence he stumped out.
+
+"A friendly individual, evidently," I hazarded, to tide her over her
+possible embarrassment.
+
+Her laugh assured me that she was not embarrassed at all, which proved her
+good sense and elevated her even farther in my esteem.
+
+"Oh, Jerry's all right. I don't mind Jerry, except that his tongue is
+hung in the middle. He probably has been telling you some tall yarns?"
+
+"He? No, I don't think so. He may have tried it, but his Western
+expressions are beyond me as yet. In fact, what he was driving at on the
+rear platform I haven't the slightest idea."
+
+"Driving at? In what way, sir?"
+
+"He referred to the green in his eye and in the moon, as I recall; and to
+a mysterious 'system'; and gratuitously offered me a 'steer.'"
+
+Her face hardened remarkably, so that her chin set as if tautened by iron
+bands. Those eyes glinted with real menace.
+
+"He did, did he? Along that line of talk! The clapper-jaw! He's altogether
+too free." She surveyed me keenly. "And naturally you couldn't understand
+such lingo."
+
+"I was not curious enough to try, my dear madam. He talked rather at
+random; likely enjoyed bantering me. But," I hastily placated in his
+behalf, "he recommended Benton as a lively place, and you as a friend of
+value in case that you honored me with your patronage."
+
+"My patronage, for you?" she exclaimed. "Indeed? To what extent? Are you
+going into business, too? As one of--us?"
+
+"If I should become a Bentonite, as I hope," I gallantly replied, "then of
+course I should look to permanent investment of some nature. And before my
+traveling funds run out I shall be glad of light employment. The brakeman
+gave me to understand merely that by your kindly interest you might be
+disposed to assist me."
+
+"Oh!" Her face lightened. "I dare say Jerry means well. But when you spoke
+of 'patronage'---- That is a current term of certain import along the
+railroad." She leaned to me; a glow emanated from her. "Tell me of
+yourself. You have red blood? Do you ever game? For if you are not afraid
+to test your luck and back it, there is money to be made very easily at
+Benton, and in a genteel way." She smiled bewitchingly. "Or are you a
+Quaker, to whom life is deadly serious?"
+
+"No Quaker, madam." How could I respond otherwise to that pair of dancing
+blue eyes, to that pair of derisive lips? "As for gaming--if you mean
+cards, why, I have played at piquet and romp, in a social way, for small
+stakes; and my father brought Old Sledge back from the army, to the family
+table."
+
+"You are lucky. I can see it," she alleged.
+
+"I am, on this journey," I asserted.
+
+She blushed.
+
+"Well said, sir. And if you choose to make use of your luck, in Benton, by
+all means----"
+
+Whether she would have shaped her import clearly I did not know. There was
+a commotion in the forward part of the car. That same drunken wretch Jim
+had appeared; his bottle (somehow restored to him) in hand, his hat
+pushed back from his flushed greasy forehead.
+
+"Have a smile, ladies an' gents," he was bellowing thickly. "Hooray! Have
+a smile on me. Great an' gloryus 'casion--'ic! Ever'body smile. Drink to
+op'nin' gloryus Pac'fic--'ic--Railway. Thash it. Hooray!" Thus he came
+reeling down the aisle, thrusting his bottle right and left, to be denied
+with shrinkings or with bluff excuses.
+
+It seemed inevitable that he should reach us. I heard My Lady utter a
+little gasp, as she sat more erect; and here he was, espying us readily
+enough with that uncanny precision of a drunken man, his bottle to the
+fore.
+
+"Have a smile, you two. Wouldn't smile at station; gotto smile now. Yep.
+'Ic! 'Ray for Benton! All goin' to Benton. Lesh be good fellers."
+
+"You go back to your seat, Jim," she ordered tensely. "Go back, if you
+know what's good for you."
+
+"Whash that? Who your dog last year? Shay! You can't come no highty-tighty
+over me. Who your new friend? Shay!" He reeled and gripped the seat,
+flooding me with his vile breath. "By Gawd, I got the dead-wood on you,
+you----!" and he had loosed such a torrent of low epithets that they are
+inconceivable.
+
+"For that I'd kill you in any other place, Jim," she said. "You know I'm
+not afraid of you. Now get, you wolf!" Her voice snapped like a whip-lash
+at the close; she had made sudden movement of hand--it was extended and I
+saw almost under my nose the smallest pistol imaginable; nickeled, of two
+barrels, and not above three inches long; projecting from her palm, the
+twin hammers cocked; and it was as steady as a die.
+
+Assuredly My Lady did know how to take care of herself. Still, that was
+not necessary now.
+
+"No!" I warned. "No matter. I'll tend to him."
+
+The fellow's face had convulsed with a snarl of redder rage, his mouth
+opened as if for fresh abuse--and half rising I landed upon it with my
+fist.
+
+"Go where you belong, you drunken whelp!"
+
+I had struck and spoken at the same time, with a rush of wrath that
+surprised me; and the result surprised me more, for while I was not
+conscious of having exerted much force he toppled backward clear across
+the aisle, crashed down in a heap under the opposite seat. His bottle
+shattered against the ceiling. The whiskey spattered in a sickening shower
+over the alarmed passengers.
+
+"Look out! Look out!" she cried, starting quickly. Up he scrambled,
+cursing, and wrenching at his revolver. I sprang to smother him, but there
+was a flurry, a chorus of shouts, men leaped between us, the brakeman and
+conductor both had arrived, in a jiffy he was being hustled forward,
+swearing and blubbering. And I sank back, breathless, a degree ashamed, a
+degree rather satisfied with my action and my barked knuckles.
+
+Congratulations echoed dully.
+
+"The right spirit!"
+
+"That'll l'arn him to insult a lady."
+
+"You sartinly rattled him up, stranger. Squar' on the twitter!"
+
+"Shake, Mister."
+
+"For a pilgrim you're consider'ble of a hoss."
+
+"If he'd drawn you'd have give him a pill, I reckon, lady. I know yore
+kind. But he won't bother you ag'in; not he."
+
+"Oh, what a terrible scene!"
+
+To all this I paid scant attention. I heard her, as she sat composedly,
+scarcely panting. The little pistol had disappeared.
+
+"The play has been made, ladies and gentlemen," she said. And to me:
+"Thank you. Yes," she continued, with a flash of lucent eyes and a
+dimpling smile, "Jim has lost his whiskey and has a chance to sober up.
+He'll have forgotten all about this before we reach Benton. But I thank
+you for your promptness."
+
+"I didn't want you to shoot him," I stammered. "I was quite able to tend
+to him myself. Your pistol is loaded?"
+
+"To be sure it is." And she laughed gaily. Her lips tightened, her eyes
+darkened. "And I'd kill him like a dog if he presumed farther. In this
+country we women protect ourselves from insult. I always carry my
+derringer, sir."
+
+The brakeman returned with a broom, to sweep up the chips of broken
+bottle. He grinned at us.
+
+"There's no wind in him now," he communicated. "Peaceful as a baby. We
+took his gun off him. I'll pass the word ahead to keep him safe, on from
+Cheyenne."
+
+"Please do, Jerry," she bade. "I'd prefer to have no more trouble with
+him, for he might not come out so easily next time. He knows that."
+
+"Surely ought to, by golly," the brakeman agreed roundly. "And he ought to
+know you go heeled. But that there tanglefoot went to his head. Looks now
+as if he'd been kicked in the face by a mule. Haw haw! No offense, friend.
+You got me plumb buffaloed with that fivespot o' yourn." And finishing his
+job he retired with dust-pan and broom.
+
+"You're going to do well in Benton," she said suddenly, to me, with a nod.
+"I regret this scene--I couldn't help it, though, of course. When Jim's
+sober he has sense, and never tries to be familiar."
+
+She was amazingly cool under the epithets that he had applied. I admired
+her for that as she gazed at me pleadingly.
+
+"A drunken man is not responsible for words or actions, although he should
+be made so," I consoled her. "Possibly I should not have struck him. In
+the Far West you may be more accustomed to these episodes than we are in
+the East."
+
+"I don't know. There is a limit. You did right. I thank you heartily.
+Still"--and she mused--"you can't always depend on your fists alone. You
+carry no weapon, neither knife nor gun?"
+
+"I never have needed either," said I. "My teaching has been that a man
+should be able to rely upon his fists."
+
+"Then you'd better get 'heeled,' as we say, when you reach Benton. Fists
+are a short-range weapon. The men generally wear a gun somewhere. It is
+the custom."
+
+"And the women, too, if I may judge," I smiled.
+
+"Some of us. Yes," she repeated, "you're likely to do well, out here, if
+you'll permit me to advise you a little."
+
+"Under your tutelage I am sure I shall do well," I accepted. "I may call
+upon you in Benton? If you will favor me with your address----?"
+
+"My address?" She searched my face in manner startled. "You'll have no
+difficulty finding me; not in Benton. But I'll make an appointment with
+you in event"--and she smiled archly--"you are not afraid of strange
+women."
+
+"I have been taught to respect women, madam," said I. "And my respect is
+being strengthened."
+
+"Oh!" I seemed to have pleased her. "You have been carefully brought up,
+sir."
+
+"To fear God, respect woman, and act the man as long as I breathe," I
+asserted. "My mother is a saint, my father a nobleman, and what I may have
+learned from them is to their credit."
+
+"That may go excellently in the East," she answered. "But we in the West
+favor the Persian maxim--to ride, to shoot, and to tell the truth. With
+those three qualities even a tenderfoot can establish himself."
+
+"Whether I can ride and shoot sufficient for the purpose, time will show,"
+I retorted. "At least," and I endeavored to speak with proper emphasis,
+"you hear the truth when I say that I anticipate much pleasure as well as
+renewed health, in Benton."
+
+"Were we by ourselves we would seal the future in another 'smile'
+together," she slyly promised. "Unless that might shock you."
+
+"I am ready to fall in with the customs of the country," I assured. "I
+certainly am not averse to smiles, when fittingly proffered."
+
+So we exchanged fancies while the train rolled over a track remarkable for
+its smoothness and leading ever onward across the vast, empty plains bare
+save for the low shrubs called sage-brush, and rising here and there into
+long swells and abrupt sandstone pinnacles.
+
+We stopped near noon at the town of Cheyenne, in Wyoming Territory.
+Cheyenne, once boasting the title (I was told) "The Magic City of the
+Plains," was located upon a dreary flatness, although from it one might
+see, far southwest, the actual Rocky Mountains in Colorado Territory,
+looking, at this distance of one hundred miles, like low dark clouds. The
+up grade in the west promised that we should soon cross over their
+northern flanks, of the Black Hills.
+
+Last winter, Cheyenne, I was given to understand, had ten thousand
+inhabitants; but the majority had followed the railroad west, so that now
+there remained only some fifteen hundred. After dinner we, too, went
+west.
+
+We overcame the Black Hills Mountains about two o'clock, having climbed to
+the top with considerable puffing of the engine but otherwise almost
+imperceptibly to the passengers. When we were halted, upon the crown, at
+Sherman Station, to permit us to alight and see for ourselves, I scarcely
+might believe that we were more than eight thousand feet in air. There was
+nothing to indicate, except some little difficulty of breath; not so much
+as I had feared when in Cheyenne, whose six thousand feet gave me a
+slightly giddy sensation.
+
+My Lady moved freely, being accustomed to the rarity; and she assured me
+that although Benton was seven thousand feet I would soon grow wonted to
+the atmosphere. The habitues of this country made light of the spot; the
+strangers on tour picked flowers and gathered rocks as mementoes of the
+"Crest of the Continent"--which was not a crest but rather a level
+plateau, wind-swept and chilly while sunny. Then from this Sherman Summit
+of the Black Hills of Wyoming the train swept down by its own momentum
+from gravity, for the farther side.
+
+The fellow Jim had not emerged, as yet, much to my relief. The scenery was
+increasing in grandeur and interest, and the play of my charming companion
+would have transformed the most prosaic of journeys into a trip through
+Paradise.
+
+I hardly noted the town named Laramie City, at the western base of the
+Black Hills; and was indeed annoyed by the vendors hawking what they
+termed "mountain gems" through the train. Laramie, according to My Lady,
+also once had been, as she styled it, "a live town," but had deceased in
+favor of Benton. From Laramie we whirled northwest, through a broad valley
+enlivened by countless antelope scouring over the grasses; thence we
+issued into a wilder, rougher country, skirting more mountains very gloomy
+in aspect.
+
+However, of the panorama outside I took but casual glances; the phenomenon
+of blue and gold so close at hand was all engrossing, and my heart beat
+high with youth and romance. Our passage was astonishingly short, but the
+sun was near to setting beyond distant peaks when by the landmarks that
+she knew we were approaching Benton at last.
+
+We crossed a river--the Platte, again, even away in here; briefly paused
+at a military post, and entered upon a stretch of sun-baked,
+reddish-white, dusty desert utterly devoid of vegetation.
+
+There was a significant bustle in the car, among the travel-worn
+occupants. The air was choking with the dust swirled through every crevice
+by the stir of the wheels--already mobile as it was from the efforts of
+the teams that we passed, of six and eight horses tugging heavy wagons.
+Plainly we were within striking distance of some focus of human energies.
+
+"Benton! Benton in five minutes. End o' track," the brakeman shouted.
+
+"My valise, please."
+
+I brought it. The conductor, who like the other officials knew My Lady,
+pushed through to us and laid hand upon it.
+
+"I'll see you out," he announced. "Come ahead."
+
+"Pardon. That shall be my privilege," I interposed. But she quickly
+denied.
+
+"No, please. The conductor is an old friend. I shall need no other
+help--I'm perfectly at home. You can look out for yourself."
+
+"But I shall see you again--and where? I don't know your address; fact is,
+I'm even ignorant of your name," I pleaded desperately.
+
+"How stupid of me." And she spoke fast and low, over her shoulder.
+"To-night, then, at the Big Tent. Remember."
+
+I pressed after.
+
+"The Big Tent! Shall I inquire there? And for whom?"
+
+"You'll not fail to see me. Everybody knows the Big Tent, everybody goes
+there. So au revoir."
+
+She was swallowed in the wake of the conductor, and I fain must gather my
+own belongings before following. The Big Tent, she said? I had not
+misunderstood; and I puzzled over the address, which impinged as rather
+bizarre, whether in West or East.
+
+We stopped with a jerk, amidst a babel of cries.
+
+"Benton! All out!" Out we stumbled. Here I was, at rainbow's end.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+I MEET FRIENDS
+
+
+What shall I say of a young man like myself, fresh from the green East of
+New York and the Hudson River, landed expectant as just aroused from a
+dream of rare beauty, at this Benton City, Wyoming Territory? The dust, as
+fine as powder and as white, but shot through with the crimson of sunset,
+hung like a fog, amidst which swelled a deafening clamor from figures
+rushing hither and thither about the platform like half-world shades. A
+score of voices dinned into my ears as two score hands grabbed at my
+valise and shoved me and dragged me.
+
+"The Desert Hotel. Best in the West. This way, sir."
+
+"Buffalo Hump Corral! The Buffalo Hump! Free drinks at the Buffalo Hump."
+
+"Vamos, all o' you. Leave the gent to me. I've had him before. Mike's
+Place for you, eh? Come along."
+
+"The Widow's Cafe! That's yore grub pile, gent. All you can eat for two
+bits."
+
+A deep voice boomed, stunning me.
+
+"The Queen, the Queen! Bath for every room. Individual towels. The Queen,
+the Queen, she's clean, she's clean."
+
+It was a magnificent bass, full toned as an organ, issuing, likewise as
+out of a reed, from a swart dwarf scarcely higher than my waist. The word
+"bath," with the promise of "individual towels," won me over. Something
+must be done, anyway, to get rid of these importunate runners. Thereupon I
+acquiesced, "All right, my man. The Queen," and surrendering my bag to his
+hairy paw I trudged by his guidance. The solicitations instantly ceased as
+if in agreement with some code.
+
+We left the station platform and went ploughing up a street over shoetops
+with the impalpable dust and denoted by tents and white-coated shacks
+sparsely bordering. The air was breezeless and suffocatingly loaded with
+that dust not yet deposited. The noises as from a great city swelled
+strident: shouts, hammerings, laughter, rumble of vehicles, cracking of
+lashes, barkings of dogs innumerable--betokening a thriving mart of
+industry. But although pedestrians streamed to and fro, the men in motley
+of complexions and costumes, the women, some of them fashionably dressed,
+with skirts eddying furiously; and wagons rolled, horses cantered, and
+from right and left merchants and hawksters seemed to be calling their
+wares, of city itself I could see only the veriest husk.
+
+The majority of the buildings were mere canvas-faced up for a few feet,
+perhaps, with sheet iron or flimsy boards; interspersed there were a few
+wooden structures, rough and unpainted; and whereas several of the
+housings were large, none was more than two stories--and when now and
+again I thought that I had glimpsed a substantial stone front a closer
+inspection told me that the stones were imitation, forming a veneer of the
+sheet iron or of stenciled pine. Indeed, not a few of the upper stories,
+viewed from an unfavorable angle, proved to be only thin parapets
+upstanding for a pretense of well-being. Behind them, nothing at all!
+
+In the confusion of that which I took to be the main street because of the
+stores and piles of goods and the medley of signs, what with the hubbub
+from the many barkers for saloons and gambling games, the constant dodging
+among the pedestrians, vehicles and horses and dogs, in a thoroughfare
+that was innocent of sidewalk, I really had scant opportunity to gaze;
+certainly no opportunity as yet to get my bearings. My squat guide
+shuttled aside; a group of loafers gave us passage, with sundry stares at
+me and quips for him; and I was ushered into a widely-open tent-building
+whose canvas sign depending above a narrow veranda declared: "The Queen
+Hotel. Beds $3. Meals $1 each."
+
+Now as whitely powdered as any of the natives I stumbled across a single
+large room bordered at one side by a bar and a number of small tables (all
+well patronized), and was brought up at the counter, under the alert eyes
+of a clerk coatless, silk-shirted, diamond-scarfed, pomaded and
+slick-haired, waiting with register turned and pen extended.
+
+My gnome heavily dropped my bag.
+
+"Gent for you," he presented.
+
+"I wish a room and bath," I said, as I signed.
+
+"Bath is occupied. I'll put you down, Mr.----" and he glanced at the
+signature. "Four dollars and four bits, please. Show the gentleman to
+Number Six, Shorty. That drummer's gone, isn't he?"
+
+"You bet."
+
+"The bath is occupied?" I expostulated. "How so? I wish a private bath."
+
+"Private? Yes, sir. All you've got to do is to close the door while you're
+in. Nobody'll disturb you. But there are parties ahead of you. First come,
+first served."
+
+I persisted.
+
+"Your runner--this gentleman, if I am not mistaken (and I indicated the
+gnome, who grinned from dusty face), distinctly said 'A bath for every
+room.'"
+
+Bystanders had pushed nearer, to examine the register and then me. They
+laughed--nudged one another. Evidently I had a trace of green in my eye.
+
+"Quite right, sir," the clerk assented. "So there is. A bath for every
+room and the best bath in town. Entirely private; fresh towel supplied.
+Only one dollar and four bits. That, with lodging, makes four dollars and
+a half. If you please, sir."
+
+"In advance?" I remonstrated--the bath charge alone being monstrous.
+
+"I see you're from the East. Yes, sir; we have to charge transients in
+advance. That is the rule, sir. You stay in Benton City for some time?"
+
+"I am undetermined."
+
+"Of course, sir. Your own affair. Yes, sir. But we shall hope to make
+Benton pleasant for you. The greatest city in the West. Anything you want
+for pleasure or business you'll find right here."
+
+"The greatest city in the West--pleasure or business!" A bitter wave of
+homesickness welled into my throat as, conscious of the enveloping dust,
+the utter shams, the tawdriness, the alien unsympathetic onlookers, the
+suave but incisive manner of the clerk, the sense of having been "done"
+and through my own fault, I peeled a greenback from the folded packet in
+my purse and handed it over. Rather foolishly I intended that this display
+of funds should rebuke the finicky clerk; but he accepted without comment
+and sought for the change from the twenty.
+
+"And how is old New York, suh?"
+
+A hearty, florid, heavy-faced man, with singularly protruding fishy eyes
+and a tobacco-stained yellowish goatee underneath a loosely dropping lower
+lip, had stepped forward, his pudgy hand hospitably outstretched to me: a
+man in wide-brimmed dusty black hat, frayed and dusty but, in spots,
+shiny, black broadcloth frock coat spattered down the lapels, exceedingly
+soiled collar and shirt front and greasy flowing tie, and trousers tucked
+into cowhide boots.
+
+I grasped the hand wonderingly. It enclosed mine with a soft pulpy
+squeeze; and lingered.
+
+"As usual, when I last saw it, sir," I responded. "But I am from Albany."
+
+"Of course. Albany, the capital, a city to be proud of, suh. I welcome
+you, suh, to our new West, as a fellow-citizen."
+
+"You are from Albany?" I exclaimed.
+
+"Bohn and raised right near there; been there many a time. Yes, suh. From
+the grand old Empire State, like yourself, suh, and without apologies.
+Whenever I meet with a New York State man I cotton to him."
+
+"Have I your name, sir?" I inquired. "You know of my family, perhaps."
+
+"Colonel Jacob B. Sunderson, suh, at your service. Your family name is
+familiar to me, suh. I hark back to it and to the grand old State with
+pleasure. Doubtless I have seen you befoh, sur. Doubtless in the City--at
+Johnny Chamberlain's? Yes?" His fishy eyes beamed upon me, and his breath
+smelled strongly of liquor. "Or the Astor? I shall remember. Meanwhile,
+suh, permit me to do the honors. First, will you have a drink? This way,
+suh. I am partial to a brand particularly to be recommended for clearing
+this damnable dust from one's throat."
+
+"Thank you, sir, but I prefer to tidy my person, first," I suggested.
+
+"Number Six for the gentleman," announced the clerk, returning to me my
+change from the bill. I stuffed it into my pocket--the Colonel's singular
+eyes followed it with uncomfortable interest. The gnome picked up my bag,
+but was interrupted by my new friend.
+
+"The privilege of showing the gentleman to his quarters and putting him at
+home shall be mine."
+
+"All right, Colonel," the clerk carelessly consented. "Number Six."
+
+"And my trunk. I have a trunk at the depot," I informed.
+
+"The boy will tend to it."
+
+I gave the gnome my check.
+
+"And my bath?" I pursued.
+
+"You will be notified, sir. There are only five ahead of you, and one
+gentleman now in. Your turn will come in about two hours."
+
+"This way, suh. Kindly follow me," bade the Colonel. As he strode before,
+slightly listed by the weight of the bag in his left hand, I remarked a
+peculiar bulge elevating the portly contour of his right coat-skirt.
+
+We ascended a flight of rude stairs which quivered to our tread, proceeded
+down a canvas-lined corridor set at regular intervals on either hand with
+numbered deal doors, some open to reveal disorderly interiors; and with
+"Here you are, suh," I was importantly bowed into Number Six.
+
+We were not to be alone. There were three double beds: one well rumpled as
+if just vacated; one (the middle) tenanted by a frowsy headed, whiskered
+man asleep in shirt-sleeves and revolver and boots; the third, at the
+other end, recently made up by having its blanket covering hastily thrown
+against a distinctly dirty pillow.
+
+"Your bed yonduh, suh, I reckon," prompted the Colonel (whose accents did
+not smack of New York at all), depositing my bag with a grunt of relief.
+"Now, suh, as you say, you desire to freshen the outer man after your
+journey. With your permission I will await your pleasure, suh; and your
+toilet being completed we will freshen the inner man also with a glass or
+two of rare good likker."
+
+I gazed about, sickened. Item, three beds; item, one kitchen chair; item,
+one unpainted board washstand, supporting a tin basin, a cake of soap, a
+tin ewer, with a dingy towel hanging from a nail under a cracked mirror
+and over a tin slop-bucket; item, three spittoons, one beside each bed;
+item, a row of nails in a wooden strip, plainly for wardrobe purposes;
+item, one window, with broken pane.
+
+The board floor was bare and creaky, the partition walls were of
+once-white, stained muslin through which sifted unrebuked a mixture of
+sounds not thoroughly agreeable.
+
+The Colonel had seated himself upon a bed; the bulge underneath his skirts
+jutted more pronouncedly, and had the outlines of a revolver butt.
+
+"But surely I can get a room to myself," I stammered. "The clerk mistakes
+me. This won't do at all."
+
+"You are having the best in the house, suh," asserted the Colonel, with
+expansive wave of his thick hand. He spat accurately into the convenient
+spittoon. "It is a front room, suh. Number Six is known as very choice,
+and I congratulate you, suh. I myself will see to it that you shall have
+your bed to yourself, if you entertain objections to doubling up. We are,
+suh, a trifle crowded in Benton City, just at present, owing to the
+unprecedented influx of new citizens. You must remember, suh, that we are
+less than one month old, and we are accommodating from three to five
+thousand people."
+
+"Is this the best hotel?" I demanded.
+
+"It is so reckoned, suh. There are other hostelries, and I do not desire,
+suh, to draw invidious comparisons, their proprietors being friends of
+mine. But I will go so far as to say that the Queen caters only to the
+elite, suh, and its patronage is gilt edge."
+
+I stepped to the window, the lower sash of which was up, and gazed
+out--down into that dust-fogged, noisy, turbulent main street, of floury
+human beings and grime-smeared beasts almost within touch, boiling about
+through the narrow lane between the placarded makeshift structures. I
+lifted my smarting eyes, and across the hot sheet-iron roofs I saw the
+country south--a white-blotched reddish desert stretching on, desolate,
+lifeless under the sunset, to a range of stark hills black against the
+glow.
+
+"There are no private rooms, then?" I asked, choking with a gulp of
+despair.
+
+"You are perfectly private right here, suh," assured the Colonel. "You may
+strip to the hide or you may sleep with your boots on, and no questions
+asked. Gener'ly speaking, gentlemen prefer to retain a layer of artificial
+covering--but you ain't troubled much with the bugs, are you, Bill?"
+
+He leveled this query at the frowsy, whiskered man, who had awakened and
+was blinking contentedly.
+
+"I'm too alkalied, I reckon," Bill responded. "Varmints will leave me any
+time when there's fresh bait handy. That's why I likes to double up. That
+there Saint Louee drummer carried off most of 'em from this gent's bed, so
+he's safe."
+
+"You are again to be congratulated, suh," addressed the Colonel, to me.
+"Allow me to interdeuce you. Shake hands with my friend Mr. Bill Brady.
+Bill, I present to you a fellow-citizen of mine from grand old New York
+State."
+
+The frowsy man struggled up, shifted his revolver so as not to sit on it,
+and extended his hand.
+
+"Proud to make yore acquaintance, sir. Any friend of the Colonel's is a
+friend o' mine."
+
+"We will likker up directly," the Colonel informed. "But fust the
+gentleman desires to attend to his person. Mr. Brady, suh," he continued,
+for my benefit, "is one of our leading citizens, being proprietor of--what
+is it now, Bill?"
+
+"Wall," said Mr. Brady, "I've pulled out o' the Last Chance and I'm on
+spec'. The Last Chance got a leetle too much on the brace for healthy
+play; and when that son of a gun of a miner from South Pass City shot it
+up, I quit."
+
+"Naturally," conceded the Colonel. "Mr. Brady," he explained, "has been
+one of our most distinguished bankers, but he has retired from that
+industry and is considering other investments."
+
+"The bath-room? Where is it, gentlemen?" I ventured.
+
+"If you will step outside the door, suh, you can hear the splashing down
+the hall. It is the custom, however, foh gentlemen at tub to keep the
+bath-room door closed, in case of ladies promenading. You will have time
+foh your preliminary toilet and foh a little refreshment and a pasear in
+town. I judge, with five ahead of you and one in, the clerk was mighty
+near right when he said about two hours. That allows twenty minutes to
+each gentleman, which is the limit. A gentleman who requires more than
+twenty minutes to insure his respectability, suh, is too dirty foh such
+accommodations. He should resort to the river. Ain't that so, Bill?"
+
+"Perfectly correct, Colonel. I kin take an all-over, myself, in fifteen,
+whenever it's healthy."
+
+"But a dollar and a half for a twenty minutes' bath in a public tub is
+rather steep, seems to me," said I, as I removed my coat and opened my
+bag.
+
+"Not so, suh, if I may question your judgment," the Colonel reproved. "The
+tub, suh, is private to the person in it. He is never intruded upon unless
+he hawgs his time or the water disagrees with him. The water, suh, is
+hauled from the river by a toilsome journey of three miles. You
+understand, suh, that this great and growing city is founded upon the
+sheer face of the Red Desert, where the railroad stopped--the river being
+occupied by a Government reservation named Fort Steele. The
+Government--the United States Government, suh--having corralled the river
+where the railroad crosses, until we procure a nearer supply by artesian
+wells or by laying a pipe line we are public spirited enough to haul our
+water bodily, for ablution purposes, at ten dollars the barrel, or ten
+cents, one dime, the bucket. A bath, suh, uses up consider'ble water, even
+if at a slight reduction you are privileged to double up with another
+gentleman."
+
+I shuddered at the thought of thus "doubling up." God, how my stomach sank
+and my gorge rose as I rummaged through that bag, and with my toilet
+articles in hand faced the washstand!
+
+They two intently watched my operations; the Colonel craned to peer into
+my valise--and presently I might interpret his curiosity.
+
+"The prime old bourbon served at the fust-class New York bars still
+maintains its reputation, I dare hope, suh?" he interrogated.
+
+"I cannot say, I'm sure," I replied.
+
+"No, suh," he agreed. "Doubtless you are partial to your own stock. That
+bottle which I see doesn't happen to be a sample of your favorite
+preservative?"
+
+"That?" I retorted. "It is toilet water. I am sorry to say I have no
+liquor with me."
+
+"The deficiency will soon be forgotten, suh," the Colonel bravely
+consoled. "Bill, we shall have to personally conduct him and provide him
+with the proper entertainment."
+
+"What is your special line o' business, if you don't mind my axin'?" Bill
+invited.
+
+"I am out here for my health, at present," said I, vainly hunting a clean
+spot on the towel. "I have been advised by my physician to seek a place in
+the Far West that is high and dry. Benton"--and I laughed miserably,
+"certainly is dry." For now I began to appreciate the frankly affirmative
+responses to my previous confessions. "And high, judging by the rates."
+
+"Healthily dry, suh, in the matter of water," the Colonel approved. "We
+are not cursed by the humidity of New York State, grand old State that she
+is. Foh those who require water, there is the Platte only three miles
+distant. The nearer proximity of water we consider a detriment to the
+robustness of a community. Our rainy weather is toler'bly infrequent. The
+last spell we had--lemme see. There was a brief shower, scurcely enough to
+sanction a parasol by a lady, last May, warn't it, Bill? When we was
+camped at Rawlins' Springs, shooting antelope."
+
+"Some'ers about that time. But didn't last long--not more'n two minutes,"
+Bill responded.
+
+"As foh fluids demanded by the human system, we are abundantly blessed,
+suh. There is scurcely any popular brand that you can't get in Benton, and
+I hold that we have the most skillful mixtologists in history. There are
+some who are artists; artists, suh. But mainly we prefer our likker
+straight."
+
+"We're high, too," Bill put in. "Well over seven thousand feet, 'cordin'
+to them railroad engineers."
+
+"Yes, suh, you are a mile and more nearer Heaven here in Benton than you
+were when beside the noble Hudson," supplemented the Colonel. "And the
+prices of living are reasonable; foh money, suh, is cheap and ready to
+hand. No drink is less than two bits, and a man won't tote a match across
+a street foh less than a drink. Money grows, suh, foh the picking. Our
+merchants are clearing thirty thousand dollars a month, and the
+professional gentleman who tries to limit his game is considered a
+low-down tin-horn. Yes, suh. This is the greatest terminal of the greatest
+railroad in the known world. It has Omaha, No'th Platte, Cheyenne beat to
+a frazzle. You cannot fail to prosper." They had been critically watching
+me wash and rearrange my clothing. "You are not heeled, suh, I see?"
+
+"Heeled?" I repeated.
+
+"Equipped with a shooting-iron, suh. Or do you intend to remedy that
+deficiency also?"
+
+"I have not been in the habit of carrying arms."
+
+"'Most everybody packs a gun or a bowie," Bill remarked. "Gents and ladies
+both. But there's no law ag'in not."
+
+I had finished my meager toilet, and was glad, for the espionage had been
+annoying.
+
+"Now I am at your service during a short period, gentlemen," I announced.
+"Later I have an engagement, and shall ask to be excused."
+
+The Colonel arose with alacrity. Bill stood, and seized his hat hanging at
+the head of the bed.
+
+"A little liquid refreshment is in order fust, I reckon," quoth the
+Colonel. "I claim the privilege, of course. And after that--you have
+sporting blood, suh? You will desire to take a turn or two foh the honor
+of the Empire State?"
+
+The inference was not quite clear. To develop it I replied guardedly,
+albeit unwilling to pose as a milksop.
+
+"I assuredly am not averse to any legitimate amusement."
+
+"That's it," Bill commended. "Nobody is, who has red in him; and a fellow
+kin see you've cut yore eye-teeth. What might you prefer, in line of a
+pass-the-time, on spec'?"
+
+"What is there, if you please?" I encouraged.
+
+He and the Colonel gravely contemplated each other. Bill scratched his
+head, and slowly closed one eye.
+
+"There's a good open game of stud at the North Star," he proffered. "I kin
+get the gentleman a seat. No limit."
+
+"Maybe our friend's luck don't run to stud," hazarded the Colonel. "Stud
+exacts the powers of concentration, like faro." And he also closed one
+eye. "It's rather early in the evening foh close quarters. Are you
+particularly partial to the tiger or the cases, suh?" he queried of me.
+"Or would you be able to secure transient happiness in short games, foh a
+starter, while we move along, like a bee from flower to flower, gathering
+his honey?"
+
+"If you are referring to card gambling, sir," I answered, "you have chosen
+a poor companion. But I do not intend to be a spoil sport, and I shall be
+glad to have you show me whatever you think worth while in the city, so
+far as I have the leisure."
+
+"That's it, that's it, suh." The Colonel appeared delighted. "Let us
+libate to the gods of chance, gentlemen; and then take a stroll."
+
+"My bag will be safe here?" I prompted, as we were about to file out.
+
+"Absolutely, suh. Personal property is respected in Benton. We'd hang the
+man who moved that bag of yours the fraction of one inch."
+
+This at least was comforting. As much could not be said of New York City.
+The Colonel led down the echoing hall and the shaking stairs, into the
+lobby, peopled as before by men in all modes of attire and clustered
+mainly at the bar. He led directly to the bar itself.
+
+"Three, Ed. Name your likker, gentlemen. A little Double X foh me, Ed."
+
+"Old rye," Bill briefly ordered.
+
+The bartender set out bottle and whiskey glasses, and looked upon me. I
+felt that the bystanders were waiting. My garb proclaimed the "pilgrim,"
+but I was resolved to be my own master, and for liquor I had no taste.
+
+"Lemonade, if you have it," I faltered.
+
+"Yes, sir." The bartender cracked not a smile, but a universal sigh,
+broken by a few sniggers, voiced the appraisal of the audience. Some of
+the loafers eyed me amusedly, some turned away.
+
+"Surely, suh, you will temper that with a dash of fortifiah," the Colonel
+protested. "A pony of brandy, Ed--or just a dash to cut the water in it.
+To me, suh, the water in this country is vile--inimical to the human
+stomick."
+
+"Thank you," said I, "but I prefer plain lemonade."
+
+"The gent wants his pizen straight, same as the rest of you," calmly
+remarked the bartender.
+
+My lemonade being prepared, the Colonel and Bill tossed off full glasses
+of whiskey, acknowledged with throaty "A-ah!" and smack of lips; and I
+hastily quaffed my lemonade. From the dollar which the Colonel grandly
+flung upon the bar he received no change--by which I might figure that
+whereas whiskey was twenty-five cents the glass, lemonade was fifty
+cents.
+
+We issued into the street and were at once engulfed by a ferment of sights
+and sounds extraordinary.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+ON GRAND TOUR
+
+
+The sun had set and all the golden twilight was hazy with the dust
+suspended in swirl and strata over the ugly roofs. In the canvas-faced
+main street the throng and noise had increased rather than diminished at
+the approach of dusk. Although clatter of dishes mingled with the cadence,
+the people acted as if they had no thought of eating; and while aware of
+certain pangs myself, I felt a diffidence in proposing supper as yet.
+
+My two companions hesitated a moment, spying up and down, which gave me
+opportunity to view the scene anew. Surely such an hotch-potch never
+before populated an American town: Men flannel shirted, high booted,
+shaggy haired and bearded, stumping along weighted with excess of belts
+and formidable revolvers balanced, not infrequently, by sheathed
+butcher-knives--men whom I took to be teamsters, miners, railroad graders,
+and the like; other men white skinned, clean shaven except perhaps for
+moustaches and goatees, in white silk shirts or ruffled bosoms, broadcloth
+trousers and trim footgear, unarmed, to all appearance, but evidently
+respected; men of Eastern garb like myself--tourists, maybe, or
+merchants; a squad of surveyors in picturesque neckerchiefs, and revolver
+girted; trainmen, grimy engineers and firemen; clerks, as I opined, dapper
+and bustling, clad in the latest fashion, with diamonds in flashy ties and
+heavy gold watch chains across their fancy waistcoats; soldiers; men whom
+I took to be Mexicans, by their velvet jackets, slashed pantaloons and
+filagreed hats; darkly weathered, leathery faced, long-haired personages,
+no doubt scouts and trappers, in fringed buckskins and beaded moccasins;
+blanket wrapped Indians; and women.
+
+Of the women a number were unmistakable as to vocation, being lavishly
+painted, strident, and bold, and significantly dressed. I saw several in
+amazing costumes of tightly fitting black like ballet girls, low necked,
+short skirted, around the smooth waists snake-skin belts supporting
+handsome little pistols and dainty poignards. Contrasted there were women
+of other class and, I did not doubt, of better repute; some in gowns and
+bonnets that would do them credit anywhere in New York, and some, of
+course, more commonly attired in calico and gingham as proper to the
+humbler station of laundresses, cooks, and so forth.
+
+The uproar was a jargon of shouts, hails, music, hammering, barking, scuff
+of feet, trample of horses and oxen, rumble of creaking wagons and Concord
+stages.
+
+"Well, suh," spoke the Colonel, pulling his hat over his eyes, "shall we
+stroll a piece?"
+
+"Might better," assented Bill. "The gentleman may find something of
+interest right in the open. How are you on the goose, sir?" he demanded of
+me.
+
+"The goose?" I uttered.
+
+"Yes. Keno."
+
+"I am a stranger to the goose," said I.
+
+He grunted.
+
+"It gives a quick turn for a small stake. So do the three-card and
+rondo."
+
+Of passageway there was not much choice between the middle of the street
+and the borders. Seemed to me as we weaved along through groups of idlers
+and among busily stepping people that every other shop was a saloon, with
+door widely open and bar and gambling tables well attended. The odor of
+liquor saturated the acrid dust. Yet the genuine shops, even of the rudest
+construction, were piled from the front to the rear with commodities of
+all kinds, and goods were yet heaped upon the ground in front and behind
+as if the merchants had no time for unpacking. The incessant hammering, I
+ascertained, came from amateur carpenters, including mere boys, here and
+there engaged as if life depended upon their efforts, in erecting more
+buildings from knocked-down sections like cardboard puzzles and from
+lumber already cut and numbered.
+
+My guides nodded right and left with "Hello, Frank," "How are you, Dan?"
+"Evening, Charley," and so on. Occasionally the Colonel swept off his
+hat, with elaborate deference, to a woman, but I looked in vain for My
+Lady in Black. I did not see her--nor did I see her peer, despite the fact
+that now and then I observed a face and figure of apparent
+attractiveness.
+
+Above the staccato of conversation and exclamation there arose the appeals
+of the barkers for the gambling resorts.
+
+"This way. Shall we see what he's got?" the Colonel invited. Forthwith
+veering aside he crossed the street in obedience to a summons of whoops
+and shouts that set the very dust to vibrating.
+
+A crowd had gathered before a youth--a perspiring, red-faced youth with a
+billy-cock hat shoved back upon his bullet head--a youth in galluses and
+soiled shirt and belled pantaloons, who, standing upon a box for
+elevation, was exhorting at the top of his lungs.
+
+"Whoo-oop! This way, this way! Everybody this way! Come on, you
+rondo-coolo sports! Give us a bet! A bet! Rondo coolo-oh! Rondo coolo-oh!
+Here's your easy money! Down with your soap! Let her roll! Rondo
+coolo-oh!"
+
+"It's a great game, suh," the Colonel flung back over his shoulder.
+
+We pushed forward, to the front. The center for the crowd was a table not
+unlike a small billiard table or, saving the absence of pins, a tivoli
+table such as enjoyed by children. But across one end there were several
+holes, into which balls, ten or a dozen, resembling miniature billiard
+balls, might roll.
+
+The balls had been banked, in customary pyramid shape for a break as in
+pool, at the opposite end; and just as we arrived they had been propelled
+all forward, scattering, by a short cue rapidly swept across their base.
+
+"Rondo coolo, suh," the Colonel was explaining, "as you see, is an
+improvement on the old rondo, foh red-blooded people. You may place your
+bets in various ways, on the general run, or the odd or the even; and as
+the bank relies, suh, only on percentage, the popular game is strictly
+square. There is no chance foh a brace in rondo coolo. Shall we take a
+turn, foh luck?"
+
+The crowd was craning and eyeing the gyrating balls expectantly. A part of
+the balls entered the pockets; the remainder came to rest.
+
+"Rondo," announced the man with the short cue, amidst excited ejaculations
+from winners and losers. And according to a system which I failed to
+grasp, except that it comprised the number of balls pocketed, he deftly
+distributed from one collection of checks and coins to another, quickly
+absorbed by greedy hands.
+
+"She rolls again. Make your bets, ladies and gents," he intoned. "It's
+rondo coolo--simple rondo coolo." And he reassembled the balls.
+
+"I prefer not to play, sir," I responded to the heavily breathing
+Colonel. "I am new here and I cannot afford to lose until I am better
+established."
+
+"Never yet seen a man who couldn't afford to win, though," Bill growled.
+"Easy pickin', too. But come on, then. We'll give you a straight steer
+some'rs else."
+
+So we left the crowd--containing indeed women as well as men--to their
+insensate fervor over a childish game under the stimulation of the
+raucous, sweating barker. Of gambling devices, in the open of the street,
+there was no end. My conductors appeared to have the passion, for our
+course led from one method of hazard to another--roulette, chuck-a-luck
+where the patrons cast dice for prizes of money and valuables arrayed upon
+numbered squares of an oilcloth covered board, keno where numbered balls
+were decanted one at a time from a bottle-shaped leather receptacle
+called, I learned, the "goose," and the players kept tab by filling in
+little cards as in domestic lotto; and finally we stopped at the simplest
+apparatus of all.
+
+"The spiel game for me, gentlemen," said the Colonel. "Here it is. Yes,
+suh, there's nothing like monte, where any man is privileged to match his
+eyes against fingers. Nobody but a blind man can lose at monte, by
+George!"
+
+"And this spieler's on the level," Bill pronounced, sotto voce. "I vote we
+hook him for a gudgeon, and get the price of a meal. Our friend will join
+us in the turn. He can see for himself that he can't lose. He's got sharp
+eyes."
+
+The bystanders here were stationed before a man sitting at a low tripod
+table; and all that he had was the small table--a plain cheap table with
+folding legs--and three playing cards. Business was a trifle slack. I
+thought that his voice crisped aggressively as we elbowed through, while
+he sat idly skimming the three cards over the table, with a flick of his
+hand.
+
+"Two jacks, and the ace, gentlemen. There they are. I have faced them up.
+Now I gather them slowly--you can't miss them. Observe closely. The jack
+on top, between thumb and forefinger. The ace next--ace in the middle. The
+other jack bottommost." He turned his hand, with the three cards in a
+tier, so that all might see. "The ace is the winning card. You are to
+locate the ace. Observe closely again. It's my hand against your eyes. I
+am going to throw. Who will spot the ace? Watch, everybody. Ready! Go!"
+The backs of the cards were up. With a swift movement he released the
+three, spreading them in a neat row, face down, upon the table. He
+carelessly shifted them hither and thither--and his fingers were
+marvelously nimble, lightly touching. "Twenty dollars against your twenty
+that you can't pick out the ace, first try. I'll let the cards lie. I
+shan't disturb them. There they are. If you've watched the ace fall, you
+win. If you haven't, you lose unless you guess right."
+
+"Just do that trick again, will you, for the benefit of my friend here?"
+bade the Colonel.
+
+The "spieler"--a thin-lipped, cadaverous individual, his soft hat
+cavalierly aslant, his black hair combed flatly in a curve down upon his
+damp forehead, a pair of sloe eyes, and a flannel shirt open upon his bony
+chest--glanced alert. He smiled.
+
+"Hello, sir. I'm agreeable. Yes, sir. But as they lie, will you make a
+guess? No? Or you, sir?" And he addressed Bill. "No? Then you, sir?" He
+appealed to me. "No? But I'm a mind-reader. I can tell by your eyes.
+They're upon the right-end card. Aha! Correct." He had turned up the card
+and shown the ace. "You should have bet. You would have beaten me, sir.
+You've got the eyes. I think you've seen this game before. No? Ah, but you
+have, or else you're born lucky. Now I'll try again. For the benefit of
+these three gentlemen I will try again. Kindly reserve your bets, friends
+all, and you shall have your chance. This game never stops. I am always
+after revenge. Watch the ace. I pick up the cards. Ace first--blessed ace;
+_and_ the jacks. Watch close. There you are." He briefly exposed the faces
+of the cards. "Keep your eyes upon the ace. Ready--go!"
+
+He spread the cards. As he had released he had tilted them slightly, and I
+clearly saw the ace land. The cards fell in the same order as arranged. To
+that I would have sworn.
+
+"Five dollars now that any one card is not the ace," he challenged. "I
+shall not touch them. A small bet--just enough to make it interesting.
+Five dollars from you, sir?" He looked at me direct. I shook my head; I
+was sternly resolved not to be over tempted. "What? No? You will wait
+another turn? Very well. How about you, sir?" to the Colonel.
+
+"I'll go halvers with you, Colonel," Bill proposed.
+
+"I'm on," agreed the Colonel. "There's the soap. And foh the honor of the
+grand old Empire State we will let our friend pick the ace foh us. I have
+faith in those eyes of his, suhs."
+
+"But that is scarcely fair, sir, when I am risking nothing," I protested.
+
+"Go ahead, suh; go ahead," he urged. "It is just a sporting proposition
+foh general entertainment."
+
+"And I'll bet you a dollar on the side that you don't spot the ace," the
+dealer baited. "Come now. Make it interesting for yourself."
+
+"I'll not bet, but since you insist, there's the ace." And I turned up the
+right-end card.
+
+"By the Eternal, he's done it! He has an eye like an eagle's," praised the
+dealer, with evident chagrin. "I lose. Once again, now. Everybody in, this
+time." He gathered the cards. "I'll play against you all, this gentleman
+included. And if I lose, why, that's life, gentleman. Some of us win, some
+of us lose. Watch the ace and have your money ready. You can follow this
+gentleman's tip. I'm afraid he's smarter than me, but I'm game."
+
+He was too insistent. Somehow, I did not like him, anyway, and I was
+beginning to be suspicious of my company. Their minds trended entirely
+toward gambling; to remain with them meant nothing farther than the gaming
+tables, and I was hungry.
+
+"You'll have to excuse me, gentleman," I pleaded. "Another time, but not
+now. I wish to eat and to bathe, and I have an engagement following."
+
+"Gad, suh!" The Colonel fixed me with his fishy eyes. "Foh God's sake
+don't break your winning streak with eatin' and washin'. Fortune is a
+fickle jade, suh; she's hostile when slapped in the face."
+
+Bill glowered at me, but I was firm.
+
+"If you will give me the pleasure of taking supper with me at some good
+place----" I suggested, as they pursued me into the street.
+
+"We can't talk this over while we're dry," the Colonel objected. "That is
+a human impossibility. Let us libate, suhs, in order to tackle our
+provender in proper spirit."
+
+"And no lemonade goes this time, either," Bill declared. "That brand of a
+drink is insultin' to good victuals."
+
+We were standing, for the moment, verging upon argument much to my
+distaste, when on a sudden who should come tripping along but My Lady of
+the Blue Eyes--yes, the very flesh and action of her, her face shielded
+from the dust by a little sunshade.
+
+She saw me, recognized me in startled fashion, and with a swift glance at
+my two companions bowed. My hat was off in a twinkling, with my best
+manner; the Colonel barely had time to imitate ere, leaving me a quick
+smile, she was gone on.
+
+He and Bill stared after; then at me.
+
+"Gad, suh! You know the lady?" the Colonel ejaculated.
+
+"I have the honor. We were passengers upon the same train."
+
+"Clean through, you mean?" queried Bill.
+
+"Yes. We happened to get on together, at Omaha."
+
+"I congratulate you, suh," affirmed the Colonel. "We were not aware, suh,
+that you had an acquaintance of that nature in this city."
+
+Again congratulation over my fortune! It mounted to my head, but I
+preserved decorum.
+
+"A casual acquaintance. We were merely travelers by the same route at the
+same time. And now if you will recommend a good eating place, and be my
+guests at supper, after that, as I have said, I must be excused. By the
+way, while I think of it," I carelessly added, "can you direct me how to
+get to the Big Tent?"
+
+"The Big Tent? If I am not intruding, suh, does your engagement comprise
+the Big Tent?"
+
+"Yes. But I failed to get the address."
+
+The Colonel swelled; his fishy eyes hardened upon me as with righteous
+indignation.
+
+"Suh, you are too damned innocent. You come here, suh, imposing as a
+stranger, suh, and throwing yourself on our goodness, suh, to entertain
+you; and you conceal your irons in the fiah under your hat, suh. Do we
+look green, suh? What is your vocation, suh? I believe, by gad, suh, that
+you are a common capper foh some infernal skinning game, or that you are a
+professional. Suh, I call your hand."
+
+I was about to retort hotly that I had not requested their chaperonage,
+and that my affair with My Lady and the Big Tent, howsoever they might
+take it, was my own; when Mr. Brady, who likewise had been glaring at me,
+growled morosely.
+
+"She's waitin' for you. You can square with us later, and if there's
+something doin' on the table we want a show."
+
+The black-clad figure had lingered beyond; ostensibly gazing into a window
+but now and again darting a glance in our direction. I accepted the
+glances as a token of inclination on her part; without saying another word
+to my ruffled body-guards I approached her.
+
+She received me with a quick turn of head as if not expecting, but with a
+ready smile.
+
+"Well, sir?"
+
+"Madam," I uttered foolishly, "good-evening."
+
+"You have left your friends?"
+
+"Very willingly. Whether they are really my friends I rather question.
+They have seen fit to escort me about, is all."
+
+"And I have rescued you?" She smiled again. "Believe me, sir, you would be
+better off alone. I know the gentlemen. They have been paid for their
+trouble, have they not?"
+
+"They have won a little at gambling, but in that I had no hand," I
+replied. "So far they have asked nothing more."
+
+"Certainly not. And you put up no stakes?"
+
+"Not a penny, madam. Why should I?"
+
+"To make it interesting, as they doubtless said. The Colonel, as all the
+town knows, is a notorious capper and steerer, and the fellow Brady is no
+better, no worse. Had you stayed with them and suffered them to persuade
+you into betting, you would soon have been fleeced as clean as a shaved
+pig. The little gains they are permitted to make, to draw you on, is their
+pay. Their losses if any would have been restored to them, but not yours
+to you."
+
+"Strange to say, they have just accused me of being a 'capper,'" I
+answered, nettled as I began to comprehend.
+
+"From what cause, sir?"
+
+[Illustration: "Madam," I Uttered Foolishly, "Good Evening."]
+
+"They seemed to think that I am smarter than to my actual credit, for one
+thing." I, of course, could not involve her in the subject, and indeed
+could not understand why she should have been held responsible, anyway.
+"And probably they were peeved because I insisted upon eating supper and
+then following my own bent."
+
+"You were about to leave them?" Her face brightened. "That is good. They
+were disappointed in finding you no gudgeon to be hooked by such raw
+methods. And you've not had supper yet? Promise me that you will take up
+with no more strangers or, I assure you, you may wake in the morning with
+your pockets turned inside out and your memory at fault. This is Benton."
+
+"Yes, this is Benton, is it?" I rejoined; and perhaps bitterly.
+
+"Benton, Wyoming Territory; of three thousand people in two weeks; in
+another month, who knows how many? And the majority of us live on one
+another. The country furnishes nothing else. Still, you will find it not
+much different from what I told you."
+
+"I have found it high and dry, certainly," said I.
+
+"Where are you stopping?"
+
+"At the Queen--with a bath for every room. I am now awaiting the turn of
+my room, at the end of another hour."
+
+"Oh!" She laughed heartily. "You are fortunate, sir. The Queen may not be
+considered the best in all ways, but they say the towels for the baths are
+more than napkin size. Meanwhile, let me advise you. Outfit while you
+wait, and become of the country. You look too much the pilgrim--there is
+Eastern dust showing through our Benton dust, and that spells of other
+'dust' in your pockets. Get another hat, a flannel shirt, some coarser
+trousers, a pair of boots, don a gun and a swagger, say little, make few
+impromptu friends, win and lose without a smile or frown, if you play (but
+upon playing I will advise you later), pass as a surveyor, as a railroad
+clerk, as a Mormon--anything they choose to apply to you; and I shall hope
+to see you to-night."
+
+"You shall," I assured, abashed by her raillery. "And if you will kindly
+tell me----"
+
+"The meals at the Belle Marie Cafe are as good as any. You can see the
+sign from here. So adios, sir, and remember." With no mention of the Big
+Tent she flashed a smile at me and mingled with the other pedestrians
+crossing the street on diagonal course. As I had not been invited to
+accompany her I stood, gratefully digesting her remarks. When I turned for
+a final word with my two guides, they had vanished.
+
+This I interpreted as a confession of jealous fear that I had been, in
+slang phrasing, "put wise." And sooth to say, I saw them again no more.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+"HIGH AND DRY"
+
+
+The counsel to don a garb smacking less of the recent East struck me as
+sound; for although I was not the only person here in Eastern guise,
+nevertheless about the majority of the populace there was an easy
+aggressiveness that my appearance evidently lacked.
+
+So I must hurry ere the shops closed.
+
+"I beg your pardon. What time do the stores close, can you tell me?" I
+asked of the nearest bystander.
+
+He surveyed me.
+
+"Close? Hell!" he said. "They don't close for even a dog fight, pardner.
+Business runs twenty-five hours every day, seven days the week, in these
+diggin's."
+
+"And where will I find a haberdashery?"
+
+"A what? Talk English. What you want?"
+
+"I want a--an outfit; a personal outfit."
+
+"Blanket to moccasins? Levi's, stranger. Levi'll outfit you complete and
+throw in a yellow purp under the wagon."
+
+"And where is Levi's?"
+
+"There." And he jerked his head aside. "You could shut your eyes and spit
+in the doorway."
+
+With that he rudely turned his back upon me. But sure enough, by token of
+the large sign "Levi's Mammoth Emporium: Liquors, Groceries and General
+Merchandise," I was standing almost in front of the store itself.
+
+I entered, into the seething aisle flanked by heaped-up counters and
+stacked goods that bulged the partially boarded canvas walls. At last I
+gained position near one of the perspiring clerks and caught his eye.
+
+"Yes, sir. You, sir? What can I do for you, sir?" He rubbed his hands
+alertly, on edge with a long day.
+
+"I wish a hat, flannel shirt, a serviceable ready-made suit, boots,
+possibly other matters."
+
+"We have exactly the things for you, sir. This way."
+
+"Going out on the advance line, sir?" he asked, while I made selections.
+
+"That is not unlikely."
+
+"They're doing great work. Three miles of track laid yesterday; twelve so
+far this week. Averaging two and one-half miles a day and promising
+better."
+
+"So I understand," I alleged.
+
+"General Jack Casement is a world beater. If he could get the iron as fast
+as he could use it he'd build through to California without a halt. But
+looks now as if somewhere between would have to satisfy him. You are a
+surveyor, I take it?"
+
+"Yes, I am surveying on the line along with the others," I answered. And
+surveying the country I was.
+
+"You are the gentlemen who lay out the course," he complimented. "Now, is
+there something else, sir?"
+
+"I need a good revolver, a belt and ammunition."
+
+"We carry the reliable--the Colt's. That's the favorite holster gun in use
+out here. Please step across, sir."
+
+He led.
+
+"If you're not particular as to shine," he resumed, "we have a second-hand
+outfit that I can sell you cheap. Took it in as a deposit, and the
+gentleman never has called for it. Of course you're broken in to the
+country, but as you know a new belt and holster are apt to be viewed with
+suspicion and a gentleman sometimes has to draw when he'd rather not, to
+prove himself. This gun has been used just enough to take the roughness
+off the trigger pull, and it employs the metallic cartridges--very
+convenient. The furniture for it is O. K. And all at half price."
+
+I was glad to find something cheap. The boots had been fifteen dollars,
+the hat eight, shirt and suit in proportion, and the red silk handkerchief
+two dollars and a half. Yes, Benton was "high."
+
+With my bulky parcel I sought the Belle Marie Cafe, ate my supper, thence
+hastened through the gloaming to the hotel for bath and change of costume.
+
+I had yet time to array myself, as an experiment and a lark; and that I
+sillily did, hurriedly tossing my old garments upon bed and floor, in
+order to invest with the new. The third bed was occupied when I came in;
+occupied on the outside by a plump, round-faced, dust-scalded man, with
+piggish features accentuated by his small bloodshot eyes; dressed in
+Eastern mode but stripped to the galluses, as was the custom. He lay upon
+his back, his puffy hands folded across his spherical abdomen where his
+pantaloons met a sweaty pink-striped shirt; and he panted wheezingly
+through his nose.
+
+"Hell of a country, ain't it!" he observed in a moment. "You a stranger,
+too?"
+
+"I have been here a short time, sir."
+
+"Thought so. Jest beginnin' to peel, like me. I been here two days. What's
+your line?"
+
+"I have a number of things in view," I evaded.
+
+"Well, you don't have to tell 'em," he granted. "Thought you was a
+salesman. I'm from Saint Louie, myself. Sell groceries, and pasteboards on
+the side. Cards are the stuff. I got the best line of sure-thing
+stock--strippers, humps, rounds, squares, briefs and marked backs--that
+ever were dealt west of the Missouri. Judas Priest, but this is a roarer
+of a burg! What _it_ ain't got I never seen--and I ain't no spring
+goslin', neither. I've plenty sand in my craw. You ain't been plucked
+yet?"
+
+"No, sir. I never gamble."
+
+"Wish I didn't, but my name's Jakey and I'm a good feller. Say, I'm
+supposed to be wise, too, but they trimmed me two hundred dollars. Now I'm
+gettin' out." He groaned. "Take the train in a few minutes. Dasn't risk
+myself on the street again. Sent my baggage down for fear I'd lose that.
+Say," he added, watching me, "looks like you was goin' out yourself. One
+of them surveyor fellers, workin' for the railroad?"
+
+"It might be so, sir," I replied.
+
+He half sat up.
+
+"You'll want to throw a leg, I bet. Lemme tell you. It's a hell of a town
+but it's got some fine wimmen; yes, and a few straight banks, too. You're
+no crabber or piker; I can see that. You go to the North Star. Tell Frank
+that Jakey sent you. They'll treat you white. You be sure and say Jakey
+sent you. But for Gawd's sake keep out of the Big Tent."
+
+"The Big Tent?" I uttered. "Why so?"
+
+"They'll sweat you there," he groaned lugubriously. "Say, friend, could
+you lend me twenty dollars? You've still got your roll. I ain't a stivver.
+I'm busted flat."
+
+"I'm sorry that I can't accommodate you, sir," said I. "I have no more
+money than will see me through--and according to your story perhaps not
+enough."
+
+"I've told you of the North Star. You mention Jakey sent you. You'll make
+more than your twenty back, at the North Star," he urged inconsistent.
+"If it hadn't been for that damned Big Tent----" and he flopped with a
+dismal grunt.
+
+By this time, all the while conscious of his devouring eyes, I had changed
+my clothing and now I stood equipped cap-a-pie, with my hat clapped at an
+angle, and my pantaloons in my boots, and my red silk handkerchief
+tastefully knotted at my throat, and my six-shooter slung; and I could
+scarcely deny that in my own eyes, and in his, I trusted, I was a pretty
+figure of a Westerner who would win the approval, as seemed to me, of My
+Lady in Black or of any other lady.
+
+His reflection upon the Big Tent, however, was the fly in my ointment.
+Therefore, preening and adjusting with assumed carelessness I queried, in
+real concern:
+
+"What about the Big Tent? Where is it? Isn't it respectable?"
+
+"Respectable? Of course it's respectable. You don't ketch your Jakey in no
+place that ain't. I've a family to think of. You ain't been there? Say!
+There's where they all meet, in that Big Tent; all the best people, too,
+you bet you. But I tell you, friend----"
+
+He did not finish. An uproar sounded above the other street clamor: a
+pistol shot, and another--a chorus of hoarse shouts and shrill frightened
+cries, the scurrying rush of feet, all in the street; and in the hall of
+the hotel, and the lobby below, the rush of still more feet, booted, and
+the din of excited voices.
+
+My man on the bed popped with the agility of a jack-in-the-box for the
+window.
+
+"A fight, a fight! Shootin' scrape!" In a single motion grabbing coat and
+hat he was out through the door and pelting down the hall. Overcome by the
+zest of the moment I pelted after, and with several others plunged as
+madly upon the porch. We had left the lobby deserted.
+
+The shots had ceased. Now a baying mob ramped through the street, with
+jangle "Hang him! Hang him! String him up!" Borne on by a hysterical
+company I saw, first a figure bloody-chested and inert flat in the dust,
+with stooping figures trying to raise him; then, beyond, a man bareheaded,
+whiskered, but as white as death, hustled to and fro from clutching hands
+and suddenly forced in firm grips up the street, while the mob trailed
+after, whooping, cursing, shrieking, flourishing guns and knives and
+ropes. There were women as well as men in it.
+
+All this turned me sick. From the outskirts of the throng I tramped back
+to my room and the bath. The hotel was quiet as if emptied; my room was
+vacant--and more than vacant, for of my clothing not a vestige remained!
+My bag also was gone. Worse yet, prompted by an inner voice that stabbed
+me like an icicle I was awakened to the knowledge that every cent I had
+possessed was in those vanished garments.
+
+For an instant I stood paralyzed, fronting the calamity. I could not
+believe. It was as if the floor had swallowed my belongings. I had been
+absent not more than five minutes. Surely this was the room. Yes, Number
+Six; and the beds were familiar, their tumbled covers unaltered.
+
+Now I held the bath-room responsible. The scoundrel in the bath had heard,
+had taken advantage, made a foray and hidden. Out I ran, exploring. Every
+room door was wide open, every apartment blank; but there was a splashing,
+from the bath--I listened at the threshold, gently tried the knob--and
+received such a cry of angry protest that it sent me to the right-about,
+on tiptoe. The thief was not in the bath.
+
+My heart sank as I bolted down for the office. The clerk had reinstated
+himself behind the counter. He composedly greeted me, with calm voice and
+with eyes that noted my costume.
+
+"You can have your bath as soon as the porter gets back from the hanging,
+sir," he said. "That is, unless you'd prefer to hurry up by toting your
+own water. The party now in will be out directly."
+
+"Never mind the bath," I uttered, breathless, in a voice that I scarcely
+recognized, so piping and aghast it was. "I've been robbed--of money,
+clothes, baggage, everything!"
+
+"Well, what at?" he queried, with a glimmer of a smile.
+
+"What at? In my room, I tell you. I had just changed to try on these
+things; the street fight sounded; I was gone not five minutes and
+nevertheless the room was sacked. Absolutely sacked."
+
+"That," he commented evenly, "is hard luck."
+
+"Hard luck!" I hotly rejoined. "It's an outrage. But you seem remarkably
+cool about it, sir. What do you propose to do?"
+
+"I?" He lifted his brows. "Nothing. They're not my valuables."
+
+"But this is a respectable hotel, isn't it?"
+
+"Perfectly; and no orphan asylum. We attend strictly to our business and
+expect our guests to attend to theirs."
+
+"I was told that it was safe for me to leave my things in my room."
+
+"Not by me, sir. Read that." And he called my attention to a placard that
+said, among other matters: "We are not responsible for property of any
+nature left by guests in their rooms."
+
+"Where's the chief of police?" I demanded. "You have officers here, I
+hope."
+
+"Yes, sir. The marshal is the chief of police, and he's the whole show.
+The provost guard from the post helps out when necessary. But you'll find
+the marshal at the mayor's office or else at the North Star gambling hall,
+three blocks up the street. I don't think he'll do you any good, though.
+He's not likely to bother with small matters, especially when he's
+dealing faro bank. He has an interest in the North Star. You'll never see
+your property again. Take my word for it."
+
+"I won't? Why not?"
+
+"You've played the gudgeon for somebody; that's all. Easiest thing in the
+world for a smart gentleman to slip into your room while you were absent,
+go through it, and make his getaway by the end of the hall, out over the
+kitchen roof. It's been done many a time."
+
+"A traveling salesman saw me dressing. He went out before me but he might
+have doubled," I gasped. "He had one of the beds--who is he?"
+
+"I don't know him, sir."
+
+"A round-bellied, fat-faced man--sold groceries and playing cards."
+
+"There is no such guest in your room, sir. You have bed Number One, bed
+Number Two is assigned to Mr. Bill Brady, who doubtless will be in soon.
+Number Three is temporarily vacant."
+
+"The man said he was about to catch the train east," I pursued
+desperately. "A round-bellied, fat-faced man in pink striped shirt----"
+
+"If he was to catch any train, that train has just pulled out."
+
+"And who was in the bath, ten or fifteen minutes ago?"
+
+"My wife, sir; and still there. She has to take her chances like everybody
+else. No, sir; you've been done. You may find your clothes, but I doubt
+it. You are next upon the bath list." And he became all business. "The
+porter will carry up the water and notify you. You are allowed twenty
+minutes. That is satisfactory?"
+
+A bath, now!
+
+"No, certainly not," I blurted. "I have no time nor inclination for a
+bath, at present. And," I faltered, ashamed, "I'll have to ask you to
+refund me the dollar and a half. I haven't a cent."
+
+"Under the circumstances I can do that, although it is against our rules,"
+he replied. "Here it is, sir. We wish to accommodate."
+
+"And will you advance me twenty dollars, say, until I shall have procured
+funds from the East?" I ventured.
+
+A mask fell over his face. He slightly smiled.
+
+"No, sir; I cannot. We never advance money."
+
+"But I've got to have money, to tide me over, man," I pleaded. "This
+dollar and a half will barely pay for a meal. I can give you
+references----"
+
+"From Colonel Sunderson, may I ask?" His voice was poised tentatively.
+
+"No. I never saw the Colonel before. My references are Eastern. My
+father----"
+
+"As a gentleman the Colonel is O. K.," he smoothly interrupted. "I do not
+question his integrity, nor your father's. But we never advance money. It
+is against the policy of the house."
+
+"Has my trunk come up yet?" I queried.
+
+"Yes, sir. If you'd rather have it in your room----"
+
+"In my room!" said I. "No! Else it might walk out the hall window, too.
+You have it safe?"
+
+"Perfectly, except in case of burglary or fire. It is out of the weather.
+We're not responsible for theft or fire, you understand. Not in Benton."
+
+"Good Lord!" I ejaculated, weak. "You have my trunk, you say? Very good.
+Will you advance me twenty dollars and keep the trunk as security? That, I
+think, is a sporting proposition."
+
+He eyed me up and down.
+
+"Are you a surveyor? Connected with the road?"
+
+"No."
+
+"What is your business, then?"
+
+"I'm a damned fool," I confessed. "I'm a gudgeon--I'm a come-on. In fact,
+as I've said before, I'm out here looking for health, where it's high and
+dry." He smiled. "And high and dry I'm landed in short order. But the
+trunk's not empty. Will you keep it and lend me twenty dollars? I presume
+that trunk and contents are worth two hundred."
+
+"I'll speak with the porter," he answered.
+
+By the lapse of time between his departure and his return he and the gnome
+evidently had hefted the trunk and viewed it at all angles. Now he came
+back with quick step.
+
+"Yes, sir; we'll advance you twenty dollars on your trunk. Here is the
+money, sir." He wrote, and passed me a slip of paper also. "And your
+receipt. When you pay the twenty dollars, if within thirty days, you can
+have your trunk."
+
+"And if not?" I asked uncomfortably.
+
+"We shall be privileged to dispose of it. We are not in the pawn business,
+but we have trunks piled to the ceiling in our storeroom, left by
+gentlemen in embarrassed circumstances like yours."
+
+I never saw that trunk again, either. However, of this, more anon. At that
+juncture I was only too glad to get the twenty dollars, pending the time
+when I should be recouped from home; for I could see that to be stranded
+"high and dry" in Benton City of Wyoming Territory would be a dire
+situation. And I could not hope for much from home. It was a bitter dose
+to have to ask for further help. Three years returned from the war my
+father had scarcely yet been enabled to gather the loose ends of his
+former affairs.
+
+"Now if you will direct me to the telegraph office----?" I suggested.
+
+"The telegraph into Benton is the Union Pacific Railroad line," he
+informed; "and that is open to only Government and official business. If
+you wish to send a private dispatch you should forward it by post to
+Cheyenne, one hundred and seventy-five miles, where it will be put on the
+Overland branch line for the East by way of Denver. The rate to New York
+is eight dollars, prepaid."
+
+I knew that my face fell. Eight dollars would make a large hole in my
+slender funds--I had been foolish not to have borrowed fifty dollars on
+the trunk. So I decided to write instead of telegraph; and with him
+watching me I endeavored to speak lightly.
+
+"Thank you. Now where will I find the place known as the Big Tent?"
+
+He laughed with peculiar emphasis.
+
+"If you had mentioned the Big Tent sooner you'd have got no twenty dollars
+from me, sir. Not that I've anything against it, understand. It's all
+right, everybody goes there; perfectly legitimate. I go there myself. And
+you may redeem your trunk to-morrow and be buying champagne."
+
+"I am to meet a friend at the Big Tent," I stiffly explained. "Further
+than that I have no business there. I know nothing whatever about it."
+
+"I beg your pardon, sir. No offense intended. The Big Tent is highly
+regarded--a great place to spend a pleasant evening. All Benton indulges.
+I wish you the best of luck, sir. You are heeled, I see. No one will take
+you for a pilgrim." Despite the assertion there was a twinkle in his eye.
+"You will find the Big Tent one block and a half down this street. You
+cannot miss it."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+I GO TO RENDEZVOUS
+
+
+The hotel lamps were being lighted by the gnome porter. When I stepped
+outside twilight had deepened into dusk, the air was almost frosty, and
+this main street had been made garish by its nightly illumination.
+
+It was a strange sight, as I paused for a moment upon the plank veranda.
+The near vicinity resembled a fair. As if inspired by the freshness and
+coolness of the new air the people were trooping to and fro more
+restlessly than ever, and in greater numbers. All up and down the street
+coal-oil torches or flambeaus, ruddily embossing the heads of the players
+and onlookers, flared like votive braziers above the open-air gambling
+games; there were even smoked-chimney lamps, and candles, set on
+pedestals, signalizing other centers. The walls of the tent
+store-buildings glowed spectral from the lights to be glimpsed through
+doorways and windows, and grotesque, gigantic figures flitted in
+silhouette. While through the interstices between the buildings I might
+see other structures, ranging from those of tolerable size to simple wall
+tents and makeshift shacks, eerily shadowed.
+
+The noise had, if anything, redoubled. To the exclamations, the riotous
+shouts and whoops, the general gay vociferations and the footsteps of a
+busy people, the harangues of the barkers, the more distant puffing and
+shrieking of the locomotives at the railroad yards, the hammering where
+men and boys worked by torchlight, and now and then a revolver shot, there
+had been added the inciting music of stringed instruments, cymbals, and
+such--some in dance measures, some solo, while immediately at hand sounded
+the shuffling stamp of waltz, hoe-down and cotillion.
+
+Night at Benton plainly had begun with a gusto. It stirred one's blood. It
+called--it summoned with such a promise of variety, of adventure, of
+flotsam and jetsam and shuttlecock of chances, that I, a youth with
+twenty-one dollars and a half at disposal, all his clothes on his back, a
+man's weapon at his belt, and an appointment with a lady as his future,
+forgetful of past and courageous in present, strode confidently, even
+recklessly down, as eager as one to the manners of the country born.
+
+The mysterious allusions to the Big Tent now piqued me. It was a
+rendezvous, popular, I deemed, and respectable, as assured. An amusement
+place, judging by the talk; superior, undoubtedly, to other resorts that I
+may have noted. I was well equipped to test it out, for I had little to
+lose, even time was of no moment, and I possessed a friend at court,
+there, whom I had interested and who very agreeably interested me. This
+single factor would have glorified with a halo any tent, big or little, in
+Benton.
+
+There was no need for me to inquire my way to the Big Tent. Upon pushing
+along down the street, beset upon my course by many sights and proffered
+allurements, and keenly alive to the romance of that hurly-burly of
+pleasure and business combined here two thousand miles west of New York,
+always expectant of my goal I was attracted by music again, just ahead,
+from an orchestra. I saw a large canvas sign--The Big Tent--suspended in
+the full shine of a locomotive reflector. Beneath it the people were
+streaming into the wide entrance to a great canvas hall.
+
+Quickening my pace in accord with the increased pace of the throng,
+presently I likewise entered, unchallenged for any admission fee. Once
+across the threshold, I halted, taken all aback by the hubbub and the
+kaleidoscopic spectacle that beat upon my ears and eyes.
+
+The interior, high ceilinged to the ridged roof, was unbroken by supports.
+It was lighted by two score of lamps and reflectors in brackets along the
+walls and hanging as chandeliers from the rafters. The floor, of planed
+boards, already teemed with men and women and children--along one side
+there was an ornate bar glittering with cut glass and silver and backed by
+a large plate mirror that repeated the lights, the people, the glasses,
+decanters and pitchers, and the figures of the white-coated, busy
+bartenders.
+
+At the farther end of the room a stringed orchestra was stationed upon a
+platform, while to the bidding of the music women, and men with hats upon
+their heads and cigars in mouths, and men together, whirled in couples, so
+that the floor trembled to the boot heels. Scattered thickly over the
+intervening space there were games of chance, every description,
+surrounded by groups looking on or playing. Through the atmosphere blue
+with the smoke women, many of them lavishly costumed as if for a ball,
+strolled risking or responding to gallantries. The garb of the men
+themselves ran the scale: from the comme il faut of slender shoes,
+fashionably cut coats and pantaloons, and modish cravats, through the
+campaign uniforms of army officers and enlisted men, to the frontier
+corduroy and buckskin of surveyors and adventurers, the flannel shirts,
+red, blue and gray, the jeans and cowhide boots of trainmen, teamsters,
+graders, miners, and all.
+
+From nearly every waist dangled a revolver. I remarked that not a few of
+the women displayed little weapons as in bravado.
+
+What with the music, the stamp of the dancers, the clink of glasses and
+the ice in pitchers, the rattle of dice, the slap of cards and currency,
+the announcements of the dealers, the clap-trap of barkers and monte
+spielers, the general chatter of voices, one such as I, a newcomer,
+scarcely knew which way to turn.
+
+Altogether this was an amusement palace which, though rough of exterior,
+eclipsed the best of the Bowery and might be found elsewhere, I imagined,
+not short of San Francisco.
+
+From the jostle of the doorway to pick out upon the floor any single
+figure and follow it was well-nigh impossible. Not seeing my Lady in
+Black, at first sight--not being certain of her, that is, for there were a
+number of black dresses--I moved on in. It might be that she was among the
+dancers, where, as I could determine by the vista, beauty appeared to be
+whirling around in the embrace of the whiskered beast.
+
+Then, as I advanced resolutely among the gaming tables, I felt a cuff upon
+the shoulder and heard a bluff voice in my ear.
+
+"Hello, old hoss. How are tricks by this time?"
+
+Facing about quickly with apprehension of having been spotted by another
+capper, if not Bill Brady himself (for the voice was not Colonel
+Sunderson's unctuous tones) I saw Jim of the Sidney station platform and
+the railway coach fracas.
+
+He was grinning affably, apparently none the worse for wear save a
+slightly swollen lower lip; he seemed in good humor.
+
+"Shake," he proffered, extending his hand. "No hard feelin's here. I'm no
+Injun. You knocked the red-eye out o' me."
+
+I shook hands with him, and again he slapped me upon the shoulder. "Hardly
+knowed you in that new rig. Now you're talkin'. That's sense. Well; how
+you comin' on?"
+
+"First rate," I assured, not a little nonplussed by this greeting from a
+man whom I had knocked down, tipsy drunk, only a few hours before. But
+evidently he was a seasoned customer.
+
+"Bucked the tiger a leetle, I reckon?" And he leered cunningly.
+
+"No; I rarely gamble."
+
+"Aw, tell that to the marines." Once more he jovially clapped me. "A young
+gent like you has to take a fling now and then. Hell, this is Benton,
+where everything goes and nobody the worse for it. You bet yuh! Trail
+along with me. Let's likker. Then I'll show you the ropes. I like your
+style. Yes, sir; I know a man when I see him." And he swore freely.
+
+"Another time, sir," I begged off. "I have an engagement this
+evening----"
+
+"O' course you have. Don't I know that, too, by Gawd? The when, where and
+who? Didn't she tell me to keep my eyes skinned for you, and to cotton to
+you when you come in? We'll find her, after we likker up."
+
+"She did?"
+
+"Why not? Ain't I a friend o' hern? You bet! Finest little woman in
+Benton. Trail to the trough along with me, pardner, and name your
+favor-ite. I've got a thirst like a Sioux buck with a robe to trade."
+
+"I'd rather not drink, thank you," I essayed; but he would have none of
+it. He seized me by the arm and hustled me on.
+
+"O' course you'll drink. Any gent I ax to drink has gotto drink. Name your
+pizen--make it champagne, if that's your brand. But the drinks are on
+me."
+
+So willy-nilly I was brought to the bar, where the line of men already
+loafing there made space.
+
+"Straight goods and the best you've got," my self-appointed pilot blared.
+"None o' your agency whiskey, either. What's yourn?" he asked of me.
+
+"The same as yours, sir," I bravely replied.
+
+With never a word the bartender shoved bottle and glasses to us. Jim
+rather unsteadily filled; I emulated, but to scanter measure.
+
+"Here's how," he volunteered. "May you never see the back of your neck."
+
+"Your health," I responded.
+
+We drank. The stuff may have been pure; at least it was stout and cut
+fiery way down my unwonted throat; the one draught infused me with a
+swagger and a sudden rosy view of life through a temporary mist of
+watering eyes.
+
+"A-ah! That puts guts into a man," quoth Jim. "Shall we have another? One
+more?"
+
+"Not now. The next shall be on me. Let's look around," I gasped.
+
+"We'll find her," he promised. "Take a stroll. I'll steer you right. Have
+a seegar, anyway."
+
+As smoking vied with drinking, here in the Big Tent where even the dancers
+cavorted with lighted cigars in their mouths, I saw fit to humor him.
+
+"Cigars it shall be, then. But I'll pay." And to my nod the bartender set
+out a box, from which we selected at twenty-five cents each. With my own
+"seegar" cocked up between my lips, and my revolver adequately heavy at my
+belt, I suffered the guidance of the importunate Jim.
+
+We wended leisurely among games of infinite variety: keno, rondo coolo,
+poker, faro, roulette, monte, chuck-a-luck, wheels of fortune--advertised,
+some, by their barkers, but the better class (if there is such a
+distinction) presided over by remarkably quiet, white-faced,
+nimble-fingered, steady-eyed gentry in irreproachable garb running much to
+white shirts, black pantaloons, velvet waistcoats, and polished boots, and
+diamonds and gold chains worn unaffectedly; low-voiced gentry, these,
+protected, it would appear, mainly by their lookouts perched at their
+sides with eyes alert to read faces and to watch the play.
+
+We had by no means completed the tour, interrupted by many jests and nods
+exchanged between Jim and sundry of the patrons, when we indeed met My
+Lady. She detached herself, as if cognizant of our approach, from a little
+group of four or five standing upon the floor; and turned for me with hand
+outstretched, a gratifying flush upon her spirited face.
+
+"You are here, then?" she greeted.
+
+I made a leg, with my best bow, not omitting to remove hat and cigar,
+while agreeably conscious of her approving gaze.
+
+"I am here, madam, in the Big Tent."
+
+Her small warm hand acted as if unreservedly mine, for the moment. About
+her there was a tingling element of the friendly, even of the intimate.
+She was a haven in a strange coast.
+
+"Told you I'd find him, didn't I?" Jim asserted--the bystanders listening
+curiously. "There he was, lookin' as lonesome as a two-bit piece on a
+poker table in a sky-limit game. So we had a drink and a seegar, and been
+makin' the grand tower."
+
+"You got your outfit, I see," she smiled.
+
+"Yes. Am I correct?"
+
+"You have saved yourself annoyance. You'll do," she nodded. "Have you
+played yet? Win, or lose?"
+
+"I did not come to play, madam," said I. "Not at table, that is."
+Whereupon I must have returned her gaze so glowingly as to embarrass her.
+Yet she was not displeased; and in that costume and with that liquor
+still coursing through my veins I felt equal to any retort.
+
+"But you should play. You are heeled?"
+
+"The best I could procure." I let my hand rest casually upon my revolver
+butt.
+
+She laughed merrily. There were smiles aside.
+
+"Oh, no; I didn't mean that. You are heeled for all to see. I meant, you
+have funds? You didn't come here too light, did you?"
+
+"I am prepared for all emergencies, madam, certainly," I averred with
+proper dignity. Not for the world would I have confessed otherwise. Sooth
+to say, I had the sensation of boundless wealth. The affair at the hotel
+did not bother me, now. Here in the Big Tent prosperity reigned. Money,
+money, money was passing back and forth, carelessly shoved out and
+carelessly pocketed or piled up, while the band played and the people
+laughed and drank and danced and bragged and staked, and laughed again.
+
+"That is good. Shall we walk a little? And when you play--come here." We
+stepped apart from the listeners. "When you play, follow the lead of Jim.
+He'll not lose, and I intend that you shan't, either. But you must play,
+for the sport of it. Everybody games, in Benton."
+
+"So I judge, madam," I assented. "Under your chaperonage I am ready to
+take any risks, the gaming table being among the least."
+
+"Prettily said, sir," she complimented. "And you won't lose. No," she
+repeated suggestively, "you won't lose, with me looking out for you. Jim
+bears you no ill will. He recognizes a man when he meets him, even when
+the proof is uncomfortable."
+
+"For that little episode on the train I ask no reward, madam," said I.
+
+"Of course not." Her tone waxed impatient. "However, you're a stranger in
+Benton and strangers do not always fare well." In this she spoke the
+truth. "As a resident I claim the honors. Let us be old acquaintances.
+Shall we walk? Or would you rather dance?"
+
+"I'd cut a sorry figure dancing in boots," said I. "Therefore I'd really
+prefer to walk, if all the same to you."
+
+"Thank you for having mercy on my poor feet. Walk we will."
+
+"May I get you some refreshment?" I hazarded. "A lemonade--or something
+stronger?"
+
+"Not for you, sir; not again," she laughed. "You are, as Jim would say,
+'fortified.' And I shall need all my wits to keep you from being tolled
+away by greater attractions."
+
+With that, she accepted my arm. We promenaded, Jim sauntering near. And as
+she emphatically was the superior of all other women upon the floor I did
+not fail to dilate with the distinction accorded me: felt it in the
+glances, the deference and the ready make-way which attended upon our
+progress. Frankly to say, possibly I strutted--as a young man will when
+"fortified" within and without and elevated from the station of
+nondescript stranger to that of favored beau.
+
+Whereas an hour before I had been crushed and beggarly, now I turned out
+my toes and stepped bravely--my twenty-one dollars in pocket, my
+six-shooter at belt, a red 'kerchief at throat, the queen of the hall on
+my arm, and my trunk all unnecessary to my well-being.
+
+Thus in easy fashion we moved amidst eyes and salutations from the various
+degrees of the company. She made no mention of any husband, which might
+have been odd in the East but did not impress me as especially odd here in
+the democratic Far West. The women appeared to have an independence of
+action.
+
+"Shall we risk a play or two?" she proposed. "Are you acquainted with
+three-card monte?"
+
+"Indifferently, madam," said I. "But I am green at all gambling devices."
+
+"You shall learn," she encouraged lightly. "In Benton as in Rome, you
+know. There is no disgrace attached to laying down a dollar here and
+there--we all do it. That is part of our amusement, in Benton." She
+halted. "You are game, sir? What is life but a series of chances? Are you
+disposed to win a little and flout the danger of losing?"
+
+"I am in Benton to win," I valiantly asserted. "And if under your
+direction, so much the quicker. What first, then? The three-card monte?"
+
+"It is the simplest. Faro would be beyond you yet. Rondo coolo is
+boisterous and confusing--and as for poker, that is a long session of
+nerves, while chuck-a-luck, though all in the open, is for children and
+fools. You might throw the dice a thousand times and never cast a lucky
+combination. Roulette is as bad. The percentage in favor of the bank in a
+square game is forty per cent. better than stealing. I'll initiate you on
+monte. Are your eyes quick?"
+
+"For some things," I replied meaningly.
+
+She conducted me to the nearest monte game, where the "spieler"--a
+smooth-faced lad of not more than nineteen--sat behind his three-legged
+little table, green covered, and idly shifting the cards about maintained
+a rather bored flow of conversational incitement to bets.
+
+As happened, he was illy patronized at the moment. There were not more
+than three or four onlookers, none risking but all waiting apparently upon
+one another.
+
+At our arrival the youth glanced up with the most innocent pair of
+long-lashed brown eyes that I ever had seen. A handsome boy he was.
+
+"Hello, Bob."
+
+He smiled, with white teeth.
+
+"Hello yourself."
+
+My Lady and he seemed to know each other.
+
+"How goes it to-night, Bob?"
+
+"Slow. There's no nerve or money in this camp any more. She's a dead
+one."
+
+"I'll not have Benton slandered," My Lady gaily retorted. "We'll buck your
+game, Bob. But you must be easy on us. We're green yet."
+
+Bob shot a quick glance at me--in one look had read me from hat to boots.
+He had shrewder eyes than their first languor intimated.
+
+"Pleased to accommodate you, I'm sure," he answered. "The greenies stand
+as good a show at this board as the profesh."
+
+"Will you play for a dollar?" she challenged.
+
+"I'll play for two bits, to-night. Anything to start action." He twisted
+his mouth with ready chagrin. "I'm about ripe to bet against myself."
+
+She fumbled at her reticule, but I was beforehand.
+
+"No, no." And I fished into my pocket. "Allow me. I will furnish the funds
+if you will do the playing."
+
+"I choose the card?" said she. "That is up to you, sir. You are to
+learn."
+
+"By watching, at first," I protested. "We should be partners."
+
+"Well," she consented, "if you say so. Partners it is. A lady brings luck,
+but I shall not always do your playing for you, sir. That kind of
+partnership comes to grief."
+
+"I am hopeful of playing on my own score, in due time," I responded. "As
+you will see."
+
+"What's the card, Bob? We've a dollar on it, as a starter."
+
+He eyed her, while facing the cards up.
+
+"The ace. You see it--the ace, backed by ten and deuce. Here it is. All
+ready?" He turned them down, in order; methodically, even listlessly moved
+them to and fro, yet with light, sure, well-nigh bewildering touch.
+Suddenly lifted his hands. "All set. A dollar you don't face up the ace at
+first try."
+
+She laughed, bantering.
+
+"Oh, Bob! You're too easy. I wonder you aren't broke. You're no monte
+spieler. Is this your best?"
+
+And I believed that I myself knew which card was the ace.
+
+"You hear me, and there's my dollar." He coolly waited.
+
+"Not yours; ours. Will you make it five?"
+
+"One is my limit on this throw. You named it."
+
+"Oho!" With a dart of hand she had turned up the middle card, exposing the
+ace spot, as I had anticipated. She swept the two dollars to her.
+
+"Adios," she bade.
+
+He smiled, indulgent.
+
+"So soon? Don't I get my revenge? You, sir." And he appealed to me. "You
+see how easy it is. I'll throw you a turn for a dollar, two dollars, five
+dollars--anything to combine business and pleasure. Whether I win or lose
+I don't care. You'll follow the lead of the lady? What?"
+
+I was on fire to accept, but she stayed me.
+
+"Not now. I'm showing him around, Bob. You'll get your revenge later.
+Good-bye. I've drummed up trade for you."
+
+As if inspired by the winning several of the bystanders, some newly
+arrived, had money in their hands, to stake. So we strolled on; and I was
+conscious that the youth's brown eyes briefly flicked after us with a
+peculiar glint.
+
+"Yours," she said, extending the coins to me.
+
+I declined.
+
+"No, indeed. It is part of my tuition. If you will play I will stake."
+
+She also declined.
+
+"I can't have that. You will at least take your own money back."
+
+"Only for another try, madam," I assented.
+
+"In that case we'll find a livelier game yonder," said she. "Bob's just a
+lazy boy. His game is a piker game. He's too slow to learn from. Let us
+watch a real game."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+I STAKE ON THE QUEEN
+
+
+Jim had disappeared; until when we had made way to another monte table
+there he was, his hands in his pockets, his cigar half smoked.
+
+More of a crowd was here; the voice of the spieler more insistent, yet
+low-pitched and businesslike. He was a study--a square-shouldered, well
+set-up, wiry man of olive complexion, finely chiseled features save for
+nose somewhat cruelly beaked, of short black moustache, dead black long
+wavy hair, and, placed boldly wide, contrastive hard gray eyes that lent
+atmosphere of coldness to his face. His hat was pulled down over his
+forehead, he held an unlighted cigar between his teeth while he
+mechanically spoke and shifted the three cards (a diamond flashing from a
+finger) upon the baize-covered little table.
+
+Money had been wagered. He had just raked in a few notes, adding them to
+his pile. His monotone droned on.
+
+"Next, ladies and gentlemen. Sometimes I win, sometimes I lose. That is my
+business. The play is yours. You may think I have two chances to your
+one; that is not so. You make the choice. Always the queen, always the
+queen. You have only to watch the queen, one card. I have to watch three
+cards. You have your two eyes, I have my two hands. You spot the card only
+when you think you can. I meet all comers. It is an even gamble."
+
+Jim remarked us as we joined.
+
+"How you comin' now?" he greeted of me.
+
+"We won a dollar," My Lady responded.
+
+"Not I. She did the choosing," I corrected.
+
+"But you would have chosen the same card, you said," she prompted. "You
+saw how easy it was."
+
+"Easy if you know how," Jim asserted. "Think to stake a leetle here? I've
+been keepin' cases and luck's breaking ag'in the bank to-night, by gosh.
+Made several turns, myself, already."
+
+"We'll wait a minute till we get his system," she answered.
+
+"Are you watching, ladies and gentlemen?" bade the dealer, in that even
+tone. "You see the eight of clubs, the eight of spades, the queen of
+hearts. The queen is your card. My hand against your eyes, then. You are
+set? There you are. Pick the queen, some one of you. Put your money on the
+queen of hearts. You can turn the card yourself. What? Nobody? Don't be
+pikers. Let us have a little sport. Stake a dollar. Why, you'd toss a
+dollar down your throat--you'd lay a dollar on a cockroach race--you'd bet
+that much on a yellow dog if you owned him, just to show your spirit. And
+here I'm offering you a straight proposition."
+
+With a muttered "I'll go you another turn, Mister," Jim stepped closer and
+planked down a dollar. The dealer cast a look up at him as with pleased
+surprise.
+
+"You, sir? Very good. You have spirit. Money talks. Here is my dollar.
+Now, to prove to these other people what a good guesser you are, which is
+the queen?"
+
+"Here," Jim said confidently; and sure enough he faced up the queen of
+hearts.
+
+"The money's yours. You never earned a dollar quicker, I'll wager,
+friend," the dealer acknowledged, imperturbable--for he evidently was one
+who never evinced the least emotion, whether he won or lost. "Very good.
+Now----"
+
+From behind him a man--a newcomer to the spot, who looked like any
+respectable Eastern merchant, being well dressed and grave of
+face--touched him upon the shoulder. He turned ear; while he inclined
+farther they whispered together, and I witnessed an arm steal swiftly
+forward at my side, and a thumb and finger slightly bend up the extreme
+corner of the queen. The hand and arm vanished; when the dealer fronted us
+again the queen was apparently just as before. Only we who had seen would
+have marked the bent corner.
+
+The act had been so clever and so audacious that I fairly held my breath.
+But the gambler resumed his flow of talk, while he fingered the cards as
+if totally unaware that they had been tampered with.
+
+"Now, again, ladies and gentlemen. You see how it is done. You back your
+eyes, and you win. I find that I shall have to close early to-night. Make
+your hay while the sun shines. Who'll be in on this turn? Watch the queen
+of hearts. I place her here. I coax the three cards a little----" he gave
+a swift flourish. "There they are."
+
+His audience hesitated, as if fearful of a trick, for the bent corner of
+the queen, raising this end a little, was plain to us who knew. It was
+absurdly plain.
+
+"I'll go you another, Mister," Jim responded. "I'll pick out the queen
+ag'in for a dollar."
+
+The gambler smiled grimly and shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"Oh, pshaw, sir. These are small stakes. You'll never get rich at that
+rate and neither shall I."
+
+"I reckon I can set my own limit," Jim grumbled.
+
+"Yes, sir. But let's have action. Who'll join this gentleman in his guess?
+Who'll back his luck? He's a winner, I admit that."
+
+The gray eyes dwelt upon face and face of our half circle; and still I,
+too, hesitated, although my dollar was burning a hole in my pocket.
+
+My Lady whispered to me.
+
+"All's fair in love and war. Here--put this on, with yours, for me." She
+slipped a dollar of her own into my hand.
+
+Another man stepped forward. He was, I judged, a teamster. His clothes, of
+flannel shirt, belted trousers and six-shooter and dusty boots, so
+indicated. And his beard was shaggy and unkempt, almost covering his face
+underneath his drooping slouch hat.
+
+"I'll stake you a dollar," he said.
+
+"Two from me," I heard myself saying, and I saw my hand depositing them.
+
+"You're all on this gentleman's card, remember?"
+
+We nodded. The bearded man tipped me a wink.
+
+"You, sir, then, turn the queen if you can," the gambler challenged of
+Jim.
+
+With quick movement Jim flopped the bent-corner card, and the queen
+herself seemed to wink jovially at us.
+
+The gambler exclaimed.
+
+"By God, gentlemen, but you've skinned me again. I'm clumsy to-night. I'd
+better quit." And he scarcely varied his level tone despite the chuckles
+of the crowd. "You must let me try once more. But I warn you, I want
+action. I'm willing to meet any sum you stack up against me, if it's large
+enough to spell action. Shall we go another round or two before I close
+up?" He gathered the three cards. "You see the queen--my unlucky queen of
+hearts. Here she is." He stowed the card between thumb and finger. "Here
+are the other two." He held them up in his left hand--the eight of clubs,
+the eight of spades. He transferred them--with his rapid motion he strewed
+the three. "Choose the queen. I put the game to you fair and square. There
+are the cards. Maybe you can read their backs. That's your privilege." He
+fixed his eyes upon the teamster. "You, sir; where's your money, half of
+which was mine?" He glanced at Jim. "And you, sir? You'll follow your
+luck?" Lastly he surveyed me with a flash of steely bravado. "And you,
+young gentleman. You came in before. I dare you."
+
+The bent corner was more pronounced than ever, as if aggravated by the
+manipulations. It could not possibly be mistaken by the knowing. And a
+sudden shame possessed me--a glut of this crafty advantage to which I was
+stooping; an advantage gained not through my own wit, either, but through
+the dishonorable trick of another.
+
+"There's your half from me, if you want it," said Jim, slapping down two
+dollars. "This is my night to howl."
+
+The teamster backed him.
+
+"I'm on the same card," said he.
+
+And not to be outdone--urged, I thought, by a pluck at my sleeve--I boldly
+followed with my own two dollars, reasoning that I was warranted in
+partially recouping, for Benton owed me much.
+
+The gambler laughed shortly. His gaze, cool and impertinent, enveloped
+our front. He leaned back, defiant.
+
+"Give me a chance, gentlemen. I shall not proceed with the play for that
+picayune sum before me. This is my last deal and I've been loser. It's
+make or break. Who else will back that gentleman's luck? I've placed the
+cards the best I know how. But six or eight dollars is no money to me. It
+doesn't pay for floor space. Is nobody else in? What? Come, come; let's
+have some sport. I dare you. This time is my revenge or your good fortune.
+Play up, gentlemen. Don't be crabbers." He smiled sarcastically; his words
+stung. "This isn't pussy-in-a-corner. It's a game of wits. You wouldn't
+bet unless you felt cock-sure of winning. I'll give you one minute,
+gentlemen, before calling all bets off unless you make the pot worth
+while."
+
+The threat had effect. Nobody wished to let the marked card get away. That
+was not human nature. Bets rained in upon the table--bank notes, silver
+half dollars, the rarer dollar coins, and the common greenbacks. He met
+each wager, while he sat negligent and half smiled and chewed his
+unlighted cigar.
+
+"This is the last round, gentlemen," he reminded. "Are you all in? Don't
+leave with regrets. You," he said, direct to me. "Are you in such short
+circumstances that you have no spunk? Why did you come here, sir, if not
+to win? Why, the stakes you play would not buy refreshment for the lady!"
+
+That was too much. I threw scruples aside. He had badgered me--he was
+there to win if he could; I now was hot with the same design. I extracted
+my twenty-dollar note, and deaf to a quickly breathed "Wait the turn" from
+My Lady I planked it down before him. She should know me for a man of
+decision.
+
+"There, sir," said I. "I am betting twenty-two dollars in all, which is my
+limit to-night, on the same right-end card as I stand."
+
+I thought that I had him. Forthwith he straightened alertly, spoke
+tartly.
+
+"The game is closed, gentlemen. Remember, you are wagering on the first
+turn. There are no splits in monte. Not at this table. Our friend says the
+right-end card. You, sir," and he addressed Jim. "They are backing you.
+Which do you say is the queen? Lay your finger on her."
+
+Jim so did, with a finger stubby, and dirty under the nail.
+
+"That is the card, is it? You are agreed?" he queried us, sweeping his
+cold gray eyes from face to face. "We'll have no crabbing."
+
+We nodded, intently eying the card, fearful yet, some of us, that it might
+be denied us.
+
+"You, sir, then." And he addressed me. "You are the heaviest better.
+Suppose you turn the card for yourself and those other gentlemen."
+
+I obediently reached for it. My hand trembled. There were sixty or
+seventy dollars upon the table, and my own contribution was my last cent.
+As I fumbled I felt the strain of bodies pressing against mine, and heard
+the hiss of feverish breaths, and a foolish laugh or two. Nevertheless the
+silence seemed overpowering.
+
+I turned the card--the card with the bent corner, of which I was as
+certain as of my own name; I faced it up, confidently, my capital already
+doubled; and amidst a burst of astonished cries I stared dumbfounded.
+
+It was the eight of clubs! My fingers left it as though it were a snake.
+It was the eight of clubs! Where I had seen, in fancy, the queen of
+hearts, there lay like a changeling the eight of clubs, with corner bent
+as only token of the transformation.
+
+The crowd elbowed about me. With rapid movement the gambler raked in the
+bets--a slender hand flashed by me--turned the next card. The queen that
+was, after all.
+
+The gambler darkened, gathering the pasteboards.
+
+"We can't both win, gentlemen," he said, tone passionless. "But I am
+willing to give you one more chance, from a new deck."
+
+What the response was I did not know, nor care. My ears drummed
+confusedly, and seeing nothing I pushed through into the open, painfully
+conscious that I was flat penniless and that instead of having played the
+knave I had played the fool, for the queen of hearts.
+
+The loss of some twenty dollars might have been a trivial matter to me
+once--I had at times cast that sum away as vainly as Washington had cast a
+dollar across the Potomac; but here I had lost my all, whether large or
+small; and not only had I been bilked out of it--I had bilked myself out
+of it by sinking, in pretended smartness, below the level of a more artful
+dodger.
+
+I heard My Lady speaking beside me.
+
+"I'm so sorry." She laid hand upon my sleeve. "You should have been
+content with small sums, or followed my lead. Next time----"
+
+"There'll be no next time," I blurted. "I am cleaned out."
+
+"You don't mean----?"
+
+"I was first robbed at the hotel. Now here."
+
+"No, no!" she opposed. Jim sidled to us. "That was a bungle, Jim."
+
+He ruefully scratched his head.
+
+"A wrong steer for once, I reckon. I warn't slick enough. Too much money
+on the table. But it looked like the card; I never took my eyes off'n it.
+We'll try ag'in, and switch to another layout. By thunder, I want revenge
+on this joint and I mean to get it. So do you, don't you, pardner?" he
+appealed to me.
+
+As with mute, sickly denial I turned away it seemed to me that I sensed a
+shifting of forms at the monte table--caught the words "You watch here a
+moment"; and close following, a slim white hand fell heavily upon My
+Lady's shoulder. It whirled her about, to face the gambler. His smooth
+olive countenance was dark with a venom of rage incarnate that poisoned
+the air; his syllables crackled.
+
+"You devil! I heard you, at the table. You meddle with my come-ons, will
+you?" And he slapped her with open palm, so that the impact smacked. "Now
+get out o' here or I'll kill you."
+
+She flamed red, all in a single rush of blood.
+
+"Oh!" she breathed. Her hand darted for the pocket in her skirt, but I
+sprang between the two. Forgetful of my revolver, remembering only what I
+had witnessed--a woman struck by a man--with a blow I sent him reeling
+backward.
+
+He recovered; every vestige of color had left his face, except for the
+spot where I had landed; his hat had sprung aside from the shock--his gray
+eyes, contrasted with his black hair, fastened upon my eyes almost
+deliberately and his upper lip lifted over set white teeth. With lightning
+movement he thrust the fingers of his right hand into his waistcoat
+pocket.
+
+I heard a rush of feet, a clamor of voices; and all the while, which
+seemed interminable, I was tugging, awkward with deadly peril, at my
+revolver. His fingers had whipped free of the pocket, I glimpsed as with
+second sight (for my eyes were held strongly by his) the twin little
+black muzzles of a derringer concealed in his palm; a spasm of fear
+pinched me; they spurted, with ringing report, but just at the instant a
+flanneled arm knocked his arm up, the ball had sped ceiling-ward and the
+teamster of the gaming table stood against him, revolver barrel boring
+into his very stomach.
+
+"Stand pat, Mister. I call you."
+
+In a trice all entry of any unpleasant emotion vanished from my
+antagonist's handsome face, leaving it olive tinted, cameo, inert. He
+steadied a little, and smiled, surveying the teamster's visage, close to
+his.
+
+"You have me covered, sir. My hand is in the discard." He composedly
+tucked the derringer into his waistcoat pocket again. "That gentleman
+struck me; he was about to draw on me, and by rights I might have killed
+him. My apologies for this little disturbance."
+
+He bestowed a challenging look upon me, a hard unforgiving look upon the
+lady; with a bow he turned for his hat, and stepping swiftly went back to
+his table.
+
+Now in the reaction I fought desperately against a trembling of the knees;
+there were congratulations, a hubbub of voices assailing me--and the arm
+of the teamster through mine and his bluff invitation:
+
+"Come and have a drink."
+
+"But you'll return. You must. I want to speak with you."
+
+It was My Lady, pleading earnestly. I still could scarcely utter a word;
+my brain was in a smother. My new friend moved me away from her. He
+answered for me.
+
+"Not until we've had a little confab, lady. We've got matters of
+importance jest at present."
+
+I saw her bite her lips, as she helplessly flushed; her blue eyes implored
+me, but I had no will of my own and I certainly owed a measure of courtesy
+to this man who had saved my life.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+I ACCEPT AN OFFER
+
+
+We found a small table, one of the several devoted to refreshments for the
+dancers, in a corner and unoccupied. The affair upon the floor was
+apparently past history--if it merited even that distinction. The place
+had resumed its program of dancing, playing and drinking as though after
+all a pistol shot was of no great moment in the Big Tent.
+
+"You had a narrow shave," my friend remarked as we seated ourselves--I
+with a sigh of gratitude for the opportunity. "If you can't draw quicker
+you'd better keep your hands in your pockets. Let's have a dose of
+t'rant'lar juice to set you up." Whereupon he ordered whiskey from a
+waiter.
+
+"But I couldn't stand by and see him strike a woman," I defended.
+
+"Wall, fists mean guns, in these diggin's. Where you from?"
+
+"Albany, New York State."
+
+"I sized you up as a pilgrim. You haven't been long in camp, either, have
+you?"
+
+"No. But plenty long enough," I miserably replied.
+
+"Long enough to be plucked, eh?"
+
+We had drunk the whiskey. Under its warming influence my tongue loosened.
+Moreover there was something strong and kindly in the hearty voice and the
+rough face of this rudely clad plainsman, black bearded to the piercing
+black eyes.
+
+"Yes; of my last cent."
+
+"All at gamblin', mebbe?"
+
+"No. Only a little, but that strapped me. The hotel had robbed me of
+practically everything else."
+
+"Had, had it? Wall, what's the story?"
+
+I told him of the hotel part; and he nodded.
+
+"Shore. You can't hold the hotel responsible. You can leave stuff loose in
+regular camp; nobody enters flaps without permission. But a room is a
+different proposition. I'd rather take chances among Injuns than among
+white men. Why, you could throw in with a Sioux village for a year and not
+be robbed permanent if the chief thought you straight; but in a white
+man's town--hell! Now, how'd you get tangled up with this other outfit?"
+
+"Which?" I queried.
+
+"That brace outfit I found you with."
+
+"The fellow is a stranger to me, sir," said I. "I simply was foolish
+enough to stake what little I had on a sure thing--I was bamboozled into
+following the lead of the rest of you," I reminded. "Now I see that there
+was a trick, although I don't yet understand. After that the fellow
+assaulted the lady, my companion, and you stepped in--for which, sir, I
+owe you more thanks than I can utter."
+
+"A trick, you think?" He opened his hairy mouth for a gust of short
+laughter. "My Gawd, boy! We were nicely took in, and we desarved it. When
+you buck the tiger, look out for his claws. But I reckoned he'd postpone
+the turn till next time. He would have, if you fellers hadn't come down so
+handsome with the dust. I stood pat, at that. So, you notice, did the
+capper, your other friend."
+
+"The capper? Which was he, sir?"
+
+"Why, Lord bless you, son. You're the greenest thing this side of Omyha. A
+capper touched him on the shoulder, a capper bent that there card, a
+capper tolled you all on with a dollar or two, and another capper fed the
+come-ons to his table. Aye, she's a purty piece. Where'd you meet up with
+her?"
+
+"With her?" I gasped.
+
+"Yes, yes. The woman; the main steerer. That purty piece who damn nigh
+lost you your life as well as losin' you your money."
+
+"You mean the lady with the blue eyes, in black?"
+
+"Yes, the golden hair. Lady! Oh, pshaw! Where'd she hook you? At the
+door?"
+
+"You shall not speak of her in that fashion, sir," I answered. "We were
+together on the train from Omaha. She has been kindness itself. The only
+part she has played to-night, as far as I can see, was to chaperon me here
+in the Big Tent; and whatever small winnings I had made, for amusement,
+was due to her and the skill of an acquaintance named Jim."
+
+"Jim Daily, yep. O' course. And she befriended you. Why, d'you suppose?"
+
+"Perhaps because I was of some assistance to her on the way out West. I
+had a little setto with Mr. Daily, when he annoyed her while he was drunk.
+But sobered up, he seemed to wish to make amends."
+
+"Oh, Lord!" My friend's mouth gaped. "Amends? Yep. That's his nature.
+Might call it mendin' his pocket and his lip. And you don't yet savvy that
+your 'lady' 's Montoyo's wife--his woman, anyhow?"
+
+"Montoyo? Who's Montoyo?"
+
+"The monte thrower. That same spieler who trimmed us," he rapped
+impatiently.
+
+The light that broke upon me dazed. My heart pounded. I must have looked
+what I felt: a fool.
+
+"No," I stammered in my thin small voice of the hotel. "I imagined--I had
+reason to suspect that she might be married. But I didn't know to whom."
+
+"Married? Wall, mebbe. Anyhow, she's bound to Montoyo. He's a breed, some
+Spanish, some white, like as not some Injun. A devil, and as slick as they
+make 'em. She's a power too white for him, herself, but he uses her and
+some day he'll kill her. You're not the fust gudgeon she's hooked, to feed
+to him. Why, she's known all back down the line. They two have been
+followin' end o' track from North Platte, along with Hell on Wheels. Had a
+layout in Omyha, and in Denver. They're not the only double-harness outfit
+hyar, either. You can meet a friendly woman any time, but this one got
+hold you fust."
+
+I writhed to the words.
+
+"And that fellow Jim?" I asked.
+
+"He's jest a common roper. He alluz wins, to encourage suckers like you.
+'Tisn't his money he plays with; he's on commish. Beginnin' to understand,
+ain't you?"
+
+"But the bent card?" I insisted. "That is the mystery. It was the queen.
+What became of the queen?"
+
+"Ho ho!" And again he laughed. "A cute trick, shore. That's what we got
+for bein' so plumb crooked ourselves. Why, o' course it was the queen,
+once. You see 'twas this way. That she-male and the capper in cahoots with
+her tolled you on straight for Montoyo's table; teased you a leetle along
+the trail, no doubt, to keep you interested." I nodded. "They promised you
+winnin's, easy winnin's. Then at Montoyo's table the game was a leetle
+slack; so one capper touched him on the shoulder and another marked the
+card. O' course a gambler like him wouldn't be up to readin' his own
+cards. Oh, no! You sports were the smart ones."
+
+"How about yourself?" I retorted, nettled.
+
+"Me? I know them tricks, but I reckoned I was smart, too. Then that capper
+Jim led out and we all made a small winnin', to prove the system. And
+Montoyo, he gets tired o' losin'--but still he's blind to a card that
+everybody else can see, and he calls for real play so he can go broke or
+even up. I didn't look for much of a deal on that throw myself. Usu'ly it
+comes less promisc'yus, with the gudgeon stakin' the big roll, and then I
+pull out. But you-all slapped down the stuff in a stampede, sartin you had
+him buffaloed. On his last shuffle he'd straightened the queen and turned
+down the eight, usin' an extra finger or two. Them card sharps have six
+fingers on each hand and several in their sleeve, and he was slicker'n I
+thought. He might have refused all bets and got your mad up for the next
+pass; but you'd come down as handsome as you would, he figgered. So he let
+go. 'Twas fair and squar', robber eat robber, and we none of us have any
+call to howl. But you mind my word: Don't aim to put something over on a
+professional gamblin' sharp. It can't be done. As for me, I broke even and
+I alluz expect to lose. When I look to be skinned I leave most my dust
+behind me where I can't get at it."
+
+Now I saw all, or enough. I had received no more than I deserved. Such a
+wave of nausea surged into my mouth--but he was continuing.
+
+"Jest why he struck his woman I don't know. Do you?"
+
+"Yes. She had cautioned me and he must have heard her. And she showed
+which was the right card. I don't understand that."
+
+"To save her face, and egg you on. Shore! Your twenty dollars was nothin'.
+She didn't know you were busted. Next time she'd have steered you to the
+tune of a hundred or two and cleaned you proper. You hadn't been worked
+along, yet, to the right pitch o' smartness. Montoyo must ha' mistook her.
+She encouraged you, didn't she?"
+
+"Yes, she did." I arose unsteadily, clutching the table. "If you'll excuse
+me, sir, I think I'd better go. I--I--I thank you. I only wish I'd met you
+before. You are at liberty to regard me as a saphead. Good-night, sir."
+
+"No! Hold on. Sit down, sit down, man. Have another drink."
+
+"I have had enough. In fact, since arriving in Benton I've had more than
+enough of everything." But I sat down.
+
+"Where were you goin'?"
+
+"To the hotel. I am privileged to stay there until to-morrow. Thank Heaven
+I was obliged to pay in advance."
+
+"Alluz safer," said he. "And then what?"
+
+"To-morrow?"
+
+"Yes. To-morrow."
+
+"I don't know. I must find employment, and earn enough to get home with."
+To write for funds was now impossible through very shame. "Home's the
+only place for a person of my greenness."
+
+"Why did you come out clear to end o' track?" he inquired.
+
+"I was ordered by my physician to find a locality in the Far West, high
+and dry." I gulped at his smile. "I've found it and shall go home to
+report."
+
+"With your tail between your legs?" He clapped me upon the shoulder.
+"Stiffen your back. We all have to pay for eddication. You're not wolf
+meat yet, by a long shot. You've still got your hair, and that's more than
+some men I know of. You look purty healthy, too. Don't turn for home;
+stick it out."
+
+"I shall have to stick it out until I raise the transportation," I
+reminded. "My revolver should tide me over, for a beginning."
+
+"Sell it?" said he. "Sell your breeches fust. Either way you'd be only
+half dressed. No!"
+
+"It would take me a little way. I'll not stay in Benton--not to be pointed
+at as a dupe."
+
+"Oh, pshaw!" he laughed. "Nobody'll remember you, specially if you're
+known to be broke. Busted, you're of no use to the camp. Let me make you a
+proposition. I believe you're straight goods. Can't believe anything else,
+after seein' your play and sizin' you up. Let me make you a proposition.
+I'm on my way to Salt Lake with a bull outfit and I'm in need of another
+man. I'll give you a dollar and a half a day and found, and it will be
+good honest work, too."
+
+"You are teaming west, you mean?" I asked.
+
+"Yes, sir. Freightin' across. Mule-whackin'."
+
+"But I never drove spans in my life; and I'm not in shape to stand
+hardships," I faltered. "I'm here for my health. I have----"
+
+"Stow all that, son," he interrupted more tolerantly than was my due.
+"Forget your lungs, lights and liver and stand up a full-size man. In my
+opinion you've had too much doctorin'. A month with a bull train, and a
+diet of beans and sowbelly will put a linin' in your in'ards and a heart
+in your chest. When you've slept under a wagon to Salt Lake and l'arned to
+sling a bull whip and relish your beans burned, you can look anybody in
+the eye and tell him to go to hell, if you like. This roarin' town
+life--it's no life for you. It's a bobtail, wide open in the middle. I'll
+be only too glad to get away on the long trail myself. So you come with
+me," and he smiled winningly. "I hate to see you ruined by women and
+likker. Mule-skinnin' ain't all beer and skittles, as they say; but this
+job'll tide you over, anyhow, and you'll come out at the end with money in
+your pocket, if you choose, and no doctor's bill to pay."
+
+"Sir," I said gratefully, "may I think it over to-night, and let you know
+in the morning? Where will I find you?"
+
+"The train's camped near the wagon trail, back at the river. You can't
+miss it. It's mainly a Mormon train, that some of us Gentiles have thrown
+in with. Ask for Cap'n Hyrum Adams' train. My name's Jenks--George Jenks.
+You'll find me there. I'll hold open for you till ten o'clock--yes, till
+noon. I mean that you shall come. It'll be the makin' of you."
+
+I arose and gave him my hand; shook with him.
+
+"And I hope to come," I asserted with glow of energy. "You've set me upon
+my feet, Mr. Jenks, for I was desperate. You're the first honest man I've
+met in Benton."
+
+"Tut, tut," he reproved. "There are others. Benton's not so bad as you
+think it. But you were dead ripe; the buzzards scented you. Now you go
+straight to your hotel, unless you'll spend the night with me. No? Then
+I'll see you in the mornin'. I'll risk your gettin' through the street
+alone."
+
+"You may, sir," I affirmed. "At present I'm not worth further robbing."
+
+"Except for your gun and clothes," he rejoined. "But if you'll use the one
+you'll keep the other."
+
+Gazing neither right nor left I strode resolutely for the exit. Now I had
+an anchor to windward. Sometimes just one word will face a man about when
+for lack of that mere word he was drifting. Of the games and the people I
+wished only to be rid forever; but at the exit I was halted by a hand laid
+upon my arm, and a quick utterance.
+
+"Not going? You will at least say good-night."
+
+I barely paused, replying to her.
+
+"Good-night."
+
+Still she would have detained me.
+
+"Oh, no, no! Not this way. It was a mistake. I swear to you I am not to be
+blamed. Please let me help you. I don't know what you've heard--I don't
+know what has been said about me--you are angry----"
+
+I twitched free, for she should not work upon me again. With such as she,
+a vampire and yet a woman, a man's safety lay not in words but in
+unequivocal action.
+
+"Good-night," I bade thickly, half choked by that same nausea, now hot.
+Bearing with me a satisfying but somehow annoyingly persistent imprint of
+moist blue eyes under shimmering hair, and startled white face plashed on
+one cheek with vivid crimson, and small hand left extended empty, I
+roughly stalked on and out, free of her, free of the Big Tent, her lair.
+
+All the way to the hotel, through the garish street, I nursed my wrath
+while it gnawed at me like the fox in the Spartan boy's bosom; and once in
+my room, which fortuitously had no other tenants at this hour, I had to
+lean out of the narrow window for sheer relief in the coolness. Surely
+pride had had a fall this night.
+
+There "roared" Benton--the Benton to which, as to prosperity, I had
+hopefully purchased my ticket ages ago. And here cowered I, holed
+up--pillaged, dishonored, worthless in even this community: a young fellow
+in jaunty frontier costume, new and brave, but really reduced to sackcloth
+and ashes; a young fellow only a husk, as false in appearance as the Big
+Tent itself and many another of those canvas shells.
+
+The street noises--shouts, shots, music, songs, laughter, rattle of dice,
+whirr of wheel and clink of glasses--assailed me discordant. The scores of
+tents and shacks stretching on irregularly had become pocked with dark
+spots, where lights had been extinguished, but the street remained ablaze
+and the desert without winked at the stars. There were moving gleams at
+the railroad yards where switch engines puffed back and forth; up the
+grade and the new track, pointing westward, there were sparks of
+camp-fires; and still in other directions beyond the town other tokens
+redly flickered, where overland freighters were biding till the morning.
+
+Two or three miles in the east (Mr. Jenks had said) was his wagon train,
+camped at the North Platte River; and peering between the high canopy of
+stars and the low stratum of spectrally glowing, earthy--yes, very
+earthy--Benton, I tried to focus upon the haven, for comfort.
+
+I had made up my mind to accept the berth. Anything to get away. Benton I
+certainly hated with the rage of the defeated. So in a fling I drew back,
+wrestled out of coat and boots and belt and pantaloons, tucked them in
+hiding against the wall at the head of my bed and my revolver underneath
+my stained pillow; and tried to forget Benton, all of it, with the blanket
+to my ears and my face to the wall, for sleep.
+
+When once or twice I wakened from restless dreaming the glow and the noise
+of the street seemed scarcely abated, as if down there sleep was despised.
+But when I finally aroused, and turned, gathering wits again, full
+daylight had paled everything else.
+
+Snores sounded from the other beds; I saw tumbled coverings, disheveled
+forms and shaggy heads. In my own corner nothing had been molested. The
+world outside was strangely quiet. The trail was open. So with no
+attention to my roommates I hastily washed and dressed, buckled on my
+armament, and stumped freely forth, down the somnolent hall, down the
+creaking stairs, and into the silent lobby.
+
+Even the bar was vacant. Behind the office counter a clerk sat sunk into a
+doze. At my approach he unclosed blank, heavy eyes.
+
+"I'm going out," I said shortly. "Number Three bed in Room Six."
+
+"For long, sir?" he stammered. "You'll be back, or are you leaving?"
+
+"I'm leaving. You'll find I'm paid up."
+
+"Yes, sir. Of course, sir." He rallied to the problem. "Just a moment.
+Number Three, Room Six, you say. Pulling your freight, are you?" He
+scanned the register. "You're the gentleman from New York who came in
+yesterday and met with misfortune?"
+
+"I am," said I.
+
+"Well, better luck next time. We'll see you again?" He quickened. "Here!
+One moment. Think I have a message for you." And reaching behind him into
+a pigeonhole he extracted an envelope, which he passed to me. "Yours,
+sir?" I stared at the fine slanting script of the address:
+
+                       Please deliver to
+                       Frank R. Beeson, Esqr.,
+                       At the Queen Hotel.
+                       Arrived from Albany, N. Y.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+I CUT LOOSE
+
+
+I nodded; rebuffing his attentive eyes I stuffed the envelope into my
+pantaloons pocket.
+
+"Good-bye, sir."
+
+"Good luck. When you come back remember the Queen."
+
+"I'll remember the Queen," said I; and with the envelope smirching my
+flesh I stepped out, holding my head as high as though my pockets
+contained something of more value.
+
+The events of yesterday had hardened, thank Heaven; and so had I, into an
+obstinacy that defied this mocking Western country. I was down to the
+ground and was going to scratch. To make for home like a whipped dog,
+there to hang about, probably become an invalid and die resistless, was
+unthinkable. Already the Far West air and vigor had worked a change in me.
+In the fresh morning I felt like a fighting cock, or a runner recruited by
+a diet of unbolted flour and strong red meat.
+
+The falsity of the life here I looked upon as only an incident. The gay
+tawdry had faded; I realized how much more enduring were the rough,
+uncouth but genuine products like my friend Mr. Jenks and those of that
+ilk, who spoke me well instead of merely fair. Health of mind and body
+should be for me. Hurrah!
+
+But the note! It could have been sent by only one person--the
+superscription, dainty and feminine, betrayed it. That woman was still
+pursuing me. How she had found out my name I did not know; perhaps from
+the label on my bag, perhaps through the hotel register. I did not recall
+having exchanged names with her--she never had proffered her own name. At
+all events she appeared determined to keep a hold upon me, and that was
+disgusting.
+
+Couldn't she understand that I was no longer a fool--that I had wrenched
+absolutely loose from her and that she could do nothing with me? So in
+wrath renewed by her poor estimate of my common sense I was minded to tear
+the note to fragments, unread, and contemptuously scatter them. Had she
+been present I should have done so, to show her.
+
+Being denied the satisfaction I saw no profit in wasting that modicum of
+spleen, when I might double it by deliberately reading her effusion and
+knowingly casting it into the dust. One always can make excuses to
+oneself, for curiosity. Consequently I halted, around a corner in this
+exhausted Benton; tore the envelope open with gingerly touch. The folded
+paper within contained a five-dollar bank note.
+
+That was enough to pump the blood to my face with a rush. It was an
+insult--a shame, first hand. A shoddy plaster, applied to me--to me, Frank
+Beeson, a gentleman, whether to be viewed as a plucked greenhorn or not.
+With cheeks twitching I managed to read the lines accompanying the dole:
+
+  Sir:
+
+  You would not permit me to explain to you to-night, therefore I must
+  write. The recent affair was a mistake. I had no intention that you
+  should lose, and I supposed you were in more funds. I insist upon
+  speaking with you. You shall not go away in this fashion. You will
+  find me at the Elite Cafe, at a table, at ten o'clock in the morning.
+  And in case you are a little short I beg of you to make use of the
+  enclosed, with my best wishes and apologies. You may take it as a
+  loan; I do not care as to that. I am utterly miserable.
+
+                                                                    E.
+      To Frank Beeson, Esquire.
+
+Faugh! Had there been a sewer near I believe that I should have thrown the
+whole enclosure in, and spat. But half unconsciously wadding both money
+and paper in my hand as if to squeeze the last drop of rancor from them I
+swung on, seeing blindly, ready to trample under foot any last obstacle to
+my passage out.
+
+Then, in the deserted way, from a lane among the straggling shacks, a
+figure issued. I disregarded it, only to hear it pattering behind me and
+its voice:
+
+"Mr. Beeson! Wait! Please wait."
+
+I had to turn about to avoid the further degradation of acting the churl
+to her, an inferior. And as I had suspected, she it was, arriving
+breathless and cloak inwrapped, only her white face showing.
+
+"You have my note?" she panted.
+
+There were dark half circles under her eyes, pinch lines about her mouth,
+all her face was wildly strained. She simulated distress very well
+indeed.
+
+"Here it is, and your money. Take them." And I thrust my unclosed fist at
+her.
+
+"No! And you were going? You didn't intend to reply?"
+
+"Certainly not. I am done with you, and with Benton, madam. Good-morning.
+I have business."
+
+She caught at my sleeve.
+
+"You are angry. I don't blame you, but you have time to talk with me and
+you shall talk." She spoke almost fiercely. "I demand it, sir. If not at
+the cafe, then here and now. Will you stand aside, please, where the whole
+town shan't see us; or do you wish me to follow you on? I'm risking
+already, but I'll risk more."
+
+I sullenly stepped aside, around the corner of a sheet-iron groggery
+(plentifully punctured, I noted, with bullet holes) not yet open for
+business and faced by the blank wall of a warehouse.
+
+"I've been waiting since daylight," she panted, "and watching the hotel. I
+knew you were still there; I found out. I was afraid you wouldn't answer
+my note, so I slipped around and cut in on you. Where are you going,
+sir?"
+
+"That, madam, is my private affair," I replied. "And all your efforts to
+influence me in the slightest won't amount to a row of pins. And as I am
+in a hurry, I again bid you good-morning. I advise you to get back to your
+husband and your beauty sleep, in order to be fresh for your Big Tent
+to-night."
+
+"My husband? You know? Oh, of course you know." She gazed affrightedly
+upon me. "To Montoyo, you say? Him? No, no! I can't! Oh, I can't, I
+can't." She wrung her hands, she held me fast. "And I know where you're
+going. To that wagon train. Mr. Jenks has engaged you. You will bull-whack
+to Salt Lake? You? Don't! Please don't. There's no need of it."
+
+"I am done with Benton, and with Benton's society, madam," I insisted. "I
+have learned my lesson, believe me, and I'm no longer a 'gudgeon.'"
+
+"You never were," said she. "Not that. And you don't have to turn
+bull-whacker or mule-skinner either. It's a hard life; you're not fitted
+for it--never, never. Leave Benton if you will. I hate it myself. And let
+us go together."
+
+"Madam!" I rapped; and drew back, but she clung to me.
+
+"Listen, listen! Don't mistake me again. Last night was enough. I want
+to go. I must go. We can travel separately, then; I will meet you
+anywhere--Denver, Omaha, Chicago, New York, anywhere you
+say--anywhere----"
+
+"Your husband, madam," I prompted. "He might have objections to parting
+with you."
+
+"Montoyo? That snake--you fear that snake? He is no husband to me. I could
+kill him--I will do it yet, to be free from him."
+
+"My good name, then," I taunted. "I might fear for my good name more than
+I'd fear a man."
+
+"I have a name of my own," she flashed, "although you may not know it."
+
+"I have been made acquainted with it," I answered roundly.
+
+"No, you haven't. Not the true. You know only another." Her tone became
+humbler. "But I'm not asking you to marry me," she said. "I'm not asking
+you to love me as a paramour, sir. Please understand. Treat me as you
+will; as a sister, a friend, but anything human. Only let me have your
+decent regard until I can get 'stablished in new quarters. I can help
+you," she pursued eagerly. "Indeed I can help you if you stay in the West.
+Yes, anywhere, for I know life. Oh, I'm so tired of myself; I can't run
+true, I'm under false colors. You saw how the trainmen curried favor all
+along the line, how familiar they were, how I submitted--I even dropped
+that coin a-purpose in the Omaha station, for _you_, just to test you.
+Those things are expected of me and I've felt obliged to play my part.
+Men look upon me as a tool to their hands, to make them or break them. All
+they want is my patronage and the secrets of the gaming table. And there
+is Montoyo--bullying me, cajoling me, watching me. But you were different,
+after I had met you. I foolishly wished to help you, and last night the
+play went wrong. Why did I take you to his table? Because I think myself
+entitled, sir," she said on, bridling a little, defiant of my gaze, "to
+promote my friends when I have any. I did not mean that you should wager
+heavily for you. Montoyo is out for large stakes. There is safety in small
+and I know his system. You remember I warned you? I did warn you. I saw
+too late. You shall have all your money back again. And Montoyo struck
+me--_me_, in public! That is the end. Oh, why couldn't I have killed him?
+But if you stayed here, so should I. Not with him, though. Never with him.
+Maybe I'm talking wildly. You'll say I'm in love with you. Perhaps I
+am--quien sabe? No matter as to that. I shall be no hanger-on, sir. I only
+ask a kind of partnership--the encouragement of some decent man near me. I
+have money; plenty, till we both get a footing. But you wouldn't live on
+me; no! I don't fancy that of you for a moment. I would be glad merely to
+tide you over, if you'd let me. And I--I'd be willing to wash floors in a
+restaurant if I might be free of insult. You, I'm sure, would at least
+protect me. Wouldn't you? You would, wouldn't you? Say something, sir."
+She paused, out of breath and aquiver. "Shall we go? Will you help me?"
+
+For an instant her appeal, of swimming blue eyes, upturned face, tensed
+grasp, breaking voice, swayed me. But what if she were an actress, an
+adventuress? And then, my parents, my father's name! I had already been
+cozened once, I had resolved not to be snared again. The spell cleared and
+I drew exultant breath.
+
+"Impossible, madam," I uttered. "This is final. Good-morning."
+
+She staggered and with magnificent but futile last flourish clapped both
+hands to her face. Gazing back, as I hastened, I saw her still there,
+leaning against the sheet-iron of the groggery and ostensibly weeping.
+
+Having shaken her off and resisted contrary temptation I looked not again
+but paced rapidly for the clean atmosphere of the rough-and-honest bull
+train. As a companion, better for me Mr. Jenks. When my wrath cooled I
+felt that I might have acted the cad but I had not acted the simpleton.
+
+The advance of the day's life was stirring all along the road, where under
+clouds of dust the four and six horse-and-mule wagons hauled water for the
+town, pack outfits of donkeys and plodding miners wended one way or the
+other, soldiers trotted in from the military post, and Overlanders slowly
+toiled for the last supply depot before creaking onward into the desert.
+
+Along the railway grade likewise there was activity, of construction
+trains laden high with rails, ties, boxes and bales, puffing out, their
+locomotives belching pitchy black smoke that extended clear to the
+ridiculous little cabooses; of wagon trains ploughing on, bearing supplies
+for the grading camps; and a great herd of loose animals, raising a
+prodigious spume as they were driven at a trot--they also heading
+westward, ever westward, under escort of a protecting detachment of
+cavalry, riding two by two, accoutrements flashing.
+
+The sights were inspiring. Man's work at empire building beckoned me, for
+surely the wagoning of munitions to remote outposts of civilization was
+very necessary. Consequently I trudged best foot forward, although on
+empty stomach and with empty pockets; but glad to be at large, and
+exchanging good-natured greetings with the travelers encountered.
+
+Nevertheless my new boots were burning, my thigh was chafed raw from the
+swaying Colt's, and my face and throat were parched with the dust, when in
+about an hour, the flag of the military post having been my landmark, I
+had arrived almost at the willow-bordered river and now scanned about for
+the encampment of my train.
+
+Some dozen white-topped wagons were standing grouped in a circle upon the
+trampled dry sod to the south of the road. Figures were busily moving
+among them, and the thin blue smoke of their fires was a welcoming signal.
+I marked women, and children. The whole prospect--they, the breakfast
+smoke, the grazing animals, the stout vehicles, a line of washed
+clothing--was homy. So I veered aside and made for the spot, to inquire my
+way if nothing more.
+
+First I addressed a little girl, tow-headed and barelegged, in a single
+cotton garment.
+
+"I am looking for the Captain Adams wagon train. Do you know where it
+is?"
+
+She only pointed, finger of other hand in her mouth; but as she indicated
+this same camp I pressed on. Mr. Jenks himself came out to meet me.
+
+"Hooray! Here you are. I knew you'd do it. That's the ticket. Broke loose,
+have you?"
+
+"Yes, sir. I accept your offer if it's still open," I said.
+
+We shook hands.
+
+"Wide open. Could have filled it a dozen times. Come in, come on in and
+sit. You fetched all your outfit?"
+
+"What you see," I confessed. "I told you my condition. They stripped me
+clean."
+
+He rubbed his beard.
+
+"Wall, all you need is a blanket. Reckon I can rustle you that. You can
+pay for it out of your wages or turn it in at the end of the trip. Fust
+I'd better make you acquainted to the wagon boss. There he is, yonder."
+
+He conducted me on, along the groups and fires and bedding outside the
+wagon circle, and halted where a heavy man, of face smooth-shaven except
+chin, sat upon a wagon-tongue whittling a stick.
+
+"Mornin', Cap'n. Wall, I'm filled out. I've hired this lad and can move
+whenever you say the word. You----" he looked at me. "What's your name,
+you say?"
+
+"Frank Beeson," I replied.
+
+"Didn't ketch it last night," he apologized. "Shake hands with Cap'n Hyrum
+Adams, Frank. He's the boss of the train."
+
+Captain Adams lazily arose--a large figure in his dusty boots, coarse
+trousers and flannel shirt, and weather-beaten black slouch hat. The
+inevitable revolver hung at his thigh. His pursed lips spurted a jet of
+tobacco juice as he keenly surveyed me with small, shrewd, china-blue eyes
+squinting from a broad flaccid countenance. But the countenance was
+unemotional while he offered a thick hand which proved singularly soft and
+flatulent under the callouses.
+
+"Glad to meet you, stranger," he acknowledged in slow bass. "Set down, set
+down."
+
+He waved me to the wagon-tongue, and I thankfully seated myself. All of a
+sudden I seemed utterly gone; possibly through lack of food. My sigh must
+have been remarked.
+
+"Breakfasted, stranger?" he queried passively.
+
+"Not yet, sir. I was anxious to reach the train."
+
+"Pshaw! I was about to ask you that," Mr. Jenks put in. "Come along and
+I'll throw together a mess for you."
+
+"Nobody goes hungry from the Adams wagon, stranger," Captain Adams
+observed. He slightly raised his voice, peremptory. "Rachael! Fetch our
+guest some breakfast."
+
+"But as Mr. Jenks has invited me, Captain, and I am in his employ----" I
+protested. He cut me short.
+
+"I have said that nobody, man, woman or child, or dog, goes hungry from
+the Adams wagon. The flesh must be fed as well as the soul."
+
+There were two women in view, busied with domestic cares. I had sensed
+their eyes cast now and then in my direction. One was elderly, as far as
+might be judged by her somewhat slatternly figure draped in a draggled
+snuff-colored, straight-flowing gown, and by the merest glimpse of her
+features within her faded sunbonnet. The other promptly moved aside from
+where she was bending over a wash-board, ladled food from a kettle to a
+platter, poured a tin cupful of coffee from the pot simmering by the fire,
+and bore them to me; her eyes down, shyly handed them.
+
+I thanked her but was not presented. To the Captain's "That will do,
+Rachael," she turned dutifully away; not so soon, however, but that I had
+seen a fresh young face within the bonnet confines--a round rosy face
+according well with the buxom curves of her as she again bent over her
+wash-board.
+
+"Our fare is that of the tents of Abraham, stranger," spoke the Captain,
+who had resumed his whittling. "Such as it is, you are welcome to. We are
+a plain people who walk in the way of the Lord, for that is commanded."
+
+His sonorous tones were delivered rather through the nose, but did not
+fail of hospitality.
+
+"I ask nothing better, sir," I answered. "And if I did, my appetite would
+make up for all deficiencies."
+
+"A healthy appetite is a good token," he affirmed. "Show me a well man who
+picks at his victuals and I will show you a candidate for the devil. His
+thoughts will like to be as idle as his knife."
+
+The mess of pork and beans and the black unsweetened coffee evidently were
+what I needed, for I began to mend wonderfully ere I was half through the
+course. He had not invited me to further conversation--only, when I had
+drained the cup he called again: "Rachael! More coffee," whereupon the
+same young woman advanced, without glancing at me, received my cup, and
+returned it steaming.
+
+"You are from the East, stranger?" he now inquired.
+
+"Yes, sir. I arrived in Benton only yesterday."
+
+"A Sodom," he growled harshly. "A tented sepulcher. And it will perish. I
+tell you, you do well to leave it, you do well to yoke yourself with the
+appointed of this earth, rather than stay in that sink-pit of the
+eternally damned."
+
+"I agree with you, sir," said I. "I did not find Benton to be a pleasant
+place. But I had not known, when I started from Omaha."
+
+"Possibly not," he moodily assented. "The devil is attentive; he is
+present in the stations, and on the trains; he will ride in those gilded
+palaces even to the Jordan, but he shall not cross. In the name of the
+Lord we shall face him. What good there shall come, shall abide; but the
+evil shall wither. Not," he added, "that we stand against the railroad. It
+is needed, and we have petitioned without being heard. We are strong but
+isolated, we have goods to sell, and the word of Brigham Young has gone
+forth that a railroad we must have. Against the harpies, the gamblers, the
+loose women and the lustful men and all the Gentile vanities we will stand
+upon our own feet by the help of Almighty God."
+
+At this juncture, when I had finished my platter of pork and beans and my
+second cup of coffee, a tall, double-jointed youth of about my age,
+carrying an ox goad in his hand, strolled to us as if attracted by the
+harangue. He was clad in the prevalent cowhide boots, linsey-woolsey
+pantaloons tucked in, red flannel shirt, and battered hat from which
+untrimmed flaxen hair fell down unevenly to his shoulder line. He wore at
+his belt butcher-knife and gun.
+
+By his hulk, his light blue eyes, albeit a trifle crossed, and the general
+lineaments of his stolid, square, high-cheeked countenance I conceived him
+to be a second but not improved edition of the Captain.
+
+A true raw-bone he was; and to me, as I casually met his gaze, looked to
+be obstinate, secretive and small minded. But who can explain those sudden
+antagonisms that spring up on first sight?
+
+"My son Daniel," the Captain introduced. "This stranger travels to Zion
+with us, Daniel, in the employ of Mr. Jenks."
+
+The youth had the grip of a vise, and seemed to enjoy emphasizing it while
+cunningly watching my face.
+
+"Haowdy?" he drawled. With that he twanged a sentence or two to his
+father. "I faound the caow, Dad. Do yu reckon to pull aout to-day?"
+
+"I have not decided. Go tend to your duties, Daniel."
+
+Daniel bestowed upon me a parting stare, and lurched away, snapping the
+lash of his goad.
+
+"And with your permission I will tend to mine, sir," I said. "Mr. Jenks
+doubtless has work for me. I thank you for your hospitality."
+
+"We are commanded by the prophet to feed the stranger, whether friend or
+enemy," he reproved. "We are also commanded by the Lord to earn our bread
+by the sweat of our brow. As long as you are no trifler you will be
+welcome at my wagon. Good-day to you."
+
+As I passed, the young woman, Rachael--whom I judged to be his daughter,
+although she was evidently far removed from parent stock--glanced quickly
+up. I caught her gaze full, so that she lowered her eyes with a blush. She
+was indeed wholesome if not absolutely pretty. When later I saw her with
+her sunbonnet doffed and her brown hair smoothly brushed back I thought
+her more wholesome still.
+
+Mr. Jenks received me jovially.
+
+"Got your belly full, have you?"
+
+"I'm a new man," I assured.
+
+"Wall, those Mormons are good providers. They'll share with you whatever
+they have, for no pay, but if you rub 'em the wrong way or go to dickerin'
+with 'em they're closer'n the hide on a cold mule. You didn't make sheep's
+eyes at ary of the women?"
+
+"No, sir. I am done with women."
+
+"And right you are."
+
+"However, I could not help but see that the Captain's daughter is pleasing
+to look upon. I should be glad to know her, were there no objections."
+
+"How? His daughter?"
+
+"Miss Rachael, I believe. That is the name he used."
+
+"The young one, you mean?"
+
+"Yes, sir. The one who served me with breakfast. Rosy-cheeked and plump."
+
+"Whoa, man! She's his wife, and not for Gentiles. They're both his wives;
+whether he has more in Utah I don't know. But you'd best let her alone.
+She's been j'ined to him."
+
+This took me all aback, for I had no other idea than that she was his
+daughter, or niece--stood in that kind of relation to him. He was twice
+her age, apparently. Now I could only stammer:
+
+"I've no wish to intrude, you may be sure. And Daniel, his son--is he
+married?"
+
+"That whelp? Met him, did you? No, he ain't married, yet. But he will be,
+soon as he takes his pick 'cordin' to law and gospel among them people.
+You bet you: he'll be married plenty."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+WE GET A "SUPER"
+
+
+What with assorting and stowing the bales of cloth and the other goods in
+the Jenks two wagons, watering the animals and staking them out anew,
+tinkering with the equipment and making various essays with the bull whip,
+I found occupation enough; nevertheless there were moments of interim, or
+while passing to and fro, when I was vividly aware of the scenes and
+events transpiring in this Western world around about.
+
+The bugles sounded calls for the routine at Fort Steele--a mere
+cantonment, yet, of tents and rough board buildings squatting upon the
+bare brown soil near the river bank, north of us, and less than a month
+old. The wagon road was a line of white dust from the river clear to
+Benton, and through the murk plodded the water haulers and emigrants and
+freighters, animals and men alike befloured and choked. The dust cloud
+rested over Benton. It fumed in another line westward, kept in suspense by
+on-traveling stage and wagon--by wheel, hoof and boot, bound for Utah and
+Idaho. From the town there extended northward a third dust line, marking
+the stage and freighting road through the Indian country to the mining
+settlements of the famous South Pass of the old Oregon Trail; yes, and
+with branches for the gold regions of Montana.
+
+The railroad trains kept thundering by us--long freights, dusty and
+indomitable, bringing their loads from the Missouri River almost seven
+hundred miles in the east. And rolling out of Benton the never-ceasing
+construction trains sped into the desert as if upon urgent errands in
+response to some sudden demand of More, More, More.
+
+Upon all sides beyond this business and energy the country stretched lone
+and uninhabited; a great waste of naked, hot, resplendent land blotched
+with white and red, showing not a green spot except the course of the
+Platte; with scorched, rusty hills rising above its fantastic surface,
+and, in the distance, bluish mountain ranges that appeared to float and
+waver in the sun-drenched air.
+
+The sounds from Benton--the hammering, the shouting, the babbling, the
+puffing of the locomotives--drifted faintly to us, merged into the
+cracking of whips and the oaths and songs by the wagon drivers along the
+road. Of our own little camp I took gradual stock.
+
+It, like the desert reaches, evinced little of feverishness, for while
+booted men busied themselves at tasks similar to mine, others lolled,
+spinning yarns and whittling; the several women, at wash-boards and at
+pots and pans and needles, worked contentedly in sun and shade; children
+played at makeshift games, dogs drowsed underneath the wagons, and outside
+our circle the mules and oxen grazed as best they might, their only
+vexation the blood-sucking flies. The flies were kin of Benton.
+
+Captain Adams loped away, as if to town. Others went in. While I was idle
+at last and rather enjoying the hot sun as I sat resting upon a convenient
+wagon-tongue Daniel hulked to me, still snapping his ox goad.
+
+"Haowdy?" he addressed again; and surveyed, eying every detail of my
+clothing.
+
+"Howdy?" said I.
+
+"Yu know me?"
+
+"Your name is Daniel, isn't it?"
+
+"No, 'tain't. It's Bonnie Bravo on the trail."
+
+"All right, sir," said I. "Whichever you prefer."
+
+"I 'laow we pull out this arternoon," he volunteered farther.
+
+"I'm agreeable," I responded. "The sooner the better, where I'm
+concerned."
+
+"I 'laow yu (and he pronounced it, nasally, yee-ou) been seein' the
+elephant in Benton an' it skinned yu."
+
+"I saw all of Benton I wish to see," I granted. "You've been there?"
+
+"I won four bits, an' then yu bet I quit," he greedily proclaimed. "I was
+too smart for 'em. I 'laow yu're a greenie, ain't yu?"
+
+"In some ways I am, in some ways I'm not."
+
+"I 'laow yu aim to go through with this train to Salt Lake, do yu?"
+
+"That's the engagement I've made with Mr. Jenks."
+
+"Don't feel too smart, yoreself, in them new clothes?"
+
+"No. They're all I have. They won't be new long."
+
+"Yu bet they won't. Ain't afeared of peterin' aout on the way, be yu? I
+'laow yu're sickly."
+
+"I'll take my chances," I smiled, although he was irritating in the
+extreme.
+
+"It's four hunderd mile, an' twenty mile at a stretch withaout water. Most
+the water's pizen, too, from hyar to the mountings."
+
+"I'll have to drink what the rest drink, I suppose."
+
+"I 'laow the Injuns are like to get us. They're powerful bad in that thar
+desert. Ain't afeared o' Injuns, be yu?"
+
+"I'll have to take my chances on that, too, won't I?"
+
+"They sculped a whole passel o' surveyors, month ago," he persisted.
+"Yu'll sing a different tyune arter yu've been corralled with nothin' to
+drink." He viciously snapped his whip, the while inspecting me as if
+seeking for other joints in my armor. "Yu aim to stay long in Zion?"
+
+"I haven't planned anything about that."
+
+"Reckon yu're wise, Mister. We don't think much o' Gentiles, yonder. We
+don't want 'em, nohaow. They'd all better git aout. The Saints settled
+that country an' it's ourn."
+
+"If you're a sample, you're welcome to live there," I retorted. "I think
+I'd prefer some place else."
+
+"Haow?" he bleated. "Thar ain't no place as good. All the rest the world
+has sold itself to the devil."
+
+"How much of the world have you seen?" I asked.
+
+"I've seen a heap. I've been as fur east as Cheyenne--I've teamed acrost
+twice, so I know. An' I know what the elders say; they come from the East
+an' some of 'em have been as fur as England. Yu can't fool me none with
+yore Gentile lies."
+
+As I did not attempt, we remained in silence for a moment while he waited,
+provocative.
+
+"Say, Mister," he blurted suddenly. "Kin yu shoot?"
+
+"I presume I could if I had to. Why?"
+
+"Becuz I'm the dangest best shot with a Colt's in this hyar train, an'
+I'll shoot ye for--I'll shoot ye for (he lowered his voice and glanced
+about furtively)--I'll shoot ye for two bits when my paw ain't 'raound."
+
+"I've no cartridges to waste at present," I informed. "And I don't claim
+to be a crack shot."
+
+"Damn ye, I bet yu think yu are," he accused. "Yu set thar like it. All
+right, Mister; any time yu want to try a little poppin' yu let me know."
+And with this, which struck me as a veiled threat, he lurched on,
+snapping that infernal whip.
+
+He left me with the uneasy impression that he and I were due to measure
+strength in one way or another.
+
+Wagon Boss Adams returned at noon. The word was given out that the train
+should start during the afternoon, for a short march in order to break in
+the new animals before tackling the real westward trail.
+
+After a deal of bustle, of lashing loads and tautening covers and geeing,
+hawing and whoaing, about three o'clock we formed line in obedience to the
+commands "Stretch out, stretch out!"; and with every cask and barrel
+dripping, whips cracking, voices urging, children racing, the Captain
+Adams wagon in the lead (two pink sunbonnets upon the seat), the valorous
+Daniel's next, and Mormons and Gentiles ranging on down, we toiled
+creaking and swaying up the Benton road, amidst the eddies of hot,
+scalding dust.
+
+It was a mixed train, of Gentile mules and the more numerous Mormon oxen;
+therefore not strictly a "bull" train, but by pace designated as such. And
+in the vernacular I was a "mule-whacker" or even "mule-skinner" rather
+than a "bull-whacker," if there is any appreciable difference in role.
+There is none, I think, to the animals.
+
+Trudging manfully at the left fore wheel behind Mr. Jenks' four span of
+mules, trailing my eighteen-foot tapering lash and occasionally well-nigh
+cutting off my own ear when I tried to throw it, I played the
+teamster--although sooth to say there was little of play in the job, on
+that road, at that time of the day.
+
+The sun was more vexatious, being an hour lower, when we bravely entered
+Benton's boiling main street. We made brief halt for the finishing up of
+business; and cleaving a lane through the pedestrians and vehicles and
+animals there congregated, the challenges of the street gamblers having
+assailed us in vain, we proceeded--our Mormons gazing straight ahead,
+scornful of the devil's enticements, our few Gentiles responding in kind
+to the quips and waves and salutations.
+
+Thus we eventually left Benton; in about an hour's march or some three
+miles out we formed corral for camp on the farther side of the road from
+the railroad tracks which we had been skirting.
+
+Travel, except upon the tracks (for they were rarely vacant) ceased at
+sundown; and we all, having eaten our suppers, were sitting by our fires,
+smoking and talking, with the sky crimson in the west and the desert
+getting mysterious with purple shadows, when as another construction train
+of box cars and platform cars clanked by I chanced to note a figure spring
+out asprawl, alight with a whiffle of sand, and staggering up hasten for
+us.
+
+First it accosted the hulk Daniel, who was temporarily out on herd,
+keeping the animals from the tracks. I saw him lean from his saddle; then
+he rode spurring in, bawling like a calf:
+
+"Paw! Paw! Hey, yu-all! Thar's a woman yonder in britches an' she 'laows
+to come on. She's lookin' for Mister Jenks."
+
+Save for his excited stuttering silence reigned, a minute. Then in a storm
+of rude raillery--"That's a hoss on you, George!" "Didn't know you owned
+one o' them critters, George," "Does she wear the britches, George?" and
+so forth--my friend Jenks arose, peering, his whiskered mouth so agape
+that he almost dropped his pipe. And we all peered, with the women of the
+caravan smitten mute but intensely curious, while the solitary figure,
+braving our stares, came on to the fires.
+
+"Gawd almighty!" Mr. Jenks delivered.
+
+Likewise straightening I mentally repeated the ejaculation, for now I knew
+her as well as he. Yes, by the muttered babble others in our party knew
+her. It was My Lady--formerly My Lady--clad in embroidered short Spanish
+jacket, tightish velvet pantaloons, booted to the knees, pulled down upon
+her yellow hair a black soft hat, and hanging from the just-revealed belt
+around her slender waist, a revolver trifle.
+
+She paused, small and alone, viewing us, her eyes very blue, her face very
+white.
+
+"Is Mr. Jenks there?" she hailed clearly.
+
+"Damn' if I ain't," he mumbled. He glowered at me. "Yes, ma'am, right
+hyar. You want to speak with me?"
+
+"By gosh, it's Montoyo's woman, ain't it?" were the comments.
+
+"I do, sir."
+
+"You can come on closer then, ma'am," he growled. "There ain't no secrets
+between us."
+
+Come on she did, with only an instant's hesitation and a little
+compression of the lips. She swept our group fearlessly--her gaze crossed
+mine, but she betrayed no sign.
+
+"I wish to engage passage to Salt Lake."
+
+"With this hyar train?" gasped Jenks.
+
+"Yes. You are bound for Salt Lake, aren't you?"
+
+"For your health, ma'am?" he stammered.
+
+She faintly smiled, but her eyes were steady and wide.
+
+"For my health. I'd like to throw in with your outfit. I will cook, keep
+camp, and pay you well besides."
+
+"We haven't no place for a woman, ma'am. You'd best take the stage."
+
+"No. There'll be no stage out till morning. I want to make arrangements at
+once--with you. There are other women in this train." She flashed a glance
+around. "And I can take care of myself."
+
+"If you aim to go to Salt Lake your main holt is Benton and the stage. The
+stage makes through in four days and we'll use thirty," somebody
+counseled.
+
+"An' this bull train ain't no place for yore kind, anyhow," grumbled
+another. "We've quit roarin'--we've cut loose from that hell-hole
+yonder."
+
+"So have I." But she did not turn on him. "I'm never going back. I--I
+can't, now; not even for the stage. Will you permit me to travel with you,
+sir?"
+
+"No, ma'am, I won't," rasped Mr. Jenks. "I can't do it. It's not in my
+line, ma'am."
+
+"I'll be no trouble. You have only Mr. Beeson. I don't ask to ride. I'll
+walk. I merely ask protection."
+
+"So do we," somebody sniggered; and I hated him, for I saw her sway upon
+her feet as if the words had been a blow.
+
+"No, ma'am, I'm full up. I wouldn't take on even a yaller dog, 'specially
+a she one," Jenks announced. "What your game is now I can't tell, and I
+don't propose to be eddicated to it. But you can't travel along with me,
+and that's straight talk. If you can put anything over on these other
+fellers, try your luck."
+
+"Oh!" she cried, wincing. Her hands clenched nervously, a red spot dyed
+either cheek as she appealed to us all. "Gentlemen! Won't one of you help
+me? What are you afraid of? I can pay my way--I ask no favors--I swear to
+you that I'll give no trouble. I only wish protection across."
+
+"Where's Pedro? Where's Montoyo?"
+
+She turned quickly, facing the jeer; her two eyes blazed, the red spots
+deepened angrily.
+
+"He? That snake? I shot him."
+
+"What! You? Killed him?" Exclamations broke from all quarters.
+
+She stamped her foot.
+
+"No. I didn't have to. But when he tried to abuse me I defended myself.
+Wasn't that right, gentlemen?"
+
+"Right or wrong, he'll be after you, won't he?"
+
+The question held a note of alarm. Her lip curled.
+
+"You needn't fear. I'll meet him, myself."
+
+"By gosh, I don't mix up in no quarrel 'twixt a man and his woman."
+And--"'Tain't our affair. When he comes he'll come a-poppin'." Such were
+the hasty comments. I felt a peculiar heat, a revulsion of shame and
+indignation, which made the present seem much more important than the
+past. And there was the recollection of her, crying, and still the accents
+of her last appeals in the early morning.
+
+"I thought that I might find men among you," she disdainfully said--a
+break in her voice. "So I came. But you're afraid of _him_--of that breed,
+that vest-pocket killer. And you're afraid of me, a woman whose cards are
+all on the table. There isn't a one of you--even you, Mr. Beeson, sir,
+whom I tried to befriend although you may not know it." And she turned
+upon me. "You have not a word to say. I am never going back, I tell you
+all. You won't take me, any of you? Very well." She smiled wanly. "I'll
+drift along, gentlemen. I'll play the lone hand. Montoyo shall never seize
+me. I'd rather trust to the wolves and the Indians. There'll be another
+wagon train."
+
+"I am only an employee, madam," I faltered. "If I had an outfit of my own
+I certainly would help you."
+
+She flushed painfully; she did not glance at me direct again, but her
+unspoken thanks enfolded me.
+
+"Here's the wagon boss," Jenks grunted, and spat. "Mebbe you can throw in
+with him. When it comes to supers, that's his say-so. I've all I can tend
+to, myself, and I don't look for trouble. I've got no love for Montoyo,
+neither," he added. "Damned if I ain't glad you give him a dose."
+
+Murmurs of approval echoed him, as if the tide were turning a little. All
+this time--not long, however--Daniel had been sitting his mule, transfixed
+and gaping, his oddly wry eyes upon her. Now the large form of Captain
+Adams came striding in contentious, through the gathering dusk.
+
+"What's this?" he demanded harshly. "An ungodly woman? I'll have no
+trafficking in my train. Get you gone, Delilah. Would you pursue us even
+here?"
+
+"I am going, sir," she replied. "I ask nothing from you or
+these--gentlemen."
+
+"Them's the two she's after, paw: Jenks an' that greenie," Daniel bawled.
+"They know her. She's follered 'em. She aims to travel with 'em. Oh, gosh!
+She's shot her man in Benton. Gosh!" His voice trailed off. "Ain't she
+purty, though! She's dressed in britches."
+
+"Get you gone," Captain Adams thundered. "And these your paramours with
+you. For thus saith the Lord: There shall be no lusting of adultery among
+his chosen. And thus say I, that no brazen hussy in men's garments shall
+travel with this train to Zion--no, not a mile of the way."
+
+Jenks stiffened, bristling.
+
+"Mind your words, Adams. I'm under no Mormon thumb, and I'll thank you not
+to connect me and this--lady in ary such fashion. As for your brat on
+horseback, he'd better hold his yawp. She came of her own hook, and damned
+if I ain't beginnin' to think----"
+
+I sprang forward. Defend her I must. She should not stand there, slight,
+lovely, brave but drooping, aflame with the helplessness of a woman alone
+and insulted.
+
+"Wait!" I implored. "Give her a chance. You haven't heard her story. All
+she wants is protection on the road. Yes, I know her, and I know the cur
+she's getting away from. I saw him strike her; so did Mr. Jenks. What were
+you intending to do? Turn her out into the night? Shame on you, sir. She
+says she can't go back to Benton, and if you'll be humane enough to
+understand why, you'll at least let her stay in your camp till morning.
+You've got women there who'll care for her, I hope."
+
+I felt her instant look. She spoke palpitant.
+
+"You have one man among you all. But I am going. Good-night, gentlemen."
+
+"No! Wait!" I begged. "You shall not go by yourself. I'll see you into
+safety."
+
+Daniel cackled.
+
+"Haw haw! What'd I tell yu, paw? Hear him?"
+
+"By gum, the boy's right," Jenks declared. "Will you go back to Benton if
+we take you?" he queried of her. "Are you 'feared of Montoyo? Can he shoot
+still, or is he laid out?"
+
+"I'll not go back to Benton, and I'm not afraid of that bully," said she.
+"Yes, he can shoot, still; but next time I should kill him. I hope never
+to see him again, or Benton either."
+
+The men murmured.
+
+"You've got spunk, anyhow," said they. And by further impulse: "Let her
+stay the night, Cap'n. It'll be plumb dark soon. She won't harm ye. Some
+o' the woman folks can take care of her."
+
+Captain Adams had been frowning sternly, his heavy face unsoftened.
+
+"Who are you, woman?"
+
+"I am the wife of a gambler named Montoyo."
+
+"Why come you here, then?"
+
+"He has been abusing me, and I shot him."
+
+"There is blood on your hands? Are you a murderess as well as a harlot?"
+
+"Shame!" cried voices, mine among them. "That's tall language."
+
+Strangely, and yet not strangely, sentiment had veered. We were
+Americans--and had we been English that would have made no difference. It
+was the Anglo-Saxon which gave utterance.
+
+She crimsoned, defiant; laughed scornfully.
+
+"You would not dare bait a man that way, sir. Blood on my hands? Not
+blood; oh, no! He couldn't pan out blood."
+
+"You killed him, woman?"
+
+"Not yet. He's likely fleecing the public in the Big Tent at this very
+moment."
+
+"And what did you expect here, in my train?"
+
+"A little manhood and a little chivalry, sir. I am going to Salt Lake and
+I knew of no safer way."
+
+"She jumped off a railway train, paw," bawled Daniel. "I seen her. An' she
+axed for Mister Jenks, fust thing."
+
+"I'll give you something to stop that yawp. Come mornin', we'll settle,
+young feller," my friend Jenks growled.
+
+"I did," she admitted. "I have seen Mr. Jenks; I have also seen Mr.
+Beeson; I have seen others of you in Benton. I was glad to know of
+somebody here. I rode on the construction train because it was the
+quickest and easiest way."
+
+"And those garments!" Captain Adams accused. "You wish to show your
+shape, woman, to tempt men's eyes with the flesh?"
+
+She smiled.
+
+"Would you have me jump from a train in skirts, sir? Or travel far afoot
+in crinoline? But to soothe your mind I will say that I wore these clothes
+under my proper attire and cloak until the last moment. And if you turn me
+away I shall cut my hair and continue as a boy."
+
+"If you are for Salt Lake--where we are of the Lord's choosing and wish
+none of you--there is the stage," he prompted shrewdly. "Go to the stage.
+You cannot make this wagon train your instrument."
+
+"The stage?" She slowly shook her head. "Why, I am too well known, sir,
+take that as you will. And the stage does not leave until morning. Much
+might happen between now and morning. I have nobody in Benton that I can
+depend upon--nobody that I dare depend upon. And by railway, for the East?
+No. That is too open a trail. I am running free of Benton and Pedro
+Montoyo, and stage and train won't do the trick. I've thought that out."
+She tossed back her head, deliberately turned. "Good-night, ladies and
+gentlemen."
+
+Involuntarily I started forward to intercept. The notion of her heading
+into the vastness and the gloom was appalling; the inertness of that
+increasing group, formed now of both men and women collected from all the
+camp, maddened. So I would have besought her, pleaded with her, faced
+Montoyo for her--but a new voice mediated.
+
+"She shall stay, Hyrum? For the night, at least? I will look after her."
+
+The Captain's younger wife, Rachael, had stepped to him; laid one hand
+upon his arm--her smooth hair touched ashine by the firelight as she gazed
+up into his face. Pending reply I hastened directly to My Lady herself and
+detained her by her jacket sleeve.
+
+"Wait," I bade.
+
+Whereupon we both turned. Side by side we fronted the group as if we might
+have been partners--which, in a measure, we were, but not wholy according
+to the lout Daniel's cackle and the suddenly interrogating countenances
+here and there.
+
+"You would take her in, Rachael?" the Captain rumbled. "Have you not heard
+what I said?"
+
+"We are commanded to feed the hungry and shelter the homeless, Hyrum."
+
+"Verily that is so. Take her. I trust you with her till the morning. The
+Lord will direct us further. But in God's name clothe her for the daylight
+in decency. She shall not advertise her flesh to men's eyes."
+
+"Quick!" I whispered, with a push. Rachael, however, had crossed for us,
+and with eyes brimming extended her hand.
+
+"Will you come with me, please?" she invited.
+
+"You are not afraid of me?"
+
+"I? No. You are a woman, are you not?" The intonation was gentle, and
+sweet to hear--as sweet as her rosy face to see.
+
+"Yes," sighed My Lady, wearily. "Good-night, sir." She fleetingly smiled
+upon me. "I thank you; and Mr. Jenks."
+
+They went, Rachael's arm about her; other women closed in; we heard
+exclamations, and next they were supporting her in their midst, for she
+had crumpled in a faint.
+
+Captain Adams walked out a piece as if musing. Daniel pressed beside him,
+talking eagerly. His voice reached me.
+
+"She's powerful purty, ain't she, paw! Gosh, I never seen a woman in
+britches before. Did yu? Paw! She kin ride in my wagon, paw. Be yu goin'
+to take her on, paw? If yu be, I got room."
+
+"Go. Tend to your stock and think of other things," boomed his father.
+"Remember that the Scriptures say, beware of the scarlet woman."
+
+Daniel galloped away, whooping like an idiot.
+
+"Wall, there she is," my friend Jenks remarked non-committally. "What
+next'll happen, we'll see in the mornin'. Either she goes on or she goes
+back. I don't claim to read Mormon sign, myself. But she had me jumpin'
+sideways, for a spell. So did that young whelp."
+
+There was some talk, idle yet not offensive. The men appeared rather in a
+judicial frame of mind: laid a few bets upon whether her husband would
+turn up, in sober fashion nodded their heads over the hope that he had
+been "properly pinked," all in all sided with her, while admiring her
+pluck roundly denied responsibility for women in general, and genially but
+cautiously twitted Mr. Jenks and me upon our alleged implication in the
+affair.
+
+Darkness, still and chill, had settled over the desert--the only
+discernible horizon the glow of Benton, down the railroad track. The ashes
+of final pipes were rapped out upon our boot soles. Our group dispersed,
+each man to his blanket under the wagons or in the open.
+
+"Wall," friend Jenks again broadly uttered, in last words as he turned
+over with a grunt, for easier posture, near me, "hooray! If it simmers
+down to you and Dan'l, I'll be there."
+
+With that enigmatical comment he was silent save for stertorous breathing.
+Vaguely cogitating over his promise I lay, toes and face up, staring at
+the bright stars; perplexed more and more over the immediate events of the
+future, warmly conscious of her astonishing proximity in this very train,
+prickled by the hope that she would continue with us, irritated by the
+various assumptions of Daniel, and somehow not at all adverse to the
+memory of her in "britches."
+
+That phase of the matter seemed to have affected Daniel and me similarly.
+Under his hide he was human.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+DANIEL TAKES POSSESSION
+
+
+I was more than ever convinced of her wisdom in choice of garb when in
+early morning I glimpsed her with the two other women at the Adams fire;
+for, bright-haired and small, she had been sorrily dulled by the plain
+ill-fitting waist and long shapeless skirt in one garment, as adopted by
+the feminine contingent of the train. In her particular case these were
+worse fitting and longer than common--an artifice that certainly snuffed a
+portion of her charms for Gentile and Mormon eyes alike.
+
+What further disposition of her was to be made we might not yet know. We
+all kept to our own tasks and our own fires, with the exception that
+Daniel gawked and strutted in the manner of a silly gander, and made
+frequent errands to his father's household.
+
+It was after the red sun-up and the initial signaling by dust cloud to
+dust cloud announcing the commencement of another day's desert traffic,
+and in response to the orders "Ketch up!" we were putting animals to
+wagons (My Lady still in evidence forward), when a horseman bored in at a
+gallop, over the road from the east.
+
+"Montoyo, by Gawd!" Jenks pronounced, in a grumble of disgust rather than
+with any note of alarm. "Look alive." And--"He don't hang up my pelt; no,
+nor yourn if I can help it."
+
+I saw him give a twitch to his holster and slightly loosen the Colt's. But
+I was unburthened by guilt in past events, and I conceived no reason for
+fearing the future--other than that now I was likely to lose her. Heaven
+pity her! Probably she would have to go, even if she managed later to kill
+him. The delay in our start had been unfortunate.
+
+It was dollars to doughnuts that every man in the company had had his eye
+out for Montoyo, since daylight; and the odds were that every man had
+sighted him as quickly as we. Notwithstanding, save by an occasional quick
+glance none appeared to pay attention to his rapid approach. We ourselves
+went right along hooking up, like the others.
+
+As chanced, our outfit was the first upon his way in. I heard him rein
+sharply beside us and his horse fidget, panting. Not until he spoke did we
+lift eyes.
+
+"Howdy, gentlemen?"
+
+"Howdy yourself, sir," answered Mr. Jenks, straightening up and meeting
+his gaze. I paused, to gaze also. Montoyo was pale as death, his lips hard
+set, his peculiar gray eyes and his black moustache the only vivifying
+features in his coldly menacing countenance.
+
+He was in white linen shirt, his left arm slung; fine riding boots
+encasing his legs above the knees and Spanish spurs at their heels--his
+horse's flanks reddened by their jabs. The pearl butt of a six-shooter
+jutted from his belt holster. He sat jaunty, excepting for his lips and
+eyes.
+
+He looked upon me, with a trace of recognition less to be seen than felt.
+His glance leaped to the wagon--traveled swiftly and surely and returned
+to Mr. Jenks.
+
+"You're pulling out, I believe."
+
+"Yes, you bet yuh."
+
+"This is the Adams train?"
+
+"It is."
+
+"I'm looking for my wife, gentlemen. May I ask whether you've seen her?"
+
+"You can."
+
+"You have seen her?"
+
+"Yes, sir. We'll not beat around any bush over that."
+
+He meditated, frowning a bit, eying us narrowly.
+
+"I had the notion," he said. "If you have staked her to shelter I thank
+you; but now I aim to play the hand myself. This is a strictly private
+game. Where is she?"
+
+"I call yuh, Pedro," my friend answered. "We ain't keepin' cases on her,
+or on you. You don't find her in my outfit, that's flat. She spent the
+night with the Adams women. You'll find her waitin' for you, on ahead."
+He grinned. "She'll be powerful glad to see you." He sobered. "And I'll
+say this: I'm kinder sorry I ain't got her, for she'd be interestin'
+company on the road."
+
+"The road to hell, yes," Montoyo coolly remarked. "I'd guarantee you quick
+passage. Good-day."
+
+With sudden steely glare that embraced us both he jumped his mount into a
+gallop and tore past the team, for the front. He must have inquired, once
+or twice, as to the whereabouts of the Captain's party; I saw fingers
+pointing.
+
+"Here! You've swapped collars on your lead span, boy," Mr. Jenks
+reproved--but he likewise fumbling while he gazed.
+
+I could hold back no longer.
+
+"Just a minute, if you please," I pleaded; and hastened on up, half
+running in my anxiety to face the worst; to help, if I might, for the
+best.
+
+A little knot of people had formed, constantly increasing by oncomers like
+myself and friend Jenks who had lumbered behind me. Montoyo's horse stood
+heaving, on the outskirts; and ruthlessly pushing through I found him
+inside, with My Lady at bay before him--her eyes brilliant, her cheeks
+hot, her two hands clenched tightly, her slim figure dangerously tense
+within her absurd garment, and the arm of the brightly flushed but calm
+Rachael resting restraintfully around her. The circling faces peered.
+
+Captain Adams, at one side apart, was replying to the gambler. His small
+china-blue eyes had begun to glint; otherwise he maintained an air of
+stolidity as if immune to the outcome.
+
+"You see her," he said. "She has had the care of my own household, for I
+turn nobody away. She came against my will, and she shall go of her will.
+I am not her keeper."
+
+"You Mormons have the advantage of us white men, sir," Montoyo sneered.
+"No one of the sex seems to be denied bed and board in your
+establishments."
+
+"By the help of the Lord we of the elect can manage our establishments
+much better than you do yours," big Hyrum responded; and his face
+sombered. "Who are you? A panderer to the devil, a thief with painted
+card-boards, a despoiler of the ignorant, and a feeder to hell--yea, a
+striker of women and a trafficker in flesh! Who are you, to think the name
+of the Lord's anointed? There she is, your chattel. Take her, or leave
+her. This train starts on in ten minutes."
+
+"I'll take her or kill her," Montoyo snarled. "You call me a feeder, but
+she shall not be fed to your mill, Adams. You'll get on that horse pronto,
+madam," he added, stepping forward (no one could question his nerve), "and
+we'll discuss our affairs in private."
+
+She cast about with swift beseeching look, as if for a friendly face or
+sign of rescue. And that agonized quest was enough. Whether she saw me or
+not, here I was. With a spring I had burst in.
+
+But somebody already had drawn fresh attention. Daniel Adams was standing
+between her and her husband.
+
+"Say, Mister, will yu fight?" he drawled, breathing hard, his broad
+nostrils quivering.
+
+A silence fell. Singularly, the circle parted right and left in a jostle
+and a scramble.
+
+Montoyo surveyed him.
+
+"Why?"
+
+"For her, o' course."
+
+The gambler smiled--a slow, contemptuous smile while his gray eyes focused
+watchfully.
+
+"It's a case where I have nothing to gain," said he. "And you've nothing
+to lose. I never bet in the teeth of a pat hand. Sabe? Besides, my young
+Mormon cub, when did you enter this game? Where's your ante? For the sport
+of it, now, what do you think of putting up, to make it interesting? One
+of your mammies? Tut, tut!"
+
+Daniel's freckled bovine face flushed muddy red; in the midst of it his
+faulty eyes were more pronounced than ever--beady, twinkling, and so at
+cross purposes that they apparently did not center upon the gambler at
+all. But his right hand had stiffened at his side--extended there flat and
+tremulous like the vibrant tail of a rattlesnake. He blurted harshly:
+
+"I 'laow to kill yu for that. Draw, yu----!"
+
+We caught breath. Montoyo's hand had darted down, and up, with motion too
+smooth and elusive for the eye, particularly when our eyes had to be upon
+both. His revolver poised half-way out of the scabbard, held there
+rigidly, frozen in mid course; for Daniel had laughed loudly over leveled
+barrel.
+
+How he had achieved so quickly no man of us knew. Yet there it was--his
+Colt's, out, cocked, wicked and yearning and ready.
+
+He whirled it with tempting carelessness, butt first, muzzle first, his
+discolored teeth set in a yellow grin. The breath of the spectators vented
+in a sigh.
+
+"Haow'll yu take it, Mister?" he gibed. "I could l'arn an old caow to beat
+yu on the draw. Aw, shucks! I 'laow yu'd better go back to yore
+pasteboards. Naow git!"
+
+Montoyo, his eyes steady, scarcely changed expression. He let his revolver
+slip down into its scabbard. Then he smiled.
+
+"You have a pretty trick," he commented, relaxing. "Some day I'd like to
+test it out again. Just now I pass. Madam, are you coming?"
+
+"You know I'm not," she uttered clearly.
+
+"Your choice of company is hardly to your credit," he sneered. "Or, I
+should say, to your education. Saintliness does not set well upon you,
+madam. Your clothes are ill-fitting already. Of your two champions----"
+
+And here I realized that I was standing out, one foot advanced, my fists
+foolishly doubled, my presence a useless factor.
+
+"--I recommend the gentleman from New York as more to your tastes. But you
+are going of your own free will. You will always be my wife. You can't get
+away from that, you devil. I shall expect you in Benton, for I have the
+hunch that your little flight will fetch you back pretty well tamed, to
+the place where damaged goods are not so heavily discounted." He ignored
+Daniel and turned upon me. "As for you," he said, "I warn you you are
+playing against a marked deck. You will find fists a poor hand. Ladies and
+gentlemen, good-morning." With that he strode straight for his horse,
+climbed aboard (a trifle awkwardly by reason of his one arm disabled) and
+galloped, granting us not another glance.
+
+Card shark and desperado that he was, his consummate aplomb nobody could
+deny, except Daniel, now capering and swaggering and twirling his
+revolver.
+
+"I showed him. I made him take water. I 'laow I'm 'bout the best man with
+a six-shooter in these hyar parts."
+
+"Ketch up and stretch out," Captain Adams ordered, disregarding. "We've no
+more time for foolery."
+
+My eyes met My Lady's. She smiled a little ruefully, and I responded,
+shamed by the poor role I had borne. With that still jubilating lout to
+the fore, certainly I cut small figure.
+
+This night we made camp at Rawlins' Springs, some twelve miles on. The
+day's march had been, so to speak, rather pensive; for while there were
+the rough jokes and the talking back and forth, it seemed as though the
+scene of early morning lingered in our vista. The words of Montoyo had
+scored deeply, and the presence of our supernumerary laid a kind of
+incubus, like an omen of ill luck, upon us. Indeed the prophecies darkly
+uttered showed the current of thought.
+
+"It's a she Jonah we got. Sure a woman the likes o' her hain't no place in
+a freightin' outfit. We're off on the wrong fut," an Irishman declared to
+wagging of heads. "Faith, she's enough to set the saints above an' the
+saints below both by the ears." He paused to light his dudeen. "There'll
+be a Donnybrook Fair in Utah, if belike we don't have it along the way."
+
+"No Mormon'll need another wife if he takes her," laughed somebody else.
+
+"She'll be promised to Dan'l 'fore ever we cross the Wasatch." And they
+all in the group looked slyly at me. "Acts as if she'd been sealed to him
+already, he does."
+
+This had occurred at our nooning hour, amidst the dust and the heat, while
+the animals drooped and dozed and panted and in the scant shade of the
+hooded wagons we drank our coffee and crunched our hardtack. Throughout
+the morning My Lady had ridden upon the seat of Daniel's wagon, with him
+sometimes trudging beside, in pride of new ownership, cracking his whip,
+and again planted sidewise upon one of the wheel animals, facing backward
+to leer at her.
+
+Why I should now have especially detested him I would not admit to myself.
+At any rate the dislike dated before her arrival. That was one sop to
+conscience when I remembered that she was a wife.
+
+Friend Jenks must have read my thoughts, inasmuch as during the course of
+the afternoon he had uttered abruptly:
+
+"These Mormons don't exactly recognize Gentile marriages. Did you know
+that?" He flung me a look from beneath shaggy brows.
+
+"What?" I exclaimed. "How so?"
+
+"Meanin' to say that layin' on of hands by the Lord's an'inted is
+necessary to reel j'inin' in marriage."
+
+"But that's monstrous!" I stammered.
+
+"Dare say," said he. "It's the way white gospelers look at Injuns, ain't
+it? Anyhow, to convert her out of sin, as they'd call it, and put her over
+into the company of the saints wouldn't be no bad deal, by their kind o'
+thinkin'. It's been done before, I reckon. Jest thought I'd warn you.
+She's made her own bed and if it's a Mormon bed she's well quit of
+Montoyo, that's sartin. Did you ever see the beat of that young feller on
+the draw?"
+
+"No," I admitted. "I never did."
+
+"And you never will."
+
+"He says his name's Bonnie Bravo. Where did he find that?"
+
+"Haw haw." Friend Jenks spat. "Must ha' heard it in a play-house or got it
+read to him out a book. Sounds to him like he was some punkins. Anyhow, if
+you've any feelin's in the matter keep 'em under your hat. I don't know
+what there's been between you and her, but the Mormon church is between
+you now and it's got the dead-wood on you. It's either that for her, or
+Montoyo. He knows; he's no fool and he'll take his time. So you'd better
+stick to mule-whacking and sowbelly."
+
+Still it was only decent that I should inquire after her. No Daniel and no
+"Bonnie Bravo" was going to shut me from my duty. Therefore this evening
+after we had formed corral, watered our animals at the one good-water
+spring, staked them out in the bottoms of the ravine here, and eaten our
+supper, I went with clean hands and face and, I resolved, a clean heart,
+to pay my respects at the Hyrum Adams fire.
+
+A cheery sight it was, too, for one bred as I had been to the company of
+women. Whereas during the day and somewhat in the evenings we Gentiles and
+the Mormon men fraternized without conflict of sect save by long-winded
+arguments, at nightfall the main Mormon gathering centered about the Adams
+quarters, where the men and women sang hymns in praise of their
+pretensions, and listened to homilies by Hyrum himself.
+
+They were singing now, as I approached--every woman busy also with her
+hands. The words were destined to be familiar to me, being from their
+favorite lines:
+
+          Cheer, saints, cheer! We're bound for peaceful Zion!
+          Cheer, saints, cheer! For that free and happy land!
+          Cheer, saints, cheer! We'll Israel's God rely on;
+          We will be led by the power of His hand.
+
+          Away, far away to the everlasting mountains,
+          Away, far away to the valley in the West;
+          Away, far away to yonder gushing fountains,
+          Where all the faithful in the latter days are blest.
+
+Into this domestic circle I civilly entered just as they had finished
+their hymn. She was seated beside the sleek-haired Rachael, with Daniel
+upon her other hand. I sensed her quickly ready smile; and with the same a
+surly stare from him, disclosing that by one person at least I was not
+welcomed.
+
+"Anything special wanted, stranger?" Hyrum demanded.
+
+"No, sir. I was attracted by your singing," I replied. "Do I intrude?"
+
+"Not at all, not at all." He was more hospitable. "Set if you like, in the
+circle of the Saints. You'll get no harm by it, that's certain."
+
+So I seated myself just behind Rachael. A moment of constraint seemed to
+fall upon the group. I broke it by my inquiry, addressed to a clean
+profile.
+
+"I came also to inquire after Mrs. Montoyo," I carefully said. "You have
+stood the journey well, this far, madam?"
+
+Daniel turned instantly.
+
+"Thar's no 'Mrs. Montoyo' in this camp, Mister. And I'll thank yu it's a
+name yu'd best leave alone."
+
+"How so, sir?"
+
+"Cause that's the right of it. I 'laow I've told yu."
+
+"I'm called Edna now, by my friends," she vouchsafed, coloring. "Yes,
+thank you, I've enjoyed the day."
+
+Rachael spoke softly, in her gentle English accents. I learned later that
+she was an English girl, convert to Mormonism.
+
+"We Latter Day Saints know that the marriage rites of Gentiles are not
+countenanced by the Lord. If you would see the light you would understand.
+Sister Edna is being well cared for. Whatever we have is hers."
+
+"You will take her on with you to Salt Lake?"
+
+"That is as Hyrum says. He has spoken of putting her on the stage at the
+next crossing. He will decide."
+
+"I think I'd rather stay with the train," My Lady murmured.
+
+"Yu will, too, by gum," Daniel pronounced. "I'll talk with paw. Yu're
+goin' to travel on to Zion 'long with me. I 'laow I'm man enough to look
+out for ye an' I got plenty room. The hull wagon's yourn. Guess thar won't
+nobody have anything to say ag'in that." His tone was pointed,
+unmistakable, and I sat fuming with it.
+
+My Lady drily acknowledged.
+
+"You are very kind, Daniel."
+
+"Wall, yu see I'm the best man on the draw in this hyar train. I'm a bad
+one, I am. My name's Bonnie Bravo. That gambler--he 'laowed to pop me but
+I could ha' killed him 'fore his gun was loose. I kin ride, wrastle, drive
+a bull team ag'in ary man from the States, an' I got the gift o' tongues.
+Ain't afeared o' Injuns, neither. I'm elected. I foller the Lord an' some
+day I'll be a bishop. I hain't been more'n middlin' interested in wimmen,
+but I'm gittin' old enough, an' yu an' me'll be purty well acquainted by
+the time we reach Zion. Thar's a long spell ahead of us, but I aim to look
+out for yu, yu bet."
+
+His blatancy was arrested by the intonation of another hymn. They all
+chimed in, except My Lady and me.
+
+       There is a people in the West, the world calls Mormonites
+       in jest,
+       The only people who can say, we have the truth, and
+       own its sway.
+       Away in Utah's valleys, away in Utah's valleys,
+       Away in Utah's valleys, the chambers of the Lord.
+
+       And all ye saints, where'er you be, from bondage try to
+       be set free,
+       Escape unto fair Zion's land, and thus fulfil the Lord's
+       command,
+       And help to build up Zion, and help to build up Zion,
+       And help to build up Zion, before the Lord appear.
+
+They concluded; sat with heads bowed while Hyrum, standing, delivered
+himself of a long-winded blessing, through his nose. It was the signal for
+breaking up. They stood. My Lady arose lithely; encumbered by her trailing
+skirt she pitched forward and I caught her. Daniel sprang in a moment,
+with a growl.
+
+"None o' that, Mister. I'm takin' keer of her. Hands off."
+
+"Don't bully me, sir," I retorted, furious. "I'm only acting the
+gentleman, and you're acting the boor."
+
+I would willingly have fought him then and there, probably to my disaster,
+but Hyrum's heavy voice cut in.
+
+"Who quarrels at my fire? Mark you, I'll have no more of it. Stranger, get
+you where you belong. Daniel, get you to bed. And you, woman, take
+yourself off properly and thank God that you are among his chosen and not
+adrift in sin."
+
+"Good-night, sir," I answered. And I walked easily away, a triumphant
+warmth buoying me, for ere releasing her strong young body I had felt a
+note tucked into my hand.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+SOMEONE FEARS
+
+
+A note from a pretty woman always is a potential thing, no matter in what
+humor it may have been received. The mere possession titillates; and
+although the contents may be most exemplary to the eye, the mind is apt to
+go hay-making between the lines and no offense intended.
+
+All the fatuousness that had led me astray to the lure of her blue eyes,
+upon the train and in hollow Benton, surged anew now--perhaps seasoned to
+present taste by my peppery defiance of Daniel. A man could do no less
+than bristle a little, under the circumstances; could do no less than
+challenge the torpedoes, like Farragut in Mobile Bay. Whether the game was
+worth the candle, I was not to be bullied out of my privileges by a clown
+swash-buckler who aped the characteristics of a pouter pigeon.
+
+Mr. Jenks was just going to bed under the wagon. With pretext of warming
+up the coffee I kicked the fire together; while squatting and sipping I
+managed to unfold the note and read it by the flicker, my back to the
+camp.
+
+All that it said, was:
+
+  If you are not disgusted with me I will walk a stretch with you on
+  the trail, during the morning.
+
+The engagement sent me to my blanket cogitating. When a woman proposes,
+one never knows precisely the reason. Anyway, I was young enough so to
+fancy. For a long time I lay outside the wagons, apart in the desert camp,
+gazing up at the twinkling stars, while the wolves whimpered around, and
+somewhere she slept beside the gentle Rachael, and somewhere Daniel
+snored, and here I conned her face and her words, elatedly finding them
+very pleasing.
+
+Salt Lake was far, the Big Tent farther by perspective if not by miles. I
+recognized the legal rights of her husband, but no ruffling Daniel should
+quash the undeniable rights of Yours Truly. I indeed felt virtuous and
+passing valorous, with that commonplace note in my pocket.
+
+We all broke camp at sunrise. She rode for a distance upon the seat of
+Daniel's wagon--he lustily trudging alongside. Then I marked her walking,
+herself; she had shortened her skirt; and presently lingering by the trail
+she dropped behind, leaving the wagon to lumber on, with Daniel helplessly
+turning head over shoulder, bereft.
+
+"Bet you the lady up yonder is aimin' to pay you a visit," quoth friend
+Jenks the astute. "And Dan'l, he don't cotton to it. You ain't great
+shakes with a gun, I reckon?"
+
+"I've never had use for one," said I. "But her whereabouts in the train is
+not a matter of shooting, is it?"
+
+"A feller quick on the draw, like him, is alluz wantin' to practice, to
+keep his hand in. Anyhow I'd advise you to stay clear of her, else watch
+him mighty sharp. He's thinkin' of takin' a squaw."
+
+We rolled on, in the dust, while the animals coughed and the teamsters
+chewed and swore. And next, here she was, idling until our outfit drew
+abreast.
+
+"Mornin'," Jenks grunted, with a shortness that bespoke his disapproval;
+whereupon he fell back and left us.
+
+She smiled at me.
+
+"Will you offer me a ride, sir?"
+
+My response was instant: a long "Whoa-oa!" in best mule-whacker. The
+eight-team hauled negligent, their mulish senses steeped in the drudgery
+of the trail; only the wheel pair flopped inquiring ears. When I hailed
+again, Jenks came puffing.
+
+"What's the matter hyar?" He ran rapid eye over wagon and animals and saw
+nothing amiss.
+
+"Mrs. Montoyo wishes to ride."
+
+"The hell, man!" He snatched whip and launched it, up the faltering team.
+The cracker popped an inch above the off lead mule's cringing haunch
+twenty feet before. "You can't stop hyar! Can't hold the rest of the
+train. Joe! Baldy! Hep with you!" The team straightened out; he restored
+me the whip. His wrath subsided, for in less dudgeon he addressed her.
+
+"Want to ride, do ye?"
+
+"I did, sir."
+
+"Wall, in Gawd's name ride, then. But we don't stop for passengers."
+
+With that, in another white heat he had picked her up bodily, swung her
+upon the nearest mule; so that before she knew (she scarce had time to
+utter an astonished little ejaculation as she yielded to his arms) there
+she was, perched, breathless, upon the sweaty hide. I awaited results.
+
+Jenks chuckled.
+
+"What you need is an old feller, lady. These young bucks ain't broke to
+the feed canvas. Now when you want to get off you call me. You don't weigh
+more'n a peck of beans."
+
+With a bantering wink at me he again fell back. Once more I had been
+forestalled. There should be no third time.
+
+My Lady sat clinging, at first angry-eyed, but in a moment softened by my
+discomfiture.
+
+"Your partner is rather sudden," she averred. "He asked permission of
+neither me nor the mule."
+
+"He meant well. He isn't used to women," I apologized.
+
+"More used to mules, I judge."
+
+"Yes. If he had asked the mule it would have objected, whereas it's
+delighted."
+
+"Perhaps he knows there's not much difference between a woman and a mule,
+in that respect," she proffered. "You need not apologize for him."
+
+"I apologize for myself," I blurted. "I see I'm a little slow for this
+country."
+
+"You?" She soberly surveyed me as I ploughed through the dust, at her
+knees. "I think you'll catch up. If you don't object to my company,
+yourself, occasionally, maybe I can help you."
+
+"I certainly cannot object to your company whenever it is available,
+madam," I assured.
+
+"You do not hold your experience in Benton against me?"
+
+"I got no more than I deserved, in the Big Tent," said I. "I went in as a
+fool and I came out as a fool, but considerably wiser."
+
+"You reproached me for it," she accused. "You hated me. Do you hate me
+still, I wonder? I tell you I was not to blame for the loss of your
+money."
+
+"The money has mattered little, madam," I informed. "It was only a few
+dollars, and it turned me to a job more to my liking and good health than
+fiddling my time away, back there. I have you to thank for that."
+
+"No, no! You are cruel, sir. You thank me for the good and you saddle me
+with the bad. I accept neither. Both, as happened, were misplays. You
+should not have lost money, you should not have changed vocation. You
+should have won a little money and you should have pursued health in
+Benton." She sighed. "And we all would have been reasonably content. Now
+here you and I are--and what are we going to do about it?"
+
+"We?" I echoed, annoyingly haphazard. "Why so? You're being well cared
+for, I take it; and I'm under engagement for Salt Lake myself."
+
+The answer did sound rude. I was still a cad. She eyed me, with a certain
+whiteness, a certain puzzled intentness, a certain fugitive wistfulness--a
+mute estimation that made me too conscious of her clear appraising gaze
+and rack my brain for some disarming remark.
+
+"You're not responsible for me, you would say?"
+
+"I'm at your service," I corrected. The platitude was the best that I
+could muster to my tongue.
+
+"That is something," she mused. "Once you were not that--when I proposed a
+partnership. You are afraid of me?" she asked.
+
+"Why should I be?" I parried. But I was beginning; or continuing. I had
+that curious inward quiver, not unpleasant, anticipatory of possible
+events.
+
+"You are a cautious Yankee. You answer one question with another." She
+laughed lightly. "Yes, why should you be? I cannot run away with you; not
+when Daniel and your Mr. Jenks are watching us so closely. And you have
+no desire to be run away with. And Pedro must be considered. Altogether,
+you are well protected, even if your conscience slips. But tell me: Do you
+blame me for running away from Montoyo?"
+
+"Not in the least," I heartily assured.
+
+"You would have helped me, at the last?"
+
+"I think I should have felt fully warranted." Again I floundered.
+
+"Even to stowing me with a bull train?"
+
+"Anywhere, madam, for your betterment, to free you from that brute."
+
+"Oh!" She clapped her hands. "But you didn't have to. I only embarrassed
+you by appearing on my own account. You have some spirit, though. You came
+to the Adams circle, last night. You did your duty. I expected you. But
+you must not do it again."
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"There are objections, there."
+
+"From you?"
+
+"No."
+
+"From Hyrum?"
+
+"Not yet."
+
+"From that Daniel, then. Well, I will come to Captain Adams' camp as often
+as I like, if with the Captain's permission. And I shall come to see you,
+whether with his permission or not."
+
+"I don't know," she faltered. "I--you would have helped me once, you say?
+And once you refused me. Would you help me next time?"
+
+"As far as I could," said I--another of those damned hedging responses
+that for the life of me I could not manipulate properly.
+
+"Oh!" she cried. "Of course! The queen deceived you; now you are wise. You
+are afraid. But so am I. Horribly afraid. I have misplayed again." She
+laughed bitterly. "I am with Daniel--it is to be Daniel and I in the
+Lion's den. You know they call Brigham Young the Lion of the Lord. I doubt
+if even Rachael is angel enough." She paused. "They're going to make
+nooning, aren't they? I mustn't stay. Good-bye."
+
+I sprang to lift her, but with gay shake of head she slipped off of
+herself and landed securely.
+
+"I can stand alone. I have to. Men are always ready to do what I don't ask
+them to do, as long as I can serve as a tool or a toy. You will be very,
+very careful. Good-day, sir."
+
+She flashed just the trace of a smile; gathering her skirt she ran on,
+undeterred by the teamsters applauding her spryness.
+
+"Swing out!" shouted Jenks, from rear. "We're noonin'." The lead wagons
+had halted beside the trail and all the wagons following began to imitate.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+I TAKE A LESSON
+
+
+From this hour's brief camp, early made, we should have turned southward,
+to leave the railroad line and cross country for the Overland Stage trail
+that skirted the southern edge of the worse desert before us. But Captain
+Hyrum was of different mind. With faith in the Lord and bull confidence in
+himself he had resolved to keep straight on by the teamster road which
+through league after league ever extended fed supplies to the advance of
+the builders.
+
+Under its adventitious guidance we should strike the stage road at Bitter
+Creek, eighty or one hundred miles; thence trundle, veering southwestward,
+for the famed City of the Saints, near two hundred miles farther.
+
+Therefore after nooning at a pool of stagnant, scummy water we hooked up
+and plunged ahead, creaking and groaning and dust enveloped, constantly
+outstripped by the hurrying construction trains thundering over the newly
+laid rails, we ourselves the tortoise in the race.
+
+My Lady did not join me again to-day, nor on the morrow. She abandoned me
+to a sense of dissatisfaction with myself, of foreboding, and of a void
+in the landscape.
+
+Our sorely laden train went swaying and pitching across the gaunt face of
+a high, broad plateau, bleak, hot, and monotonous in contour; underfoot
+the reddish granite pulverized by grinding tire and hoof, over us the pale
+bluish fiery sky without a cloud, distant in the south the shining tips of
+a mountain range, and distant below in the west the slowly spreading vista
+of a great, bared ocean-bed, simmering bizarre with reds, yellows and
+deceptive whites, and ringed about by battlements jagged and rock hewn.
+
+Into this enchanted realm we were bound; by token of the smoke blotches
+the railroad line led thither. The teamsters viewed the unfolding expanse
+phlegmatically. They called it the Red Basin. But to me, fresh for the
+sight, it beckoned with fantastic issues. Even the name breathed magic.
+Wizard spells hovered there; the railroad had not broken them--the cars
+and locomotives, entering, did not disturb the brooding vastness. A man
+might still ride errant into those slumberous spaces and discover for
+himself; might boldly awaken the realm and rule with a princess by his
+side.
+
+But romance seemed to have no other sponsor in this plodding,
+whip-cracking, complaining caravan. So I lacked, woefully lacked, kindred
+companionship.
+
+Free to say, I did miss My Lady, perched upon the stoic mule while like
+an Arab chief I convoyed her. The steady miles, I admitted, were going to
+be as disappointing as tepid water, when not aerated by her counsel and
+piquant allusions, by her sprightly readiness and the essential elements
+of her blue eyes, her facile lips, and that bright hair which no dust
+could dim.
+
+After all she was distinctly feminine--bravely feminine; and if she wished
+to flirt as a relief from the cock-sure Daniel and the calm methods of her
+Mormon guardians, why, let us beguile the way. I should second with eyes
+open. That was accepted.
+
+Moreover, something about her weighed upon me. A consciousness of failing
+her, a woman, in emergency, stung my self-respect. She had twitted me with
+being "afraid"; afraid of her, she probably meant. That I could pass
+warily. But she had said that she, too, was afraid: "horribly afraid," and
+an honest shudder had attended upon the words as if a real danger hedged.
+She had an intuition. The settled convictions of my Gentile friends
+coincided. "With Daniel in the Lion's den"--that phrase repeated itself
+persistent. She had uttered it in a fear accentuated by a mirthless laugh.
+Could such a left-handed wooer prove too much for her? Well, if she was
+afraid of Daniel I was not and she should not think so.
+
+I could see her now and then, on before. She rode upon the wagon seat of
+her self-appointed executor. And I might see him and his paraded
+impertinences.
+
+Except for the blowing of the animals and the mechanical noises of the
+equipment the train subsided into a dogged patience, while parched by the
+dust and the thin dry air and mocked by the speeding construction crews
+upon the iron rails it lurched westward at two and a half miles an hour,
+for long hours outfaced by the blinding sun.
+
+Near the western edge of the plateau we made an evening corral. After
+supper the sound of revolver shots burst flatly from a mess beyond us, and
+startled. Everything was possible, here in this lone horizon-land where
+rough men, chafed by a hard day, were gathered suddenly relaxed and idle.
+But the shots were accompanied by laughter.
+
+"They're only tryin' to spile a can," Jenks reassured. "By golly, we'll go
+over and l'arn 'em a lesson." He glanced at me. "Time you loosened up that
+weepon o' yourn, anyhow. Purty soon it'll stick fast."
+
+I arose with him, glad of any diversion. The circle had not yet formed at
+Hyrum's fire.
+
+"It strikes me as a useless piece of baggage," said I. "I bought it in
+Benton but I haven't needed it. I can kill a rattlesnake easier with my
+whip."
+
+"Wall," he drawled, "down in yonder you're liable to meet up with a
+rattler too smart for your whip, account of his freckles. 'Twon't do you
+no harm to spend a few ca'tridges, so you'll be ready for business."
+
+The men were banging, by turn, at a sardine can set up on the sand about
+twenty paces out. Their shadows stretched slantwise before them,
+grotesquely lengthened by the last efforts of the disappearing sun. Some
+aimed carefully from under pulled-down hat brims; others, their brims
+flared back, fired quickly, the instant the gun came to the level. The
+heavy balls sent the loose soil flying in thick jets made golden by the
+evening glow. But amidst the furrows the can sat untouched by the plunging
+missiles.
+
+We were greeted with hearty banter.
+
+"Hyar's the champeens!"
+
+"Now they'll show us."
+
+"Ain't never see that pilgrim unlimber his gun yit, but I reckon he's a
+bad 'un."
+
+"Jenks, old hoss, cain't you l'an that durned can manners?"
+
+"I'll try to oblige you, boys," friend Jenks smiled. "What you thinkin' to
+do: hit that can or plant a lead mine?"
+
+"Give him room. He's made his brag," they cried. "And if he don't plug it
+that pilgrim sure will."
+
+Mr. Jenks drew and took his stand; banged with small preparation and
+missed by six inches--a fact that brought him up wide awake, so to speak,
+badgered by derision renewed. A person needs must have a bull hide, to
+travel with a bull train, I saw.
+
+"Gimme another, boys, and I'll hit it in the nose," he growled sheepishly;
+but they shoved him aside.
+
+"No, no. Pilgrim's turn. Fetch on yore shootin'-iron, young feller. Thar's
+yore turkey. Show us why you're packin' all that hardware."
+
+Willy-nilly I had to demonstrate my greenness; so in all good nature I
+drew, and stood, and cocked, and aimed. The Colt's exploded with
+prodigious blast and wrench--jerking, in fact, almost above head; and
+where the bullet went I did not see, nor, I judged, did anybody else.
+
+"He missed the 'arth!" they clamored.
+
+"No; I reckon he hit Montany 'bout the middle. That's whar he scored
+center!"
+
+"Shoot! Shoot!" they begged. "Go ahead. Mebbe you'll kill an Injun
+unbeknownst. They's a pack o' Sioux jest out o' sight behind them hills."
+
+And I did shoot, vexed; and I struck the ground, this time, some fifty
+yards beyond the can. Jenks stepped from amidst the riotous laughter.
+
+"Hold down on it, hold down, lad," he urged. "To hit him in the heart aim
+at his feet. Here! Like this----" and taking my revolver he threw it
+forward, fired, the can plinked and somersaulted, lashed into action too
+late.
+
+"By Gawd," he proclaimed, "when I move like it had a gun in its fist I can
+snap it. But when I think on it as a can I lack guts."
+
+The remark was pat. I had seen several of the men snip the head from a
+rattlesnake with a single offhand shot--yes, they all carried their
+weapons easily and wontedly. But the target of an immobile can lacked in
+stimulation to concord of nerve and eye.
+
+Now I shot again, holding lower and more firmly, out of mere guesswork,
+and landed appreciably closer although still within the zone of ridicule.
+And somebody else shot, and somebody else, and another, until we all were
+whooping and laughing and jesting, and the jets flew as if from the balls
+of a mitrailleuse, and the can rocked and gyrated, spurring us to haste as
+it constantly changed the range. Presently it was merely a twist of ragged
+tin. Then in the little silence, as we paused, a voice spoke
+irritatingly.
+
+"I 'laow yu fellers ain't no great shucks at throwin' lead."
+
+Daniel stood by, with arms akimbo, his booted legs braggartly straddled
+and his freckled face primed with an intolerant grin at our recent
+efforts. My Lady had come over with him. Raw-boned, angular, cloddish but
+as strong as a mule, he towered over her in a maddening atmosphere of
+proprietorship.
+
+She smiled at me--at all of us: at me, swiftly; at them, frankly. And I
+knew that she was still afraid.
+
+"Reckon we don't ask no advice, friend," they answered. Again a constraint
+enfolded, fastened upon us by an unbidden guest. "Like as not you can do
+better."
+
+Daniel laughed boisterously, his mouth widely open.
+
+"I couldn't do wuss. I seen yu poppin' at that can. Hadn't but one hole in
+it till yu all turned loose an' didn't give it no chance. Haw haw! I 'laow
+for a short bit I'd stand out in front o' that greenie from the States an'
+let him empty two guns at me."
+
+"S'pose you do it," friend Jenks promptly challenged. "By thunder, I'll
+hire ye with the ten cents, and give him four bits if he hits you."
+
+"He wouldn't draw on me, nohaow," scoffed Daniel. "I daren't shoot for
+money, but I'll shoot for fun. Anybody want to shoot ag'in me?"
+
+"Wasted powder enough," they grumbled.
+
+"Ever see me shoot?" He was eager. "I'll show ye somethin'. I don't take
+back seat for ary man. Yu set me up a can. That thar one wouldn't jump to
+a bullet."
+
+In sullen obedience a can was produced.
+
+"How fur?"
+
+"Fur as yu like."
+
+It was tossed contemptuously out; and watching it, to catch its last roll,
+I heard Daniel gleefully yelp "Out o' my way, yu-all!"--half saw his hand
+dart down and up again, felt the jar of a shot, witnessed the can jump
+like a live thing; and away it went, with spasm after spasm, to explosion
+after explosion, tortured by him into fruitless capers until with the
+final ball peace came to it, and it lay dead, afar across the twilight
+sand.
+
+Verily, by his cries and the utter savagery and malevolence of his
+bombardment, one would have thought that he took actual lust in fancied
+cruelty.
+
+"I 'laow thar's not another man hyar kin do that," he vaunted.
+
+There was not, judging by the silence again ensuing. Only--
+
+"A can's a different proposition from a man, as I said afore," Jenks
+coolly remarked. "A can don't shoot back."
+
+"I don't 'laow any man's goin' to, neither." Daniel reloaded his smoking
+revolver, bolstered it with a flip; faced me in turning away. "That's
+somethin' for yu to l'arn on, ag'in next time, young feller," he
+vouchsafed.
+
+If he would have eyed me down he did not succeed. His gaze shifted and he
+passed on, swaggering.
+
+"Come along, Edna," he bade. "We'll be goin' back."
+
+A devil--or was it he himself?--twitted me, incited me, and in a moment,
+with a gush of assertion, there I was, saying to her, my hat doffed:
+
+"I'll walk over with you."
+
+"Do," she responded readily. "We're to have more singing."
+
+The men stared, they nudged one another, grinned. Daniel whirled.
+
+"I 'laow yu ain't been invited, Mister."
+
+"If Mrs. Montoyo consents, that's enough," I informed, striving to keep
+steady. "I'm not walking with you, sir; I am walking with her. The only
+ground you control is just in front of your own wagon."
+
+"Yu've been told once thar ain't no 'Mrs. Montoyo,'" he snarled. "And
+whilst yu're l'arnin' to shoot yu'd better be l'arnin' manners. Yu comin'
+with me, Edna?"
+
+"As fast as I can, and with Mr. Beeson also, if he chooses," said she. "I
+have my manners in mind, too."
+
+"By gosh, I don't walk with ye," he jawed. And in a huff, like the big boy
+that he was, he flounced about, vengefully striding on as though punishing
+her for a misdemeanor.
+
+She dropped the grinning group a little curtsy. A demure sparkle was in
+her eyes.
+
+"The entertainment is concluded, gentlemen. I wish you good-night."
+
+Yet underneath her raillery and self-possession there lay an appeal, the
+stronger because subtle and unvoiced. It seemed to me every man must
+appreciate that as a woman she invoked protection by him against an
+impending something, of which she had given him a glimpse.
+
+So we left them somewhat subdued, gazing after us, their rugged faces
+sobered reflectively.
+
+"Shall we stroll?" she asked.
+
+"With pleasure," I agreed.
+
+Daniel was angrily shouldering for the Mormon wagons, his indignant
+figure black against the western glow. She laughed lightly.
+
+"You're not afraid, after all, I see."
+
+"Not of him, madam."
+
+"And of me?"
+
+"I think I'm more afraid for you," I confessed. "That clown is getting
+insufferable. He sets out to bully you. Damn him," I flashed, with
+pardonable flame, "and he ruffles at me on every occasion. In fact, he
+seems to seek occasion. Witness this evening."
+
+"Witness this evening," she murmured. "I'm afraid, too. Yes," she
+breathed, confronted by a portent, "I'm afraid. I never have been afraid
+before. I didn't fear Montoyo. I've always been able to take care of
+myself. But now, here----"
+
+"You have your revolver?" I suggested.
+
+"No, I haven't. It's gone. Mormon women don't carry revolvers."
+
+"They took it from you?"
+
+"It's disappeared."
+
+"But you're not a Mormon woman."
+
+"Not yet." She caught quick breath. "God forbid. And sometimes I fear God
+willing. For I do fear. You can't understand. Those other men do, though,
+I think. Do you know," she queried, with sudden glance, "that Daniel means
+to marry me?"
+
+"He?" I gasped. "How so? With your--consent, of course. But you're not
+free; you have a husband." My gorge rose, regardless of fact. "You
+scarcely expect me to congratulate you, madam. Still he may have points."
+
+"Daniel?" She shrugged her shoulders. "I cannot say. Pedro did. Most men
+have. Oh!" she cried, impulsively stopping short. "Why don't you learn to
+shoot? Won't you?"
+
+"I've about decided to," I admitted. "That appears to be the saving
+accomplishment of everybody out here."
+
+"Of everybody who stays. You must learn to draw and to shoot, both. The
+drawing you will have to practice by yourself, but I can teach you to
+shoot. So can those men. Let me have your pistol, please."
+
+I passed it to her. She was all in a flutter.
+
+"You must grasp the handle firmly; cover it with your whole palm, but
+don't squeeze it to death; just grip it evenly--tuck it away. And keep
+your elbow down; and crook your wrist, in a drop, until your trigger
+knuckle is pointing very low--at a man's feet if you're aiming for his
+heart."
+
+"At his feet, for his heart?" I stammered. The words had an ugly sound.
+
+"Certainly. We are speaking of shooting now, and not at a tin can. You
+have to allow for the jump of the muzzle. Unless you hold it down with
+your wrist, you over shoot; and it's the first shot that counts. Of
+course, there's a feel, a knack. But don't aim with your eyes. You won't
+have time. Men file off the front sight--it sometimes catches, in the
+draw. And it's useless, anyway. They fire as they point with the finger,
+by the feel. You see, they _know_."
+
+"Evidently you do, too, madam," I faltered, amazed.
+
+"Not all," she panted. "But I've heard the talk; I've watched--I've seen
+many things, sir, from Omaha to Benton. Oh, I wish I could tell you more;
+I wish I could help you right away. I meant, a dead-shot with the revolver
+knows beforehand, in the draw, where his bullet shall go. Some men are
+born to shoot straight; some have to practice a long, long while. I wonder
+which you are."
+
+"If there is pressing need in my case," said I, "I shall have to rely upon
+my friends to keep me from being done for."
+
+"You?" she uttered, with a touch of asperity. "Oh, yes. Pish, sir!
+Friends, I am learning, have their own hides to consider. And those
+gentlemen of yours are Gentiles with goods for Salt Lake Mormons. Are they
+going to throw all business to the winds?"
+
+"You yourself may appeal to his father, and to the women, for protection
+if that lout annoys you," I ventured.
+
+"To them?" she scoffed. "To Hyrum Adams' outfit? Why, they're Mormons and
+good Mormons, and why should I not be made over? I'm under their
+teachings; I am Edna, already; it's time Daniel had a wife--or two, for
+replenishing Utah. Rachael calls me 'sister,' and I can't resent it. Good
+at heart as she is, even she is convinced. Why," and she laughed
+mirthlessly, "I may be sealed to Hyrum himself, if nothing worse is in
+store. Then I'll be assured of a seat with the saints."
+
+"You can depend upon me, then. I'll protect you, I'll fight for you, and
+I'll kill for you," I was on the point of roundly declaring; but didn't.
+Her kind, I remembered, had spelled ruin upon the pages of men more
+experienced than I. Therefore out of that super-caution born of Benton, I
+stupidly said nothing.
+
+She had paused, expectant. She resumed.
+
+"But no matter. Here I am, and here you are. We were speaking of shooting.
+This is a lesson in shooting, not in marrying, isn't it? As to the
+pressing need, you must decide. You've seen and heard enough for that. I
+like you, sir; I respect your spirit and I'm sorry I led you into
+misadventure. Now if I may lend you a little something to keep you from
+being shot like a dog, I'll feel as though I had wiped out your score
+against me. Take your gun." I took it, the butt warm from her clasp.
+"There he is. Cover him!"
+
+"Where?" I asked. "Who?"
+
+"There, before you. Oh, anybody! Think of his heart and cover him. I want
+to see you hold."
+
+I aimed, squinting.
+
+"No, no! You'll not have time to close an eye; both eyes are none too
+many. And you are awkward; you are stiff." She readjusted my arm and
+fingers. "That's better. You see that little rock? Hit it. Cock your
+weapon, first. Hold firmly, not too long. There; I think you're going to
+hit it, but hold low, low, with the wrist. Now!"
+
+I fired. The sand obscured the rock. She clapped her hands, delighted.
+
+"You would have killed him. No--he would have killed you. Quick! Give it
+to me!"
+
+And snatching the revolver she cocked, leveled and fired instantly. The
+rock split into fragments.
+
+"I would have killed him," she murmured, gazing tense, seeing I knew not
+what. Wrenching from the vision she handed back the revolver to me. "I
+think you're going to do, sir. Only, you must learn to draw. I can tell
+you but I can't show you. The men will. You must draw swiftly, decisively,
+without a halt, and finger on trigger and thumb on hammer and be ready to
+shoot when the muzzle clears the scabbard. It's a trick."
+
+"Like this?" I queried, trying.
+
+"Partly. But it's not a sword you're drawing; it's a gun. You may draw
+laughing, if you wish to dissemble for a sudden drop; they do, when they
+have iron in their heart and the bullet already on its way, in their mind.
+I mustn't stay longer. Shall we go to the fire now? I am cold." She
+shivered. "Daniel is waiting. And when you've delivered me safe you'd
+better leave me, please."
+
+"Why so?"
+
+She smiled, looking me straight in the eyes.
+
+"Quien sabe? To avoid a scene, perhaps; perhaps, to postpone. I have an
+idea that it is better so. You've baited Daniel far enough for to-night."
+
+We walked almost without speaking, to the Hyrum Adams fire. Daniel lifted
+upper lip at me as we entered; his eyes never wandered from my face. I
+marked his right hand quivering stiffly; and I disregarded him. For if I
+had challenged him by so much as an overt glance he would have burst
+bonds.
+
+Rachael's eyes, the older woman's eyes, the eyes of all, men and women,
+curious, admonitory, hostile and apprehensive, hot and cold
+together--these I felt also amidst the dusk. I was distinctly unwelcome.
+Accordingly I said a civil "Good-evening" to Hyrum (whose response out of
+compressed lips was scarce more than a grunt) and raising my hat to My
+Lady turned my back upon them, for my own bailiwick.
+
+The other men were waiting en route.
+
+"Didn't kill ye, did he?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Wall," said one, "if you can swing a rattler by the tail, all right. But
+watch his haid."
+
+Friend Jenks paced on with me to our fire.
+
+"We were keepin' cases on you, and so was he. He saw that practice--damn,
+how he did crane! She was givin' you pointers, eh?"
+
+"Yes; she wanted amusement."
+
+"It'll set Bonnie Bravo to thinkin'--it'll shorely set him to thinkin',"
+Jenks chuckled, mouthing his pipe. "She's a smart one." He comfortably
+rocked to and fro as we sat by the fire. "Hell! Wall, if you got to kill
+him you got to kill him and do it proper. For if you don't kill him he'll
+kill you; snuff you out like a--wall, you saw that can travel."
+
+"I don't want to kill him," I pleaded. "Why should I?"
+
+Jenks sat silent; and sitting silent I foresaw that kill Daniel I must. I
+was being sucked into it, irrevocably willed by him, by her, by them all.
+If I did not kill him in defense of myself I should kill him in defense of
+her. Yet why I had to, I wondered; but when I had bought my ticket for
+Benton I had started the sequence, to this result. Here I was. As she had
+said, here I was, and here she was. I might not kill for love--no, not
+that; I was going to kill for hate. And while I never had killed a man,
+and in my heart of hearts did not wish to kill a man, since I had to kill
+one, named Daniel, even though he was a bully, a braggart and an infernal
+over-stepper it was pleasanter to think that I should kill him in hot
+blood rather than in cold.
+
+Jenks spat, and yawned.
+
+"I can l'arn you a few things; all the boys'll help you out," he
+proffered, "When you git him you'll have to git him quick; for if you
+don't--adios. But we'll groom ye."
+
+Could this really be I? Frank Beeson, not a fortnight ago still living at
+jog-trot in dear Albany, New York State? It was puzzling how detached and
+how strong I felt.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+THE TRAIL NARROWS
+
+
+Again we broke camp. We rolled down from the plateau into that wizard
+basin lying all beautiful and slumberous and spell-locked like some land
+of heart's desire. We replenished our water casks from the tank cars, we
+swapped for a little feed, we occasionally exchanged greetings with
+contractor outfits, and with grading crews. In due time we passed end o'
+track, where a bevy of sweated men were moiling like mad, clanging down
+the rails upon the hasty ties and ever calling for more, more. I witnessed
+little General "Jack" Casement of Ohio--a small man with full russet beard
+and imperative bold blue eyes--teetering and tugging at his whiskers and
+rampantly swearing while he drove the work forward. And we left end o'
+track, vainly reaching out after us, until the ring of the rails and the
+staccato of the rapid sledges faded upon our ears.
+
+Now we were following the long line of bare grade, upturned reddish by the
+plows and scrapers and picks and shovels; sometimes elevated, for contour,
+sometimes merged with the desert itself. There the navvies digged and
+delved, scarcely taking time to glance at us. And day by day we plodded
+in the interminable clouds of desert dust raised by the supply wagons.
+
+Captain Hyrum fought shy of their camps. The laborers were mainly Irish,
+trans-shipped from steerage, dock, and Bowery, and imported from Western
+mining centers; turbulent in their relaxations and plentifully supplied
+with whiskey: companies, they, not at all to the Mormon mind. Consequently
+we halted apart from them--and well so, for those were womanless camps and
+the daily stint bred strong appetites.
+
+There were places where we made half circuit out from the grade and
+abandoned it entirely. In this way we escaped the dust, the rough talk,
+and the temptations; now and again obtained a modicum of forage in the
+shape of coarse weedy grasses at the borders of sinks.
+
+But it was a cruel country on men and beasts. Our teamsters who had been
+through by the Overland Trail said that the Bitter Creek desert was yet
+worse: drier, barer, dustier and uglier. Nevertheless this was our daily
+program:
+
+To rise after a shivery night, into the crisp dawn which once or twice
+glinted upon a film of ice formed in the water buckets; to herd the
+stiffened animals and place them convenient; to swallow our hot coffee and
+our pork and beans, and flapjacks when the cooks were in the humor; to
+hook the teams to the wagons and break corral, and amidst cracking of
+lashes stretch out into column, then to lurch and groan onward, at snail's
+pace, through the constantly increasing day until soon we also were wrung
+and parched by a relentless heat succeeding the frosty night.
+
+The sleeping beauties of the realm were ever farther removed. In the
+distances they awaited, luring with promise of magic-invested azure
+battlements, languid reds and yellows like tapestry, and patches of liquid
+blue and dazzling snowy white, canopied by a soft, luxurious sky. But when
+we arrived, near spent, the battlements were only isolated sandstone
+outcrops inhabited by rattlesnakes, the reds and yellows were sun-baked
+soil as hard, the liquid blue was poisonous, stagnant sinks, the snow
+patches were soda and bitter alkali, the luxurious sky was the same old
+white-hot dome, reflecting the blazing sun upon the fuming earth.
+
+Then at sunset we made corral; against theft, when near the grade; against
+Indians and pillage when out from the grade, with the animals under herd
+guard. There were fires, there was singing at the Mormon camp, there was
+the heavy sleep beneath blanket and buffalo robe, through the biting chill
+of a breezeless night, the ground a welcomed bed, the stars vigilant from
+horizon to horizon, the wolves stalking and bickering like avid ghouls.
+
+So we dulled to the falsity of the desert and the drudgery of the trail;
+and as the grading camps became less frequent the men grew riper for any
+diversion. That My Lady and Daniel and I were to furnish it seemed to be
+generally accepted. Here were the time-old elements: two men, one
+woman--elements so constituted that in other situation they might have
+brought comedy but upon such a trail must and should pronounce for
+tragedy, at least for true melodrama.
+
+Besides, I was expected to uphold the honor of our Gentile mess along with
+my own honor. That was demanded; ever offered in cajolery to encourage my
+pistol practice. I was, in short, "elected," by an obsession equal to a
+conviction; and what with her insistently obtruded as a bonus I never was
+permitted to lose sight of the ghastly prize of skill added to merit.
+
+At first the matter had disturbed and horrified me mightily, to the extent
+that I anticipated evading the issue while preparing against it. Surely
+this was the current of a prankish dream. And dreams I had--frightfully
+tumultuous dreams, of red anger and redder blood, sometimes my own blood,
+sometimes another's; dreams from which I awakened drenched in cold
+nightmare sweat.
+
+To be infused, even by bunkum and banter, with the idea of killing, is a
+sad overthrow of sane balance. I would not have conceived the thing
+possible to me a month back. But the monotonous desert trail, the close
+companying with virile, open minds, and the strict insistence upon
+individual rights--yes, and the irritation of the same faces, the same
+figures, the same fare, the same labor, the same scant recreations, all
+worked as poison, to depress and fret and stimulate like alternant chills
+and fever.
+
+Practice I did, if only in friendly emulation of the others, as a
+pass-the-time. I improved a little in drawing easily and firing snap-shot.
+The art was good to know, bad to depend upon. In the beginnings it worried
+me as a sleight-of-hand, until I saw that it was the established code and
+that Daniel himself looked to no other.
+
+In fact, he pricked me on, not so much by word as by manner, which was
+worse. Since that evening when, in the approving parlance of my friends, I
+had "cut him out" by walking with her to the Adams fire, we had exchanged
+scarcely a word; he ruffled about at his end of the train and mainly in
+his own precincts, and I held myself in leash at mine, with
+self-consciousness most annoying to me.
+
+But his manner, his manner--by swagger and covert sneer and ostentatious
+triumph of alleged possession emanating an unwearied challenge to my
+manhood. My revolver practice, I might mark, moved him to shrugs and
+flings; when he hulked by me he did so with a stare and a boastful grin,
+but without other response to my attempted "Howdy?"; now and again he
+assiduously cleaned his gun, sitting out where I should see even if I did
+not straightway look; in this he was most faithful, with sundry
+flourishes babying me by thinking to intimidate.
+
+Withal he gave me never excuse of ending him or placating him, but shifted
+upon me the burden of choosing time and spot.
+
+Once, indeed, we near had it. That was on an early morning. He was driving
+in a yoke of oxen that had strayed, and he stopped short in passing where
+I was busied with gathering our mules.
+
+"Say, Mister, I want a word with yu," he demanded.
+
+"Well, out with it," I bade; and my heart began to thump. Possibly I
+paled, I know that I blinked, the sun being in my eyes.
+
+He laughed, and spat over his shoulder, from the saddle.
+
+"Needn't be skeered. I ain't goin' to hurt ye. I 'laow yu expected to make
+up to that woman, didn't yu, 'fore this?"
+
+"What woman?" I encouraged; but I was wondering if my revolver was loose.
+
+"Edna. 'Cause if yu did, 'tain't no use, Mister. Why," indulgently, "yu
+couldn't marry her--yu couldn't marry her no more'n yu could kill me.
+Yu're a Gentile, an' yu'd be bustin' yore own laws. But thar ain't no
+Gentile laws for the Lord's an'inted; so I thought I'd tell yu I'm liable
+to marry her myself. Yu've kep' away from her consider'ble; this is to
+tell yu yu mought as well keep keepin' away."
+
+"I sha'n't discuss Mrs. Montoyo with you, sir," I broke, cold, instead of
+hot, watching him very narrowly (as I had been taught to do), my hand
+nerved for the inevitable dart. "But I am her friend--her friend, mind
+you; and if she is in danger of being imposed upon by you, I stand ready
+to protect her. For I want you to know that I'm not afraid of you, day or
+night. Why, you low dog----!" and I choked, itching for the crisis.
+
+He gawked, reddening; his right hand quivered; and to my chagrin he slowly
+laughed, scanning me.
+
+"I seen yu practicin'. Go ahead. I wouldn't kill yu _naow_. Or if yu want
+practice in 'arnest, start to draw." He waited a moment, in easy
+insolence. I did not draw. "Let yore dander cool. Thar's no use yu tryin'
+to buck the Mormons. I've warned ye." And he passed on, cracking his
+lash.
+
+Suddenly I was aware that, as seemed, every eye in the camp had been
+fastened upon us two. My fingers shook while with show of nonchalance I
+resumed adjusting the halters.
+
+"Gosh! Looked for a minute like you and him was to have it out proper,"
+Jenks commented, matter of fact, when I came in. "Hazin' you a bit, was
+he? What'd he say?"
+
+"He warned me to keep away from Mrs. Montoyo. Went so far as to lay claim
+to her himself, the whelp. Boasted of it."
+
+"Throwed it in your face, did he? Wall, you goin' to let him cache her
+away?"
+
+"Look here," I said desperately, still a-tremble: "Why do you men put that
+up to me? Why do you egg me on to interfere? She's no more to me than she
+is to you. Damn it, I'll take care of myself but I don't see why I should
+shoulder her, except that she's a woman and I won't see any woman
+mistreated."
+
+He pulled his whiskers, and grinned.
+
+"Dunno jest how fur you're elected. Looks like there was something between
+you and her--though I don't say for shore. But she's your kind; she may be
+a leetle devil, but she's your kind--been eddicated and acts the lady. She
+ain't our kind. Thunderation! What'd we do with her? She'd be better off
+marryin' Dan'l. He'd give her a home. If you hadn't been with this train I
+don't believe she'd have follered in. That's the proposition. You got to
+fight him anyway; he's set out to back you down. It's your fracas, isn't
+it?"
+
+"I know it," I admitted. "He's been ugly toward me from the first, without
+reason."
+
+"Reckoned to amuse himself. He's one o' them fellers that think to show
+off by ridin' somebody they think they can ride. The boys hate to see you
+lay down to that; for you'd better call him and eat lead or else quit the
+country. So you might as well give him a full dose and take the pot."
+
+"What pot?"
+
+"The woman, o' course."
+
+"I tell you, Mrs. Montoyo has nothing to do with it, any more than any
+woman. It's a matter between him and me--he began it by jeering at me
+before she appeared. I want her left out of it."
+
+"Oh, pshaw!" Jenks scoffed. "That can't be did. He's fetched her into it.
+What do you aim to do, then? Dodge her? When you're dodgin' her you're
+dodgin' him, or so he'll take it."
+
+"I'll not dodge him, you can bet on that," I vowed. "I don't seek her, nor
+him; but I shall not go out of my way to avoid either of them."
+
+"And when you give him his dose, what'll you do?"
+
+"If that is forced upon me, nothing. It will be in defense of my rights,
+won't it? But I don't want any further trouble with him. I hope to God I
+won't have."
+
+"Shore," Jenks soothed. "You're not a killer. All the same, you're
+elected; he began it and you'll have to finish it. Then you'll needs look
+out for yourself and her too, for he's made her the stakes."
+
+"Why will I?"
+
+"Got to. The hull train thinks so, one way or t'other, and you're white."
+
+"She can stay with the Mormons, if she wants to."
+
+"Oh, yes; if she wants to. But do you reckon she does? Not much! She's
+lookin' to you--she's lookin' to you. She's a smart leetle piece--knows
+how to play her cards, and she's got you and Dan'l goin'."
+
+"But she's married. You can't expect----"
+
+"Oh, yes," he wagged again, interrupting. "Shore. There's Montoyo. I don't
+envy you your job, but damn' if you mightn't work harder and do wuss.
+She's a clipper, and I never did hear anything 'specially bad of her,
+beyond cappin'. Whoa, Jinny!"
+
+I wrathfully cogitated. Now I began to hate her. I was a tool to her hand,
+once more, was I? And how had it come about? She had not directly besought
+me to it--not by word. Daniel had decreed, and already our antagonism had
+been on. And I had defied him--naturally. He should not bilk me of free
+movement. But the issue might, on the face of it, appear to be she. As I
+tugged at the harness, under breath I cursed the scurvy turn of events;
+and in seeking to place the blame found amazing cleverness in her. Just
+the same, I was not going to kill him for her account; never, never! And I
+wished to the deuce that she'd kept clear of me.
+
+Jenks was speaking.
+
+"So the fust chance you get you might as well walk straight into him, call
+him all the names you can lay tongue to, and when he makes a move for his
+gun beat him to the draw and come up shootin'. Then it'll be over with.
+The longer it hangs, the less peace you'll have; for you've got to do it
+sooner or later. It's you or him."
+
+"Not necessarily," I faltered. "There may be another way."
+
+"There ain't, if you're a he critter on two legs," snapped Jenks. "Not in
+this country or any other white man's country; no, nor in red man's
+country neither. What you do back in the States, can't say. Trust in
+pray'r, mebbe."
+
+Nevertheless I determined to make a last effort even at the risk of losing
+caste. In the reaction from the pressure of that recent encounter when I
+might have killed, but didn't, I again had a spell of fierce, sick protest
+against the role being foisted upon me--foisted, I could see, by her
+machinations as well as by his animosity. The position was too false to be
+borne. There was no joy in it, no zest, no adequate reward. Why, in God's
+name, should I be sentenced to have blood upon my hands and soul? Surely I
+might be permitted to stay clean.
+
+Therefore this evening immediately after corral was formed I sought out
+Captain Adams, as master of the train; and disregarding the gazes that
+followed me and that received me I spoke frankly, here at his own wagon,
+without preliminary.
+
+"Daniel and I appear to be at outs, sir," I said. "Why, I do not know,
+except that he seems to have had a dislike for me from the first day. If
+he'll let me alone I'll let him alone. I'm not one to look for trouble."
+
+His heavy face, with those thick pursed lips and small china blue eyes,
+changed not a jot.
+
+"Daniel will take care of himself."
+
+"That is his privilege," I answered. "I am not here to question his
+rights, Captain, as long as he keeps within them; but I don't require of
+him to take care of me also. If he will hold to his own trail I'll hold to
+mine, and I assure you there'll be no trouble."
+
+"Daniel will take care of himself, I say," he reiterated. "Yes, and look
+after all that belongs to him, stranger. There's no use threatening
+Daniel. What he does he does as servant of the Lord and he fears naught."
+
+"Neither do I, sir," I retorted hotly. "One may wish to avoid trouble and
+still not fear it. I have not come to you with complaint. I merely wish to
+explain. You are captain of the train and responsible for its conduct. I
+give you notice that I shall defend myself against insult and annoyance."
+
+I turned on my heel--sensed poised forms and inquiring faces; and his
+booming voice stayed me.
+
+"A moment, stranger. Your talk is big. What have you to do with this woman
+Edna?"
+
+"With Mrs. Montoyo? What I please, if it pleases her, sir. If she claims
+your protection, very good. Should she claim mine, she'll have it." And
+there, confound it, I had spoken. "But with this, Daniel has nothing to
+do. I believe that the lady you mention is simply your present guest and
+my former acquaintance."
+
+"You err," he thundered, darkening. "You cannot be expected to see the
+light. But I say to you, keep away, keep away. I will have no
+gallivanting, no cozening and smiling and prating and distracting. She
+must be nothing to you. Never can be, never shall be. Her way is
+appointed, the instrument chosen, and as a sister in Zion she shall know
+you not. Now get you gone----" a favorite expression of his. "Get you
+gone, meddle not hereabouts, and I'll see to it that you are spared from
+harm."
+
+Surprising myself, and perhaps him, I gazed full at him and laughed
+without reserve or irritation.
+
+"Thank you, Captain," I heard myself saying. "I am perfectly capable of
+self-protection. And I expect to remain a friend of Mrs. Montoyo as long
+as she permits me. For your bluster and Daniel's I care not a sou. In
+fact, I consider you a pair of damned body-snatchers. Good-evening."
+
+Then out I stormed, boiling within, reckless of opposition--even courting
+it; but met none, Daniel least of all (for he was elsewhere), until as I
+passed on along the lined-up wagons I heard my name uttered breathlessly.
+
+"Mr. Beeson."
+
+It was not My Lady; her I had not glimpsed. The gentle English girl
+Rachael had intercepted me. She stood between two wagons, whither she had
+hastened.
+
+"You will be careful?"
+
+"How far, madam?"
+
+"Of yourself, and for her. Oh, be careful. You can gain nothing."
+
+Her face and tone entreated me. She was much in earnest, the roses of her
+round cheeks paled, her hands clasped.
+
+"I shall only look out for myself," said I. "That seems necessary."
+
+"You should keep away from our camp, and from Daniel. There is nothing you
+can do. You--if you could only understand." Her hands tightened upon each
+other. "Won't you be careful? More careful? For I know. You cannot
+interfere; there is no way. You but run great risk. Sister Edna will be
+happy."
+
+"Did she send you, madam?" I asked.
+
+"N-no; yes. Yes, she wishes it. Her place has been found. The Lord so
+wills. We all are happy in Zion, under the Lord. Surely you would not try
+to interfere, sir?"
+
+"I have no desire to interfere with the future happiness of Mrs. Montoyo,"
+I stiffly answered. "She is not the root of the business between Daniel
+and me, although he would have it appear so. And you yourself, a woman,
+are satisfied to have her forced into Mormonism?"
+
+"She has been living in sin, sir. The truth is appointed only among the
+Latter Day Saints. We have the book and the word--the Gentile priests are
+not ordained of the Lord for laying on of hands. In Zion Edna shall be
+purged and set free; there she shall be brought to salvation. Our bishops,
+perhaps Brigham Young himself, will show her the way. But no woman in Zion
+is married without consent. The Lord directs through our prophets. Oh,
+sir, if you could only see!"
+
+An angel could not have pleaded more sweetly. To have argued with her
+would have been sacrilege, for I verily believed that she was pure of
+heart.
+
+"There is nothing for me to say, madam," I responded. "As far as I can do
+so with self-respect I will avoid Daniel. I certainly shall not intrude
+upon your party, or bother Mrs. Montoyo. But if Daniel brings trouble to
+me I will hand it back to him. That's flat. He shall not flout me out of
+face. It rests with him whether we travel on peacefully or not. And I
+thank you for your interest."
+
+"I will pray for you," she said simply. "Good-bye, sir."
+
+She withdrew, hastening again, sleek haired, round figured, modest in her
+shabby gown. I proceeded to the outfit with a new sense of disease. If
+she--if Mrs. Montoyo really had yielded, if she were out of the game--but
+she never had been in it; not to me. And still I conned the matter over
+and over, vainly convincing myself that the situation had cleared.
+Notwithstanding all my effort, I somehow felt that an incentive had
+vanished, leaving a gap. The affair now had simmered down to plain temper
+and tit for tat. I championed nothing, except myself.
+
+Why, with her submissive, in a fracas I might be working hurt to her,
+beyond the harm to him. But she be hanged, as to that phase of it. I had
+been led on so far that there was no solution save as Daniel turned aside.
+Heaven knows that the matter would have been sordid enough had it focused
+upon a gambler's wife; and here it looked only prosaic. Thus viewing it I
+fought an odd disappointment in myself, coupled with a keener
+disappointment in her.
+
+"You talked to Hyrum, I see," Jenks commented.
+
+"I did."
+
+"'Bout Dan'l, mebbe?"
+
+"I wanted to make plain that the business is none of my seeking. Hyrum is
+wagon master."
+
+"Didn't get any satisfaction, I'll bet."
+
+"No. On the contrary."
+
+"I could have told you you'd be wastin' powder."
+
+"At any rate," I informed, "Mrs. Montoyo is entirely out of the matter.
+She never was in it except as she was entitled to protection, but now she
+requires no further notice."
+
+"How so?"
+
+"That is her wish. She sent me word by Rachael."
+
+"She did? Wall?" He eyed me. "You swaller that?"
+
+"Willingly." And I swallowed my bitterness also.
+
+"Means to marry him, does she?"
+
+"Rachael did not say as to that. Rather, she gave me to understand that a
+way would be found to release Mrs. Montoyo from Benton connections, but
+that no woman in Utah is obliged to marry. Is that true?"
+
+"Um-m." Jenks rubbed his beard. "Wall, they do say Brigham Young is ag'in
+promisc'yus swappin', and things got to be done straight, 'cordin' to the
+faith. But an unjined female in the church is a powerful lonely critter.
+Sticks out like a sore thumb. They read the Bible at her plenty. Um-m,"
+mused he. "I don't put much stock in that yarn you bring me. There's a
+nigger in the wood-pile, but he ain't black. What you goin' to do about
+it?"
+
+"Nothing. It's not my concern. Now if Daniel will mind his affairs I'll
+continue to mind mine."
+
+"Wall, Zion's a long way off yet," quoth friend Jenks. "I don't look to
+see you or she get there--nor Dan'l either."
+
+He being stubborn, I let him have the last word; did not seek to develop
+his views. But his contentious harping shadowed like an omen.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+I DO THE DEED
+
+
+We had camped well beyond a last bunch of the red-shirted graders, so that
+the thread of a trail wended before, lonely, sand-obscured, leading
+apparently nowhere, through this desert devoid of human life. Line stakes
+of the surveyors denoted the grade; but the surveyors' work was done,
+here. Rush orders from headquarters had sent them all westward still, to
+set their final stakes across other deserts and across the mountains,
+clear to Ogden at the north end of the Salt Lake itself.
+
+Seemingly we had cut loose and were more than ever a world to ourselves.
+The country had grown sterile beneath ordinary, if possible; and our
+thoughts and talk would have been sterile also were it not for that one
+recurrent topic which kept them quick. In these journeyings men seize upon
+little things and magnify them; discuss and rediscuss a phase until
+launched maybe as an empty joke it returns freighted with tragedy.
+
+However, now that once My Lady had eliminated herself from my field I did
+not see but that Daniel and I might taper off into at least an armed
+neutrality. If he continued to nag me, it would be wholly of his own free
+will. He had no grievance.
+
+Then in case that I did kill him--if kill him I must (and that eventuality
+hung over me like the sword of Damocles) I should be not ashamed to tell
+even my mother. In this I took what small comfort I might.
+
+I had not spoken at length with Mrs. Montoyo for several days. We had
+exchanged merely civil greetings. To-day I did not see her during the
+march; did not attempt to see her--did not so much as curiously glance her
+way, being content to let well enough alone, although aware that my care
+might be misinterpreted as a token of fear. But as to proving the case
+against me, Daniel was at liberty to experiment with the status in quo.
+
+Toward evening we climbed a second wide, flat divide. We were leaving the
+Red Basin, they said, and about to cross into the Bitter Creek Plains,
+which, according to the talk, were "a damned sight wuss!" Somewhere in the
+Bitter Creek Plains our course met the course of the Overland Stage road,
+trending up from the south for the passage of the Green River at the
+farther edge of the Plains.
+
+I had only faint hope that Mrs. Montoyo would be delivered over to the
+stage there. It scarcely would be her wish. We were destined to travel on
+to Salt Lake City together--she, Daniel and I.
+
+If the Red Basin had been bad and if the Bitter Creek Plains were to be
+worse, assuredly this plateau was limbo: a gray, bleak, wind-swept
+elevation fairly level and extending, in elevation perceptible mainly by
+the vista, as far as eye might see, northward and southward, separating
+basin from basin--one Hell, as Jenks declared, from the other.
+
+Nevertheless there was a wild grandeur in the site, flooded all with
+crimson as the sun sank in the clear western sky beyond the Plains
+themselves, so that our plateau was still bathed in ruddy color when the
+Red Basin upon the one hand had deepened to purple and the white blotches
+of soda and alkali down in the Plains upon the other hand gleamed evilly
+in a tenuous gloaming.
+
+We had corralled adjacent to another tainted pond, of which the animals
+refused to drink but which furnished a little rank forage for them and an
+oasis for a half dozen ducks. A pretty picture these made, too, as they
+lightly sat the open water, burnished to brass by the sunset so that the
+surface shimmered iridescent, its ripples from the floating bodies flowing
+molten in all directions.
+
+After supper I took the notion to go over there, in the twilight, on idle
+exploration. Water of any kind had an appeal; a solitary pond always has;
+the ducks brought thoughts of home. Many a teal and widgeon and canvasback
+had fallen to my double-barreled Manton, back on the Atlantic coast--very
+long ago, before I had got entangled in this confounded web of
+misadventure and homicidal tendencies.
+
+To the pond I went, mood subdued. It set slightly in a cup; and when I had
+emerged from a little swale or depression that I had followed, attracted
+by the laughter of children playing at the marge, whom should I see,
+approaching on line diagonal, but Mrs. Montoyo--her very hair and
+form--coming in likewise, perhaps with errand similar to mine: simple
+inclination.
+
+And that (again perhaps) was a mutual surprise, indeed awkward to me, for
+we both were in plain sight from the camp. Certainly I could not turn off,
+nor turn back. Not now. It was make or break. Hesitate I did, with
+involuntary action of muscles; I thought that she momentarily hesitated;
+then I drove on, defiant, and so did she. The fates were resolved that
+there should be no dilly-dallying by the principals chosen for this drama
+that they had staged.
+
+Our obstinate paths met at the base of a small point white with alkali,
+running shortly into the sedges. Had we timed by agreement beforehand we
+could not have acted with more precision. So here we halted, in narrow
+quarters, either willing but unable to yield to the other.
+
+She smiled. I thought that she looked thinner.
+
+"An unexpected pleasure, Mr. Beeson. At least, for me. It has been some
+days."
+
+"I believe it has," I granted. "Shall I pass on?"
+
+"You might have turned aside."
+
+"And so," I reminded, "might you."
+
+"But I didn't care to."
+
+"Neither did I, madam. The pond is free to all."
+
+I was conscious that a hush seemed to have gripped the whole camp, so that
+even the animals had ceased bawling. The children near us stared, eyes and
+mouths open.
+
+"You have kept away from me purposely?" she asked. "I do not blame your
+discretion."
+
+"I am not courting trouble. And as long as you are contented yonder----"
+
+"I contented?" She drew up, paling. "Why do you say that, when you must
+know." She laughed weakly. "I am still for the Lion's den."
+
+"You have become more reconciled--I've been requested not to interfere."
+
+"You? Without doubt. By Daniel, by Captain Adams, likely by others. More
+than requested, I fancy. And you do perfectly right to avoid trouble if
+possible. In fact, you can leave me now and continue your walk, sir, with
+no reproaches. Believe me, I shall not drag you farther into my affairs."
+
+"Daniel and Captain Adams have no weight with me, madam," I stammered.
+"But when you yourself requested----"
+
+"That was merely for the time being. I asked you to leave me at the fire
+because I felt sure that Daniel would kill you."
+
+"But yesterday evening--I refer to yesterday," I corrected. "You sent me
+word, following my talk with Hyrum."
+
+"I did not."
+
+"Not by Rachael?"
+
+"No, sir."
+
+"I so understood. I thought that she intimated as much. She said that you
+were to be happy; were already content. And that I would only be making
+you trouble if I continued our acquaintance."
+
+"Oh! Rachael." She smiled with sudden softness. "Rachael cannot
+understand, either. I'm sure she intended well, poor soul. Were they all
+like Rachael---- But I had no knowledge of her talk with you. Anyway,
+please leave me if you feel disposed. Whether I marry Daniel or not should
+be no concern of yours. I shall have to find my own trail out. Look! There
+go the ducks. I came down to watch them. Now neither of us has any excuse
+for staying. Good----"
+
+The hush had tightened into a strange pent stillness like the poise of
+earth and sky and beast and bird just before the breaking of a great and
+lowering storm. The quick clatter of the ducks' wings somehow alarmed
+me--the staring of the children, their eyes directed past us, sharpened my
+senses for a new focus. And glancing, I witnessed Daniel nearing--striding
+rapidly, straight for the point, a figure portentous in the fading glow,
+bringing the storm with him.
+
+She saw, too. Her eyes widened, startled, surveying not him, but me.
+
+"Please go. At once! I'll keep him."
+
+"It is too late now," I asserted, in voice not mine. "I am here first and
+I'll go when I get ready."
+
+"You mean to face him?"
+
+"I mean to hear what he has to say, and learn what he intends to do. I
+don't see any other way--unless you really wish me to go?"
+
+"No, no!" cried My Lady. "I don't want you to be harmed; but oh, how I
+have suffered." All her countenance was suffused--with anger, with shame,
+and even with hope. She trembled, gazing at me, and fluctuant.
+
+"So have I, madam," said I, grimly.
+
+"I think," she remarked in quiet tone, "that in a show-down you will best
+him. I'm sure of it; yes, I know it. You will play the man. You act cool.
+Good! Watch him very close. He'll give you little grace, this time. But
+remember this: I'll never, never, never marry him. Rather than be bound to
+him I'll deal with him myself."
+
+"It won't be necessary, madam," said I--a catch in my throat; for while I
+was all iciness and clamminess, my hands cold and my tongue dry, I felt
+that I was going to kill him at last. Something told me; the sheer horror
+of it struck through; the inevitable loomed grisly and near indeed.
+
+A panoramic lifetime crowds the brain of a drowning man; that same crowded
+my brain during the few moments which swung in to us Daniel, scowling,
+masterful, his raw bulk and his long shambling stride never before so
+insolent.
+
+From New York and home and peace I traveled clear here to desert, outlawry
+and blood--and thence on through a second life as a marked man; but while
+I knew very well where I should shoot him (right through the heart), I
+turned over and over the one doubtful pass: where would he shoot me? Shoot
+me he would--chest, shoulder, arm, head; I could not escape, did not hope
+to escape. Yet no matter where his ball ploughed (and I poignantly felt it
+enter and sear me) my final bullet would end the match. Also, I argued my
+rights in the business; argued them before my father and mother, before
+the camp, before the world.
+
+These thoughts which precede a certain duel to the death are not inspiring
+thoughts; since then I have learned that other men, even practiced
+gun-men, have had the same trepidation to the instant of pulling weapon.
+
+Daniel charged in for us. I did not touch revolver butt; he did not. My
+Lady lifted chin, to receive him. My eyes, fastened upon him, noted her,
+and noted, beyond us, the spying visages of the camp folk, all turned our
+way, transfixed and agog.
+
+He barked first at her.
+
+"Go whar yu belong, yu Jezebel! Then I'll tend to this----" The rabid
+epithet leveled at me I shall not repeat.
+
+She straightened whitely.
+
+"Be careful what you say, Daniel. No man on this earth can speak to me
+like that."
+
+All his face flushed livid with a sneer, merging together yellow freckles
+and tanned skin.
+
+"Can't, can't he? I kin an' I do. Why yu--yu--yu reckon yu kin shame me
+'fore that hull train? Yu sneak out this-away, meetin' this spindle-shank,
+no-'count States greenie who hain't sense enough to swing a bull whip an'
+ain't man enough to draw a gun? I've told yu an' I'm done tellin' yu. Now
+yu git. I've stood yore fast an' loose plenty. I mean business. Git! Whar
+yu'll be safe. I'll not hold off much longer."
+
+"You threaten _me_?"
+
+Her blue eyes were blazing above a spot of color in either cheek--with a
+growl he took a step, so that she shrank from his clutching hand, its
+scarred, burly fingers outcurved. And the time, perhaps the very moment
+had arrived. I must, I must.
+
+"No more of that, you brute," I uttered, while my pounding heart flooded
+me with a cold, tingling stream. "If you have anything to say, say it to
+me."
+
+He whirled.
+
+"Yu! Why, yu leetle piece o' nothin'--yu shut up!" By sudden reach he
+gripped her arm; to her sharp, short scream he thrust her about.
+
+"Git! I'm boss hyar." And at me: "What yu goin' to do? She's promised to
+me. I'm takin' keer of her; she's rode on my wagon; an' naow yu think to
+toll her off? Yu meet her ag'in right under my nose arter I've warned yu?
+Git, yoreself, or I'll stomp on yu like on a louse."
+
+Absolutely, hot tears of mortification, of bitter injury, showed in his
+glaring eyes. He was but a big boy, after all.
+
+"Our meeting here was entirely by accident," I answered. "Mrs. Montoyo had
+no expectation of seeing me, nor I of seeing her. You're making a fool of
+yourself."
+
+He burst, red, quivering, insensate.
+
+"Yu're a liar! Yu're a sneakin', thievin' liar, like all Gentiles. Yu're
+both o' yu liars. What's she?" And he spoke it, raving with insult. "But
+I'll tame her. She'll be snatched from yu an' yore kind. We'll settle
+naow. Yu're a liar, I say. Yu gonna draw on me? Draw, yu Gentile dog; for
+if I lay hands on yu once----"
+
+"Look out!" she gasped tensely. But she had spoken late. That cold blood
+which had kept me in a tremor and a wonderment, awaiting his pistol
+muzzle, exploded into a seethe of heat almost blinding me. I forgot
+instructions, I disregarded every movement preliminary to the onset, I
+remembered only the criminations and recriminations culminating here at
+last. Bullets were too slow and easy. I did not see his revolver, I saw
+but the hulk of him and the intolerable sneer of him, and that his flesh
+was ready to my fingers. And quicker than his hand I was upon him, into
+him, climbing him, clinging to him, arms binding him, legs twining around
+his, each ounce of me greedy to crush him down and master him.
+
+The shock drove him backward. Again My Lady screamed shortly; the children
+screamed. He proved very strong. Swelling and tugging and cursing he broke
+one grip, but I was fast to him, now with guard against his holstered gun.
+We swayed and staggered, grappling hither and thither. I had his arms
+pinioned once more, to bend him. He spat into my face; and shifting, set
+his teeth into my shoulder so that they champed like the teeth of a horse,
+through shirt and hide to the flesh. I raised him; his boots hammered at
+my shins, his knee struck me in the stomach and for an instant I sickened.
+Now I tripped him; we toppled together, came to the ground with a thump.
+Here we churned, while he flung me and still I stuck. The acrid dust of
+the alkali enveloped us. Again he spat, fetid--I sprawled upon him,
+smothering his flailing arms; gave him all my weight and strength; smelled
+the sweat of him, snarled into his snarling face, close beneath mine.
+
+Once he partially freed himself and buffeted me in the mouth with his
+fist, but I caught him--while struggling, tossed and upheaved, dimly saw
+that as by a miracle we were surrounded by a ring of people, men and
+women, their countenances pale, alarmed, intent. Voices sounded in a dull
+roar.
+
+Presently I had him crucified: his one outstretched arm under my knees,
+his other arm tethered by my two hands, my body across his chest, while
+his legs threshed vainly. I looked down into his bulging crooked eyes,
+glaring back presumably into my eyes, and might draw breath.
+
+"'Nuf? Cry "Nuf,'" I bade.
+
+"'Nuf! Say "Nuf,'" echoed the crowd.
+
+He strained again, convulsive; and relaxed.
+
+"'Nuf!" he panted through bared teeth. "Lemme up, Mister."
+
+"This settles it?"
+
+"I said "Nuf,'" he growled.
+
+With quick movement I sprang clear of him, to my feet. He lay for a
+moment, baleful, and slowly scrambled up. On a sudden, as he faced me, his
+hand shot downward--I heard the surge and shout of men and women, to the
+stunning report of his revolver ducked aside, felt my left arm jerk and
+sting--felt my own gun explode in my hand (and how it came there I did not
+know)--beheld him spin around and collapse; an astonishing sight.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+THE TRAIL FORKS
+
+
+So there I stood, amidst silence, gaping foolishly, breathing hard, my
+revolver smoking in my fingers and my enemy in a shockingly prone posture
+at my feet, gradually reddening the white of the torn soil. He was upon
+his face, his revolver hand outflung. He was harmless. The moment had
+arrived and passed. I was standing here alive, I had killed him.
+
+Then I heard myself babbling.
+
+"Have I killed him? I didn't want to. I tell you, I didn't want to."
+
+Figures rushed in between. Hands grasped me, impelled me away, through a
+haze; voices spoke in my ear while I feebly resisted, a warm salty taste
+in my throat.
+
+"I killed him. I didn't want to kill him. He made me do it. He shot
+first."
+
+"Yes, yes," they said, soothing gruffly. "Shore he did; shore you didn't.
+It's all right. Come along, come along."
+
+Then----
+
+"Pick him up. He's bad hurt, himself. See that blood? No, 'tain't his arm,
+is it? He's bleedin' internal. Whar's the hole? Wait! He's busted
+something."
+
+They would have carried me.
+
+"No," I cried, while their bearded faces swam. "He said "Nuf'--he shot me
+afterward. Not bad, is it? I can walk."
+
+"Not bad. Creased you in the arm, if that's all. What you spittin' blood
+for?"
+
+As they hustled me onward I wiped my swollen lips; the back of my hand
+seemed to be covered with thin blood.
+
+"Where he struck me, once," I wheezed.
+
+"Yes, mebbe so. But come along, come along. We'll tend to you."
+
+The world had grown curiously darkened, so that we moved as through an
+obscuring veil; and I dumbly wondered whether this was night (had it been
+morning or evening when I started for the pond?) or whether I was dying
+myself. I peered and again made out the sober, stern faces hedging me, but
+they gave me no answer to my mutely anxious query. Across a great distance
+we stumbled by the wagons (the same wagons of a time agone), and halted at
+a fire.
+
+"Set down. Fetch a blanket, somebody. Whar's the water? Set down till we
+look you over."
+
+I let them sit me down.
+
+"Wash your mouth out."
+
+That was done, pinkish; and a second time, clearer.
+
+"You're all right." Jenks apparently was ministering to me. "Swaller
+this."
+
+The odor of whiskey fumed into my nostrils. I obediently swallowed, and
+gasped and choked. Jenks wiped my face with a sopping cloth. Hands were
+rummaging at my left arm; a bandage being wound about.
+
+"Nothin' much," was the report. "Creased him, is all. Lucky he dodged. It
+was comin' straight for his heart."
+
+"He's all right," Jenks again asserted.
+
+Under the bidding of the liquor the faintness from the exertion and
+reaction was leaving me. The slight hemorrhage from the strain to my weak
+lungs had ceased. I would live, I would live. But he--Daniel?
+
+"Did I kill him?" I besought. "Not that! I didn't aim--I don't know how I
+shot--but I had to. Didn't I?"
+
+"You did. He'll not bother you ag'in. She's yourn."
+
+That hurt.
+
+"But it wasn't about her, it wasn't over Mrs. Montoyo. He bullied
+me--dared me. We were man to man, boys. He made me fight him."
+
+"Yes, shore," they agreed--and they were not believing. They still linked
+me with a woman, whereas she had figured only as a transient occasion.
+
+Then she herself, My Lady, appeared, running in breathless and appealing.
+
+"Is Mr. Beeson hurt? Badly? Where is he? Let me help."
+
+She knelt beside me, her hand grasped mine, she gazed wide-eyed and
+imploring.
+
+"No, he's all right, ma'am."
+
+"I'm all right, I assure you," I mumbled thickly, and helpless as a babe
+to the clinging of her cold fingers.
+
+"How's the other man?" they abruptly asked.
+
+"I don't know. He was carried away. But I think he's dead. I hope so--oh,
+I hope so. The coward, the beast!"
+
+"There, there," they quieted. "That's all over with. What he got is his
+own business now. He hankered for it and was bound to have it. You'd best
+stay right hyar a spell. It's the place for you at present."
+
+They grouped apart, on the edge of the flickering fire circle. The dusk
+had heightened apace (for nightfall this really was), the glow and flicker
+barely touched their blackly outlined forms, the murmur of their voices
+sounded ominous. In the circle we two sat, her hand upon mine, thrilling
+me comfortably yet abashing me. She surveyed me unwinkingly and grave--a
+triumph shining from her eyes albeit there were seamy shadows etched into
+her white face. It was as though she were welcoming me through the
+outposts of hell.
+
+"You killed him. I knew you would--I knew you'd have to."
+
+"I knew it, too," I miserably faltered. "But I didn't want to--I shot
+without thinking. I might have waited."
+
+"Waited! How could you wait? 'Twas either you or he."
+
+"Then I wish it had been I," I attempted.
+
+"What nonsense," she flashed. "We all know you did your best to avoid it.
+But tell me: Do you think I dragged you into it? Do you hate me for it?"
+
+"No. It happened when you were there. That's all. I'm sorry; only sorry.
+What's to be done next?"
+
+"That will be decided, of course," she said. "You will be protected, if
+necessary. You acted in self-defense. They all will swear to that and back
+you up."
+
+"But you?" I asked, arousing from this unmanly despair which played me for
+a weakling. "You must be protected also. You can't go to that other camp,
+can you?"
+
+She laughed and withdrew her hand; laughed hardly, even scornfully.
+
+"I? Above all things, don't concern yourself about me, please. I shall
+take care of myself. He is out of the way. You have freed me of that much,
+Mr. Beeson, whether intentionally or not. And you shall be free, yourself,
+to act as your friends advise. You must leave me out of your plans
+altogether. Yes, I know; you killed him. Why not? But he wasn't a man; he
+was a wild animal. And you'll find there are matters more serious than
+killing even a man, in this country."
+
+"You! You!" I insisted. "You shall be looked out for. We are partners in
+this. He used your name; he made that an excuse. We shall have to make
+some new arrangements for you--put you on the stage as soon as we can. And
+meanwhile----"
+
+"There is no partnership, and I shall require no looking after, sir," she
+interrupted. "If you are sorry that you killed him, I am not; but you are
+entirely free."
+
+The group at the edge of the fire circle dissolved. Jenks came and seated
+himself upon his hams, beside us.
+
+"Wall, how you feelin' now?" he questioned of me.
+
+"I'm myself again," said I.
+
+"Your arm won't trouble you. Jest a flesh wound. There's nothin' better
+than axle grease. And you, ma'am?"
+
+"Perfectly well, thank you."
+
+"You're the coolest of the lot, and no mistake," he praised admiringly.
+"Wall, there'll be no more fracas to-night. Anyhow, the boys'll be on
+guard ag'in it; they're out now. You two can eat and rest a bit, whilst
+gettin' good and ready; and if you set out 'fore moon-up you can easy get
+cl'ar, with what help we give you. We'll furnish mounts, grub, anything
+you need. I'll make shift without Frank."
+
+"Mounts!" I blurted, with a start that waked my arm to throbbing. "'Set
+out,' you say? Why? And where?"
+
+"Anywhar. The stage road south'ard is your best bet. You didn't think to
+stay, did you? Not after that--after you'd plugged a Mormon, the son of
+the old man, besides! We reckoned you two had it arranged, by this time."
+
+"No! Never!" I protested. "You're crazy, man. I've never dreamed of any
+such thing; nor Mrs. Montoyo, either. You mean that I--we--should run
+away? I'll not leave the train and neither shall she, until the proper
+time. Or do I understand that you disown us; turn your backs upon us;
+deliver us over?"
+
+"Hold on," Jenks bade. "You're barkin' up the wrong tree. 'Tain't a
+question of disownin' you. Hell, we'd fight for you and proud to do it,
+for you're white. But I tell you, you've killed one o' that party ahead,
+you've killed the wagon boss's son; and Hyrum, he's consider'ble of a man
+himself. He stands well up, in the church. But lettin' that alone, he's
+captain of this train, he's got a dozen and more men back of him; and when
+he comes in the mornin' demandin' of you for trial by his Mormons, what
+can we do? Might fight him off; yes. Not forever, though. He's nearest to
+the water, sech as it is, and our casks are half empty, critters dry. We
+sha'n't surrender you; if we break with him we break ourselves and likely
+lose our scalps into the bargain. Why, we hadn't any idee but that you and
+her were all primed to light out, with our help. For if you stay you won't
+be safe anywhere betwixt here and Salt Lake; and over in Utah they'll
+vigilant you, shore as kingdom. As for you, ma'am," he bluntly addressed,
+"we'd protect you to the best of ability, o' course; but you can see for
+yourself that Hyrum won't feel none too kindly toward you, and that if
+you'll pull out along with Beeson as soon as convenient you'll avoid a
+heap of unpleasantness. We'll take the chance on sneakin' you both away,
+and facin' the old man."
+
+"Mr. Beeson should go," she said. "But I shall return to the Adams camp. I
+am not afraid, sir."
+
+"Tut, tut!" he rapped. "I know you're not afraid; nevertheless we won't
+let you do it."
+
+"They wouldn't lay hands on me."
+
+"Um-m," he mused. "Mebbe not. No, reckon they wouldn't. I'll say that
+much. But by thunder they'd make you wish they did. They'd claim you
+trapped Dan'l. You'd suffer for that, and in place of this boy, and
+a-plenty. Better foller your new man, lady, and let him stow you in
+safety. Better go back to Benton."
+
+"Never to Benton," she declared. "And he's not my 'new man.' I apologize
+to him for that, from you, sir."
+
+"If you stay, I stay, then," said I. "But I think we'd best go. It's the
+only way." And it was. We were twain in menace to the outfit and to each
+other but inseparable. We were yoked. The fact appalled. It gripped me
+coldly. I seemed to have bargained for her with word and fist and bullet,
+and won her; now I should appear to carry her off as my booty: a wife and
+a gambler's wife. Yet such must be.
+
+"You shall go without me."
+
+"I shall not."
+
+With a little sob she buried her face in her hands.
+
+"If you don't hate me now you soon will," she uttered. "The cards don't
+fall right--they don't, they don't. They've been against me from the
+first. I'm always forcing the play."
+
+Whereupon I knew that go together we should, or I was no man.
+
+"Pshaw, pshaw," Jenks soothed. "Matters ain't so bad. We'll fix ye out and
+cover your trail. Moon'll be up in a couple o' hours. I'd advise you to
+take an hour's start of it, so as to get away easier. If you travel
+straight south'ard you'll strike the stage road sometime in the mornin'.
+When you reach a station you'll have ch'ice either way."
+
+"I have money," she said; and sat erect.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+VOICES IN THE VOID
+
+
+The directions had been plain. With the North Star and the moon as our
+guides we scarcely could fail to strike the stage road where it bore off
+from the mountains northward into the desert.
+
+For the first half mile we rode without a word from either of us to
+violate the truce that swathed us like the night. What her thoughts were I
+might not know, but they sat heavy upon her, closing her throat with the
+torture of vain self-reproach. That much I sensed. But I could not
+reassure her; could not volunteer to her that I welcomed her company, that
+she was blameless, that I had only defended my honor, that affairs would
+have reduced to pistol work without impulse from her--that, in short, the
+responsibility had been wholly Daniel's. My own thoughts were so grievous
+as to crush me with aching woe that forebade civil utterance.
+
+This, then, was I: somebody who had just killed a man, had broken from the
+open trail and was riding, he knew not where, through darkness worse than
+night, himself an outlaw with an outlawed woman--at the best a chance
+woman, an adventuring woman, and as everybody could know, a claimed
+woman, product of dance hall and gaming resort, wife of a half-breed
+gambler, and now spoil of fist and revolver.
+
+But that which burned me almost to madness, like hot lava underneath the
+deadening crust, was the thought that I had done a deed and a defensible
+deed, and was fleeing from it the same as a criminal. Such a contingency
+never had occurred to me or I might have taken a different course, still
+with decency; although what course I could not figure.
+
+We rode, our mules picking their way, occasionally stumbling on rocks and
+shrubs. At last she spoke in low, even tones.
+
+"What do you expect to do with me, please?"
+
+"We shall have to do whatever is best for yourself," I managed to answer.
+"That will be determined when we reach the stage line, I suppose."
+
+"Thank you. Once at the stage line and I shall contrive. You must have no
+thought of me. I understand very well that we should not travel far in
+company--and you may not wish to go in my direction. You have plans of
+your own?"
+
+"None of any great moment. Everything has failed me, to date. There is
+only the one place left: New York State, where I came from. I probably can
+work my way back--at least, until I can recoup by telegraph message and
+the mails."
+
+"You have one more place than I," she replied. She hesitated. "Will you
+let me lend you some money?"
+
+"I've been paid my wages due," said I. "But," I added, "you have a place,
+you have a home: Benton."
+
+"Oh, Benton!" She laughed under breath. "Never Benton. I shall make shift
+without Benton."
+
+"You will tell me, though?" I urged. "I must have your address, to know
+that you reach safety."
+
+"You are strictly business. I believe that I accused you before of being a
+Yankee." And I read sarcasm in her words.
+
+Her voice had a quality of definite estimation which nettled, humbled, and
+isolated me, as if I lacked in some essential to a standard set.
+
+"So you are going home, are you?" she resumed. "With the clothes on your
+back, or will you stop at Benton for your trunk?"
+
+"With the clothes on my back," I asserted bitterly. "I've no desire to see
+Benton. The trunk can be shipped to me."
+
+She said on, in her cool impersonal tone.
+
+"That is the easiest way. You will live warm and comfortably. You will
+need to wear no belt weapon. The police will protect you. If a man injures
+you, you can summon him at law and wash your hands of him. Instead of
+staking on your luck among new people, you can enter into business among
+your friends and win from them. You can marry the girl next door--or even
+take the chance of the one across the street, her parentage being comme il
+faut. You can tell stories of your trip into the Far West; your children
+will love to hear of the rough mule-whacker trail--yes, you will have
+great tales but you will not mention that you killed a man who tried to
+kill you and then rode for a night with a strange woman alone at your
+stirrup. Perhaps you will venture to revisit these parts by steam train,
+and from the windows of your coach point out the places where you suffered
+those hardships and adventures from which you escaped by leaving them
+altogether. Your course is the safe course. By all means take it, Mr.
+Beeson, and have your trunk follow you."
+
+"That I shall do, madam," I retorted. "The West and I have not agreed;
+and, I fear, never shall."
+
+"By honest confession, it has bested you; and in short order."
+
+"In short order, since you put it that way. Only a fool doesn't know when
+to quit."
+
+"The greatest fool is the one who fools himself, in the quitting as in
+other matters. But you will have no regrets--except about Daniel,
+possibly."
+
+"None whatever, save the regret that I ever tried this country. I wish to
+God I had never seen it--I did not conceive that I should have to take a
+human life--should be forced to that--become like an outlaw in the night,
+riding for refuge----" And I choked passionately.
+
+"You deserve much sympathy," she remarked, in that even tone.
+
+I lapsed into a turbulence of voiceless rage at myself, at her, at
+Daniel's treachery, at all the train, at Benton, and again at this damning
+predicament wherein I had landed. When I was bound to wrest free after
+having done my utmost, she appeared to be twitting me because I would not
+submit to farther use by her. I certainly had the right to extricate
+myself in the only way left.
+
+So I conned over and over, and my heart gnawed, and the acid of vexation
+boiled in my throat, and despite the axle grease my arm nagged; while we
+rode unspeaking, like some guilty pair through purgatory.
+
+My lip had subsided; the pistol wound was superficial. Under different
+circumstances the way would have been full of beauty. The high desert
+stretched vastly, far, far, far before, behind, on either side, the
+parched gauntness of its daytime aspect assuaged and evanescent. For the
+moon, now risen, although on the wane, shed a light sufficient, whitening
+the rocks and the scattered low shrubs, painting the land with sharp black
+shadows, and enclosing us about with the mystery of great softly illumined
+spaces into which silent forms vanished as if tempting us aside. Of
+these--rabbits, wolves, animals only to be guessed--there were many, like
+potential phantoms quickened by the touch of the moonbeams. Mule-back, we
+twain towered, the sole intruders visible between the two elysians of
+glorified earth and beatific sky.
+
+The course was southward. After a time it seemed to me that we were
+descending from the plateau; craunching gradually down a flank until, in a
+mile or so, we were again upon the level, cutting through another basin
+formed by the dried bed of an ancient lake whose waters had evaporated
+into deposits of salt and soda.
+
+At first the mules had plodded with ears pricked forward, and with sundry
+snorts and stares as if they were seeing portents in the moonshine.
+Eventually their imaginings dulled, so that they now moved careless of
+where or why, their heads drooped, their minds devoted to achieving what
+rest they might in the merely mechanical setting of hoof before hoof.
+
+I could not but be aware of my companion. Her hair glinted paly, for she
+rode bareheaded; her gown, tightened under her as she sat astride,
+revealed the lines of her boyish limbs. She was a woman, in any guise; and
+I being a man, protect her I should, as far as necessary. I found myself
+wishing that we could upturn something pleasant to talk about; it was
+ungracious, even wicked, to ride thus side by side through peace and
+beauty, with lips closed and war in the heart, and final parting as the
+main desire.
+
+But her firm pose and face steadily to the fore invited with no sign; and
+after covertly stealing a glance or two at her clear unresponsive profile
+I still could manage no theme that would loosen my tongue. Thereby let
+her think me a dolt. Thank Heaven, after another twenty-four hours at most
+it might not matter what she thought.
+
+The drooning round of my own thoughts revolved over and over, and the
+scuffing gait of the mules upon way interminable began to numb me.
+Lassitude seemed to be enfolding us both; I observed that she rode laxly,
+with hand upon the horn and a weary yielding to motion. Words might have
+stirred us, but no words came. Presently I caught myself dozing in the
+saddle, aroused only by the twitching of my wounded arm. Then again I
+dozed, and kept dozing, fairly dead for sleep, until speak she did, her
+voice drifting as from afar but fetching me awake and blinking.
+
+"Hadn't we better stop?" she repeated.
+
+That was a curious sensation. When I stared about, uncomprehending, my
+view was shut off by a whiteness veiling the moon above and the earth
+below except immediately underneath my mule's hoofs. She herself was a
+specter; the weeds that we brushed were spectral; every sound that we made
+was muffled, and in the intangible, opaquely lucent shroud which had
+enveloped us like the spirit of a sea there was no life nor movement.
+
+"What's the matter?" I propounded.
+
+"The fog. I don't know where we are."
+
+"Oh! I hadn't noticed."
+
+"No," she said calmly. "You've been asleep."
+
+"Haven't you?"
+
+"Not lately. But I don't think there's any use in riding on. We've lost
+our bearings."
+
+She was ahead; evidently had taken the lead while I slept. That
+realization straightened me, shamed, in my saddle. The fog, fleecy, not so
+wet as impenetrable--when had it engulfed us?
+
+"How long have we been in it?" I asked, thoroughly vexed.
+
+"An hour, maybe. We rode right into it. I thought we might leave it, but
+we don't. It's as thick as ever. We ought to stop."
+
+"I suppose we ought," said I.
+
+And at the moment we entered into a sudden clearing amidst the fog
+enclosure: a tract of a quarter of an acre, like a hollow center, with the
+white walls held apart and the stars and moon faintly glimmering down
+through the mist roof overhead.
+
+She drew rein and half turned in the saddle. I could see her face. It was
+dank and wan and heavy-eyed; her hair, somewhat robbed of its sheen,
+crowned with a pallid golden aureole.
+
+"Will this do? If we go on we'll only be riding into the fog again."
+
+I was conscious of the thin, apparently distant piping of frogs.
+
+"There seems to be a marsh beyond," she uttered.
+
+"Yes, we'd better stop where we are," I agreed. "Then in the morning we
+can take stock."
+
+"In the morning, surely. We may not be far astray." She swung off before I
+had awkwardly dismounted to help her. Her limbs failed--my own were
+clamped by stiffness--and she staggered and collapsed with a little
+laugh.
+
+"I'm tired," she confessed. "Wait just a moment."
+
+"You stay where you are," I ordered, staggering also as I hastily landed.
+"I'll make camp."
+
+But she would have none of that; pleaded my one-handedness and insisted
+upon cooperating at the mules. We seemed to be marooned upon a small rise
+of gravel and coarsely matted dried grasses. The animals were staked out,
+fell to nibbling. I sought a spot for our beds; laid down a buffalo robe
+for her and placed her saddle as her pillow. She sank with a sigh, tucking
+her skirt under her, and I folded the robe over.
+
+Her face gazed up at me; she extended her hand.
+
+"You are very kind, sir," she said, in a smile that pathetically curved
+her lips. There, at my knees, she looked so worn, so slight, so childish,
+so in need of encouragement that all was well and that she had a friend to
+serve her, that with a rush of sudden sympathy I would--indeed I could
+have kissed her, upon the forehead if not upon the lips themselves. It was
+an impulse well-nigh overmastering; an impulse that must have dazed me so
+that she saw or felt, for a tinge of pink swept into her skin; she
+withdrew her hand and settled composedly.
+
+"Good-night. Please sleep. In the morning we'll reach the stage road and
+your troubles will be near the end."
+
+Under my own robe I lay for a long time reviewing past and present and
+discussing with myself the future. Strangely enough the present occupied
+me the most; it incorporated with that future beyond the fog, and when I
+put her out back she came as if she were part and parcel of my life. There
+was a sense of balance; we had been associates, fellow tenants--in fact,
+she was entwined with the warp and woof of all my memories dating far back
+to my entrance, fresh and hopeful, into the new West. It rather
+flabbergasted me to find myself thinking that the future was going to be
+very tame; perhaps, as she had suggested, regretful. I had not apprehended
+that the end should be so drastic.
+
+And whether the regrets would center upon my slinking home defeated, or in
+having definitely cast her away, puzzled me as sorely as it did to
+discover that I was well content to be here, with her, in our little
+clearing amidst the desert fog, listening to her soft breathing and
+debating over what she might have done had I actually kissed her to
+comfort her and assure her that I was not unmindful of her really brave
+spirit.
+
+Daniel had been disposed of, Montoyo did not deserve her; I had won her,
+she could inspire and guide me if I stayed; and I saw myself staying, and
+I saw myself going home, and I already regretted a host of things, as a
+man will when at the forking of the trails.
+
+The fog gently closed in during the night. When I awakened we were again
+enshrouded by the fleece of it, denser than when we had ridden through it,
+but now whiter with the dawn. As I gazed sleepily about I could just make
+out the forms of the two mules, standing motionless and huddled; I could
+see her more clearly, at shorter distance--her buffalo robe moist with the
+semblance of dew that had beaded also upon her massy hair.
+
+Evidently she had not stirred all night; might be still asleep. No; her
+eyes were open, and when I stiffly shifted posture she looked across at
+me.
+
+"Sh!" she warned, with quick shake of head. The same warning bade me
+listen. In a moment I heard voices.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+I STAKE AGAIN
+
+
+They were indistinguishable except as vocal sounds deadened by the
+impeding fog; but human voices they certainly were. Throwing off her robe
+she abruptly sat up, seeking, her features tensed with the strain. She
+beckoned to me. I scuttled over, as anxious as she. The voices might be
+far, they might be near; but it was an eerie situation, as if we were
+neighboring with warlocks.
+
+"I've been hearing them some little while," she whispered.
+
+"The Captain Adams men may be trailing us?"
+
+"I hope not! Oh, I hope not," she gasped, in sheer agony. "If we might
+only know in time."
+
+Suddenly the fog was shot with gold, as the sun flashed in. In obedience
+to the command a slow and stately movement began, by all the troops of
+mist. The myriad elements drifted in unison, marching and countermarching
+and rearranging, until presently, while we crouched intent to fathom the
+secrets of their late camp, a wondrously beautiful phenomenon offered.
+
+The great army rose for flight, lifting like a blanket. Gradually the
+earth appeared in glimpses beneath their floating array, so that whereas
+our plot of higher ground was still invested, stooping low and scanning we
+could see beyond us by the extent of a narrow thinning belt capped with
+the heavier white.
+
+"There!" she whispered, pointing. "Look! There they are!"
+
+Feet, legs, moving of themselves, cut off at the knees by the fog layer,
+distant not more than short rifle range: that was what had been revealed.
+A peculiar, absurd spectacle of a score or two of amputated limbs now
+resurrected and blindly in quest of bodies.
+
+"The Mormons!" I faltered.
+
+"No! Leggins! Moccasins! They are Indians. We must leave right away before
+they see us."
+
+With our stuff she ran, I ran, for the mules. We worked rapidly, bridling
+and saddling while the fog rose with measured steadiness.
+
+"Hurry!" she bade.
+
+The whole desert was a golden haze when having packed we climbed
+aboard--she more spry than I, so that she led again.
+
+As we urged outward the legs, behind, had taken to themselves thighs. But
+the mist briefly eddied down upon us; our mules' hoofs made no sound
+appreciable, on the scantily moistened soil; we lost the legs, and the
+voices, and pressing the pace I rode beside her.
+
+"Where?" I inquired.
+
+"As far as we can while the fog hangs. Then we must hide in the first good
+place. If they don't strike our trail we'll be all right."
+
+The fog lingered in patches. From patch to patch we threaded, with many a
+glance over shoulder. But time was traveling faster. I marked her
+searching about nervously. Blue had already appeared above, the sun found
+us again and again, and the fog remnants went spinning and coiling, in
+last ghostly dance like that of frenzied wraiths.
+
+Now we came to a rough outcrop of red sandstone, looming ruddily on our
+right. She quickly swerved for it.
+
+"The best chance. I see nothing else," she muttered. "We can tie the mules
+under cover, and wait. We'll surely be spied if we keep on."
+
+"Couldn't we risk it?"
+
+"No. We've not start enough."
+
+In a moment we had gained the refuge. The sculptured rock masses, detached
+one from another, several jutting ten feet up, received us. We tied the
+mules short, in a nook at the rear; and we ourselves crawled on, farther
+in, until we lay snug amidst the shadowing buttresses, with the desert
+vista opening before us.
+
+The fog wraiths were very few; the sun blazed more vehemently and wiped
+them out, so that through the marvelously clear air the expanse of lone,
+weird country stood forth clean cut. No moving object could escape notice
+in this watchful void. And we had been just in time. The slight knoll had
+been left not a mile to the southwest. I heard My Lady catch breath, felt
+her hand find mine as we lay almost touching. Rounding the knoll there
+appeared a file of mounted figures; by their robes and blankets, their
+tufted lances and gaudy shields, yes, by the very way they sat their
+painted ponies, Indians unmistakably.
+
+"They must have been camped near us all night." And she shuddered. "Now if
+they only don't cross our trail. We mustn't move."
+
+They came on at a canter, riding bravely, glancing right and left--a score
+of them headed by a scarlet-blanketed man upon a spotted horse. So
+transparent was the air, washed by the fog and vivified by the sun, that I
+could decipher the color pattern of his shield emblazonry: a checkerboard
+of red and black.
+
+"A war party. Sioux, I think," she said. "Don't they carry scalps on that
+first lance? They've been raiding the stage line. Do you see any squaws?"
+
+"No," I hazarded, with beating heart. "All warriors, I should guess."
+
+"All warriors. But squaws would be worse."
+
+On they cantered, until their paint stripes and daubs were hideously
+plain; we might note every detail of their savage muster. They were
+paralleling our outward course; indeed, seemed to be diverging from our
+ambush and making more to the west. And I had hopes that, after all, we
+were safe. Then her hand clutched mine firmly. A wolf had leaped from
+covert in the path of the file; loped eastward across the desert, and
+instantly, with a whoop that echoed upon us like the crack of doom, a
+young fellow darted from the line in gay pursuit.
+
+My Lady drew quick breath, with despairing exclamation.
+
+"That is cruel, cruel! They might have ridden past; but now--look!"
+
+The stripling warrior (he appeared to be scarcely more than a boy)
+hammered in chase, stringing his bow and plucking arrow. The wolf cast eye
+over plunging shoulder, and lengthened. Away they tore, while the file
+slackened, to watch. Our trail of flight bore right athwart the wolf's
+projected route. There was just the remote chance that the lad would
+overrun it, in his eagerness; and for that intervening moment of grace we
+stared, fascinated, hand clasping hand.
+
+"He's found it! He's found it!" she announced, in a little wail.
+
+In mid-career the boy had checked his pony so shortly that the four hoofs
+ploughed the sand. He wheeled on a pivot and rode back for a few yards,
+scanning the ground, letting the wolf go. The stillness that had settled
+while we gazed and the file of warriors, reining, gazed, gripped and
+fairly hurt. I cursed the youth. Would to God he had stayed at home--God
+grant that mangy wolf died by trap or poison. Our one chance made the
+sport of an accidental view-halloo, when all the wide desert was open.
+
+The youth had halted again, leaning from his saddle pad. He raised, he
+flung up glad hand and commenced to ride in circles, around and around and
+around. The band galloped to him.
+
+"Yes, he has found it," she said. "Now they will come."
+
+"What shall we do?" I asked her.
+
+And she answered, releasing my hand.
+
+"I don't know. But we must wait. We can stand them off for a while, I
+suppose----"
+
+"I'll do my best, with the revolver," I promised.
+
+"Yes," she murmured. "But after that----?"
+
+I had no reply. This contingency--we two facing Indians--was outside my
+calculations.
+
+The Indians had grouped; several had dismounted, peering closely at our
+trail, reading it, timing it, accurately estimating it. They had no
+difficulty, for the hoof prints were hardly dried of the fog moisture. The
+others sat idly, searching the horizons with their eyes, but at confident
+ease. In the wide expanse this rock fortress of ours seemed to me to
+summon imperatively, challenging them. They surely must know. Yet there
+they delayed, torturing us, playing blind, emulating cat and mouse; but of
+course they were reasoning and making certain.
+
+Now the dismounted warriors vaulted ahorse; at a gesture from the chief
+two men rode aside, farther to the east, seeking other sign. They found
+none, and to his shrill hail they returned.
+
+There was another command. The company had strung bows, stripped their
+rifles of the buckskin sheaths, had dropped robe and blanket about their
+loins; they spread out to right and left in close skirmish order; they
+advanced three scouts, one on the trail, one on either flank; and in a
+broadened front they followed with a discipline, an earnestness, a
+precision of purpose and a deadly anticipation that drowned every fleeting
+hope.
+
+This was unbearable: to lie here awaiting an inevitable end.
+
+"Shall we make a break for it?" I proposed. "Ride and fight? We might
+reach the train, or a stage station. Quick!"
+
+In my wild desire for action I half arose. Her hand restrained me.
+
+"It would be madness, Mr. Beeson. We'd stand no show at all in the open;
+not on these poor mules." She murmured to herself. "Yes, they're Sioux.
+That's not so bad. Were they Cheyennes--dog-soldiers---- Let me think. I
+must talk with them."
+
+"But they're coming," I rasped. "They're getting in range. We've the gun,
+and twenty cartridges. Maybe if I kill the chief----"
+
+She spoke, positive, under breath.
+
+"Don't shoot! Don't! They know we're here--know it perfectly well. I shall
+talk with them."
+
+"You? How? Why? Can you persuade them? Would they let us go?"
+
+"I'll do what I can. I have a few words of Sioux; and there's the sign
+language. See," she said. "They've discovered our mules. They know we're
+only two."
+
+The scouts on either flanks had galloped outward and onward, in swift
+circle, peering at our defenses. Lying low they scoured at full speed;
+with mutual whoop they crisscrossed beyond and turned back for the main
+body halted two hundred yards out upon the flat plain.
+
+There was a consultation; on a sudden a great chorus of exultant cries
+rang, the force scattered, shaking fists and weapons, preparing for a
+tentative charge; and ere I could stop her My Lady had sprung upright, to
+mount upon a rock and all in view to hold open hand above her head. The
+sunshine glinted upon her hair; a fugitive little breeze bound her shabby
+gown closer about her slim figure.
+
+They had seen her instantly. Another chorus burst, this time in
+astonishment; a dozen guns were leveled, covering her and our nest while
+every visage stared. But no shot belched; thank God, no shot, with me
+powerless to prevent, just as I was powerless to intercept her. The chief
+rode forward, at a walk, his hand likewise lifted.
+
+[Illustration: The Scouts Galloped Onward]
+
+"Keep down! Keep down, please," she directed to me, while she stood
+motionless. "Let me try."
+
+The chief neared until we might see his every lineament--every item of his
+trappings, even to the black-tipped eagle feather erect at the part in his
+braids. And he rode carelessly, fearlessly, to halt within easy speaking
+distance; sat a moment, rifle across his leggined thighs and the folds of
+his scarlet blanket--a splendid man, naked from the waist up, his coppery
+chest pigment-daubed, his slender arms braceleted with metal, his eyes
+devouring her so covetously that I felt the gloating thoughts behind
+them.
+
+He called inquiringly: a greeting and a demand in one, it sounded. She
+replied. And what they two said, in word and sign, I could not know, but
+all the time I held my revolver upon him, until to my relief he abruptly
+wheeled his horse and cantered back to his men, leaving me with wrist
+aching and heart pounding madly.
+
+She stepped lightly down; answered my querying look.
+
+"It's all right. I'm going, and so are you," she said, with a faint smile,
+oddly subtle--a tremulous smile in a white face.
+
+About her there was a mystery which alarmed me; made me sit up, chilled,
+to eye her and accuse.
+
+"Where? We are free, you mean? What's the bargain?"
+
+"I go to them. You go where you choose--to the stage road, of course. I
+have his promise."
+
+This brought me to my feet, rigid; more than scandalized, for no word can
+express the shock.
+
+"You go to them? And then where?"
+
+She answered calmly, flushing a little, smiling a little, her eyes
+sincere.
+
+"It's the best way and the only way. We shall neither of us be harmed,
+now. The chief will provide for me and you yourself are free. No, no," she
+said, checking my first indignant cry. "Really I don't mind. The Indians
+are about the only persons left to me. I'll be safe with them." She
+laughed rather sadly, but brightened. "I don't know but that I prefer them
+to the whites. I told you I had no place. And this saves you also, you
+see. I got you into it--I've felt that you blamed me, almost hated me.
+Things have been breaking badly for me ever since we met again in Benton.
+So it's up to me to make good. You can go home, and I shall not be
+unhappy, I think. Please believe that. The wife of a great chief is quite
+a personage--he won't inquire into my past. But if we try to stay here you
+will certainly be killed, and I shall suffer, and we shall gain nothing.
+You must take my money. Please do. Then good-bye. I told him I would come
+out, under his promise."
+
+She and the rocks reeled together. That was my eyes, giddy with a rush of
+blood, surging and hot.
+
+"Never, never, never!" I was shouting, ignoring her hand. How she had
+misjudged me! What a shame she had put upon me! I could not credit. "You
+shall not--I tell you, you sha'n't. I won't have it--it's monstrous,
+preposterous. You sha'n't go, I sha'n't go. But wherever we go we'll go
+together. We'll stand them off. Then if they can take us, let 'em. You
+make a coward of me--a dastard. You've no right to. I'd rather die."
+
+"Listen," she chided, her hand grasping my sleeve. "They would take me
+anyway--don't you see? After they had killed you. It would be the worse
+for both of us. What can you do, with one arm, and a revolver, and an
+unlucky woman? No, Mr. Beeson (she was firm and strangely formal); the
+cards are faced up. I have closed a good bargain for both of us. When you
+are out, you need say nothing. Perhaps some day I may be ransomed, should
+I wish to be. But we can talk no further now. He is impatient. The
+money--you will need the money, and I shall not. Please turn your back and
+I'll get at my belt. Why," she laughed, "how well everything is coming.
+You are disposed of, I am disposed of----"
+
+"Money!" I roared. "God in Heaven! You disposed of? I disposed of? And my
+honor, madam! What of that?"
+
+"And what of mine, Mr. Beeson?" She stamped her foot, coloring. "Will you
+turn your back, or----? Oh, we've talked too long. But the belt you shall
+have. Here----" She fumbled within her gown. "And now, adios and good
+luck. You shall not despise me."
+
+The chief was advancing accompanied by a warrior. Behind him his men
+waited expectant, gathered as an ugly blotch upon the dun desert. Her
+honor? The word had double meaning. Should she sacrifice the one honor in
+this crude essay to maintain the other which she had not lost, to my now
+opened eyes? I could not deliver her tender body over to that painted
+swaggerer--any more than I could have delivered it over to Daniel himself.
+At last I knew, I knew. History had written me a fool, and a cad, but it
+should not write me a dastard. We were together, and together we should
+always be, come weal or woe, life or death.
+
+The money belt had been dropped at my feet. She had turned--I leaped
+before her, thrust her to rear, answered the hail of the pausing chief.
+
+"No!" I squalled. And I added for emphasis: "You go to hell."
+
+He understood. The phrase might have been familiar English to him. I saw
+him stiffen in his saddle; he called loudly, and raised his rifle,
+threatening; with a gasp--a choked "Good-bye"--she darted by me, running
+on for the open and for him. She and he filled all my landscape. In a
+stark blinding rage of fear, chagrin, rancorous jealousy, I leveled
+revolver and pulled trigger, but not at her, though even that was not
+beyond me in the crisis.
+
+The bullet thwacked smartly; the chief uttered a terrible cry, his rifle
+was tossed high, he bowed, swayed downward, his comrade grabbed him, and
+they were racing back closely side by side and she was running back to me
+and the warriors were shrieking and brandishing their weapons and bullets
+spatted the rocks--all this while yet my hand shook to the recoil of the
+revolver and the smoke was still wafting from the poised muzzle.
+
+What had I done? But done it was.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+THE QUEEN WINS
+
+
+She arrived breathless, distraught, instantly to drag me down beside her,
+from where I stood stupidly defiant.
+
+"Keep out of sight," she panted. And--"Oh, why did you do it? Why did you?
+I think you killed him--they'll never forgive. They'll call it treachery.
+You're lost, lost."
+
+"But he sha'n't have you," I gabbled. "Let them kill me if they can. Till
+then you're mine. Mine! Don't you understand? I want you."
+
+"I don't understand," she faltered. She turned frightened face upon me.
+"You should have let me go. Nothing can save you now; not even I. You've
+ruined the one chance you had. I wonder why. It was my own choice--you had
+no hand in it, and it was my own chance, too." Her voice broke, her eyes
+welled piteously. "But you fired on him."
+
+"That was the only answer left me," I entreated. "You misjudged me, you
+shamed me. I tell you----"
+
+Her lips slightly curled.
+
+"Misjudged you? Shamed you? Was that all? You've misjudged and shamed me
+for so long----" A burst of savage hoots renewed interrupted. "They're
+coming!" She knelt up, to peer; I peered. The Indians had deployed,
+leaving the chief lying upon the ground, their fierce countenances glaring
+at our asylum. How clear their figures were, in the sunshine, limned
+against the lazy yellowish sand, under the peaceful blue! "They'll
+surround us. I might parley for myself, but I can do nothing for you."
+
+"Parley, then," I bade. "Save yourself, any way you can."
+
+She drew in, whitening as if I had struck her.
+
+"And you accuse me of having misjudged you! I save myself--merely myself?
+What do you intend to do? Fight?"
+
+"As long as you are with me; and after. They'll never take me alive; and
+take you they shall not if I can prevent it. Damn them, if they get you I
+mean to make them pay for you. You're all I have."
+
+"You'd rather I'd stay? You need me? Could I help?"
+
+"Need you!" I groaned. "I'm just finding out, too late."
+
+"And help? How? Quick! Could I?"
+
+"By staying; by not surrendering yourself--your honor, my honor. By saying
+that you'd rather stay with me, for life, for death, here,
+anywhere--after I've said that I'm not deaf, blind, dumb, ungrateful. I
+love you; I'd rather die for you than live without you."
+
+Such a glory glowed in her haggard face and shone from her brimming eyes.
+
+"We will fight, we will fight!" she chanted. "Now I shall not leave you.
+Oh, my man! Had you kissed me last night we would have known this longer.
+We have so little time." She turned from my lips. "Not now. They're
+coming. Fight first; and at the end, then kiss me, please, and we'll go
+together."
+
+The furious yells from that world outside vibrated among our rocks. The
+Sioux all were in motion, except the prostrate figure of the chief.
+Straight onward they charged, at headlong gallop, to ride over us like a
+grotesquely tinted wave, and the dull drumming of their ponies' hoofs beat
+a diapason to the shrill clamor of their voices. It was enough to cow, but
+she spoke steadily.
+
+"You must fire," she said. "Hurry! Fire once, maybe twice, to split them.
+I don't think they'll rush us, yet."
+
+So I rose farther on my knees and fired once--and again, pointblank at
+them with the heavy Colt's. It worked a miracle. Every mother's son of
+them fell flat upon his pony; they all swooped to right and to left as if
+the bullets had cleaved them apart in the center; and while I gaped,
+wondering, they swept past at long range, half on either flank, pelting in
+bullet and near-spent arrow.
+
+She forced me down.
+
+"Low, low," she warned. "They'll circle. They hold their scalps dearly. We
+can only wait. That was three. You have fifteen shots left, for them;
+then, one for me, one for you. You understand?"
+
+"I understand," I replied. "And if I'm disabled----?"
+
+She answered quietly.
+
+"It will be the same. One for you, one for me."
+
+The circle had been formed: a double circle, to move in two directions,
+scudding ring reversed within scudding ring, the bowmen outermost. Around
+and 'round and 'round they galloped, yelling, gibing, taunting, shooting
+so malignantly that the air was in a constant hum and swish. The lead
+whined and smacked, the shafts streaked and clattered----
+
+"Are you sorry I shot the chief?" I asked. Amid the confusion my blood was
+coursing evenly, and I was not afraid. Of what avail was fear?
+
+"I'm glad, glad," she proclaimed. But with sudden movement she was gone,
+bending low, then crawling, then whisking from sight. Had she abandoned
+me, after all? Had she--no! God be thanked, here she came back, flushed
+and triumphant, a canteen in her hand.
+
+"The mules might break," she explained, short of breath. "This canteen is
+full. We'll need it. The other mule is frantic. I couldn't touch her."
+
+At the moment I thought how wise and brave and beautiful she was! Mine for
+the hour, here--and after? Montoyo should never have her; not in life nor
+in death.
+
+"You must stop some of those fiends from sneaking closer," she counseled.
+"See? They're trying us out."
+
+More and more frequently some one of the scurrying enemy veered sharply,
+tore in toward us, hanging upon the farther side of his horse; boldly
+jerked erect and shot, and with demi-volt of his mount was away,
+whooping.
+
+I had been desperately saving the ammunition, to eke out this hour of mine
+with her. Every note from the revolver summoned the end a little nearer.
+But we had our game to play; and after all, the end was certain. So under
+her prompting (she being partner, commander, everything), when the next
+painted ruffian--a burly fellow in drapery of flannel-fringed cotton
+shirt, with flaunting crimson tassels on his pony's mane--bore down, I
+guessed shrewdly, arose and let him have it.
+
+She cried out, clapping her hands.
+
+"Good! Good!"
+
+The pony was sprawling and kicking; the rider had hurtled free, and went
+jumping and dodging like a jack-rabbit.
+
+"To the right! Watch!"
+
+Again I needs must fire, driving the rascals aside with the report of the
+Colt's. That was five. Not sparing my wounded arm I hastily reloaded, for
+by custom of the country the hammer had rested over an empty chamber. I
+filled the cylinder.
+
+"They're killing the mules," she said. "But we can't help it."
+
+The two mules were snorting and plunging; their hoofs rang against the
+rocks. Sioux to rear had dismounted and were shooting carefully. There was
+exultant shout--one mule had broken loose. She galloped out, reddened,
+stirrups swinging, canteen bouncing, right into the waiting line; and down
+she lunged, abristle with feathered points launched into her by sheer
+spiteful joy.
+
+The firing was resumed. We heard the other mule scream with note
+indescribable; we heard him flounder and kick; and again the savages
+yelled.
+
+Now they all charged recklessly from the four sides; and I had to stand
+and fire, right, left, before, behind, emptying the gun once more ere they
+scattered and fled. I sensed her fingers twitching at my belt, extracting
+fresh cartridges. We sank, breathing hard. Her eyes were wide, and bluer
+than any deepest summer sea; her face aflame; her hair of purest gold--and
+upon her shoulder a challenging oriflamme of scarlet, staining a rent in
+the faded calico.
+
+"You're hurt!" I blurted, aghast.
+
+"Not much. A scratch. Don't mind it. And you?"
+
+"I'm not touched."
+
+"Load, sir. But I think we'll have a little space. How many left? Nine."
+She had been counting. "Seven for them."
+
+"Seven for them," I acknowledged. I tucked home the loads; the six-shooter
+was ready.
+
+"Now let them come," she murmured.
+
+"Let them come," I echoed. We looked one upon the other, and we smiled. It
+was not so bad, this place, our minds having been made up to it. In fact,
+there was something sweet. Our present was assured; we faced a future
+together, at least; we were in accord.
+
+The Sioux had retired, mainly to sit dismounted in close circle, for a
+confab. Occasionally a young brave, a vidette, exuberantly galloped for
+us, dared us, shook hand and weapon at us, no doubt spat at us, and gained
+nothing by his brag.
+
+"What will they do next?" I asked.
+
+"I don't know," said she. "We shall see, though."
+
+So we lay, gazing, not speaking. The sun streamed down, flattening the
+desert with his fervent beams until the uplifts cringed low and in the
+horizons the mountain peaks floated languidly upon the waves of heat. And
+in all this dispassionate land, from horizon to horizon, there were only
+My Lady and I, and the beleaguering Sioux. It seemed unreal, a fantasy;
+but the rocks began to smell scorched, a sudden thirst nagged and my
+wounded arm pained with weariness as if to remind that I was here, in the
+body. Yes, and here she was, also, in the flesh, as much as I, for she
+stirred, glanced at me, and smiled. I heard her, saw her, felt her
+presence. I placed my hand over hers.
+
+"What is it?" she queried.
+
+"Nothing. I wanted to make sure."
+
+"Of yourself?"
+
+"Of you, me--of everything."
+
+"There can be no doubt," she said. "I wish there might, for your sake."
+
+"No," I thickly answered. "If you were only out of it--if we could find
+some way."
+
+"I'd rather be in here, with you," said she.
+
+"And I, with you, then," I replied honestly. The thought of water
+obsessed. She must have read, for she inquired:
+
+"Aren't you thirsty?"
+
+"Are you?"
+
+"Yes. Why don't we drink?"
+
+"Should we?"
+
+"Why not? We might as well be as comfortable as we can." She reached for
+the canteen lying in a fast dwindling strip of rock shade. We drank
+sparingly. She let me dribble a few drops upon her shoulder. Thenceforth
+by silent agreement we moistened our tongues, scrupulously turn about,
+wringing the most from each brief sip as if testing the bouquet of
+exquisite wine. Came a time when we regretted this frugalness; but just
+now there persisted within us, I suppose, that germ of hope which seems to
+be nourished by the soul.
+
+The Sioux had counciled and decided. They faced us, in manner determined.
+We waited, tense and watchful. Without even a premonitory shout a pony
+bolted for us, from their huddle. He bore two riders, naked to the sun,
+save for breech clouts. They charged straight in, and at her mystified,
+alarmed murmur I was holding on them as best I could, finger crooked
+against trigger, coaxing it, praying for luck, when the rear rider dropped
+to the ground, bounded briefly and dived headlong, worming into a little
+hollow of the sand.
+
+He lay half concealed; the pony had wheeled to a shrill, jubilant chorus;
+his remaining rider lashed him in retreat, leaving the first digging
+lustily with hand and knife.
+
+That was the system, then: an approach by rushes.
+
+"We mustn't permit it," she breathed. "We must rout him out--we must keep
+them all out or they'll get where they can pick you off. Can you reach
+him?"
+
+"I'll try," said I.
+
+The tawny figure, prone upon the tawny sand, was just visible, lean and
+snakish, slightly oscillating as it worked. And I took careful aim, and
+fired, and saw the spurt from the bullet.
+
+"A little lower--oh, just a little lower," she pleaded.
+
+The same courier was in leash, posted to bring another fellow; all the
+Sioux were gazing, statuesque, to analyze my marksmanship. And I fired
+again--"Too low," she muttered--and quickly, with a curse, again.
+
+She cried out joyfully. The snake had flopped from its hollow, plunged at
+full length aside; had started to crawl, writhing, dragging its hinder
+parts. But with a swoop the pony arrived before we were noting; the
+recruit plumped into the hollow; and bending over in his swift circle the
+courier snatched the snake from the ground; sped back with him.
+
+The Sioux seized upon the moment of stress. They cavorted, scouring hither
+and thither, yelling, shooting, and once more our battered haven seethed
+with the hum and hiss and rebound of lead and shaft. That, and my
+eagerness, told. The fellow in the foreground burrowed cleverly; he
+submerged farther and farther, by rapid inches. I fired twice--we could
+not see that I had even inconvenienced him. My Lady clutched my revolver
+arm.
+
+"No! Wait!" The tone rang dismayed.
+
+Trembling, blinded with heat and powder smoke, and heart sick, I paused,
+to fumble and to reload the almost emptied cylinder.
+
+"I can't reach him," said I. "He's too far in."
+
+Her voice answered gently.
+
+"No matter, dear. You're firing too hastily. Don't forget. Please rest a
+minute, and drink. You can bathe your eyes. It's hard, shooting across the
+hot sand. They'll bring others. We've no need to save water, you know."
+
+"I know," I admitted.
+
+We niggardly drank. I dabbled my burning eyes, cleared my sight. Of the
+fellow in the rifle pit there was no living token. The Sioux had ceased
+their gambols. They sat steadfast, again anticipative. A stillness,
+menaceful and brooding, weighted the landscape.
+
+She sighed.
+
+"Well?"
+
+The pregnant truce oppressed. What was hatching out, now? I cautiously
+shifted posture, to stretch and scan; instinctively groped for the
+canteen, to wet my lips again; a puff of smoke burst from the hollow, the
+canteen clinked, flew from my hand and went clattering among the rocks.
+
+"Oh!" she cried, aghast. "But you're not hurt?" Then--"I saw him. He'll
+come up again, in a moment. Be ready."
+
+The Sioux in the background were shrieking. They had accounted for our
+mules; by chance shot they had nipped our water. Yet neither event
+affected us as they seemed to think it should. Mules, water--these were
+inconsequentials in the long-run that was due to be short, at most. We
+husbanded other relief in our keeping.
+
+Suddenly, as I craned, the fellow fired again; he was a good shot, had
+discovered a niche in our rampart, for the ball fanned my cheek with the
+wings of a vicious wasp. On the instant I replied, snapping quick answer.
+
+"I don't think you hit him," she said. "Let me try. It may change the
+luck. You're tired. I'll hold on the spot--he'll come up in the same
+place, head and shoulders. You'll have to tempt him. Are you afraid, sir?"
+She smiled upon me as she took the revolver.
+
+"But if he kills me----?" I faltered.
+
+"What of that?"
+
+"You."
+
+"I?" Her face filled. "I should not be long."
+
+She adjusted the revolver to a crevice a little removed from me--"They
+will be hunting you, not me," she said--and crouched behind it, peering
+earnestly out, intent upon the hollow. And I edged farther, and farther,
+as if seeking for a mark, but with all my flesh a-prickle and my breath
+fast, like any man, I assert, who forces himself to invite the striking
+capabilities of a rattlesnake.
+
+Abruptly it came--the strike, so venomous that it stung my face and
+scalded my eyes with the spatter of sandstone and hot lead; at the moment
+her Colt's bellowed into my ears, thunderous because even unexpected. I
+could not see; I only heard an utterance that was cheer and sob in one.
+
+"I got him! Are you hurt? Are you hurt?"
+
+"No. Hurrah!"
+
+"Hurrah, dear."
+
+The air rocked with the shouts of the Sioux; shouts never before so
+welcome in their tidings, for they were shouts of rage and disappointment.
+They flooded my eyes with vigor, wiped away the daze of the bullet impact;
+the hollow leaped to the fore--upon its low parapet a dull shade where no
+shade should naturally be, and garnished with crimson.
+
+He had doubled forward, reflexing to the blow. He was dead, stone dead;
+his crafty spirit issued upon the red trail of ball through his brain.
+
+"Thank God," I rejoiced.
+
+She had sunk back wearily.
+
+"That is the last."
+
+"Won't they try again, you think?"
+
+"The last spare shot, I mean. We have only our two left. We must save
+those." She gravely surveyed me.
+
+"Yes, we must save those," I assented. The realization broke unbelievable
+across a momentary hiatus; brought me down from the false heights, to face
+it with her.
+
+A dizzy space had opened before me. I knew that she moved aside. She
+exclaimed.
+
+"Look!"
+
+It was the canteen, drained dry by a jagged gash from the sharpshooter's
+lead.
+
+"No matter, dear," she said.
+
+"No matter," said I.
+
+The subject was not worth pursuing.
+
+"We have discouraged their game, again. And in case they rush us----"
+
+This from her.
+
+"In case they rush us----" I repeated. "We can wait a little, and see."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+WE WAIT THE SUMMONS
+
+
+The Sioux had quieted. They let the hollow alone, tenanted as it was with
+death; there was for us a satisfaction in that tribute to our defense.
+Quite methodically, and with cruel show of leisure they distributed
+themselves by knots, in a half-encircling string around our asylum; they
+posted a sentry, ahorse, as a lookout; and lolling upon the bare ground in
+the sun glare they chatted, laughed, rested, but never for an instant were
+we dismissed from their eyes and thoughts.
+
+"They will wait, too. They can afford it," she murmured. "It is cheaper
+for them than losing lives."
+
+"If they knew we had only the two cartridges----?"
+
+"They don't, yet."
+
+"And they will find out too late," I hazarded.
+
+"Yes, too late. We shall have time." Her voice did not waver; it heartened
+with its vengeful, determined mien.
+
+Occasionally a warrior invoked us by brandishing arm or weapon in surety
+of hate and in promise of fancied reprisal. What fools they were! Now and
+again a warrior galloped upon the back trail; returned gleefully, perhaps
+to flourish an army canteen at us.
+
+"There probably is water where we heard the frogs last night," she
+remarked.
+
+"I'm glad we didn't try to reach it, for camp," said I.
+
+"So am I," said she. "We might have run right into them. We are better
+here. At least, I am."
+
+"And I," I confirmed.
+
+Strangely enough we seemed to have little to say, now in this precious
+doldrums where we were becalmed, between the distant past and the unlogged
+future. We had not a particle of shade, not a trace of coolness: the sun
+was high, all our rocky recess was a furnace, fairly reverberant with the
+heat; the flies (and I vaguely pondered upon how they had existed,
+previously, and whence they had gathered) buzzed briskly, attracted by the
+dead mule, unseen, and captiously diverted to us also. We lay tolerably
+bolstered, without much movement; and as the Sioux were not firing upon
+us, we might wax careless of their espionage.
+
+Her eyes, untroubled, scarcely left my face; I feared to let mine leave
+hers. Of what she was thinking I might not know, and I did not seek to
+know--was oddly yielding and content, for our decisions had been made. And
+still it was unreal, impossible: we, in this guise; the Sioux, watching;
+the desert, waiting; death hovering--a sudden death, a violent death, the
+end of that which had barely begun; an end suspended in sight like the
+Dionysian sword, with the single hair already frayed by the greedy shears
+of the Fate. A snap, at our own signal; then presto, change!
+
+It simply could not be true. Why, somewhere my father and mother busied,
+mindless; somewhere Benton roared, mindless; somewhere the wagon train
+toiled on, mindless; the stage road missed us not, nor wondered; the
+railroad graders shoveled and scraped and picked as blithely as if the
+same desert did not contain them, and us; cities throbbed, people worked
+and played, and we were of as little concern to them now as we would be a
+year hence.
+
+Then it all pridefully resolved to this, like the warming tune of a fine
+battle chant: That I was here, with my woman, my partner woman, the much
+desirable woman whom I had won; which was more than Daniel, or Montoyo, or
+the Indian chief, or the wide world of other men could boast.
+
+Soon she spoke, at times, musingly.
+
+"I did make up to you, at first," she said. "In Omaha, and on the train."
+
+"Did you?" I smiled. She was so childishly frank.
+
+"But that was only passing. Then in Benton I knew you were different. I
+wondered what it was; but you were different from anybody that I had met
+before. There's always such a moment in a woman's life."
+
+I soberly nodded. Nothing could be a platitude in such a place and such an
+hour.
+
+"I wished to help you. Do you believe that now?"
+
+"I believe you, dear heart," I assured.
+
+"But it was partly because I thought you could help me," she said, like a
+confession. And she added: "I had nothing wrong in mind. You were to be a
+friend, not a lover. I had no need of lovers; no, no."
+
+We were silent for an interval. Again she spoke.
+
+"Do you care anything about my family? I suppose not. That doesn't matter,
+here. But you wouldn't be ashamed of them. I ran away with Montoyo. I
+thought he was something else. How could I go home after that? I tried to
+be true to him, we had plenty of money, he was kind to me at first, but he
+dragged me down and my father and mother don't know even yet. Yes, I tried
+to help him, too. I stayed. It's a life that gets into one's blood. I
+feared him terribly, in time. He was a breed, and a devil--a gentleman
+devil." She referred in the past tense, as to some fact definitely bygone.
+"I had to play fair with him, or---- And when I had done that, hoping,
+why, what else could I do or where could I go? So many people knew me."
+She smiled. "Suddenly I tied to you, sir. I seemed to feel--I took the
+chance."
+
+"Thank God you did," I encouraged.
+
+"But I would not have wronged myself, or you, or him," she eagerly
+pursued. "I never did wrong him." She flushed. "No man can convict me. You
+hurt me when you refused me, dear; it told me that you didn't understand.
+Then I was desperate. I had been shamed before you, and by you. You were
+going, and not understanding, and I couldn't let you. So I did follow you
+to the wagon train. You were my star. I wonder why. I did feel that you'd
+get me out--you see, I was so madly selfish, like a drowning person. I
+clutched at you; might have put you under while climbing up, myself."
+
+"We have climbed together," said I. "You have made me into a man."
+
+"But I forced myself on you. I played you against Daniel. I foresaw that
+you might have to kill him, to rid me of him. You were my weapon. And I
+used you. Do you blame me that I used you?"
+
+"Daniel and I were destined to meet, just as you and I were destined to
+meet," said I. "I had to prove myself on him. It would have happened
+anyway. Had I not stood up to him you would not have loved me."
+
+"That was not the price," she sighed. "Maybe you don't understand yet. I'm
+so afraid you don't understand," she pleaded. "At the last I had resigned
+you, I would have left you free, I saw how you felt; but, oh, it happened
+just the same--we were fated, and you showed that you hated me."
+
+"I never hated you. I was perplexed. That was a part of love," said I.
+
+"You mean it? You are holding nothing back?" she asked, anxious.
+
+"I am holding nothing back," I answered. "As you will know, I think, in
+time to come."
+
+Again we reclined, silent, at peace: a strange peace of mind and body, to
+which the demonstrations by the waiting Sioux were alien things.
+
+She spoke.
+
+"Are we very guilty, do you think?"
+
+"In what, dearest?"
+
+"In this, here. I am already married, you know."
+
+"That is another life," I reasoned. "It is long ago and under different
+law."
+
+"But if we went back into it--if we escaped?"
+
+"Then we should--but don't let's talk of that."
+
+"Then you should forget and I should return to Benton," she said. "I have
+decided. I should return to Benton, where Montoyo is, and maybe find
+another way. But I should not live with him; never, never! I should ask
+him to release me."
+
+"I, with you," I informed. "We should go together, and do what was best."
+
+"You would? You wouldn't be ashamed, or afraid?"
+
+"Ashamed or afraid of what?"
+
+She cried out happily, and shivered.
+
+"I hope we don't have to. He might kill you. Yes, I hope we don't have to.
+Do you mind?"
+
+I shook my head, smiling my response. There were tears in her eyes,
+repaying me.
+
+Our conversation became more fitful. Time sped, I don't know how, except
+that we were in a kind of lethargy, taking no note of time and hanging
+fast to this our respite from the tempestuous past.
+
+Once she dreamily murmured, apropos of nothing, yet apropos of much:
+
+"We must be about the same age. I am not old, not really very old."
+
+"I am twenty-five," I answered.
+
+"So I thought," she mused.
+
+Then, later, in manner of having revolved this idea also, more distinctly
+apropos and voiced with a certain triumph:
+
+"I'm glad we drank water when we might; aren't you?"
+
+"You were so wise," I praised; and I felt sorry for her cracked lips. It
+is astonishing with what swiftness, even upon the dry desert, amid the dry
+air, under the dry burning sun, thirst quickens into a consuming fire
+scorching from within outward to the skin.
+
+We lapsed into that remarkable patience, playing the game with the Sioux
+and steadily viewing each other; and she asked, casually:
+
+"Where will you shoot me, Frank?"
+
+This bared the secret heart of me.
+
+"No! No!" I begged. "Don't speak of that. It will be bad enough at the
+best. How can I? I don't know how I can do it!"
+
+"You will, though," she soothed. "I'd rather have it from you. You must be
+brave, for yourself and for me; and kind, and quick. I think it should be
+through the temple. That's sure. But you won't wait to look, will you?
+You'll spare yourself that?"
+
+This made me groan, craven, and wipe my hand across my forehead to brush
+away the frenzy. The fingers came free, damp with cold sticky sweat--a
+prodigy of a parchment skin which puzzled me.
+
+We had not exchanged a caress, save by voice; had not again touched each
+other. Sometimes I glanced at the Sioux, but not for long; I dreaded to
+lose sight of her by so much as a moment. The Sioux remained virtually as
+from the beginning of their vigil. They sat secure, drank, probably ate,
+with time their ally: sat judicial and persistent, as though depending
+upon the progress of a slow fuse, or upon the workings of poison, which
+indeed was the case.
+
+Thirst and heat tortured unceasingly. The sun had passed the zenith--this
+sun of a culminating summer throughout which he had thrived regal and
+lustful. It seemed ignoble of him that he now should stoop to torment only
+us, and one of us a small woman. There was all his boundless domain for
+him.
+
+But stoop he did, burning nearer and nearer. She broke with sudden passion
+of hoarse appeal.
+
+"Why do we wait? Why not now?"
+
+"We ought to wait," I stammered, miserable and pitying.
+
+"Yes," she whispered, submissive, "I suppose we ought. One always does.
+But I am so tired. I think," she said, "that I will let my hair down. I
+shall go with my hair down. I have a right to, at the last."
+
+Whereupon she fell to loosening her hair and braiding it with hurried
+fingers.
+
+Then after a time I said:
+
+"We'll not be much longer, dear."
+
+"I hope not," said she, panting, her lips stiff, her eyes bright and
+feverish. "They'll rush us at sundown; maybe before."
+
+"I believe," said I, blurring the words, for my tongue was getting
+unmanageable, "they're making ready now."
+
+She exclaimed and struggled and sat up, and we both gazed. Out there the
+Sioux, in that world of their own, had aroused to energy. I fancied that
+they had palled of the inaction. At any rate they were upon their feet,
+several were upon their horses, others mounted hastily, squad joined squad
+as though by summons, and here came their outpost scout, galloping in, his
+blanket streaming from one hand like a banner of an Islam prophet.
+
+They delayed an instant, gesticulating.
+
+"It will be soon," she whispered, touching my arm. "When they are
+half-way, don't fail. I trust you. Will you kiss me? That is only the
+once."
+
+I kissed her; dry cracked lips met dry cracked lips. She laid herself down
+and closed her eyes, and smiled.
+
+"I'm all right," she said. "And tired. I've worked so hard, for only this.
+You mustn't look."
+
+"And you must wait for me, somewhere," I entreated. "Just a moment."
+
+"Of course," she sighed.
+
+The Sioux charged, shrieking, hammering, lashing, all of one purpose:
+that, us; she, I; my life, her body; and quickly kneeling beside her (I
+was cool and firm and collected) I felt her hand guide the revolver
+barrel. But I did not look. She had forbidden, and I kept my eyes upon
+them, until they were half-way, and in exultation I pulled the trigger, my
+hand already tensed to snatch and cock and deliver myself under their very
+grasp. That was a sweetness.
+
+The hammer clicked. There had been no jar, no report. The hammer had only
+clicked, I tell you, shocking me to the core. A missed cartridge? An empty
+chamber? Which? No matter. I should achieve for her, first; then, myself.
+I heard her gasp, they were very near, how they shouted, how the bullets
+and arrows spatted and hissed, and I had convulsively cocked the gun, she
+had clutched it--when looking through them, agonized and blinded as I
+was--looking through them as if they were phantasms I sensed another sound
+and with sight sharpened I saw.
+
+Then I wrested the revolver from her. I fired pointblank, I fired again
+(the Colt's did not fail); they swept by, hooting, jostling; they thudded
+on; and rising I screeched and waved, as bizarre, no doubt, as any
+animated scarecrow.
+
+It had been a trumpet note, and a cavalry guidon and a rank of bobbing
+figures had come galloping, galloping over an imperceptible swell.
+
+She cried to me, from my feet.
+
+"You didn't do it! You didn't do it!"
+
+"We're saved," I blatted. "Hurrah! We're saved! The soldiers are here."
+
+Again the trumpet pealed, lilting silvery. She tottered up, clinging to
+me. She stared. She released me, and to my gladly questing gaze her face
+was very white, her eyes struggling for comprehension, like those of one
+awakened from a dream.
+
+"I must go back to Benton," she faltered. "I shall never get away from
+Benton."
+
+We stood mute while the blue-coats raced on with hearty cheers and brave
+clank of saber and canteen. We were sitting composedly when the lieutenant
+scrambled to us, among our rocks; the troopers followed, curiously
+scanning.
+
+His stubbled red face, dust-smeared, queried us keenly; so did his curt
+voice.
+
+"Just in time?"
+
+"In time," I croaked. "Water! For her--for me."
+
+There was a canteen apiece. We sucked.
+
+"You are the two from the Mormon wagon train?" he asked.
+
+"Yes, sir. You know?" I uttered.
+
+"We came on as fast as we could. The Sioux are raiding again. By God, you
+had a narrow squeak, sir," he reproved. "You were crazy to try it--you and
+a woman, alone. We'll take you along as soon as my Pawnees get in from
+chasing those beggars."
+
+Distant whoops from a pursuit drifted in to us, out of the desert.
+
+"Captain Adams sent you?" I inquired.
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"I will go back," I agreed. "I will go back, but there's no need of Mrs.
+Montoyo. If you could see her safely landed at a stage station, and for
+Benton----?"
+
+"We'll land you both. I have to report at Bridger. The train is all right.
+It has an escort to Bitter Creek."
+
+"I can overtake it, or join it," said I. "But the lady goes to Benton."
+
+"Yes, yes," he snapped. "That's nothing to me, of course. But you'll do
+better to wait for the train at Bridger, Mr. ----? I don't believe I have
+your name?"
+
+"Beeson," I informed, astonished.
+
+"And the lady's? Your sister? Wife?"
+
+"Mrs. Montoyo," I informed. And I repeated, that there should be no
+misunderstanding. "Mrs. Montoyo, from Benton. No relative, sir."
+
+He passed it over, as a gentleman should.
+
+"Well, Mr. Beeson, you have business with the train?"
+
+"I have business with Captain Adams, and he with me," I replied. "As
+probably you know. Since he sent you, I shall consider myself under
+arrest; but I will return of my own free will as soon as Mrs. Montoyo is
+safe."
+
+"Under arrest? For what?" He blankly eyed me.
+
+"For killing that man, sir. Captain Adams' son. But I was forced to it--I
+did it in self-defense. I should not have left, and I am ready to face the
+matter whenever possible."
+
+"Oh!" said he, with a shrug, tossing the idea aside. "If that's all! I did
+hear something about that, from some of my men, but nothing from Adams.
+You didn't kill him, I understand; merely laid him out. I saw him, myself,
+but I didn't ask questions. So you can rest easy on that score. His old
+man seemed to have no grudge against you for it. Fact is, he scarcely
+allowed me time to warn him of the Sioux before he told me you and a woman
+were out and were liable to lose your scalps, if nothing worse. I think,"
+the lieutenant added, narrowing upon me, "that you'll find those Mormons
+are as just as any other set, in a show down. The lad, I gathered from the
+talk, drew on you after he'd cried quits." He turned hastily. "You spoke,
+madam? Anything wanted?"
+
+The trumpeter orderly plucked me by the sleeve. He was a squat,
+sun-scorched little man, and his red-rimmed blue eyes squinted at me with
+painful interest. He whispered harshly from covert of bronzed hand.
+
+"Beg your pardon, sorr. Mrs. Montoyo, be it--that lady?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"From Benton City, sorr, ye say?"
+
+"From Benton City."
+
+"Sure, I know the name. It's the same of a gambler the vigilantes strung
+up last week; for I was there to see."
+
+I heard a gusty sigh, an exclamation from the lieutenant. My Lady had
+fainted again.
+
+"The reaction, sir," I apologized, to the lieutenant, as we worked.
+
+"Naturally," answered he. "You'll both go back to Benton?"
+
+"Certainly," said I.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+STAR SHINE
+
+
+It was six weeks later, with My Lady all recovered and I long since
+healed, and Fort Bridger pleasant in our memories, when we two rode into
+Benton once more, by horse from the nearest stage point. And here we sat
+our saddles, silent, wondering; for of Benton there was little significant
+of the past, very little tangible of the present, naught promising of its
+future.
+
+Roaring Benton City had vanished, you might say, utterly. The iron
+tendrils of the Pacific Railway glistened, stretching westward into the
+sunset, and Benton had followed the lure, to Rawlins (as had been told
+us), to Green River, to Bryan--likely now still onward, for the track was
+traveling fast, charging the mountain slopes of Utah. The restless dust
+had settled. The Queen Hotel, the Big Tent, the rows of canvas, plank,
+tin, sheet metal, what-not stores, saloons, gambling dens, dance halls,
+human habitations--the blatant street and the station itself had subsided
+into this: a skeleton company of hacked and weazened posts, a fantastic
+outcrop of coldly blackened clay chimneys, a sprinkling of battered cans.
+The fevered populace who had ridden high upon the tide of rapid life had
+remained only as ghosts haunting a potter's field, and the turmoil of
+frenzied pleasure had dwindled to a coyote's yelp mocking the twilight.
+
+"It all, all is wiped out, like he is," she said. "But I wished to see."
+
+"All, all is wiped out, dear heart," said I. "All of that. But here are
+you and I."
+
+Through star shine we cantered side by side eastward down the old, empty
+freighting road, for the railway station at Fort Steele.
+
+THE END
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Desert Dust, by Edwin L. Sabin
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DESERT DUST ***
+
+***** This file should be named 27437.txt or 27437.zip *****
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+        http://www.gutenberg.org/2/7/4/3/27437/
+
+Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
+will be renamed.
+
+Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
+one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
+(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
+permission and without paying copyright royalties.  Special rules,
+set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
+copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
+protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark.  Project
+Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
+charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission.  If you
+do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
+rules is very easy.  You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
+such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
+research.  They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
+practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks.  Redistribution is
+subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
+redistribution.
+
+
+
+*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
+http://gutenberg.org/license).
+
+
+Section 1.  General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works
+
+1.A.  By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement.  If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
+all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
+If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
+terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
+entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
+
+1.B.  "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark.  It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement.  There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.  See
+paragraph 1.C below.  There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
+and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.  See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C.  The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
+or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works.  Nearly all the individual works in the
+collection are in the public domain in the United States.  If an
+individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
+located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
+copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
+works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
+are removed.  Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
+Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
+freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
+this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
+the work.  You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
+keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D.  The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work.  Copyright laws in most countries are in
+a constant state of change.  If you are outside the United States, check
+the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
+before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
+creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
+Gutenberg-tm work.  The Foundation makes no representations concerning
+the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
+States.
+
+1.E.  Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1.  The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
+access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
+whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
+phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
+copied or distributed:
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+1.E.2.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
+from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
+posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
+and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
+or charges.  If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
+with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
+work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
+through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
+Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
+1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
+terms imposed by the copyright holder.  Additional terms will be linked
+to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
+permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4.  Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5.  Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6.  You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
+word processing or hypertext form.  However, if you provide access to or
+distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
+"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
+posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
+you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
+copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
+request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
+form.  Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7.  Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8.  You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
+that
+
+- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+     the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+     you already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  The fee is
+     owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
+     has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
+     Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.  Royalty payments
+     must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
+     prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
+     returns.  Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
+     sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
+     address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
+     the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+     you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+     does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+     License.  You must require such a user to return or
+     destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
+     and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
+     Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
+     money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+     electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
+     of receipt of the work.
+
+- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+     distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9.  If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
+forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
+both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
+Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark.  Contact the
+Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1.  Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
+collection.  Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
+"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
+property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
+computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
+your equipment.
+
+1.F.2.  LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
+of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees.  YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3.  YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3.  LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from.  If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
+your written explanation.  The person or entity that provided you with
+the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
+refund.  If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
+providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
+receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund.  If the second copy
+is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
+opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4.  Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
+WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5.  Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
+If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
+law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
+interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
+the applicable state law.  The invalidity or unenforceability of any
+provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6.  INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
+with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
+promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
+harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
+that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
+or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
+work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
+Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
+
+
+Section  2.  Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
+including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.  It exists
+because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
+people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come.  In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
+To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
+and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org.
+
+
+Section 3.  Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
+Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service.  The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541.  Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at
+http://pglaf.org/fundraising.  Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
+permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
+Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
+throughout numerous locations.  Its business office is located at
+809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
+business@pglaf.org.  Email contact links and up to date contact
+information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
+page at http://pglaf.org
+
+For additional contact information:
+     Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+     Chief Executive and Director
+     gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+
+Section 4.  Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment.  Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States.  Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements.  We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance.  To
+SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
+particular state visit http://pglaf.org
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States.  U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses.  Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations.
+To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate
+
+
+Section 5.  General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
+with anyone.  For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
+Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
+
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we do not necessarily
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
+
+     http://www.gutenberg.org
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
diff --git a/27437.zip b/27437.zip
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..77a08a5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27437.zip
diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6312041
--- /dev/null
+++ b/LICENSE.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements,
+metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be
+in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES.
+
+Procedures for determining public domain status are described in
+the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org.
+
+No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in
+jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize
+this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright
+status under the laws that apply to them.
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f031e8d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #27437 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/27437)